New  England’s  Freehold  Society  The  Puritans  had  fled  England  in  the  1630s  because  they  thought  the  country  was  going  to  hell  Their  homeland  was  a  place  where  a  small  group  of  elite  noblemen  &  gentry  owned  75%  of  the  land  Tenant  farmers  (renters)  &  property-­‐less  workers  farmed  the  land  In  New  England,  the  Puritans  created  a  yeoman  society  of  relaLvely  equal  landowning  farm  families  By  1750,  most  of  the  best  farmland  had  already  been  parceled  out,  threatening  the  future  of  the  freehold  ideal  

The  Freeholder  Ideal  

   It  was  the  dream  of  every  new  sePler  coming  to  America  to  have  a  farm  or  land  of  their  own    

Farm  Families:  Women  &  the  Economy  Though  the  Puritans  believed  in  social  equality  for  men,  that  vision  did  not  extend  to  women  Women  were  taught  to  be  subordinate  throughout  their  lives  Small  girls  watched  their  mothers  defer  to  their  fathers,  &  young  women  were  told  to  be  “silent  in  company”  Courts  prosecuted  more  women  for  the  crime  of  fornicaLon  (sex  outside  marriage)  than  men  When  a  father  died,  sons  were  given  farm  more  of  the  inheritance  than  the  daughters  

Women’s  Job:  Be  a  Helpmeet  Throughout  the  colonies,  women  helped  their  husbands  by  tending  gardens,  spinning  thread  &  yarn  from  flax  &  wool,  &  weaving  shirts  &  gowns  They  kniPed  sweaters  &  socks,  made  candles  &  soap,  churned  milk  into  buPer,  fermented  malt  for  beer,  preserved  meats,  &  did  other  duLes  Those  who  excelled  at  domesLc  arts  were  singled  out  for  praise  &  high  status  

Bringing  Up  Babies  The  most  important  job  for  women  was  to  bear  and  rear  children  Most  New  England  women  married  in  their  early  20s  By  their  early  40s,  they  had  given  birth  to  6  or  7  children,  delivered  with  the  help  of  a  female  neighbor  or  a  midwife  Though  being  a  mom  took  a  lot  of  Lme,  most  Puritan  churches  were  filled  with  women  CoPon  Mather  noted  that  in  one  church  of  400  communicants,  100  were  men,  the  rest  women  

Women’s  Roles  Women’s  lives  were  restricted  by  culture  &  law  Ministers  praised  women  for  their  piety  but  excluded  them  from  any  role  in  the  church  Any  woman  dissaLsfied  with  her  role  in  the  church  might  turn  to  the  evangelisLc  BapLst  or  Quaker  congregaLons  In  those  churches,  quesLoning  women  were  welcomed  &  treated  equally  with  men  However,  by  the  1760s,  many  evangelical  congregaLons  had  reinsLtuted  men’s  dominance  over  women  

Farm  Property:  Inheritance  Many  Englishmen  who  came  to  the  North  American  colonies  faced  a  landless  future  if  they  remained  at  home  There  simply  was  no  land  available  for  2nd  &  3rd  sons  to  inherit  By  crossing  the  AtlanLc,  those  who  could  obtain  property—including  peasants  who  never  had  land—gained  a  new  social  idenLty  

Keeping  the  Family  Going  Unlike  the  Jamestown  gentlemen  who  were  only  interested  in  finding  gold,  most  New  England  migrants  wanted  farms  That  way  they  could  provide  a  living  for  themselves,  &  ample  land  for  their  children  As  they  put  it,  they  wanted  to  secure  a  competency  for  their  families:  the  ability  to  keep  their  families  solvent  &  independent,  &  pass  their  land  on  to  the  next  generaLon  Children  without  land  to  inherit  faced  a  future  of  indentured  servitude,  then  trying  to  move  up  the  agricultural  ladder  from  laborer  to  tenant,  &  then  freeholder  

