Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800: With a New Preface [Paperback]

Mary Beth Norton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801483476 | ISBN-13: 978-0801483479 | Publication Date: April 1996

First published in 1980 and recently out of print, Liberty's Daughters is widely considered a landmark book on the history of American women and on the Revolution itself.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801483476
• ISBN-13: 978-0801483479
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Activism
  • #71 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Civil Rights

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Liberty's Daughters, November 19, 2000

By 

Chad Brown (Des Moines, Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800: With a New Preface (Paperback)

Liberty's Daughters is really the combined collection of two books. Part I: The Constant Patterns of Women's Lives, sets the reader up for Part II: The Changing Patterns of Women's Lives. In a way, Part I explains the life of the prewar colonial woman. Part II discusses the changes that would occur for women during and immediately following the war. Norton makes a convincing argument that women's lives were forever changed by the Revolutionary War. Chapter 1 was extremely interesting as Norton details the differences between rural women of the colonies with urban women. She details the lives of rural women of the North in comparison to women of the rural South. Plus, Norton discusses the even harsher life of the female slave. In a way, there is an underlying sentiment that life was very difficult for both men and women during this period of time. I appreciated Norton's realization that men also experienced plenty of toil during this time in history. In other words, there was plenty of hardship to go around. One main theme that the reader quickly notices is how important spinning was to the women of colonial America. The first chapters detail how women would have to spin to make clothes for themselves and their families (and sometimes very large families). To pass the time, women would often spin in groups. This activity gave them a sense of companionship. This community would lay the important groundwork for their support of the men during the Revolutionary War. The second part of the book informs the reader how women formed formal spinning groups that actively worked to help the patriots. In a way, women now took up spinning as a part of the campaign for freedom against the British. Sewing gave women a sense of nationality as they could actively contribute to the defense of colonial liberties. Norton explains in the first chapters how women needed a certain degree of conversation. Women loved to talk, most particularly while they spun. In Part II, Norton explains how politics is all anyone could talk about during this era, so why would women want to be left out? Indeed, they were not left out of the conversation, and they were even more than willing to take part in the action. After all, it was their families who were at stake. Women actively took part in the mobs and spoke out against loyalists - partially to avoid from themselves becoming targets of the patriotic fever that swept much of the colonies. Just as in any other civil war, not all women agreed. Political differences caused breakups and differences in friendships and marriages. Though we read from other sources that Washington held contempt for the women who traveled with his army - taking precious rations and supplies, Washington also displays his gratitude to Ester Reed and her girls for this organization's contributions. He put these girls, "to an equal place with any who have preceded them in the walk of female patriotism." The significant sign of change in the lives of colonial women is found midway through Part 2 when the postwar female generation led political discussion and even took part in activism. This was completely alien to most women born before 1760. Nineteenth-century women took pride in the contributions that members of their sex had made to the winning of independence. The existence of such public-spirited models showed that women could take active roles in politics without losing their feminine identity. It was not by chance that in 1848 the organizers chose to use the Declaration of Independence as the basis for their calls for reform in women's status. They understood the relevance of the revolutionary era to their own endeavors. This is a far cry to the woman detailed in Chapter 1 who had no idea about even the financial state of her husband. Here is another profound change from Chapter 1: As time went on, women learned more about the family's finances while at the same time their husband's knowledge became increasingly outdated and remote. In a way, the soldiers increasingly delegated responsibility of the finances to their wives. Women received freedom from the British - just as did men. However, women also gained certain freedoms for their gender. Following the war, female children consequently began to expect the right to decide for themselves in marital matters if they so desired. Many girls continued to seek their parents' and friends' assessments of potential spouses. However, some women made up their own minds, and this is a revolutionary concept. After all, even today in some countries, women have yet to acquire this freedom. Not only were they given more choice in who they were to marry, the increasing use of contraception in the last two decades of the century can also be seen as a reflection of women's improved status within marriage. This came as quite a surprise to me as I had not been aware of any such methods of contraception at this early period of time. I had always assumed that people of this era had only one method of contraception: do not do anything! After the war, women grew increasingly willing to challenge the conventional wisdom about feminine faults. Women finally stood up against the arguments about their nature - particularly against negative aspects of their nature. They were less inclined to allow remarks about their "natural state" pass without harsh comment. This is, in my opinion, the true birth of a P.C. culture! Norton's argument is successful. The lives of women were forever altered by the Revolutionary War. Further, women had just begun to seek liberties for their own gesture. In a way, this book should be read before one begins to study and attempt to understand the feminist movement of the 1840's, before the Suffrage movement that gained women's right to vote, and before the feminist movement that would begin in the 1960's. Indeed, we still live with the consequences of the changes in women's society during the Revolutionary War.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Liberty's Daughters, November 19, 2000

