The Transition Of American Families In The 18th Century

Abstract

This historiography will examine the American families and their roles in the 18th century. It will focus mainly on three major areas: the colonial era, the 18th century and the progressive era. The family roles and relationship has been highlighted. Highlighted in the essay too is the rapid change in the family structure and relationship towards the early 20th century. The family roles have been broken into parental roles and the children roles in the family and the society at large. The family transition over the years have also been highlighted and finally a brief conclusion.
Keywords; Family roles, colonial era, the transition.
Introduction
Although family life in the colonial era was quite different, the family unit was very
crucial and important more than today. Family roles were a very important part of society during the colonial era in America (Gordon, 1973). Many people during that time depended upon the structure of the household and their role in that structure. Since family referred to people who happened to live together, in addition to husband, wife, and children, a family could also contain servants, apprentices and even sometimes slaves. Both men and women had their own place within the family despite the fact that the boundaries could at times overlap in the case of the unexpected for example if the husband died. In the traditional era, roles based on gender was brought about by the English colonists, the male was respected and played the role of representing the family in any dealing. The father being the head of the family educated the sons, servants, and apprentices while women structured their daughters on how to manage and run a homestead. The Puritans based their hierarchy as found in their religion with a particular structure where women were positioned to be submissive to the male in the worldly matters. Ruth Bloch’s writing indicated that in the seventeenth century, manhood rested in large part on the social and political role of the husband. The anxiety facing the construction of gender identity in colonial America led to the Puritan masculine ideal (Gordon, 1973).
In 17th century America, Protestantism, together with the conditions of the frontier, and mostly placed emphasis on the need of family life and the role of parents. While the formal structure of the most families remained nuclear, they were not all nuclear in the sense we understand today. According to Puritan, they considered their family as a source of the social power they held. In addition to that, these men believed that the state of their soul relied and depended on their wives and children; behavior, education, health, and welfare. Every state their child or wife found themselves in was considered as a reflection on the state of a Puritan male’s soul. Therefore the family was considered as a very important tool in the society.
The Role of Children in the Family
Despite the disagreement over the real definition of childhood and the diversity in experiences, most historians and researchers agree on one point that American childhood as we know it today did not exist. Children were very important to the family and not the same today since their worth was often determined in terms of their economic value to the family and economy (Gordon, 1973). The society held a strong influence over families and they were expected to take adult responsibilities as soon as possible. Some children, boys, and girls, were sent to work as servants at a tender age of 12 years in other people houses where they learned skills like crafting, commerce or housework. Some boys would be sent to boarding schools and then college or to sea but most of the girls were left at home to learn how to be wives, therefore, lacking formal education. It was the children who would carry on and maintain their parents’ religious beliefs and values, in fact, there was no individuality of children and in case a child dies, a later child would sometimes be given the same name. The sons were supposed to carry on from their father rather than their mothers and the oldest received more of the family’s property than the younger brothers with daughters receiving almost nothing since they were meant to be married. In regard to the moral status, colonists believed that children were born with sin and it was the parent’s duty to guide them towards salvation.
They were considered as little adults while babies were not allowed to crawl since that was considered bestial. Young boys were treated as the father’s miniature and the young girls as their mother’s miniature and that is why children were dressed as adults and given adult responsibilities. In fact, there are portraits of children holding objects from the adult world which symbolizes status and responsibilities. For example, famous portraits by Freake-Gibbs in 1670. There was, however, two concepts of childhood rooted in the late 18th century where children of middle-class and upper-class families were emotionally priceless and were given a sheltered childhood free from labor and adult realities (Laslett & Wall, 1972). The only thing they were supposed to do was the very simple tasks in the house like helping their parents with the household chores. They even went to school unlike children of the working-class and poor families who were considered economically useful. These children would work mostly on the farms since, in the colonial era, many families practiced subsistence agriculture. Their role in the farm included planting and harvesting edible vegetables and wheat as well as making hay to feed livestock and taking care of chickens. Boys learned how to milk cows at a tender age while girls collected eggs. Parents in Colonial Era
Parents here regards to both husband and wife, men had no much to do in the household since their duties were based on worldly matters.
Parents were responsible for the religious development of their children (Laslett & Wall, 1972). The responsibility over the young fell heavy on parents to maintain the order in the society which included supervising the young individuals, punishing minor offenses and reporting major offenses to the local officials since unlike today there was no police force. It was the role of parents to provide basic needs such as health care, food, clothing, and entertainment. Everyone was expected to play their role as parents in order for the survival of the family. Despite the fact that both men and women contributed to the success of the family, men had more power than women. They are the ones who held the high positions in the government, higher education and in the church. Women had no marital status, only remaining with those granted by their husbands. Divorces were rare, but in the case of separation, the fathers had the custody of their children. Therefore, women were left to do a lot in the homestead. The status of women within the 13 colonies was basically determined by the men in their lives. So if you were a woman married to a wealthy business owner or say a wealthy tobacco farmer, you were considered to be of high-status Unmarried women were considered as the legal property of their fathers. Men had unlimited power in the household and they are the ones who decided how money was to be used, if there was a lot of money to go around, women generally had a little bit freedom on how to spend but on the other hand if there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, the men got to decide (Ramos,
1975).