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Diana HickmanDisciplinary FoundationsLoree MiltichSeptember 26, 2007

Women in 18th Century American History:

As Seen in Primary and Secondary Sources

Despite the restrictions women faced in the 18th century, women played more of a role in

the birth of the nation than is obvious at first glance. American white women served in many

positions outside of being wives and mothers from serving as teachers to attorneys-in-fact. Some

women were upfront in their fight for social and political equality, while other women were more

subtle in the battle by standing behind their husbands encouraging them to make sane decisions

concerning women and give them more rights. Whether rich or poor, the 18th century American

white woman faced many restrictions on her “economic independence, her legal identity, and her

access to positions of formal authority” that pushed her into choosing between marriage and

spinsterhood. (Berkin 5)

Throughout the 18th century, authors wrote guides to women on the importance to

choosing the right husband. The feeling of the time was that women should be “limited to service

and domesticity” to men. To ensure women were trained to accept these roles of “limited service

and domesticity,” male authors wrote articles and essays describing the proper way women were

expected to behave in public and in the home. The 18th century American white woman had the

responsibility of running a household, rearing children as her husband saw fit, and obeying her

husband in all manner of address, both financially and domestically. Examples of the

responsibilities women faced lay in the influence of women writers on their world from

outspoken women like Mary Wollstonecraft and Mercy Otis Warren. Abigail Adams and Martha

Washington are examples of presidential wives who influenced women to speak out about their

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unhappiness as domestic “children.” The purpose of this paper is to examining various sources,

both primary and secondary, discussing women in 18th Century America.

David A. Copeland discusses women’s rights in 1738 in his book, Debating the Issues in

Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events of the Period. In the chapter, Women’s

Rights, 1738, he uses examples of essays and poems to demonstrate the views of 18th century

America on a woman’s place in society. In 1730, the Pennsylvania Gazette published an essay

instructing women on how to choose a husband. In this passage, the author is telling women to

always be subservient to their husbands. He is saying that the best way to gain a husband is to be

“good.” Then he goes on to say that women should avoid “thoughts” of “managing” their

husbands and to always treat him with sincerity, affection and respect. According to this author, a

woman should always behave with decency, delicacy, and prudence to avoid being considered a

“harlot”:

Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia), 8 Oct 1730

RULES and MAXIMS for promoting Matrimonial Happiness. Address’d to all

Widows, Wives, and Spinsters.

THE likeliest Way, either to obtain a good Husband, or to keep one so, is to be

Good yourself.

Never use a Lover ill whom you design to make your Husband, lest he either

upbraid you with it, or return it afterwards: and if you find, at any Time, an

Inclination to the Tyrant, remember these two Lines of Truth and Justice.

Gently shall those be rul’d, who gently sway’d;

Abject shall those obey, who haughty were obey’d.

Avoid, both before and after Marriage, all Thoughts of managing your Husband,

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Never endeavor to deceive or impose on his Understanding: nor give him

Uneasiness… but treat him always beforehand with sincerity, and afterwards with

Affection and Respect… Always wear your Wedding Ring, for therein lies more

Virtue than usually is imagined… Let the Tenderness of your conjugal Love be

expressed with such Decency, Delicacy and Prudence, as that it may appear

plainly throwly [sic] distinct from the designing Fondness of an Harlot. (77)

Copeland discusses another essay with similar instructions that was published forty years

later in the Providence Gazette. Men were still telling women the requirements to maintaining a

good marriage in essays. In both essays studied here, the word “obey” was vital to keeping the

opinions of men “good” and “satisfied” with the marriage:

Providence Gazette; and Country Journal, 6 Jan 1770

RULES and PRECEPTS for promoting Matrimonial Happiness, addressed, by

Way of New-Year Gift, to the Virgins, Wives, and Widows, of New England.

THE likeliest way to obtain a good husband, or keep one so, is to be good

yourself. Never use a lover ill, whom you design to make your husband, lest he

should either upbraid you with it, or return it afterwards… Be assured a woman’s

power, as well as happiness, has no other foundation but her husband’s esteem

and love, which consequently it is her undoubted interest, by all means possible,

to preserve and increase. --Do you therefore study his temper, and command your

own; enjoy his satisfactions with him; share and sooth his cares, and with the

utmost diligence conceal his infirmities.--Read frequently, with due attention, the

matrimonial service; and take care in doing so not to overlook the work OBEY…

Let not many days pass together without a serious examination how you have

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behaved as a wife; and if, upon reflection, you find yourself guilty of any foibles

or omissions, the best atonement is to be exactly careful of your future conduct…

(77)

The author of the Rules and Precepts essay published in the Providence Gazette in 1770,

instructs women to use her “woman’s power” in addition to happiness in order to keep her

husbands “esteem and love.” Instructions similar to that of the author from 1730, showing a

cycle of the traditional way of viewing women as a “domestic child” and demonstrates the way

that women were treated in 18th century American domestic and public life. The theory of the day

was that in order for women to keep their husbands’ happy and “in-love” with them, women had

to obey their husbands’ in all things. If they did not obey their husbands, it was implied the

husbands’ love would be withdrawn.