By 

Chad Brown (Des Moines, Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800: With a New Preface (Paperback)

Liberty's Daughters is really the combined collection of two books. Part I: The Constant Patterns of Women's Lives, sets the reader up for Part II: The Changing Patterns of Women's Lives. In a way, Part I explains the life of the prewar colonial woman. Part II discusses the changes that would occur for women during and immediately following the war. Norton makes a convincing argument that women's lives were forever changed by the Revolutionary War. Chapter 1 was extremely interesting as Norton details the differences between rural women of the colonies with urban women. She details the lives of rural women of the North in comparison to women of the rural South. Plus, Norton discusses the even harsher life of the female slave. In a way, there is an underlying sentiment that life was very difficult for both men and women during this period of time. I appreciated Norton's realization that men also experienced plenty of toil during this time in history. In other words, there was plenty of hardship to go around. One main theme that the reader quickly notices is how important spinning was to the women of colonial America. The first chapters detail how women would have to spin to make clothes for themselves and their families (and sometimes very large families). To pass the time, women would often spin in groups. This activity gave them a sense of companionship. This community would lay the important groundwork for their support of the men during the Revolutionary War. The second part of the book informs the reader how women formed formal spinning groups that actively worked to help the patriots. In a way, women now took up spinning as a part of the campaign for freedom against the British. Sewing gave women a sense of nationality as they could actively contribute to the defense of colonial liberties. Norton explains in the first chapters how women needed a certain degree of conversation. Women loved to talk, most particularly while they spun. In Part II, Norton explains how politics is all anyone could talk about during this era, so why would women want to be left out? Indeed, they were not left out of the conversation, and they were even more than willing to take part in the action. After all, it was their families who were at stake. Women actively took part in the mobs and spoke out against loyalists - partially to avoid from themselves becoming targets of the patriotic fever that swept much of the colonies. Just as in any other civil war, not all women agreed. Political differences caused breakups and differences in friendships and marriages. Though we read from other sources that Washington held contempt for the women who traveled with his army - taking precious rations and supplies, Washington also displays his gratitude to Ester Reed and her girls for this organization's contributions. He put these girls, "to an equal place with any who have preceded them in the walk of female patriotism." The significant sign of change in the lives of colonial women is found midway through Part 2 when the postwar female generation led political discussion and even took part in activism. This was completely alien to most women born before 1760. Nineteenth-century women took pride in the contributions that members of their sex had made to the winning of independence. The existence of such public-spirited models showed that women could take active roles in politics without losing their feminine identity. It was not by chance that in 1848 the organizers chose to use the Declaration of Independence as the basis for their calls for reform in women's status. They understood the relevance of the revolutionary era to their own endeavors. This is a far cry to the woman detailed in Chapter 1 who had no idea about even the financial state of her husband. Here is another profound change from Chapter 1: As time went on, women learned more about the family's finances while at the same time their husband's knowledge became increasingly outdated and remote. In a way, the soldiers increasingly delegated responsibility of the finances to their wives. Women received freedom from the British - just as did men. However, women also gained certain freedoms for their gender. Following the war, female children consequently began to expect the right to decide for themselves in marital matters if they so desired. Many girls continued to seek their parents' and friends' assessments of potential spouses. However, some women made up their own minds, and this is a revolutionary concept. After all, even today in some countries, women have yet to acquire this freedom. Not only were they given more choice in who they were to marry, the increasing use of contraception in the last two decades of the century can also be seen as a reflection of women's improved status within marriage. This came as quite a surprise to me as I had not been aware of any such methods of contraception at this early period of time. I had always assumed that people of this era had only one method of contraception: do not do anything! After the war, women grew increasingly willing to challenge the conventional wisdom about feminine faults. Women finally stood up against the arguments about their nature - particularly against negative aspects of their nature. They were less inclined to allow remarks about their "natural state" pass without harsh comment. This is, in my opinion, the true birth of a P.C. culture! Norton's argument is successful. The lives of women were forever altered by the Revolutionary War. Further, women had just begun to seek liberties for their own gesture. In a way, this book should be read before one begins to study and attempt to understand the feminist movement of the 1840's, before the Suffrage movement that gained women's right to vote, and before the feminist movement that would begin in the 1960's. Indeed, we still live with the consequences of the changes in women's society during the Revolutionary War.