women in new england, 17 th century
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Women in New England, 17 th Century. Puritan Women. Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672 Average Puritan life except: 1 st American poet ½ of Puritan women could not read, over ½ could not write Emigrated from England to Massachusetts on Arbella ship. Puritan Marriage. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Women in New England, 17th Century
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Puritan Women• Anne Bradstreet, 1612-
1672• Average Puritan life
except: 1st American poet
• ½ of Puritan women could not read, over ½ could not write
• Emigrated from England to Massachusetts on Arbella ship
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Puritan Marriage• Husband and wife
were “spiritual equals”
• Average age of bride: 24 -25
• Large families encouraged
• ¼ - ½ of children died before reaching adulthood
• 1/5 of adult women died in childbirth The Savage Family, 1779, by John Savage
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Homes in New England
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Households Labors for Puritan Women• Housecleaning• Cooking meals• Childcare• Mend clothes• Spin Wool• Churn Butter• Bake Bread• Preserve Food• Plant Vegetable Gardens• Make Soap, Wax Candles, & Brooms• Milk Cows• Feed Hens & Cows• And….teach daughters how to do all of the above
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Femme Covert v. Femme Sole• Femme Sole: Single, divorced,
or widowed woman. Could sue, own land, enter business contracts
• Femme Covert: Married woman with virtually no legal rights, her identity “covered” under her husband’s
• Pre-nuptial agreement rare but possible
18th Century Oak Baby Cradle
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Divorce in New England• Punishments for
adultery included death in Virginia, 1612 & Massachusetts, 1631
• Women faced public humiliation & loss of child custody
• Grounds for divorce: Adultery, desertion, long absence, failure to provide, bigamy, cruelty
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Rights of Widows in New England
• Entitled to 1/3 of late husband’s estate
• Could only control her inheritance as long as she did not remarry
• Dependent upon adult male children for survival
Inventory of Ellis (Alice) Daggett, 1705
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Puritan Women in Church• Seating based upon Gender & Status • Only men allowed to speak• Walked 3 to 5 miles to Church
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Female Indentured Servants• Women 18 -25
years old• Several years of
labor in exchange for Atlantic Ocean transportation
• 1/3 of colonial households had indentured servants
• 1 year of extra time added for pregnancy
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Gender Imbalance• England: 10
women for every 9 men
• Chesapeake, 1600s: 6 men for every 1 woman
• Mayflower ship: 28 women & 74 men
Percy Moran, c. 19th century, Signing of the Mayflower Compact
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Importing Women
• 140 single women imported between 1620 – 1622
• 120 - 150 pounds of tobacco to “buy” a wife• Carolina’s advertisement: “If any Maid or
single Woman have a desire to go over, they will think themselves in the Golden Age, when Men paid a Dowry for their Wives; for if they be but civil, and under 50 years of Age, some honest Man or other, will purchase them for their Wives.”
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Interracial Marriage in the Colonies• New France had
higher rates of interracial marriage than New England
• 1661: Maryland bans interracial marriage
• 1691: Virginia • 1705-1750:
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, & all of the South The Baptism of Pocahontas by John Chapman, 1837
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Pocahontas & John Rolfe
• Daughter of Powhatan
• Assisted settlers at Jamestown
• Died around 18 years old in 1616