The  Wealthy  Give  Land  to  Kids  The  custom  was  for  parents  to  provide  their  kids  with  a  marriage  porLon  when  they  were  in  their  early  20s  That  porLon—land,  livestock,  or  farm  equipment,  repaid  the  kids  for  their  past  work  Part  of  the  deal  was  that  the  parents  would  get  to  pick  their  kids’  marriage  partners  There  was  no  such  thing  as  marrying  for  love  Instead,  parents  were  always  on  the  alert  for  a  son-­‐or  daughter-­‐in-­‐law  that  could  take  care  of  them  in  their  old  age  

English  Marriage  in  the  1700s  English  common  law  said  that  marriage  was  not  a  contract  between  equals  When  she  married,  a  bride  gave  up  legal  ownership  of  all  her  property  to  her  husband  When  her  husband  died,  the  widow  received  “dower  rights”—she  had  the  right  to  use,  though  not  sell,  1/3  of  the  family’s  property  If  she  died  or  remarried,  her  porLon  was  divided  among  the  children  Thus  the  widow’s  property  rights  were  subordinate  to  those  of  the  family  line  

Freehold  Society  in  Crisis  The  colonizers  of  America  were  extremely  fruihul—they  mulLplied  quickly  In  1700,  there  were  100,000  white  Europeans  living  in  English  colonies  in  North  America  In  1725,  there  were  almost  200,000  By  1750,  it  was  up  to  almost  400,000  Farms  had  been  divided  &  subdivided,  making  them  as  small  as  50  acres—not  enough  land  to  go  around  Farmers  had  only  enough  to  give  one  child  an  adequate  inheritance  Remember  the  economic  reasons  for  the  Salem  Witch  Trials?—The  graph  showing  the  average  farm  size?  

Note  the  large  increase  in  the  BriLsh  North  American  colonies.    In  the  16th  &  early  17th  centuries,  most  Europeans  went  to  Spanish  &  Portuguese  colonies.  Aker  1640,  It  was  Britain’s  colonies  that  became  the  principle  desLnaLon  for  both  Europeans  &  Africans.  

Losing  Control  of  the  Kids  Because  parents  had  less  to  give  to  their  sons  &  daughters,  they  had  less  control  over  their  lives  The  arranged  marriage  system  broke  down  Just  like  today,  young  couples  used  premarital  sex  to  get  pregnant  &  get  married  Throughout  New  England,  in  the  early  1700s,  premarital  concepLons  rose  from  10%  to  30%  in  the  1740s  

Making  Love-­‐-­‐Colonial  Style  Even  as  New  England  families  changed,  they  maintained  the  freeholder  ideal  Some  chose  to  have  smaller  families,  using  the  available  birth  control  methods  Other  families  peLLoned  the  colonial  government  for  land  out  on  the  fronLer,  where  new  farms  could  be  hacked  out  of  the  wilderness  

Other  Ways  to  Increase  Competency  

Some  farmers  changed  from  the  tradiLonal  English  crops  of  wheat  &  barley,  to  high-­‐yielding  potatoes  &  maize  corn  This  type  of  Indian  corn  was  especially  a  good  choice  for  human  consumpLon,  &  for  feeding  pigs  &  caPle  as  well  Gradually,  as  New  England  changed  from  a  grain  to  a  livestock  economy,  it  became  a  major  exporter  of  salted  meat  to  the  sugar  plantaLons  in  the  West  Indies  

Living  in  a  Cashless  Society  As  the  populaLon  swelled,  New  England  farmers  developed  the  full  potenLal  of  the  “household  mode  of  producLon”  In  this  system,  families  swapped  labor  &  goods,  not  money  Women  &  children  worked  in  groups  to  spin  yarn,  sew  quilts,  &  shuck  corn  Men  loaned  neighbors  tools,  drak  animals,  &  grazing  land  

Preserving  the  Freehold  Ideal  Farmers  plowed  fields  belonging  to  arLsans  &  shopkeepers  In  return,  they  received  shoes,  furniture,  or  store  credit  The  problem:  currency  was  in  short  supply,  so  liPle  cash  ever  changed  hands  Instead,  farmers,  arLsans,  &  shopkeepers  recorded  debits  &  credits  &  balanced  the  books  every  few  years  This  cashless  system  helped  New  Englanders  maximize  their  output  &  preserve  the  freehold  ideal