Although Charity Clarke was the daughter of a retired British Army captain and had visited relatives in England, she supported the American cause. Writing to a cousin in 1768, she explained her attachment to America and how she would support its bid for freedom.

… don’t think that I prefer England to America; I would not quit my woods & rivers, for all the gay amusements you abound with, you need not talk of the old story of sower [sour] grapes; I assure you the way of life that would be to me the most agreable is downright Indian; and if you English folks won’t give us the liberty we ask … I will try to gather a number of Ladies armed with spining wheels,
attended by dying swains, who shall all learn to weave, & keep sheep and will retire beyond the reach of arbitrary power; cloathed with the work of our hands & feeding on what the country affords, without any of the cares, Luxuries, or oppression of an long inhabited country, in short we will found a new arcadia; you Imagine we cannot live without your assistance, but I know we can; banish every thing but the necessaries of life; & we will want nothing but what our country will afford. We shall then be happy; no more Slaves to fashion, & ceremony; freedom can content & peace shall be our constant companions.

This excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 1, page 7. The illustration is from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.