From the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, this is We the People.

I'm Julie Silverbrook, Chief Content and Learning Officer.

The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase

awareness and understanding of the U.S. Constitution among the American people.

In this episode, we explore how women's experiences and contributions deepen and expand our

understanding of America's founding.

Joining the conversation are acclaimed historians Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlan

Alger Professor Emerita of American History at Cornell University, and Rosie Zagari, distinguished

university professor of history at George Mason University. American History at Cornell University, and Rosie Zagari, Distinguished University Professor of History

at George Mason University. I want to kick off first with a focus on more recent scholarship

that has brought in the lens to show how women were participating in the revolutionary era

in ways that shaped the political culture of the new nation. Mary Bell's how women were participating in the revolutionary era

in ways that shaped the political culture of the new nation.

Mary Beth, when we look at the American Revolution

through the lens of women's history,

what changes about the traditional story

of the founding era?

Well, I think so much of our thought about the revolution,

and this actually includes the recent ken burns

documentary is all about military history and when you focus on women or at least consider women as an

important part of the story the military focus goes away and what instead you focus on is social history.

You focus on the impact of the war, on families, on women, on children, on men who were

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