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Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Colonial women and their lives
OK to begin lets set the sceneAll the women in the class need to leave– Why? Because in early America only a very few
women received and education
But before you do …If you are married I need to know who your husband is and why he let you leave the houseIf you are not married I need to know if you have had sex and when and with whoOdd questions that could get me fired today, but questions that in Early New England the courts had a right to ask of all women
Many chose America to escape English class/political/religious structures
Female subordination, far more basic to transported intact– not to tamper with traditional roles and institutions but
to re-create them as soon as possible
Women’s lives rarely entered the foreground of events – visible women of 17th C– usually those brought briefly into center stage by
catastrophe or deviance
ideology of subordination remained intact
hazards and needs of their new environment affected women’s roles.
Women’s life in the South
Balance of sexes skewed e.g. Chesapeake– Four out of the five individuals were men
One colonist reported “they grow very sensible of the Misfortune of Wanting Wives”Without women colonial ventures were in danger of being wrecked1619 VA House of Burgesses petitioned that wives as well as husbands be eligible for grants of free land, arguing that in a new plantation – “it is not known whether man or woman be the most
necessary.”
finding a suitable spouse
“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”
Not that she would have owned dowry When married - stripped of their legal rights– Wife’s possessions became her husband’s
she was unable to – do business on her own – sue – borrow money – sign contracts
“The husband and wife are one, and the husband is that one.”
Early Virginia attempted yet another remedy to the sexual disparity
London recruiters began searching for marriageable women– offering free passage for girls of good reputation
Came with recommendations from their kinfolk and acquaintances attesting to their good character and domestic skills– Of the 57 women who arrived in 1621– median age was 20
One of her parish elders noted Anne Richards was a “woman of an honest life and conversation . . . and so is and ever hathe bynne esteemed,” Allice Burges, at 28, was one of the oldest and said to be skillful in the art of brewing beer – important in place where the water was generally undrinkablewe don’t know what happened to most of the women but presence speaks to the scarcity of women in this new colony
When they married, new husbands had to reimburse the company with 120 pounds of good leaf tobacco
Between 1620 and 1622 about 150 “pure and spotless” women came to the colony as “tobacco brides”
A change – for a while at least
Women found themselves in a place where gender role temporarily suspended due to conditions“a very civil woman” who could nonetheless “carry a gunn in the woods and kill deer, turkeys . . . shoot down wild cattle, catch and tye hoggs . . . and perform the most manful exercises as well as most men in these parts.”–William Bryd, a well known seventeenth
century diarist
Farms were almost all isolated– No easy connections
With this isolation, you better hope that you like your spouse – virtually impossible to get a divorce
But…thanks to the malarial swamps, few people wound up married for life
Many marriages were brief – four out of ten immigrants died within six
years often of malaria, typhoid, or dysentery
Under such circumstances, family life took on a tentative quality.
patchwork families made up of widows, widowers, and several degrees of stepchildren
Colonies crowded with widows, many of them managing large estates
Men named their wives as executor
Highly unusual in England
In some cases, pure affection
“All I have I leave her, and if I had more she should enjoy it,” wrote John Smithson of Maryland in his will
But often, sheer practicality.– many people had no close relatives in America who could
be trusted to oversee an estate
Few women stayed single long in the South – some went through five or six husbands.
newly empowered widows weren’t willing to give up control in order to acquire a helpmeet.
Married only whey they had legal assurance that they could determine the disposition of their restates
Indentured servants also derived several benefits from the region’s unbalanced sex ratios
Virtual certainty of marriage and a far greater choice of spouses than poor women in England
The people who colonized South didn’t develop any new philosophies – just didn’t have the resources to enforce the
old rules that most of them still adhered to in theory
Despite this laxity, court cases suggest that gender norms DID matter in early colonial southern colonies
For instance, Ann Fowler was sentenced to twenty lashes in 1637 for defaming a county justice with the somewhat undeferential suggestion that he could
“Kiss my arse”
I am the Youth and Education Programs Intern and we have a class from West Park coming to the University on November 20, from 2:10-2:55 to learn about the pilgrims and the tradition of Thanksgiving. I was wondering if you or anyone else in your department would be interested in doing a 20 minute presentation on how Thanksgiving was started (we can have sample foods, crafts, or whatever… it can be as fun as you would like it to be)? If there is a class that is interested that would be great also. I know that it is the day before Thanksgiving break but it will be a great opportunity for the elementary kids to get a taste of higher education. Please let me know if you are interested or the names of anyone who might be.
