you know, interview some of these women and say, well, you know, gee, you know, we know that you're sorry that your husband died, probably, right? How do you feel about having this power? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Do you feel empowered or you feel just like burdened by all of this? And in most cases, we'll never really know.

It presents a chance to think about independence in a revolutionary era, right? So the language of the discussion that Cindy was having there is like women become independent.

But is that an empowering independence where you can buy and sell property as you wish? Or is that an isolating independence? I also think that like for middling rank people and some elite people, like the businesses they own, the farms, the print shops, you know, crafts, artisan shops, like those are really partnerships, right? And so you'll sometimes find women in newspapers whose husband has died and they're taking over the, you know, selling of the property or maybe they're taking over making saddles and bridles or glasswares or whatever they're doing.

But then you begin to perceive that they were doing that all along.

They have that skill set.

They've been a partner with their mate and now their mate is gone and they're an individual entrepreneur or an individual business owner, but they're not suddenly doing something they don't have familiarity with or experience with.

So Jane's home became part of the Liberty Boys organizing network, right? So more broadly, that leads me to ask, where were women in the revolution?

The boycotts that drive political activism and build momentum for the radical movement in North America, right? those work only because of women's involvement.