This passage in the Providence Gazette expresses the implication of a husbands

withdrawal of love and esteem if the wife failed to please him: “Let not many days pass together

without a serious examination how you have behaved as a wife; and if, upon reflection, you find

yourself guilty of any foibles or omissions, the best atonement is to be exactly careful of your

future conduct…”(77) While men were writing essays to instruct women on how to conduct

themselves as women, wives and mothers, women were beginning to question their roles as

servants in society and expressing this new discontent openly. The New York Weekly Journal

published an essay written by a woman questioning the roles that society had placed her:

New-York Weekly Journal, 19 May 1735

I have often wondered that Learning is not thought a proper Ingredient in the

Education of a Woman of Quality or Fortune. Since they have the same

improvable Minds as the male part of the Species, why should they not be

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cultivated by the same method?

There are Reasons why learning seems more adapted to the female World, than to

the male. As in the first Place, because they have more spare Time upon their

Hands and lead a more sedentary Life. Their Employments are of a domestic

nature, and not like those of the other Sex… A second Reason why Women

should apply themselves to useful Knowledge rather than Men is because they

have that natural Gift of Speech in greater Perfection… There is another Reason

why those especially who are Women of Quality, should apply themselves to

Letters, because their Husbands are generally Strangers to them… If we look into

the Histories of famous Women, we find many eminent philosophers of this

Sex… Learning and Knowledge are Perfections in us, not as we are Men, but as

we are reasonable Creatures, in which Order, of Beings the Female World is upon

the same Level with the Male. We ought to consider in this Particular, not what is

the Sex, but what is the Species to which they belong. (73)

The author stresses that women have intellectual abilities equal to those of men. She stresses that

women “ought” to be considered for their “Species” and not for their sex. The anonymous

equates women with men by stressing that everyone is of the “human” species regardless of their

sex and should be equal to the men: “Learning and Knowledge are Perfections in us, not as we

are Men, but as we are reasonable Creatures, in which Order, of Beings the Female World is

upon the same Level with the Male. We ought to consider in this Particular, not what is the Sex,

but what is the Species to which they belong.” (73) She speaks of women as being in a complete

different world than men where women work on the “perfections” of “learning and knowledge”

that puts women on the same level as men, but still leaves women inferior to men.

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Along with the increasing dissatisfaction from women over the inequality they faced

from men in personal and business matters, women began to become vocal about their

unhappiness from the oppression they faced from the men in their lives. One such method

women used to publicly express their unhappiness was through poems. The following poem is an

example of one such poem that women sent to the papers:

New-York Journal; or the General Advertiser, 25 Oct 1770

POET’S CORNER: A New Favourite Song for the Ladies.

Though man has long boasted an absolute sway,

While woman’s hard fate was, love, honour, obey;

At length over wedlock fair liberty dawns,

And the Lords of Creation, must put in their horns;

For Hymen among ye proclaims his decree

When husbands are tyrants, their wives may be free.

Away with your doubts, your surmises and fears,

‘Tis Venus beats up for her gay volunteers;

Inlist at her banner, you’ll vanquish with ease,

And make of your husbands what creatures you please;

To arms then ye fair ones, and let the world see,

When husbands are tyrants, their wives will be free.

The rights of your sex wou’d ye e’er see restor’d,

Your tongues shou’d be us’d as a two-edged sword;

That ear piercing weapon each husband must dread,

Who thinks of the marks you may place on his head:

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Then wisely waite, till the men all agree,

That woman, dear woman, shall ever be free.

Nor more shall the wife, all as meek as a lamb,

Be subject to “Zounds do you know who I am.”

Domestic politeness shall flourish again,

When women take courage to govern the men;

Then stand to your charter, and let the world see,

Tho’n husbands are tyrants, their wives will be free.

(74)

The anonymous author of this poem showed how dissatisfied women had become. She says,

“Tho’ husbands are tyrants, their wives will be free…” indicating that women should gain

freedom from their bonds of “slavery” to tyrannical and abusive husbands regardless if it is from

pressuring their husbands for equal measure in private and public or if it was through divorce and

abandonment. She basically calls for women to take up “arms” in the battle of the sexes and fight

for freedom from “tyrannical” husbands. She encourages women to “stand to your charter”

letting the world see that even though women were domestic slaves, once the yoke was thrown

away, they will be “free.”

“Though man has long boasted an absolute way” indicates the views of the era that a

man’s natural station is one of absolute rule over the household. “While women’s hard fate was

lover, honour, obey” tell women they are meant to fill the role of domestic “children” to their

husbands. “Your tongues shou’d be us’d as a two-edged sword; That ear piercing weapon each

husband must dread, Who thinks of the marks you may place on his head” tells women to not

hide their intellect, but use it as a “weapon” to make a point in favor of equality for women.

