How To Write A Letter To Women's Rights Dbq Essay

During the times of the American Revolution, women gained a sense of self-identification, among other things. These times are important to women’s rights because this laid the foundation for the freedom and equality among sexes we come to know today. Women in the American Revolution gained new roles and discovered importance beyond the household duties of precious generations, by means of filling the gaps left by their husbands at war. Women participated in the American Revolution in ways that had not so much happened before in previous wars. One example is Deborah Champion being used to spread secret messages. Her father explained to her, “there are reasons why it is better for you a woman to take despatches I would send than for me to entrust them to a man; else I should send your brother Henry. Dare you go?... ” (Document 6.6). Her father, by the tone of this message was using Deborah’s womanhood and enemy perceptions of her importance as a woman to relay important messages. This is an example of how some of the importance placed on women during wartime was not necessarily about giving free white women equal rights as

Patriot woman Abigail Adams writes about these rights in her letter to her husband, saying, “I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors,” (Document 6.7). Interestingly she does not include herself, by her words “them” instead of using “us.” This could be lost in translation of their dialect, but not including herself in this verbiage could have been intentional in the case that her letter is read aloud in front of the Continental Congress, instead of just Abigail’s husband. This would have the Congress think of all women (free white women) instead of just Abigail, or thinking that John Adams only wants more rights for his own