As America approaches its historic 250th anniversary, our minds naturally turn to the summer of 1776. To the visionaries, the risk-takers, and the declaration of a new political and economic future. But while history books often spotlight the “Founding Fathers,” a closer look at the era reveals a fuller story: the spirit of American independence was also built, funded, printed, supplied, and sustained by the nation’s original female founders. Even more important to us there was foundational work put in place by female founders in North Carolina.
Long before women had the legal right to vote. Before they had the legal power to sign contracts, control wages, or hold property in their own names. Women still found a way to keep commerce moving. They ran print shops and stores, managed farms and inventories. They extended credit, organized boycotts, and filled supply gaps when war and politics disrupted daily life.
This Independence Day, and as we look toward 250 years of the American experiment, the NC Women Business Owners Hall of Fame is celebrating the trailblazing women who helped shape our nation. We are also looking at the North Carolina pioneers who strengthened the state’s early economic bedrock.
The National Icons: Printing, Funding, and Supplying Freedom
Mary Katharine Goddard: The Woman Who Printed the Declaration
You cannot celebrate the 4th of July without the Declaration of Independence. Thus you cannot talk about the early life of that document without recognizing a woman in business. In January 1777, publisher and printer Mary Katharine Goddard produced what is widely known as the Goddard Broadside. The first printed copy of the Declaration to include the names (typeset signatures) of the signers.
All of the details mattered. In the volatile early months of the Revolution, publicizing names could mean real danger. Goddard’s decision to print and distribute the document was a business decision and a civic act. This act was carried out in a world where women’s public leadership was rarely welcomed. She also served as a postmaster which is an influential role in a time when communication networks were a form of infrastructure.
Women as Wartime Suppliers: Work That Kept Communities Functioning
War strains supply chains. It disrupts ports, breaks trade routes, drains labor from farms, and creates sudden demand for food, clothing, tools, paper, and ammunition. Across the colonies, women often stepped into roles that kept local and regional markets alive. They were managing shops, negotiating purchases, handling accounts, and maintaining production when men were away.
Some stories from the era describe women performing industrial work typically credited only to men. This included repairing equipment, producing goods, and keeping essential materials moving. Records vary widely by location and time, but the overall pattern is clear: women’s labor, management, and problem-solving were part of the Revolution’s foundation.
Female Founders and Pioneers in North Carolina: Commerce in the Old North State
North Carolina’s legacy of independent female leadership runs deep. In the colonial and revolutionary eras, North Carolina women frequently shouldered the practical responsibilities of commerce. This was especially true during disruptions caused by war, politics, and travel.
Penelope Barker and the Edenton Tea Party (1774): An Economic Protest
One of North Carolina’s most famous acts of organized women’s resistance came before the first shots of the Revolution. In October 1774, Penelope Barker helped organize the Edenton Tea Party, often described as the first documented political protest by women in the American colonies.
The women of Edenton pledged to boycott British tea and cloth. That boycott was not only on of symbolism, it was one of economic force. Women were major decision-makers in household purchasing, and they understood that changing buying habits could pressure power. In today’s language, their action looks like an early “buy local” and “vote with your dollars” movement that were rooted in community values and shared resolve.
New Bern and Coastal Trade: Women Who Managed Goods, Credit, and Logistics
In the mid-1700s, ports such as New Bern linked North Carolina to broader Atlantic trade networks. In many colonial towns, when a merchant died, a widow sometimes continued the business. This meant keeping contracts, warehouses, and customer relationships intact instead of liquidating everything. Local histories include examples such as Margaret Cornell, described as taking control of a mercantile and shipping operation after her husband’s death and maintaining the flow of goods through eastern North Carolina.
These roles required real expertise: tracking inventory, managing storage, working with ship captains, dealing with seasonal shortages, extending and collecting credit, and navigating a legal system that often limited women’s formal authority. Even when the paperwork favored male relatives or trustees, women were frequently the operational leaders making businesses function day to day.
Agricultural Managers and Innovators: Keeping the Economy From Collapsing
North Carolina’s economy relied heavily on agriculture, and the Revolution put constant pressure on farms and local food supplies. Women managed planting, harvesting, labor, preservation, sales, and trade, especially when men were fighting, traveling for politics, or working elsewhere to support the war effort.
Accounts from coastal and inland communities describe women overseeing large operations, maintaining output under stress, and making decisions that protected land and livelihoods. Whether these women were running small family farms or larger enterprises, their management helped stabilize communities during years when stability was hard to find.
What Made Their Achievements Remarkable: The Legal and Social Reality of 1776
To understand why these stories matter, it helps to name the constraints of the time. Under the legal doctrine of coverture, a married woman’s legal identity was often folded into her husband’s. Depending on the colony and circumstance, that could limit a woman’s ability to own property independently, keep wages, sign contracts, or sue for unpaid debts.
And yet, the economy still needed to run. Markets needed goods. Communities needed communication and transportation. Families needed income. In that gap between what the law said and what life required, women built practical authority through competence, networks, and relentless work.
From 1776 to Today: A 250-Year Arc of Progress
Looking back from the vantage point of America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, the change is striking. In the revolutionary era, women’s economic contributions were often essential but rarely credited. Today, women are visible founders, executives, investors, civic leaders, and builders of community wealth.
Recent national estimates commonly report that women-owned businesses represent roughly four out of ten U.S. businesses and generate trillions of dollars in economic activity. In North Carolina, women are increasingly central to the state’s growth story—from main-street enterprises to the innovation economy associated with North Carolina startups.
That modern momentum is not separate from the past. It is a continuation of it. Proof that the same grit and independence that powered the founding era still shows up whenever women step forward to lead, solve problems, and strengthen their communities.
Celebrating the Legacy and the Next Chapter
This year, as we honor the ideals of 1776 and prepare for America’s 250th milestone, we can widen the lens of remembrance. The Revolution was not only fought on battlefields and debated in halls of government. It was also printed in shops, sustained in homes, financed in communities, and advanced through collective action—often led by women whose names were not always recorded with the same care as men’s.
The NC Women Business Owners Hall of Fame exists to help preserve and elevate those legacies—connecting the “original female founders” and “female founders in North Carolina” of the past with the recognized leaders of today, including female founders in North Carolina who continue to shape what independence looks like in practice.
