The Power Behind the American Founding: Elizabeth Willing Powel and Women’s Influence in Early America

Elizabeth Willing Powel occupied a fascinating place within the political and social world of America’s founding generation. Historian Samantha Snyder explores Powel’s relationships with figures such as George Washington and John Adams, the ways women exercised influence through correspondence, conversation, hospitality, and social networks, and why Powel’s role in the early republic deserves greater recognition.

Key Topics

• Elizabeth Willing Powel’s life and legacy
• Women’s influence during the American founding
• Powel’s relationships with George Washington and John Adams
• Politics and society in early Philadelphia
• Correspondence, hospitality, and social networks as forms of influence
• Challenging misconceptions about women’s roles in the founding era

Guest Bio

Samantha Snyder is a Research Librarian at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon and author of the forthcoming A Remarkable Woman: Elizabeth Willing Powel and the Founding of the American Republic. She has spent nearly a decade researching Powel’s life, drawing on archival research and public history to recover her place in the story of the American founding.

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