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After their point is made, women should “wisely waite” until their husbands agree. “Nor more

shall the wife, all as meek as a lamb” be treated as the subjects of their kingly husbands, but

rather stand beside their husbands. “When women take courage to govern the men;” does not

necessarily mean that women will “control” their husbands, but rather women will gather the

courage to stand up and “let the world see” them for the wise, intelligent people they were. “The

rights of your sex wou’d ye e’er see restor’d” implies that women had more rights in the past

than they had at the time of this authors composition in 1770, what rights that may be the author

does not say.

Mary Wollstonecraft was vocal in her beliefs that women were entitled to the same rights

as men. Her piece, Vindication of the Rights of Man and Woman, is one work that vocalized the

beliefs of unhappy women. She wrote of the condescending treatment women received from

their fathers and husbands at the beginning of the work, as well as her frustration:

Dismissing, then those pretty feminine phrases, which the men condescendingly use to

soften our slavish dependence, and despising that weak elegancy of mind, exquisite

sensibility, and sweet docility of manners, supposed to be the sexual characteristics of the

weaker vessel, I wish to shew [sic] that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object

of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being regardless of the

distinction of sex, and that secondary views should be brought to this simple touchstone.

(8-9)

The unhappiness Mary Wollstonecraft demonstrated in her writing of being a woman treated as a

child was evident in this passage. She states that men “condescendingly” use words to “soften

our slavish dependence” on men to enforce the dependence that men forced on women by

restricting the rights women had at the beginning of colonization. Wollstonecraft also says: “My

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own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their

fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they are in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to

stand alone.” (8)

Throughout her work, Vindication of the Rights of Man and Woman, she stresses the

“perpetual childhood” treatment that men subjected to women. For instance, in the introduction

Wollstonecraft discusses the inferiority that women were placed in society by “men of genius.”

She likens women to that of “flowers, delicate, but easily smothered by men” where women

were considered feeble minded:

In a treatise, therefore, on female rights and manners, the works which have been

particularly written for their improvement must not be overlooked; especially when it is

asserted, in direct terms, that the minds of women are enfeebled by false refinement; that

the books of instruction, written by men of genius, have had the same tendency as more

frivolous productions; and that, in the true style of Mahometanism, they are treated as a

kind of subordinate beings, and not as a part of the human species, when improveable

reason is allowed to be the dignified distinction which raises men above the brute

creation, and puts a natural sceptre in feeble hand. (1)

Wollstonecraft expresses the views of women in 18th century America in this passage. American

women were treated as “subordinate beings” incapable of making a decision without the aid of

their fathers, brothers, or husbands. She goes on to say:

Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions of female excellence, that I

do not mean to add a paradox when I assert, that this artificial weakness produces a

propensity to tyrannize, and gives birth to cunning, the natural opponent of strength,

which leads them to play off those contemptible infantine airs that undermine esteem

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even whilst they excite desire. Let men become more chaste and modest, and if women

do not grow wiser in the same ratio, it will be clear that they have weaker understandings.

It seems scarcely necessary to say, that I now speak of the sex in general. Many

individuals have more sense than their male relatives; and, as nothing preponderates

where there is a constant struggle for an equilibrium, without it has naturally more

gravity, some women govern their husbands without degrading themselves, because

intellect will always govern. (9)

“Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions of female excellence” seems to refer

to the pressures women faced to increase their intellect by reading and education while at the

same time encouraged to remain feminine and “artificially weak.” In this passage, Wollstonecraft

discusses the idea that men should be the ones encouraged to become more “chaste and modest”

and that women sometimes have more sense than their male relatives.

David Copeland discusses in his book, Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers:

Primary Documents on Events of the Period, women who were upfront about their fight for

equality, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, while some women were more secretive in the battle,

choosing instead to take up the fight by going through life disguised as a man. One woman in

particular who chose to become a man to gain the freedom a man had been Hannah Snell. Ms.

Snell joined the Marines to be near her fiancée after he had enlisted. She continued service in the

Marines after her fiancée died and was only found out after she applied for benefits in 1750:

South-Carolina Gazette (Charleston), 8 Oct 1750

Last week one Hannah Snell, born at Worcester, who was seven years in a Marine

Regiment by the name of James Gray, went to the East-Indies in Adm. Boscawen’s

Squadron, and was at the Siege of Pond-cherry, presented a Petition to his Royal

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Highness the Duke of Cumberland, praying some Provision might be made for her now

she is discharged the Service. His Royal Highness referred to her Petition to General

Frazer, to report it to him, and make her suitable Provision, according to her Merit. It

seems her sweetheart being impressed into the Marine Service, she put on mens cloths

and entered in the same Regiment, went to the East-Indies in the same Ship with him, and

was his mesmate [sic] while he lived (he dying in his voyage) and was a Servant to one of

the Lieutenants. She behaved with great intrepidity as a Sailor and Soldier, and her sex

was never discovered by her Sweetheart or any of her Comrades, ‘till she made the

Discovery herself by the above mention’d Petition. (76)

Even though going undercover to gain a new identity in order to be near her “sweetheart” should

have garnered negative attention, she was described as having “behaved with great Intrepidity as

a Sailor and Soldier” regardless of her sex. With all of these examples, women’s roles were

obvious: to stay home, be “good” wives by obeying their husbands and being domestic wonders

by not working outside the home with few exceptions to the unspoken rule.

