As America commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we will rightly celebrate the Founding Fathers and the extraordinary ideals that gave birth to our nation.
Yet one important question deserves renewed attention:
Whose voices have we forgotten?
Although women held no seats in the Continental Congress, they helped shape the American Revolution through their intellect, courage, and conviction. They came from different generations, different backgrounds, and different races. One was the wife of a future president. One was a political writer. One sustained an army through compassion and service. One was an enslaved young poet whose words crossed the Atlantic before they were fully embraced at home. Individually, their voices were remarkable. Together, they became one voice that helped shape the ideals of a new nation.
Abigail Adams challenged a nation to “remember the ladies.” At just 31 years old, she penned her famous March 31, 1776, letter urging her husband, John Adams, to consider the rights and dignity of women as a new government was being formed. Their marriage was an extraordinary intellectual partnership, and John frequently valued Abigail’s judgment on politics and public affairs. Though her plea was not adopted, “Remember the Ladies” remains one of America’s earliest and most enduring calls for greater equality.
Mercy Otis Warren fought with ink rather than muskets. Raised in one of Massachusetts’ leading patriot families, she became one of the Revolution’s most influential political writers. By 1775, at age 47, as the first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord, her anonymous satires and plays were already shaping public opinion in support of independence. Three decades later, she published “History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution” (1805), one of the earliest comprehensive histories written by someone who had lived it. Mercy Otis Warren was not merely witnessing history—she was helping write it.
Martha Washington sustained what even General Washington could not command alone—the human spirit of the Continental Army. At 46, she journeyed to Valley Forge during the brutal winter of 1777–1778, where her compassion and resilience strengthened morale during one of the Revolution’s darkest chapters. Through her own letters and the recollections of those around her, we see a woman who comforted weary soldiers, organized supplies, and helped sustain a cause whose success depended as much on hope as it did on strategy. Long before she became known as the “Mother of Our Country,” she embodied the quiet strength that helped hold a nation together.
Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped from West Africa as a child and brought to Boston aboard a slave ship. Recognizing her extraordinary intellect, the Wheatley family educated her, and by age 20 her poetry had earned publication in London. There is a profound irony in that achievement. As the colonies moved toward independence in the name of liberty, one of America’s most gifted voices found her first audience across the Atlantic. Two years later, her poem To His Excellency, General Washington so impressed Washington that he personally thanked her and invited her to visit his headquarters. Yet freedom did not bring equality. Impoverished and largely forgotten, Wheatley died in 1784 at just 31 years old. Her life remains a poignant reminder that America’s promise of liberty was still painfully incomplete for many who believed in it most.
These women differed in age, circumstance, education, and race, yet each contributed to the same American conversation. They remind us that democracy has always been shaped not only by those who held office, but also by those who challenged, inspired, nurtured, documented, and preserved its ideals.
Researching their lives inspired me to create “Remember the Ladies,” a one-woman theatrical work developed as part of the USA250 commemoration. Along the way, I discovered a simple truth: history is never shaped by a single voice. It is shaped by many voices united by a common purpose.
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, may we remember not only the founders, but also the women whose courage, intellect, compassion, and perseverance helped give voice to the ideals upon which our nation was built. Our understanding of the American story is richer—and more complete—when all of its voices are heard.
I invite you to discover their remarkable stories at the premiere of Remember the Ladies on Sunday, August 23, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. Admission is free. To learn more or reserve tickets, visit www.nixonlibrary.gov.
Robin Follman currently serves as Arts Representative for USA250-OC, executive secretary of the Chapman University Board of Governors, and a member of the Argyros School of Business Board of Counselors.