09/23/2026
The Architects of Economic Resistance
When we talk about the American Revolution, we often talk about generals and battlefields. But the fight was also happening in homes, shops and marketplaces, where women turned everyday economic choices into political action.
Women were central to boycotts of British goods, domestic manufacturing and fundraising for the revolutionary cause. They used the power available to them to make economic resistance part of the movement.
In 1774, Penelope Barker and 50 other women in Edenton, North Carolina, signed a public resolution pledging to boycott British tea and cloth. Their names were published in the Virginia Gazette, making their political action visible far beyond Edenton.
Across the colonies, the Daughters of Liberty and other women participated in nonimportation efforts and produced homespun textiles, transforming domestic production into an act of political resistance.
In 1780, Esther de Berdt Reed organized the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, leading a door-to-door fundraising campaign that raised more than $300,000 in Continental currency for the Continental Army.
These were not simply acts of support from the sidelines. Women were organizing, mobilizing resources and using the economic power available to them to shape the revolutionary movement.
The Revolution was fought on battlefields. It was also fought through what people bought, what they refused to buy and what they were willing to sacrifice.
To learn more about the women of the American Revolution, join us for RYSE at Paulsdale, this Saturday, led by youth leaders from across the state. Link in bio for details.
Photos: Philip Dawe, A Society of Patriotic Ladies, 1775, Library of Congress; Esther de Berdt Reed, The Sentiments of an American Woman, 1780, Library of Congress.