While there are numerous essays, used here, as examples of unfavorable images of

women who disobeyed the traditional roles white men had placed them in, there are also

examples of positive perceptions of women. One example found in David Copeland’s book,

Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events of the Period, is the

poem, Bachelor’s Choice, which he analyzes to show there were writings aimed at readers,

mostly women readers, to describe the 18th century male’s idea of the ideal wife:

American Weekly Mercury, (Philadelphia), 3 Jan 1739-1740

The Bachelor’s Choice.

If marriage gives a Happiness to life,

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Such be the Woman who shall be my Wife:

Beauteous as the height of fancy can express,

Meek in her Nature cleanly in her dress;

Wife without pride, and Pleasing without Art,

With cheerful Aspect and with honest Heart.

To sooth my Cares, most high, most sweet her Song,

To blame my Faults most low, most kind her Tongue:

In looser Hours, in Hours more dull, still dear,

A gay Companion, and a Friend sincere:

Found without folly, spirit’ous without rage,

and as in youth shall seem the same in Age.

Ye pow’rs above, if such a Woman be,

(Such cou’d y make) that such a Woman give to me:

She as a Wife must please and she alone.

O! give me such a Wife or give me none. (324-325)

When the author says, “If marriage gives Happiness to life, Such be the Woman who

shall be my Wife” he is telling women that marriage is the only path to happiness. “Meek in her

Nature… Wife without pride & Pleasing without Art,” instructs women to guard their behavior

by being “Meek” in their nature, without “pride.” He goes on to write that his wife must “sooth

his cares,” saying that she must place her happiness in caring for her caring for her husband’s

happiness regardless of the what she wants.

Along the same lines as the poem, Bachelor’s Choice, in 1739, another author wrote a

similar poem that was published in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy and

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Advertiser in 1770, that gives pretty much the same kind of sentiment of submissiveness that

American white men wanted in their wives:

Massachusetts Gazette, and Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, 20 August 1770

The GOOD WIFE

HAPPY the man whoe’er shall find

Among the race of woman kind,

A Wife with every virtue grac’d,

Industrious, prudent, generous, chaste:

In her his ravish’d soul shall prove

The purest joys of nuptial love,

His welfare, happiness, and ease

She meditates in all her ways,

And daily adds a cheerful share

Of prudent industry and care.

Like the wing’d bark from eastern shores,

That brings her load of coastly store,

She with her diligence at home

Enriches all within her dome. (325)

The author of this poem repeats the instructions that women are to serve husband and family. A

woman’s job was to make sure that their husbands were happy. She should embody the traits of

virtue with grace, be industrious, prudent, generous and chaste, all in the quest to please her

husband.

Copeland goes on to use the letter, Advice to a Lady, as another example of the positive

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perceptions of women in the 18th century. In the poem, Advice to a Lady, used to advise women

to not think about the political issues of the 18th century, but rather seek out “domestick worth” in

which women were expected to serve society, the author voices the same sentiments as the

anonymous authors of the Bachelors Choice and Good Wife poem:

New-York Journal; or the General Advertiser, 9 August 1770

ADVICE to a LADY.

DO you, my fair, endeavour to possess

An elegance of mind, as well as dress:

Be that your ornament, and know to please,

By graceful nature’s unaffiliated case

Bless’d is the maid, and worthy to be bless’d,

Whose soul entire, by him she loves, possess’d,

Feels every vanity in fondness lost,

And asks no power but that of pleasing most.

Nor make to dangerous wit a vain pretence,

But wisely rest content with modest sense;

For wit, like wine, intoxicates the brain,

Too strong for feeble woman to sustain:

Of those who claim it more than half have none;

And half of those who have it are undone.

Be still superior to your sex’s arts,

Nor think dishonesty a proof of parts;

For you the plainest is the wisest rule,

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A cunning woman is a knavish fool,

Be good yourself, nor think another’s shame

Can raise your merit, or adorn your fame;

Virtue is amiable, ‘tis mild, serene,

Without, all beauty, and all peace within.

Seek to be good, but aim not to be great,

A woman’s noblest station is retreat;

Her fairest virtues fly from public sight,

Domestick worth, that shuns too strong a light.

To this great point direct your constant aim,

This makes your happiness, and this your fame. (326)

When the author of the poem, Advice to a Lady, says: “Bless’d is the maid, and worthy to be

bless’d, Whose soul entire, by him she loves, possess’d” he is saying women who seek to please

their husband are blessed. The author goes on to tell wives, daughters and spinsters that it’s

dangerous for them to enhance their “vain pretence” with wit, “for wit, like wine, intoxicates the

brain” and is too much for “feeble women to sustain.” He says that a cunning woman is a

“knavish fool” implying that a woman who are intelligent and work to enhance her intelligence

through reading is foolish. The author ends his poem with the instruction that a woman’s job is to

seek out “domestick worth” and that is where, in his opinion a women’s job lay.