Thanks,
Ashley Cochran
Youth & Education Programs InternASUI Center for Volunteerism & Social ActionIdaho Commons 301PO Box 442535, Moscow, ID 83844-2535Phone: (208) 885-9442 Fax: (208) 885-6944
Life in the northern colonies
On the surface at least, New England settlement provided a stark contrast to women’s lives in the South. Most immigrants arrived in family unitsclimate of the northern colonies extended life expectancy to 65 for men and slightly less for women – 5 years longer than the average in England
and 10 years more than the southern colonies
marriages might last a quarter of a century or more, and large families abounded – on average women had between 6-7 children
No woman was expected to remain unmarried for long –nor did Puritan authorities wish to
encourage the single state.
“It would be a bad president [sic],” the MA governor told one applicant, Deborah Holmes, “to keep hous alone.”Family was the ideal and the base for society
Unlike the southern colonists, the
“Wives are part of the house and family,” announced a New England minister, “and are to be under the husband’s government.”
Male as head of family had absolute authority over the household
A woman had a right to the love and support of her spouse but, – did not have a right to question his judgment.
Marriage recognized as a civil contract based on mutual consent of both partiesStatutes outlawed or limited physical abuse of wives – in 1641 MA prohibited wife beating – “unless it be in his own defense upon her
assault.”
Puritans in zeal to promote family granted absolute divorce with the right to wed againMajor innovation– In England marriage was a sacrament only
the wealthy, mainly men, were able to terminate unions
Divorces were granted for desertion, bigamy, failure to provide, and adulterySomething that did not happen frequently MA only granted 27 divorces between 1639 and 1692 – most for desertionThe courts ruled on at least two other matters concerning men and women: premarital sex and adultery
If a child arrived before a marriage was nine months old, the couple could be hauled into court and charged with fornication and punished with nine lashes “upon the Naked back” or a steep fine
Adultery was a more serious matter.
Puritans defined adultery as sex between a married woman and any other man than her husband
A married man who strayed was only guilty of fornication
Deputy husbandsMany businesses theoretically operated by men actually conducted by their wives Widows managed lands, shops, groceries, bookstores, taverns, and worked on occasion as blacksmiths, butchers, and gunsmiths
The widow as feme sole (unlike feme covert) own buy, sell property, sue and be sued, make contracts, administer estates, and hold power of attorneyThis latitude is in the public’s interest. A destitute widow or spinster could drain a community’s resources
Goodwives and not so goodwives
Poetry of Anne Bradstreet Banishment of Anne Hutchinson
Anne Bradstreet model of a Puritan’s private writing
“Religious Experiences”– intended to convey
the “spiritual advantages” to her 8 children
written not for self-glorification but in humility – “not to sett forth myself but the glory of God.”
Bradstreet’s poems give us a better sense of gender roles in Puritan society
used her learning for private benefit
not for public trouble making or “meddling” in the affairs of men
Unlike……
Anne Hutchinson in the 1630sWoman of status –middle-aged wife of a landowner,
merchant, and public official
43 when family (of 14 children) emigrated to MA in 1634Her services as a midwife gave her entrée into many homes but,Talents as a theological attracted even more attention
60-80 townsfolk – gathering in the
Hutchinson home to hear Anne’s learned discussion of weekly sermons
Argued that gift of heaven was freely bestowed by God attained through a direct relationship with him
Held powerful sway over followers – people of substance
One male newcomer to Boston reported that when he arrived in town he was approached by “a little nimble tongued Woman” who urged him to visit “one of her own Sex” who “Preaches better Gospell than any of your black-coates that have been at the University.”
Fall 1637, summoned before the General Court– with the governor
presiding
She stood alone, facing a panel of men. The meeting room doors were held open so the crowd of eager bystanders could hear.
