Tea Time

                            

Let the Daughters of Liberty, nobly arise 

And tho’ we’ve no Voice, but a negative here, 

The use of the Taxables, let us forebear. 

Stand firmly resolved and bid Britain to see, 

Rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our Tea. 

America's War for Independence has always focused on the Founding Fathers and Fighters but very little attention has been focused on the Founding Mothers. Despite the lack of attention, there were many women who were active in the American Revolution. Some fought as soldiers, some acted as spies, some helped collect money and supplies for the war efforts and some even found ways to act politically.

When Britain enacted the Tea Act of 1773, many local governments decided to boycott any tea or cloth imported from England. Women, it seemed, were also willing participants in this boycott. On October, 25, 1774, 51 women in Edenton, North Carolina met at a Mrs. Elizabeth King's home to discuss the boycott. This gathering of women would shortly become known as the Edenton Tea Party and would be one of the first political events organized exclusively by women in America.

The Edenton Tea Party was led by a woman named Penelope Pagett Barker. Penelope's husband was in England acting as agent for the colony of North Carolina. Many of the other Edenton women were the wives, daughters and sisters of the most prominent men in the area. Following the example of the Boston Tea Party that took place earlier in the year, the women of Edenton were determined to stand up against Britain's unjust laws.

Penelope had written a resolution declaring the intentions of the women to stop drinking tea imported from Britain. After some discussion, all 51 women signed their names. By signing the resolution the women also ensured that their families would not drink any imported tea as well, since the women were usually the ones purchasing food for their families. They knew their actions would have consequences for their families both in the colonies and in England. Mrs. King, whose home they were meeting in, was the wife of a local Edenton merchant. Tea parties were THE social event of the times but patriots were so strongly opposed to Britain's tyranny that it was a necessary sacrifice. It was agreed that instead of buying the tea imported by England from India and China, the ladies of Edenton would make their own home-brewed tea. After signing their names to the resolution, they then drank tea made from crushed raspberry leaves.

The resolution declared: 

"We, the Ladys of Edenton, do hereby solomnly engage not to conform to the Pernicious custom of drinking tea, and that We, the aforesaid Ladys, will not promote ye wear of any manufacture from England until such time that all acts which tend to enslave our Native country shall be repealed."

The idea of women engaging in political resistance was so uncommon that it drew attention, not only among the other colonies, but in England as well. The Edenton Tea Party drew satirical derision from England. Copies of the resolution were printed in many British newspapers which provide us with the only known copies. 


In March of 1775 this satirical depiction of the Edenton Ladies appeared in a London paper. Penelope and her compatriots were felt to be anything but feminine by many, and their husbands were ridiculed as having no control over their wives.

Other women took notice and began acting on the lead of the Ladies of Edenton and began to hold their own tea parties. One party in Wilmington, North Carolina, burned their remaining supplies of imported tea. 

Until scenes like these started occurring across America, women were for the most part, content to stand in the background as their husband's helpmate. Frustration and disgust with the tyrannical acts of the British Parliament and a love of family and their new country left many women with no choice but to make their way to the foreground. Boycotts and showing off your home-spun clothes was just the beginning of a long hard fight for political recognition.