Independence Day! A glorious day. Parades, patriotic editorials, and fireworks! As we rode in the July 4 parade and shouted Happy Independence Day from our float -- and as I read newspapers and editorials, I noticed something was missing.
It's good to celebrate our nation's birthday! And it's good to admire the men who helped establish our government. But aren't we forgetting something? Someone? Some ones...
Cokie Roberts, National Public Radio news analyst and columnist, wrote a book entitled Founding Mothers to provide "an intimate look at the passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families and country proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it."
It wasn't all "wine and roses", there were troubles as well as hard work!
The book lives up to its hype. It justly praises and congratulates women who acted and wrote in ways that supported their husbands as the men left farms, jobs and plantation to begin our government. And it sets us straight on who actually did some of the good things men get the credit for, like Deborah Reid Franklin, wife of Ben, who kept the Philadelphia Gazette and the Post Office operating efficiently while he was in England for 16 of their 17 years of marriage -- tending to America's business, and to a mistress of his own. He was having such a good time that he only returned to America when his wife died and he had to start earning his own living.
I must add here that I'd have stopped sending him money very early!
Roberts talks of Martha Washington's bravery and how she helped raise the spirits of the men at Valley Forge. And she tells us it was Martha who brought money to their marriage -- which allowed George time to work with others forming the new government. She also protected George from scandal.
Dolly Madison was a gracious hostess, but she may be best remembered for saving George Washington's portrait when the British's burned the White House.
Even a prostitute, Betsy Loring, kept an important British general occupied -- indirectly keeping him and his men away from the action for long periods of time.
16-year-old Eliza Pinckney was charged with running three plantations and caring for her sick mom, a younger sister, and workers when her dad went to Philadelphia to help establish the new government. She even practiced law to help her neighbors, writing wills in times of emergency. She told those she helped to check with a lawyer as soon as things settled. The Pinckneys were land-rich and cash-poor, but Eliza refused several arranged marriages her dad suggested. She would not marry someone she didn't love. Oh -- and in her spare time -- she tested and learned how to grow indigo, introducing it into the South as a much-needed cash crop.
These women did what women do -- they displayed courage, endured hardships, and kept farms, plantations, and businesses from going bankrupt while their men were in Philadelphia. In addition they birthed and raised children, cared for their aging relatives, and "fended off British soldiers."
Abigail Adams' husband John advised her that "if it got really dangerous," she should "take the children and flee to the woods." She was one of the few women whose letters and writings have endured. Who does not remember her comment to her husband to "Remember the ladies" when creating the new nation? She warned him that if women were not included, we would not hold ourselves bound to obey the laws.
And here we are 239 years after we ALL won independence from Britain -- unprotected -- partly due to changes in word-use. "Men" used to mean "all people" but is now used as "men only." After the slaves were freed, the word "man" was placed in the Constitution to make sure only Black males were allowed to vote. Women finally won the right to vote...but words in the Constitution seem to prevent our promised equal rights. TODAY, Citizens need to call or write elected officials and urge them to support the bill that will remove the Time Limit for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment so the last three needed states can ratify it! Only then will women truly have Equal Rights in America!
Women were behind boycotts of products Britain taxed to bring them even more revenue. The Daughters of Liberty refused to buy from stores that collected taxes. They wore homespun cloth they made themselves rather than buy silks from England. And they stopped drinking tea to protest the tea tax.
Roberts summarized some intangibles when she ended her discussion of the men who wrote the constitution, planned, and fought in the revolution this way: "The women made the men behave!"
I'm proud to thank the Founding Fathers for their sacrifices and daring in establishing the United States of America, but I'm also proud to thank the Founding Mothers who supported those sacrifices and kept the home fires burning while they were gone.
Don't forget, many of the men listed in various editorials on July 4 were killed by the enemy, and so were their families.
Thanks to ALL who sacrificed to create America!
Now we need to sacrifice a bit ourselves, as we work together to make America the strongest it can be!