For a long time she did very well, matching Governor Winthrop Bible citation for Bible citation
But she was doomed to lose eventually
Banished
Reverend Mather urged women in his congregation to remember that
“she is but a Woman and many unsound and dayngerous principles are held by her.”
Anne was guilty of
heresy and sedition
But also of role reversal –she was told at her trial that
“You have rather bine a Husband than a Wife, and a Preacher than a hearer, and a Magistrate than a subject.”
After expulsion from MA in 1637, Anne her husband, and younger children and followers relocated to RI
She will question RI authorities and the family will re-locate to NY where Anne and all but one of her younger children are killed by Indians in 1643
The Puritans see this as divine retribution
Conclusion
With these differences tempting to debate the relative advantages of Chesapeake women– seemed to profit from their low numbers
New England women– longer life expectancy and greater chance at a stable
family lifeBut the contrast between these two modes of seventeenth century settlement obscure the commonality of female experience throughout the colonies. Housewife and subordinate
BACKGROUND
Salem in midst of change
mercantile elite developing –prominent people less willing be town
leaders
two clans–Putnams and the Porters
competing for control of the village and its pulpit
debate was raging over how independent Salem Village
tied more to the interior agricultural regions, should be from
Salem
a center of sea trade.
1688, John Putnam – an influential elder of Salem Village,
invited Samuel Parris, – a marginally successful planter and merchant in
Barbados,
to preach in the Village church
A year later Parris accepted the
He moved to Salem Village with his wife Elizabeth, – six-year-old daughter Betty, – niece Abagail Williams, – Indian slave Tituba, acquired by Parris in
Barbados.
The terror begins
February 1692
Betty Parris became strangely ill. – dashed about, – dove under furniture, – contorted in pain, – complained of fever.
The cause of her symptoms may have been some combination of
stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional psychosis.
There was another theory
Cotton Mather – "Memorable Providences,"
Described the suspected witchcraft of an Irish washerwoman in Boston
Easy to believe in 1692 in Salem
Indian conflicts less than 70 miles away –Town crowded with refugees
Physical reminders that the devil was close at hand Sudden and violent death occupied minds.
Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty including – eleven-year-old Ann Putnam– Seventeen-year-old Mercy Lewis – Mary Walcott
began to exhibit similar unusual behavior
William Griggs, a doctor called to examine the girls
Supernatural origin.
Mary Sibley, proposed counter magic
Told Tituba to bake a rye cake with the urine of the afflicted victim and feed the cake to a dog. – Dogs were believed to
be used by witches as agents to carry out their devilish commands.
Suspicion already begun to focus on Tituba, –known to tell tales of omens, voodoo, and
witchcraft
Participation in the urine cake episode made her obvious scapegoat
girls "turned themselves from a circle of friends into a gang of juvenile delinquents.“ People of period complained young
people lacked piety and sense of purpose
Contorted into grotesque poses complained of biting and pinching
sensations. Suspected affliction of the girls
became an obsession.
Betty Parris and Abigail Williams named their afflicters –witch-hunt began.–consistency of accusations
suggests stories planned
First three to be accused were
Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn
Tituba was an obvious choice Good was a beggar and social misfitOsborn was old, quarrelsome, and had not attended church for over a year. Putnams brought complaint to county magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne– scheduled examinations for the suspected
witches for March 1, 1692 in Ingersoll's tavern.
hundreds showed up examinations moved to meeting house.
Might have ended but…. Tituba After first adamantly denying any guilt Claimed she was approached by a tall man from Boston– obviously Satan– Who as a dog or a hog and
asked her to sign in his book and to do his work
Yes, Tituba declared, she was a witchShe and four other witches –including Good and Osborn had flown through the air on their poles. Accusations continued
Dorcas Good –four-year-old
daughter of Sarah Good
First child to be accusedArrested, kept in jail for eight months watched her mother get carried off to the gallows “cry her heart out, and go insane”
Mather urged Chief Justice Stoughton to credit confessions and admit "spectral evidence”Ministers were looked to for guidance
judges also allowed the "touching test“ defendants asked to touch afflicted to see if their touch would stop their contortionsAlso examination of the bodies of accused for evidence of "witches' marks“
Evidence that would be excluded from modern courtrooms –hearsay, gossip, stories, unsupported
assertions, surmises
generally admitted.