Nancy F. Cott discusses the occurrence of divorce found during the 18th century in her

article, Divorce and the Changing Status of Women in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts. She

provides evidence to show that divorce was not “done” often but there were cases where a

woman managed to obtain a divorce due to desertion or physical abuse. She quotes from the

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deposition of William Whiting, Jr. his reasons for abusing his wife:

When a neighbor asked John Buckus, silversmith of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in

1784, why he kicked and struck his wife, John replied that “it is Partly owing to his

Education for his father often treated his mother in the same manner.” Although his

mother accepted this kind of treatment his wife did not. She was able to obtain a divorce

on the grounds of abuse and desertion. (586)

According to Ms. Cott, divorce in MA from 1692 to 1786 could be traced easily because the

proceedings normally took place before the Governor and a Council. (587) She demonstrates the

frequency of divorce in the following diagram:

In her research of court documents on divorce, annulment and separate bed and board evidence

found in census records and the like, she discovered that out of the 229 cases of divorce, 143

cases were approved by the council between 1692 and 1786. She found that divorce was more

prominent occurred after 1764 and a third of that was after 1774. Nancy found that the

incidences of divorce may not have occurred due to war time abandonment or adultery with

camp followers. (593) She attributes more divorces to the male domination women faced during

18th century American society than anything else. (594) More wives than husbands filed for

divorce during the period of 1692 and 1786, but she does not attribute the occurrence of divorce

to any one variable. (594)

Finding a job outside the home was not easy. Women had very few reputable options for

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employment. The most popular job for women was to be a seamstress. Other jobs that were rarer

for women, but still seen, were: teachers, shopkeepers, or tavern keepers. Prostitution was the

least wanted job for women to have, but sometimes unavoidable. Women who wanted to be

financially self sufficient were prostitutes. Other types of employment for women were midwives

and healers. These particular jobs were rarer than being a teacher or shopkeeper. Even though

there were different stations of life for women in 18th century America, expectations were

constant… “Women were expected to exist in the sphere of the home” because most men felt

that the “nature” of woman did not allow for women doing the “work that society required of

men.” (Copeland 71)

Ruth Bloch discusses in her book, Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture,

1650-1800, the various laws that the early governments in the colonies passed to regulate

courtship, marriage and sexual relations. In order to have a legitimate marriage, couples had to

follow a strict set of laws. By the beginning of the 18th century, these laws governing marriage

and moral standards gave parents more control over the alliances that their families made,

especially if they were wealthy. (79) Almost all of New England had passed laws governing

marriage and sexual relations by the mid 17th century, with an increase in new laws by the end of

the 18th century that gave children more rights to choosing their mates. The laws specified

conditions and procedures that allowed a marriage to be recognized as legit and the children as

legitimate.

By the end of the 17th century, nearly all the colonies had passed laws and the others were

debating on passing laws governing the practices of courtship, illicit sex, and marriage. (80) A

few laws giving parents almost total control over their children’s choice of spouse include

outlawing elopement and declaring children “minors” until marriage or the age of 21. For

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example, New Jersey required the consent of parents beginning in 1668. Pennsylvania outlawed

“clandestine marriages” or secret marriages starting in 1676... A similar law was passed in

Virginia in 1632, which was not enforced until much later in the century. By 1753, the 17th

century laws governing marriage and moral standards had coalesced into the Hardwicke

Marriage Act of 1753. The Hardwicke Marriage Act allowed for the age of consent to be set at 21

years of age contrasting the ecclesiastical laws that had been in existence since 1603. (81) The

penalties for violating the marriage and courtship laws varied from fines to public humiliation.

Mary Beth Norton addresses in her book, Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary

Experience of American Women, 1750-1800, what was considered a woman’s responsibility to

guard her reputation; so that she made an acceptable wife. The goal was to be a wife that would

inhabit all the qualities of a “virtuous wife.” Women were the ones responsible if they were

seduced by the rakes and rogues in her life regardless of who was at fault or if the indiscretion

lay with the man, she was still held responsible for remaining virtuous:

Women ho engaged in premarital sex, or who were merely suspected of having done so,

had greatly lessened their chances for a good marriage. Obeying the rules of propriety

could not guarantee that a girl would find a worthy husband, but careless behavior on her

part would almost certainly lead to an unfavorable result. (54)

These strict rules of behavior were violated all the time, as evidenced in letters and diaries,

couples participated in premarital sex frequently (53). One example, found in Mary Beth

Norton’s book is of a situation where a woman was not careful with her reputation was the story

of Lucy Gaines that she found in John Harrower’s diaries. Lucy Gaines was a housekeeper on a

plantation where Harrower worked as a teacher. He warned her to stay away from the

plantations’ overseer when he noticed how many nights she was spending in the overseers

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company. She ignored Harrower’s advice and ended up with a shredded reputation and

abandoned by the overseer in 1776. Lucy Gaines’ fate is unknown because there are no other

records of Lucy other than what is found in John Harrower’s diary.

