When the war came down upon the country, women helped in every field.  In sustaining public sentiment they were active.  Mrs. Warren with a tireless pen combatted loyalist propaganda in many a drama and satire.  Almost every revolutionary leader had a wife or daughter who rendered service in the “second line of defense.”  Mrs. Washington managed the plantation while the General was at the front and went north to face the rigors of the awful winter at Valley Forge—­an inspiration to her husband and his men.  The daughter of Benjamin Franklin, Mrs. Sarah Bache, while her father was pleading the American cause in France, set the women of Pennsylvania to work sewing and collecting supplies.  Even near the firing line women were to be found, aiding the wounded, hauling powder to the front, and carrying dispatches at the peril of their lives.

In the economic sphere, the work of women was invaluable.  They harvested crops without enjoying the picturesque title of “farmerettes” and they canned and preserved for the wounded and the prisoners of war.  Of their labor in spinning and weaving it is recorded:  “Immediately on being cut off from the use of English manufactures, the women engaged within their own families in manufacturing various kinds of cloth for domestic use.  They thus kept their households decently clad and the surplus of their labors they sold to such as chose to buy rather than make for themselves.  In this way the female part of families by their industry and strict economy frequently supported the whole domestic circle, evincing the strength of their attachment and the value of their service.”

For their war work, women were commended by high authorities on more than one occasion.  They were given medals and public testimonials even as in our own day.  Washington thanked them for their labors and paid tribute to them for the inspiration and material aid which they had given to the cause of independence.

THE FINANCES OF THE REVOLUTION

When the Revolution opened, there were thirteen little treasuries in America but no common treasury, and from first to last the Congress was in the position of a beggar rather than a sovereign.  Having no authority to lay and collect taxes directly and knowing the hatred of the provincials for taxation, it resorted mainly to loans and paper money to finance the war.  “Do you think,” boldly inquired one of the delegates, “that I will consent to load my constituents with taxes when we can send to the printer and get a wagon load of money, one quire of which will pay for the whole?”