Accused witches had no legal counsel
Could not have witnesses testify under oath on their behalf
No formal avenues of appeal.
First accused witch to be brought to trial was Bridget Bishop.
Almost sixty years old, owner of a tavern critical of her neighbors, reluctant to pay her bills,
Bishop was a likely candidate for an accusation of witchcraft
Trial June 2, 1692
field hand testified that he –saw Bishop's image stealing eggs and
transform herself into a cat.
Deliverance Hobbs and Mary Warren, both confessed witches– testified that Bishop was one of them
A villager named Samuel Grey told the court –Bishop visited his bed at night and
tormented him.
Chief Justice Stoughton signed death warrant,
on June 10, 1692, Bishop was carted to Gallows Hill and hanged
One of the judges, Nathaniel Saltonstall– resigned from the
court.
Not all defendants were as disreputable as Bridget Bishop.
Rebecca Nurse was a pious, respected woman
Whose specter according to Ann Putnam, Jr. and Abagail
Williams attacked them in mid March of 1692
Ann Putnam, Sr. added her complaint that Nurse demanded that she sign the Devil's book, then pinched her.
Nurse was one of three Towne sisters
all identified as witches All were members of a Topsfield
family that had a long-standing quarrel with the Putnam family
jury returned a verdict of not guilty
Displeased Chief Justice Stoughton
Told the jury to go back and consider again
Jury reconvened, this time guilty
On July 19, 1692, Nurse rode with four other convicted witches to Gallows Hill.
Persons who scoffed at accusations of witchcraft risked becoming targets
One man critical of the trials paid with his life.
John Proctor An opinionated tavern
owner who openly denounced the witch-hunt.
George Burroughs.
identified by several of his accusers as the ringleader
Ann Putnam claimed that Burroughs bewitched soldiers during a failed military campaign against Wabanakis in 1688-89
Burroughs continued to insist on his innocence
And recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly
something witches were thought incapable of doing
the crowd reportedly was "greatly moved.“
One victim not hanged
Giles Corey
spent five months in chains in a Salem jail with his accused wife,
had nothing but contempt for the proceedings.
Hoping that by avoiding a conviction his farm–that would otherwise go the state
might go to his two sons-in-law, Corey refused to stand for trial.
The penalty for such a refusal was peine et fort, or pressing.
Three days after Corey's death
On September 22, 1692
8 more convicted witches – including Giles' wife Martha
were hanged.
The last victims of the witch hunt.
Increase Mather urged the court to exclude spectral evidence.
Phips ordered court to exclude spectral evidence 28 of the last 33 witchcraft
trials ended in acquittals. In May of 1693, Phips
released from prison all remaining accused or convicted witches.
In the end
nineteen convicted witches were executed
four accused witches had died in prison
Giles Corey, had been pressed to death.
About one to two hundred other persons were arrested and imprisoned on witchcraft charges.
Two dogs were executed as suspected accomplices of witches.
Scholars have noted differences between the accused and the accusers in Salem.
Most accused lived to the south of, and were generally better off financially, than accusers.
The accused and the accusers generally took opposite sides in a congregational schism that had split the Salem community before the outbreak of hysteria.
The families that included the accusers had--for the most part--played leading roles in forcing Burroughs to leave Salem.
Suggests that property disputes and congregational feuds played a major role in determining who lived, and who died, in 1692.
A period of atonement began
Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, issued a public confession of guilt and an apology.
Several jurors came forward to say that they were "sadly deluded and mistaken" in their judgments.
Reverend Samuel Parris conceded errors of judgment, but mostly shifted blame to others.
Parris was replaced as minister of Salem village by Thomas Green
Governor Phips blamed the entire affair on William Stoughton.
Stoughton, clearly more to blame than anyone for the tragic episode
Refused to apologize or explain himself.