There are other cases that Mary Beth Norton uses as examples where the outcome of the

woman’s life is known through diaries and letters. Janette Day and Rachel (surname unknown)

were prime examples of women who engaged in premarital sex, conceived illegitimate children

and their futures were seemingly shattered forever. While both cases turned out “well” in the end,

they still risked damaging their reputations forever. While one woman married ten years after her

son was born and the other became a teacher, they still faced the irreparable damage of being

unwed mothers in the 18th century. In Janette Day’s case, she was aided by a wealthy widow who

helped her open a school. Prior to the intervention of the widow, Ms. Day had declined into a

deep depression caused by the guilt of violating the deep set morals that were instilled into her as

a child. (55)

Another example that Mary Beth Norton uses to show the consequences of promiscuous

behavior in the 18th century American society, was that of Rachel, a daughter from a prominent

Virginian family. An 18th century American woman was expected to guard her virginity for her

future husband, therefore, when a woman was caught in a precarious position with a man who

was not her husband, regardless of the outcome, had very little prospects for a good match in

marriage. Therefore, when an 18th century American woman was caught in the act, had an

illegitimate child or if there was an implication of impropriety of any kind, her prospects for a

husband was cut drastically. She either had to marry or suffer the social consequences attached to

being an unwed mother. She was no longer seen as a “virtuous woman” and lost her appeal as an

acceptable wife. Once a woman damaged her reputation with promiscuous behavior, regardless

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of the outcome of the liaison, she lost whatever good standing she held in “polite society” prior

to her fall from grace. (55)

Mary Beth Norton’s story of Rachel demonstrates this fall from grace. She followed the

outcome of Rachel’s situation through a series of letters written in the 1780s by family and

friends discussing what happened to Rachel through the years. Betsey Ambler was one woman

who wrote about the after affects on Rachel and her family. She wrote to a friend that the

“departure from Female rectitude” that “involves a family so irremediably” which caused the

social damage to affect the whole family. (55) Not only was she seen as cavalier in her

guardianship of her virtue, but she was also seen as selfish because she managed to drag her

siblings down with her.

Her story is much like that of other women who had been seduced and abandoned by a

philanderer during the latter 18th century. Rachel’s seduction was carried out by a French soldier

left her pregnant and alone to face the consequences of their liaison. The French soldier was

impervious to pressure from his friends and her family to marry her, since he was not Virginian

and was not held to the same moral standards as the men in 1780s Virginia, he did not care about

any negative opinions from the Virginians. (55) This is only one example of the consequences to

having a child out of wedlock. American white women, who had illegitimate children, damaged

their chances for a prosperous marriage. She was no longer considered a good match for an

eligible bachelor; the lack of a “good reputation” not only affected the woman involved, it also

included damage to their families by association. (55)

Another historian who discusses several cases of couples who “violated” the behavior

codes of the New World is Ruth Bloch. In her book, Gender and Morality in Anglo-American

Culture, 1650-1800, Bloch discusses the attempts of local colonial authorities to control the

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“moral standards” and “sexual relations” of the 18th century American Colonies. She discusses

how the changes in “legal regulation of courtship in colonial British America shifted the

relationship between public and private life.” (78)

Mary Beth Norton’s research through consultation with letters and diaries written during

the 18th century has shown that the case where the man refuses to marry the girl in question was

rare. Ms. Norton says in Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American

Women, 1750-1800, that research suggested that as many as one-third of all new brides were

pregnant at the time of their wedding, but she does not say where she obtained this information.

(55) While some weddings were forced, not all were the result of forcing one or both parties to

marry, some marriages were by mutual consent of the parties involved, showing how ingrained

the social mores were a part of young people of the time. If caught, in premarital intercourse,

whether it is implied or actual act, some women found themselves forced to marry.

As Ms. Norton states in her book, by viewing several letters as evidence of this tone and

treatment of women, 18th century men expected women to obey and submit to them from

financial instructions to domestic concerns. Although, most men refrained from telling their

wives how to run a household since they saw the household as her domain, some men gave

instructions on domestic matters also treating their wives as if they have the minds of a child and

not much else. The evidence available for this phenomenon is found in letters from men to their

wives in comparison to the letters the same men sent to their children.

