Taylor Bray
Estefanie Maldonado
Lauren Whitmore
Candi Player
Jamison Pomerantz
Blog #2. Colonial Women Through the Eyes of the English
“Feminism is theory that men and women should be equal politically, economically and socially” (http://www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/ecocult.shtml). In the year 1774, England perceived this idea of feminism to be a joke and the women were not taken seriously in their interest in being involved in politics. In the portrait, Patriotic Women of Edenton, the women are viewed as masculine in appearance and by the switching of roles of being the everyday housewife to being in the political world that men usually took in those times. It also showed how the alcohol they drank caused them to become promiscuous and vulnerable to men, and at the same time, they were manipulative to get their way in the political environment.
The artist made the women have masculine features to illustrate his idea that colonial women could not take on the male’s duties in society. In the middle ground on the right side, there is a woman whose physical features depict that of a man more than a woman. Instead of the dainty, skinny, beautiful woman sitting to her left, she is hideous in the face with a pointy nose 
the picture to the left, we can see the normal version of a man in this time period, which is how the English artist is trying to portray the political women in the picture. The artist’s representation of these hideous political women in the colonies was to put the English at ease about the revolution and to make them think it was not something to be worried about.
Women have been perceived as the everyday housewife that takes care of the children and does the chores around the house; however this portrait shows the complete opposite. We see underneath the table there is a child, eating food on the floor with a dog licking its face. 
This shows that the women were preoccupied with the political aspect of their lives that they could not pay close attention to what they were “supposed to do.” It also shows how things are getting out of control since everyone is too busy to pay attention to the things going on around them. An example of that is the dog licking the child’s face and urinating on a flask on the floor, which illustrates the unsanitary conditions that were around them.
In the portrait, you can easily tell that gin is being consumed by the women and it is effecting their actions in many ways. The woman in the center of the portrait, is signing a document which shows that she is in the political process, and at the same time is being manipulative by using her sexuality to get what she wants from men. 
Also, in the background, a woman is drinking gin out of a bowl which is another example of how the women play the role of the men while at work. The woman in the foreground of this picture, is bending over the table to sign the same document, and in so doing, has her backside out to attract the men in order to further manipulate them. These women are seen to use their sexuality to get what they want and succeed in their political positions and because of that, they forget their main focus on taking care of the family and home.
In the time this portrait was made, England was regulating the colonies in an extreme way. Because of what the colonists did in the Boston Tea Party, the English decided to retaliate by ordering the Boston Port Bill to be enforced, part of the Coercive Acts, which shut down the port for the colonists until they decided it had been enough punishment (p. 139). Another way the English fought back was with this drawing of the women of Edenton. “While the new political activism of some American women often amused male leaders of the resistance, it inspired the scorn of some partisans of British authority. When the women of Edenton, North Carolina, renounced imported tea, this British cartoon mocked them” (p. 139). The English parliament and their people mocked and punished the colonists through drawings, acts, and laws, thinking the revolution were not in fact real and thought they could regulate it.
r, the truth about these women was dramatically different from this hideous portrayal. The women were just like normal women in their appearance and their actions. The main difference between them and the women across the ocean was that they were active in political issues. England took the idea of women being involved in anything other than the home as some sort of joke and could not be taken seriously. The artist illustrated this humor and lack of understanding towards what was going on in the colonies during the revolution in the portrait, Patriotic Women of Edenton; where the women were masculine, manipulative, and promiscuous.
Bibliography
1) Feminist Utopia, Feminism Defined. Amazon Castle http://www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/ecocult.shtml
2) Davidson, James W., Gienapp, William E., Heyrman, Christine L., Lytle, Mark H., Stoff, Michael B. Nation of Nations. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2006
3) Petrik, Paula. “Society of Patriotic Women at Edenton, North Carolina.” HIST 120. April 2004. http://chnm.gmu.edu/history120/18thcentury/patrioticwomen/assignment.php
Group Report
Group Report: On Wednesday of last week we assigned the different jobs accordingly within our group for our first group typepad. Lauren Witmore and Candi Player combined and did textbook research, image research, and link research. Taylor and Estefanie did the first draft together and typed it up on typepad. Jamison had a heavy work schedule this week and therefore had the job of text editor and proofreader. Lastly, Candi Player did the group report. Everything ran smoothly in our group. Each member was enthusiastic when jobs were being handed out and each person fulfilled their job on time. It was an overall positive group work experience and allows us to look forward to other group typed assignments.
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