How did life differ for women depending on where they lived - the North versus the South, the city versus the rural areas? How else did geographical circumstances impact their lives?ĥ. Despite a lack of legal and social rights, including the right to own property and receive a formal education, how did the women presented in Founding Mothers assert their authority and exercise their intelligence?Ĥ. Which woman would you say had the single greatest impact during the Revolution? How about during the first years of the new government?ģ. What inspired you to read Founding Mothers? Why do you suppose the contributions of women in the Revolutionary era have been largely overlooked by historians? Would the founding of the nation have occurred without these women?Ģ. These women who sacrificed for the fledgling nation spent months or even years apart from their husbands, at a time when letters were their only form of contact.ĭrawing upon personal correspondence and private journals, Founding Mothers brings to life the everyday trials, extraordinary triumphs, and often surprising stories of Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Reed Franklin, Eliza Pinckney, Martha Washington, and other patriotic and passionate women, each of whom played a role in raising our nation.ġ. While the men went off to war or to Congress, the women managed their husbands’ businesses, ran the farms, and raised their children. In Founding Mothers, New York Times bestselling author Cokie Roberts brings to light the stories of the women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men, sometimes even defending their very doorsteps from British occupation.

Yet the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters who supported, encouraged, and even advised them have been virtually ignored. In the histories of the American Revolution, much has been written about America’s founding fathers, those brave men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution. “ creates a strong… case that without the patriotism of women on the home front, the Colonies would have lost the Revolutionary War… Founding Mothers is a series of entertaining mini-biographies and engaging vignettes.” Harper Perennial First Edition edition February 15, 2005

Founding mothers book