"A Society of Patriotic Ladies at Edenton in North Carolina", a 1775 satirical depiction of a London caricaturist's idea of what an American women's boycott meeting might have been like.

Several of the women have pretensions to extreme high fashion (with small caps perched on huge "big hair" headdresses), the woman chairing the meeting and holding the gavel is rather ugly (in 1775, just the very idea of women holding political-type meetings with public speaking and rules of debate would have been humorous to many), one of the women holding a quill is flirting with a man, the woman sitting next to the chairwoman looks like she would like to flirt with men if they would pay attention to her (note the body-language of the way she holds her fan), flasks of alcohol are much in evidence, and underneath the table a child holding a tray of food is harassed by a urinating dog (this implies an accusation that the women are not good mothers).

The text of the resolution reads "We the Ladys of Edenton do hereby solemnly Engage not to Conform to that Pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea, or that we the aforesaid Ladys Promote the use of any Manufacture from England, until such time that all Acts which tend to Enslave this our Native Country shall be Repealed."

Bibliographic information found on LoC site:

TITLE: A society of patriotic ladies, at Edenton in North Carolina

CALL NUMBER: PC 1 - 5284B (A size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZC4-4617 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-12711 (b&w film copy neg.) LC-USZCN4-208 (color film copy neg.) No known restrictions on publication.

SUMMARY: Print shows satire of American women from Edenton, North Carolina, pledging to boycott English tea in response to Continental Congress resolution in 1774 to boycott English goods.

MEDIUM: 1 print : mezzotint.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: London : Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, 1775 March 25.

CREATOR: Robert Sayer and John Bennett (Firm), publisher.

RELATED NAMES: Dawe, Philip, artist.

NOTES: Plate V. Attributed to P(hilip?) Dawe, BMC no. 5284B. Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 5, no. 5284

Forms part of: British Cartoon Collection (Library of Congress).

Published in: The American Revolution in drawings and prints; a checklist of 1765-1790 graphics in the Library of Congress / Compiled by Donald H. Cresswell, with a foreword by Sinclair H. Hitchings. Washington : [For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.], 1975, no. 681.

Published in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan Brinkley. New York : Knopf, 1997.

Published in: American women : a Library of Congress guide for the study of women's history and culture in the United States / edited by Sheridan Harvey ... [et al.]. Washington : Library of Congress, 2001, p. 183.

SUBJECTS:

• Women--Political activity--North Carolina--Edenton--1770-1780.
• Tea--North Carolina--Edenton--1770-1780.
• Boycotts--American--North Carolina--Edenton--1770-1780.
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Women.

FORMAT: Cartoons (Commentary) British 1770-1780. Mezzotints British 1770-1780.

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID: (digital file from color film copy transparency) cph 3g04617 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g04617 (digital file from b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a15070 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a15070