Discuss The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Colonial American Women
DaMaiya Colston
Professor Chad Gaudet
US History I
11 April 2016
The disadvantages and setbacks women faced in Colonial America.
In Colonial America women had their place in society cut out for them. Single women were addressed as “Women Alone” and these women had the legal right to buy real estate, have stocks and bonds, and write wills. Unmarried women were to be married by 20 if they weren’t they were considered unusual and were called thornbacks. Women who inherited money had their own business printers, and shops. Marriage really affected women’s status during this time. There were rules on how a wife was to be around her husband:
“..She will never attempt to rule, or appear to rule her husband. Such conduct degrades husbands—and …show more content…
wives always partake largely of the degradation of their husbands..”
“…She will never attempt to interfere in his business, unless he ask her advice or counsel, and will never attempt to control him in the management of it..” (Mathew Carey, Rules for Husbands and Wives – 1830)
Once a woman married she had to rely on her husbands and no longer had the right to buy property, make a will (unless her husbands gives permission), and couldn’t legally make a contract. If a woman has the ability to have her own lifestyle, own property under her name, and a career to an extent – while single, why does she have to change that when she becomes married? It makes marriage unappealing knowing one would have to rely solely on another human being. A woman’s place was always validated by the men around her; as a child she’d be subservient to her father and eventually to her husband. “The husband is called the head of the woman. It belongs to the head to rule and govern. Wives are part of the house and family, and ought to be under the husband's government…” (Benjamin Wadsworth, from A Well-Ordered Family - 1712).
Religion had a strong impact on how married women were treated and expected to carry themselves. They were to be advocates of modesty and be demure women anything other than that, unacceptable. The most outrageous law passed was that a quarrelsome wife could be plunged underwater as punishment for slandering her husband. Women weren’t allowed to speak in the church either. Some women decided to challenge that and one great example of it is, Anne Marbury Hutchinson. She held meetings in her home where she voiced her religious opinions. She criticized the Puritan ministers which was against the law at the time. Although she was tried she believed a crime was not committed:
“Mrs. H: No Sir, for my ground is they are men.
Gov:. Men and women all is one for that, but suppose that a man should come and say, "Mrs. Hutchinson, I hear that you are a woman that God hath given his grace unto and you have knowledge in the word of God. I pray instruct me a little." Ought you not to instruct this man?
Mrs. H: I think I may.—Do you think it not lawful for me to teach women, and why do you call me to teach the court?” [From Thomas Hutchinson, History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. II, 1767 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936), pp. 366–84.]
No man dared to speak up so she defended herself but she was still banished from the Colony. Women are not a monolith, expecting all women to stay within these lines of a specific ideology is inconsiderate and unrealistic. One would think that over that time society would place women higher and continue to give women important roles and allow them to climb the social chain but when Europeans came they brought their traditions.
The Indigenous people of America had gender roles for men and women. Cherokee nation people had very well thought out system of equality where women and men did much of the same work. Women participated in preparing deerskin for trade while men went out to trade the deerskin. They had a voice in government where they discussed how their society was supposed was supposed to work. Homes were owned by women and inherited through their mothers. Cherokee women were very involved in the communities and were the backbone of the labor. European men thought it would serve them well if Natives adopted European customs. Europeans thought it unusual for women to fight in wars, vote and even speak in public because of this negative influence Natives abandoned their heritage and culture. Cherokee women became weavers and spinners leaving them without their power and prestige.
During this time slavery was very prominent which means the enslaved African Americans had no rights whatsoever. Black women typically worked in the fields alongside men which was sun up to sundown. Enslaved women started working in the fields at the age of thirteen and they were always encouraged to have a lot of children because that added to the “master’s” property. After working all day Black women would go home to more work: preparing meals for that night and the next day for their families. Plantation owners would subject the enslaved Black women to sexual abuse:
“My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth, and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made me bear this treatment for many months.. Sometimes he had stormy, terrific ways that made his victims tremble; sometimes he assumed a gentleness that he thought must surely subdue.” (A Slave Girl Tell Her Life – 1861)
A lot of women were fed up with being confined to their homes and being unable to have their voices heard so they bound together. They created movements and petitions to make their presence known:
“I stand before you tonight without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's right, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any State to deny..” (Susan B. Anthony, The "New Departure" for Women - 1873).
These learned behaviors have been passed down through generations leading to up modern society where domestic violence is still prevalent because some men feel that women are below them.
Still women are judged for wanting careers rather than starting a family. Women have chosen to live their lives on their own terms, whatever that may mean for each of them. In every country society has created some sort of norm and expectation for women to live up to that is unreasonable; it’s up to the people to change that. Society has come a long way from Colonial America and its still progressing.
Works Cited
"History of American Women." Colonial Women's Rights Movement. N.p., 9 Dec. 2007. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
“Pearson Education." Pearson Education. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
Mclean, Maggie. "History of American Women." Cherokee Women's Rights. Blogspot.com, 12 Dec. 2008. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
“Scott, Anne Firor and Suzanne Lebsock. Virginia Women: The First Two Hundred Years: The Colonial Williamsburg Official History and Citizenship Site. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2016
"The Puritan Daily Life: Research Topic Ideas on Life as a Puritan in the Colonies." Bright Hub Education. IVillage, 2012. Web. 04 Apr.
