Founding
Mothers
The Women
Who Raised Our Nation
By Cokie Roberts
Read by Cokie Roberts
“Remember
the ladies.”
-- Abigail Adams
In the introduction,
Roberts’ wonders what the women in William Claybourne’s
life did during his political years. William is her ancestor. Roberts’
tells us politicians run in her family, in each generation, actually.
Her interest in the women of America was piqued when she and her
husband wrote a book about John Adams and learned more about Abigail
Adams.
“Most of
the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence and Constitution,
fought the Revolution and formed the government couldn’t
have done it without the women.”
Roberts tells us these
extraordinary women, living extraordinary lives, had the ears of
the founding fathers.
“It was the
women who got the men together for civilized conversations at
the dinner parties of the new Republic and kept the fragile country
from falling into fatal partisan discord. They made them behave.”
One
of the problems with history is that it’s male orientated.
There isn’t much about our “founding mothers.”
Roberts finds most of her information in the letters and diaries
of these women. At the age of sixteen, Eliza Lucas (Pinckey) ran
her father’s three plantations, taught her sisters and slaves
lessons and wrote Wills for her neighbors. Ben Franklin’s
common-law wife ran his print shop and her Sundry shop while he
played politics. Pamphlets were the delivery system of the colonial
era and it was Mercy Otis Warren, the wife and sister of revolutionaries,
who bravely published pamphlets against the British government.
It
took a family to raise a country – at least that’s what
Cokie Roberts is trying to tell us as she relates the strength of
our founding mothers and their families who continued on without
their men. Without their families running their homes and businesses,
the founding fathers would not have completed their political –
not to mention historical --jobs. Founding Mothers is a
fascinating read/listen. Those who consider history dull will discover
this book has enough personal tidbits about our founding mothers
to ward off the doldrums.
Roberts
reads the audio version of Founding Mothers. Her reading
is similar to her News reports. Her tone varies from personally
proud, to political, to gossipy, to feminist. Founding Mothers
informs readers and garners discussion. Consider sharing it with
a group of friends. |