For example, a letter that George Logan wrote to his wife while he was away on business

shows evidence of “perpetual childhood” in which men placed their wives while demanding they

study and enhance their intellect through reading. Logan wrote a series of letters to his wife,

Debby Norris, over a two year period, where he expressed instructions that she should spend all

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of her time improving her mind, instructing her that his good opinion is dependent on this

improvement of her intellect. If she were to disappoint him in this endeavor, he implied she

would loose his love. In comparison, his letter to his son, to whom he gave pretty much the same

instructions and used the same tone as he did in his letter to his wife. In the letter he wrote to his

son, George advised his son be “mindful of the company” he keeps:

Pray be particularly careful of the company you keep I hope you are convinced of the

great disadvantage of associating with your inferiors. (62)

Compare the letter that George Logan wrote to his wife with that of the letter he wrote to his son

in 1783:

Remember that you are young and have your Manners yet to form… on this acct I hope

you will always make it your business to associate with your superiors… My good

opinion… depends on the amiable accomplishment of your mind… [Should he be

disappointed in her progress at his return, he threatened]… Instead of embracing you with

tenderness & affection, I shall be ready to turn from you & quit you forever. (62)

While George Logan’s tone in his letter to his wife was that of parent to child, at least he did not

start his letter addressing his wife as, “Dear Child” as other men have been want to do. Norton

found in the letters that she studied written to women by their husbands, that American white

men expected their wives to be submissive and that many wives were happy to meet that

expectation.

For example, Elizabeth Foote Washington wrote in her 1789 journal that “one of my first

resolutions I made after marriage was never to hold disputes with my husband.” She implies that

the fault for any quarrel lay with the woman. That it is “their business to give up to their

husbands.” She established that her opinion, like that of other submissive wives, lay in the bible

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where the belief was that God had “told the sinner Eve that Adam should rule over her” and that

it was not up to the daughters’ of Eve to dispute that rule handed down from God. (63)

While Mary Beth Norton writes of women being treated as “domestic children,” Louise

Young writes the complete opposite, where women were seen as both homemakers and partners

of their husbands. They helped their husbands in daily “breadwinning activities” frequently

serving as agents for their husbands in business transactions. (301) They were appointed as

executrices of their husbands’ estates and widows were free to carry on their husbands

businesses, sometimes retaining their control after remarrying. The power handed to them from

their husbands allowed women to inherit their husbands’ public posts such as printers, tax

treasurers and prothonotaries [Chief clerk in court], thus giving them the much sought after

freedom from the “perpetual childhood.” (301)

The Virginia House of Burgesses granted 100 acres of land to English women as well as

men in its initial meeting under the “Charter of grants and liberties” declaring that “since its not

whether a man or woman be the most necessary” in establishing plantations. (301) In contrast

with the private contracts drawn up by Mayflower men to their wives, the Virginia House of

Burgesses recognized the importance of allowing women to own land too even though such land

was under the control of their husbands. The Mayflower women, who compose the first

generation of English women in America, discovered an unaccustomed degree of freedom in the

New World, including freedom to endure incredible hardships and a newfound creativeness to

survive the new wilderness. In early Colonial America husband and wives were mutually

dependent partners in an “exacting enterprise” of setting up house in a strange new world:

Women participated in litigation as attorneys-in-fact is scattered over court minutes in all

of the colonies, until the growth of the paid legal profession in the mid-18th century shut

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them out of contact with the legal profession and the judicial process: a political fact of

great importance to women as the profession tightened its hold on the political process.

(302)

As time went by, the new freedoms women faced were slowly removed to bring the “power”

women had gained through serving as Attorneys-in-fact and executrixes back to the men, some

women still managed to make an impact on the political world. Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis

Warren influenced women in America for centuries for their roles in the fight for equality.

Mercy Otis Warren was a famous female author of the Revolutionary era. She was born 25

September 1728 in “old colony of Plymouth” to Colonel James Otis of Barnstable, MA. She

lived to be 77 years old and was a famous contributor to women’s equality and history. She wrote

a three volume representation of the American Revolution. She became the wife of James Warren

at the tender age of 26 after which she became embroiled in political affairs of her husband.

Elizabeth Ellet’s biography states that Ms. Warren “espoused the cause of her country” showing

her deep feelings for her country in her letters to friends and family. The collection of letters

available, written both from and to Mercy Warren includes correspondence with “Samuel and

John Adams, Jefferson, Dickinson, Gerry, Knox, and others.” (44)

Her good friend, Abigail Adams, wrote to her, in 1773, of her love for the newborn nation:

You, Madam, are so sincere a lover of your country, and so hearty a mourner in all her

misfortunes, that it will be greatly aggravate your anxiety to hear how much she is now

oppressed and insulted. To you, who has so thoroughly looked through the deeds of men,

no action, however base or sordid, no measure, however cruel and villainous, will be

matter for any surprise. The Tea, that baneful weed, is arrived: great and I hope, effectual

opposition has been made to the landing. (45)

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An example of her patriotism for the new Nation is given in a passage from a letter she wrote to

John Adams:

May nothing ever check that glorious spirit of freedom, which inspires both the patriot in

government and the hero in the field with courage to maintain our righteous cause. I will

breathe one wish more, the restoration of peace peace [sic] on equal terms; for

pusillanimous and feeble as I am, I cannot wish to see the sword put up quietly in the

scabbard, until justice is done to America. (45)

Mercy Otis Warren was known as one of the most patriotic, opinionated women of the

Revolutionary Era, while being respected by prominent men such as John Adams and friends of

other famous women such as Abigail Adams.

