I. Freehold Society in New England
Farm Families: Women and the Rural Household Economy
• Puritan commitment to independence did not include women
• A wife’s duty was to “love and reverence” her husband
• The courts prosecuted many women and few men for having sexual intercourse outside of marriage (fornication)
• Daughters usually received livestock or household goods, while brothers were given land
• Women assumed the role of dutiful helpmates to their husbands
• Bearing and rearing children was a very important task, as most women in New England married in their early 20s and by early 40s had given birth to 6/7 children
• More women than men became full members of Puritan congregations because they feared the dangers of childbirth …show more content…
Young people engaged in premarital sex and used urgency of pregnancy to gain fathers’ permission to