As First Lady of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution, Esther de Berdt Reed is known for heading the largest women’s organization of the Revolution. 

Esther de Berdt was born October 22, 1746, in London, England.  Her father, Dennis de Berdt, was a descendent of the French Huguenots and he educated Esther in a humble, yet strict, religious manner.  Dennis de Berdt was a merchant who participated chiefly in colonial trade. 

Esther De Berdt and Joseph Reed met around 1763 when Reed was staying with the de Berdts. Reed was an American studying law in London at the time.   De Berdt and Reed were engaged, but soon afterwards, Reed returned to his home in the American colonies.  The couple was separated for five years.  Reed made a trip back to England in 1769 and they were married on May 31st, 1770.  Soon after their marriage the couple moved to Philadelphia, where the now Esther de Berdt Reed adjusted to colonial life.  

During this unstable period in which America was on the brink of war, a sense of rebellion was growing in the new American.  After the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord, her husband was summoned to join General George Washington as an aide and military secretary.  Joseph Reed quickly moved up the military ranks and soon became a general in the Continental Army.  Esther Reed stayed in Philadelphia raising several young children. 

As the British got closer to Philadelphia, it was no longer safe for Reed and her family to stay at their home.  They retreated to Burlington and later to Evesham to avoid the British.  Life was both uncertain and dangerous – as it was for countless other women whose husbands joined in the Revolution against the established Government. Esther Reed and her children had an escape plan ready if British soldiers made a sudden advance.  Reed also had other reasons to fear for her family’s safety:  as in many other places, Philadelphia was divided between those supporting the new government and those loyal to the old.  Local loyalists rioted and threatened anyone associated with the leadership of the new government.  Reed once again changed locations and moved her family to Flemington.  She moved back to Philadelphia only after the British had evacuated the city.  In this, she was more fortunate than other women; several wives of men who signed the Declaration of Independence had their homes and crops destroyed by Tory mobs.

The family returned to Philadelphia with a new social position.  In the fall of 1778, Joseph Reed had been elected president, or what we would now call governor, of Pennsylvania.  Esther Reed used this elevated position to show her patriotism by forming the Ladies of Philadelphia.  In order to gain support for the American cause, Reed authored “The Sentiments of an American Woman” which was published in local papers and called women to action.  She wrote: “Our ambition is kindled by the same of those heroines of antiquity, who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to the universe, that, if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the Men, we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good. I glory in all that which my sex has done great and commendable.” (1)   The call to action was successful and the Ladies of Philadelphia became the largest women’s organization of the Revolutionary War. 

The Ladies of Philadelphia, headed by Reed, worked to raise the incredible amount of
”three hundred thousand continental (paper) dollars, or approximately seventy-five hundred dollars in specie (precious-metal coin)” (2) by walking door to door requesting donations from over 1,600 contributors.  This amount of money was extraordinary in this time period.  In response to all of Reed’s efforts the French Secretary of Legation, M. de Marbois, wrote a letter to Reed commending her work.  He wrote that Reed was “the best patriot, the most zealous and active, and the most attached to the interests of her country.” (3) 

Reed believed that the government should pay for the soldiers’ food and supplies and she anticipated that the money the Ladies of Philadelphia raised would go directly to the soldiers “to render the condition of the Soldier more pleasant.” (4)   She wrote General Washington and told him of her plan to give the money to the soldiers.  Washington responded by suggesting that instead of giving the money directly to the soldiers, a shirt would be more useful to them.  He explained, “A few provident Soldiers will, probably, avail themselves of the advantages which may result from the generous bounty of two dollars in Specie, but it is equally probable that it will be the means of bringing punishment on a number of others whose [propensity] to drink overcoming all other considerations too frequently leads them into irregularities and disorders”.  But Washington left the decision up to Reed by concluding:  “It was not my intention to divert the benevolent donation of the Ladies from the channel they wished it to flow in.”(5) With this advice, the women used the money to buy linen and began to sew shirts for soldiers. 

Unfortunately, Reed did not live to see her efforts fully realized.  Esther de Berdt Reed died on September 18th, 1780, at the young age of 34.  The daughter of Benjamin Franklin, Sarah Franklin Bache, took over Reed’s position and finished the patriotic project. 

Though she did not see the project finished, Reed’s efforts did not go unacknowledged.  All of Philadelphia mourned her early death and a moving obituary was written praising Reed for her efforts and patriotism.  Women in several states, including Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, followed her example by starting similar fundraising organizations.  Her commitment to the Revolution is especially noteworthy because she was British; she had lived in America only a few years before the war against her homeland began.  In writing about her reasons for this unusual action, Esther Reed made it clear that freedom was her motivation- and that women also were capable of publishing political thought.

 

Additional Resources:
Web sites:

• “The Sentiments of an American Woman” 
• White House for Kids 
• Letters Between Reed and George Washington & Reed’s Obituary 
• Library of Congress
• American Revolution

Books:

• Berkin, Carol.  Revolutionary Mothers:  Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence.  (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005).
• Diamant, Lincoln, Ed.  Revolutionary Women: In the War For American Independence. (Westport: Praeger, 1998).
• Resmond, Shirley Raye.  Patriots in Petticoats: Heroines of the American Revolution.  (New York:  Random House Children’s Books, 2004).
• Roberts, Cokie.  Founding Mothers:  The Women Who Raised Our Nation.  (New York:  HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2004). 
• Weatherford, Doris L.  American Women's History: An A-Z. (Prentice Hall, 1994).

 

Foot Notes to Text:
(1) Reed, Esther de Berdt.  “The Sentiments of an American Woman.”  (Philadelphia:  John Dunlap, 1780).  As found on http://www.indiana.edu/~kdhist/H105-2006B-web/week07/Sentiments1780.html.
(2) Weatherford, Doris L.  American Women's History: An A-Z. (Prentice Hall, 1994).
(3) Diamant, Lincoln, Ed.  Revolutionary Women: In the War For American Independence. (Westport: Praeger, 1998).
(4) Berkin, Carol.  Revolutionary Mothers:  Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence.  (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005). 
(5) Berkin, Carol.  Revolutionary Mothers:  Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence.  (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005). 
Image from "American Revolution," http://www.americanrevolution.org/women3.html

Biography researched and written by NWHM Intern of Summer 2006 Albrey Diece

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