While Mercy Otis Warren sought an active role in politics, Abigail Adams sought

equality for women in conjunction with her husband. She was not important for her views on

woman’s liberation, but for her model as an equal partner with her husband in a political

relationship. She complimented the role of her husband as a true partner in their marriage. She

showed her intellect as a “forthright, shrewd, independent political entity” and matched her

husband’s intellectual “vigor” and surpassed his social perceptions. (Young 305) As a President’s

wife, she held the special role of being his partner in life as well as his official partner in politics.

Young states it well when she says:

The potential political significance of the role of the President’s wife as a political partner

became evident soon after the establishment of the Republic. The intimate records of the

early presidents reveal the part played by their wives in patterning the role of president as

a symbol over the power of the sovereign people. (305)

In her analysis, Louise Young theorized that the symbol of presidential power lay in his

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partnership with his wife. His wife’s role was the “official partner” and his “seat of power,” both

publicly and privately, lay in his home:

The President’s official home became the seat of his power; his public life was

superimposed on his private life; his wife’s role was that of his official partner;

his accessibility, his manner of entertaining, his ceremonial observances were joint

decisions of the President and his official partner (305).

Three important cultural strands of America were reflected in the first three First Ladies:

Martha Washington, Abigail Adam, and Dolly Payne Madison. Martha Washington was a natural

hostess both in the President’s house and at Mount Vernon; she held herself with dignity and took

each situation in stride with grace and dignity befitting a “queen” of a new nation. Abigail

Adams continued to distribute evidence of dignity and grace to her role as First Lady, but added

the “Republican” tastes and habits of the new born nation, to the Presidential Office. She strove

to maintain an elevated and independent social distance between the Senate and the House. (305)

The Adams’ also established the Presidents House as the “first home” of the newborn nation and

the place of business of the President. Dolly Payne Madison was almost a complete opposite of

Abigail Adams and Martha Washington. As a Quaker, Dolly Madison was reluctant to fit into the

social and political relationships required of her (305).

Ms. Madison made the “role of First Lady a vocation, pre-eminent in status, the apothesis

[sic]everywoman, and filled this position in a manner designed to contribute to the political

success as well as the personal popularity of the President.” (306) She created a new social code

that was under constant surveillance of older nations, who viewed the new nation as rude and

unfinished. (306) The surveillance of other older nations, demanded a new “code of behavior” to

establish that American politics could be both partisan and transcend social barriers. Her solution

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to the problem of formulating some form of manners in an uncivilized world was to create

“salons” here intimate meetings would be “partisan and social barriers” were wiped away (306).

At Dolly Madison’s salons the barrier between American gentry and frontiersman were erased

and everyone could voice their views on any manner of political issues.

Historians studying women in the 18th century American Colonies that were discussed in

this paper all have one thing in common: they each discuss the powers that women wielded over

their environment. Throughout this paper, primary sources from diaries were used to examine the

situation of women from politics to marriage, showing overall that women were not given many

choices in how they were to live out their lives. The encouragement they garnered from authors

of essays and poems was to be “subservient” to men and to essentially go from one parent to

another parent in the form of a husband. Looking deeper, historians can see that some famous

women like Mercy Otis Warren and Mary Wollstonecraft were quite vocal in their quest to see

women with more equality with men. Along with women who were subtle such as Abigail

Adams and other women who supported their husbands, choosing instead of being vocal in their

quest for more equality, to stand back and encourage their husbands to change things. Abigail

Adams admonished her husband to “remember the ladies” in a letter she wrote to him about the

new “Code of Laws” for the new world. (Grunwald 32) Abigail Adams voices the concerns of

women in the 18th Century American Colonies in a letter to her husband in 1776:

--I long to hear that you have declared independency--and by the way in the new Code of

Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember

the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.

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Works Cited

Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence.

Westminster, MD, USA: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated, 2005.

Bloch, Ruth H. Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650-1800. Ewing, NJ, USA:

University of California Press, 2003.

Copeland, David A. Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events

of the Period. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 2000.

Cott, Nancy F. Divorce and the Changing Status of Women in Eighteenth-Century

Massachusetts. The William and Quaterly, 3rd. Ser., Vol. 33, No. 4 (Oct. 1976): 586-614.

Diamant, Lincoln (Editor). Revolutioanry Women in the War for American Independence: A

One-Volume Revised Edition of Elizabeth Ellet's 1848 Landmark Series. Westport, CT,

USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 1998.

Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women,

1750-1800. Boston, MA, USA: Little, Brown and Company, 1980.

Grunwald, Lisa. Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present.

Westminster, MD, USA: Dell Publishing, 2005.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Strictures on Political and

Moral Subject. London: J. Johnson, 1792.

Young, Louise M. "Women's Place in American Polititics: The Historical Perspective." The

Journal of Polititics, Vol. 38. No. 3, 200 Years of the Republic in Retrospect: A Special

Bicentennial Issue (Aug, 1976): 295-335.