Two very different protests, for very different reasons.
The first, a noble cause supported... The Edenton Tea Party wherein the women join the protest against the British rule by quitting tea.
From the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, January 16, 1775, comes the following contemporary account of the Edenton Tea Party and the only authentic list of signers of the resolutions.
"Extract of a letter from North Carolina, Oct. 27.
"The Provincial Deputies of North Carolina having resolvd not to drink any more tea, nor wear any more British cloth, &c. many ladies of this Province have determined to give a memorable proof of their patriotism, and have accordingly entered into the following honourable and spirited association. I send it to you, to shew your fair countrywomen, how zealously and faithfully American ladies follow the laudable example of their husbands, and what opposition your Ministers may expect to receive from a people thus firmly united against them"
The whole post and list of signers can be found here, but since the pictures have all disappeared from the page, I fear for its continuity. The picture posted here is an English Caricature of the Tea Party.
The second, less noble perhaps, but probably more vital to happiness, and certainly more amusing - The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674:
The Occasion of which Insufferable Disaster, after a serious
Enquiry, and Discussion of the Point by the Learned
of the Faculty, we can Attribute to nothing more than
the Excessive use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish
Liquor called COFFEE, which Riffling Nature
of her Choicest Treasures, and Drying up the Radical
Moisture, has so Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled
our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent,
as Age, and as unfruitful as those Desarts whence that
unhappy Berry is said to be brought.
Poor guys. No viagra in 1674 to help them out. And poor women!
But to our unspeakable
Grief, we find of late a very sensible Decay of that
true Old English Vigour; our Gallants being every way so
Frenchified, that they are become meer Cock-sparrows,
fluttering things that come on Sa sa, with a world of Fury,
but are not able to stand to it, and in the very first Charge
fall down flat before us. Never did Men wear greater
Breeches, or carry less in them of any Mettle whatsoever.
Well, they must have found a way around the problem ... probably spiked the coffee with a little alcohol. You can read the whole thing here. It's chock full of chuckles. Found via Bloggle, where you can also find a graphic of the cover.
Comments