These children from Pennsylvania had to wait 28 years to be free. Another group whose ideas about freedom have changed is women. After the Revolutionary War began, many already politically savvy women were inspired by independence to stand up for their rights. Women like Esther Reed, Abigail Adams, and Mercy Otis Warren were activists within their homes and communities. Deborah Sampson, Foner writes, disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army in 1782, at the age of 21. She was a brave soldier and once took a bullet out of her leg so as not to need to see a doctor, who would learn and reveal her identity. In her memoir, Ann Carson describes leaving her husband because he did not consider her an equal: "I felt like his equal...Hence the mistreatment I received from him ( but which many simple wives might consider good) I was unhappy. She also describes how quickly the money he had left her and their children was gone, and how she felt she could not wait for him to bring her money. She bought her own house and entered