María de las Mercedes Barbudo and Sarah Goddard

To begin with, we found an important Hispanic woman during the 18^th Century whose purpose was to change little by little her small world. Her name was María de las Mercedes Barbudo, who was a political activist from Puerto Rico and joined forces with the Venezuelan government to lead an insurrection against Spanish Empire. Before this, she became an important businesswoman thanks to her store dedicated to the sale of buttons, threads and cloth. Because of this she had commercial dealings with important businessmen in connection with a company (Compañía de Asiento de Negros) which regulated the slave trade in the island.

She had such a liberal mind she often met intellectuals in her own house to talk about political issues, social and economic situations, and to propose solutions to the problems involving Puerto Rico and the Spanish Empire in general.

As a result, she was imprisoned in a house for women accused of crimes. She escaped thanks to the revolutionary factions which were operating in Cuba. After that, she moved to Venezuela, where she died in 1849.

But in the English colonies, there were also many notable women. One of them is Sarah Goddard, a printer who was born at Rhode Island in 1701. Her education included not only the subjects usual to the day but also French and Latin. She was married to a member of the Church of England, and they had four children, but only two of them lived to adulthood, who were educated by herself. 

Their son, William, started Providence's first printing shop and newspaper with his daughter, thanks to his mother's money. As he had to move temporarily to New York to find more subscribers, Sarah became the second printer in the shop by supervising it while her son was out. After a few years, they sold the shop and Sarah joined her son in Philadelphia, where they started the Pennsylvania Chronicle, and where she finally died at the age of 69.

Between these two women, we find some differences. On the one hand, the one did not get married as the other. On the other hand, the one was a political activist whereas the other was a printer. But they had something in common, too: they wanted, each one in their own way, to change their world. The one did it by joining forces with Venezuela against the Spanish Empire, and the other by helping her son to become a newspaper's printer, which would be very important for the people to be informed at that time.

Webgraphy:

- Eileen K. Cheng, Ph.D; and Joanne L. Good Win , Ph.D (2015). Encyclopedia of Women in American History, vol. I-III (page 111). London and New York: Routledge. Weblink: Encyclopedia of Women in American History
- María de las Mercedes Barbudo 
- Raquel Rosario: Barbudo
- Tony "the Marine" Santiago: María de las Mercedes Barbudo.