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HIST 150 Dr. Schaffer

Excerpt from the Memoirs of Abigail Abbot Bailey

Questions to think about:

1. Based on what you have learned in Through Women’s Eyes

and/or First Generations about women in colonial America in

the 1600s and 1700s, how representative is Abigail Abbot

Bailey of women in England’s American colonies during this

period?

2. Given the laws and customs of the era, did Abigail Abbot

bailey act as assertively as she could in dealing with her

husband’s transgressions?

3. What role did religion play in Bailey’s life, and how did it

influence the way she responded to her domestic situation?

4. What similarities or differences do you see between the

situation of the Bailey family and current examples of domestic

violence and abuse?

Excerpt and introduction as printed in Robert D. Marcus et al., America Firsthand,

Vol. 1, 8th

edn (Boston 2010), pp. 50‒57).

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HIST 150 Dr. Schaffer

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HIST 150 Dr. Schaffer

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HIST 150 Dr. Schaffer

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HIST 150 Dr. Schaffer