2016.
Professor Chad Gaudet
US History I
11 April 2016
The disadvantages and setbacks women faced in Colonial America.
In Colonial America women had their place in society cut out for them. Single women were addressed as “Women Alone” and these women had the legal right to buy real estate, have stocks and bonds, and write wills. Unmarried women were to be married by 20 if they weren’t they were considered unusual and were called thornbacks. Women who inherited money had their own business printers, and shops. Marriage really affected women’s status during this time. There were rules on how a wife was to be around her husband:
“..She will never attempt to rule, or appear to rule her husband. Such conduct degrades husbands—and …show more content…
wives always partake largely of the degradation of their husbands..”
“…She will never attempt to interfere in his business, unless he ask her advice or counsel, and will never attempt to control him in the management of it..” (Mathew Carey, Rules for Husbands and Wives – 1830)
Once a woman married she had to rely on her husbands and no longer had the right to buy property, make a will (unless her husbands gives permission), and couldn’t legally make a contract. If a woman has the ability to have her own lifestyle, own property under her name, and a career to an extent – while single, why does she have to change that when she becomes married? It makes marriage unappealing knowing one would have to rely solely on another human being. A woman’s place was always validated by the men around her; as a child she’d be subservient to her father and eventually to her husband. “The husband is called the head of the woman. It belongs to the head to rule and govern. Wives are part of the house and family, and ought to be under the husband's government…” (Benjamin Wadsworth, from A Well-Ordered Family - 1712).
Religion had a strong impact on how married women were treated and expected to carry themselves. They were to be advocates of modesty and be demure women anything other than that, unacceptable. The most outrageous law passed was that a quarrelsome wife could be plunged underwater as punishment for slandering her husband. Women weren’t allowed to speak in the church either. Some women decided to challenge that and one great example of it is, Anne Marbury Hutchinson. She held meetings in her home where she voiced her religious opinions. She criticized the Puritan ministers which was against the law at the time. Although she was tried she believed a crime was not committed:
“Mrs. H: No Sir, for my ground is they are men.
Gov:. Men and women all is one for that, but suppose that a man should come and say, "Mrs. Hutchinson, I hear that you are a woman that God hath given his grace unto and you have knowledge in the word of God. I pray instruct me a little." Ought you not to instruct this man?
Mrs. H: I think I may.—Do you think it not lawful for me to teach women, and why do you call me to teach the court?” [From Thomas Hutchinson, History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. II, 1767 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936), pp. 366–84.]
No man dared to speak up so she defended herself but she was still banished from the Colony. Women are not a monolith, expecting all women to stay within these lines of a specific ideology is inconsiderate and unrealistic. One would think that over that time society would place women higher and continue to give women important roles and allow them to climb the social chain but when Europeans came they brought their traditions.
The Indigenous people of America had gender roles for men and women. Cherokee nation people had very well thought out system of equality where women and men did much of the same work. Women participated in preparing deerskin for trade while men went out to trade the deerskin. They had a voice in government where they discussed how their society was supposed was supposed to work. Homes were owned by women and inherited through their mothers. Cherokee women were very involved in the communities and were the backbone of the labor. European men thought it would serve them well if Natives adopted European customs. Europeans thought it unusual for women to fight in wars, vote and even speak in public because of this negative influence Natives abandoned their heritage and culture. Cherokee women became weavers and spinners leaving them without their power and prestige.
During this time slavery was very prominent which means the enslaved African Americans had no rights whatsoever. Black women typically worked in the fields alongside men which was sun up to sundown. Enslaved women started working in the fields at the age of thirteen and they were always encouraged to have a lot of children because that added to the “master’s” property. After working all day Black women would go home to more work: preparing meals for that night and the next day for their families. Plantation owners would subject the enslaved Black women to sexual abuse:
“My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth, and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made me bear this treatment for many months.. Sometimes he had stormy, terrific ways that made his victims tremble; sometimes he assumed a gentleness that he thought must surely subdue.” (A Slave Girl Tell Her Life – 1861)
A lot of women were fed up with being confined to their homes and being unable to have their voices heard so they bound together. They created movements and petitions to make their presence known:
“I stand before you tonight without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's right, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any State to deny..” (Susan B. Anthony, The "New Departure" for Women - 1873).
These learned behaviors have been passed down through generations leading to up modern society where domestic violence is still prevalent because some men feel that women are below them.
Still women are judged for wanting careers rather than starting a family. Women have chosen to live their lives on their own terms, whatever that may mean for each of them. In every country society has created some sort of norm and expectation for women to live up to that is unreasonable; it’s up to the people to change that. Society has come a long way from Colonial America and its still progressing.
Works Cited
"History of American Women." Colonial Women's Rights Movement. N.p., 9 Dec. 2007. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
“Pearson Education." Pearson Education. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
Mclean, Maggie. "History of American Women." Cherokee Women's Rights. Blogspot.com, 12 Dec. 2008. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
“Scott, Anne Firor and Suzanne Lebsock. Virginia Women: The First Two Hundred Years: The Colonial Williamsburg Official History and Citizenship Site. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2016
"The Puritan Daily Life: Research Topic Ideas on Life as a Puritan in the Colonies." Bright Hub Education. IVillage, 2012. Web. 04 Apr.
2016.