...Mariama Bessane Professor Perine James American History 1151- Essay #1 Jan 7th,2016 Status of Women in Colonial Society Women were always considered inferior to men since day one. That belief had been existing until the eighteen century. During that period, English Colonists brought to America their ideologies with them. Women did not have the same rights as men did during that time. Women were tied in a leash, kept in the dark, and controlled by society. Life wasn’t easy for them. They were not allowed to express their opinions, and if they did, they would be called wicked or evil and be negatively judged by society. During the colonial era, women played an important, if restricted role in work and religious life. During the eighteen century, women were portrayed as weak, unintelligent, and inferior to men. As one minister stated “the woman is weak creature not endowed with like strength and constancy of mind.” (America 70) Women were seen as the “feebler vessels,” not as strong physically or spiritually as men and less emotionally stable. Women of the colonial era were expected to be devoted, passive, powerless, meek, graceful, sympathetic, and above all pure. As a matter of fact, the term “Cult of Womanhood” was an ancient ideology in the eighteen century defining women as pillars of virtue, who represent the value of pity, submissiveness, and domesticity. The role of the women was to be obedient, submissive, devoted to their husbands, and taking care of the children....
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...The Colonial Era and Family Fluctuations In the colonial era women were limited to certain occupations and duties. There were some regional differences in the women and families, but the women were similar in most ways during the colonial era. Women had large families and spent most of their time tending to the children, house work and the farming at times to support their family. As the years progressed women evolved. Women were giving more freedom and independence. With freedom and independence came social classes that families and women were put into according to social and economic status. The American Industrial revolution was a big boom in American history and it effected everyone men and women. Life was changing. To establish a thriving settlement the Virginia Company officials of London imported women into the colony. The Virginia Company wanted to ensure that Virginia would prosper and plantations grow (Student Guide/ History 211,2004 p.8). Women learned that men were the head of the house hold and they were to be silent and so as her husband wanted. Women continued to learn the role thought out their lives. Young girls also learned this by watching their mother remain silent and do as she was told by her husband. In the colonial era women did not defying a man they could be taking to court and persecuted for that crime or for less. “These women also found out their marriage portions would be inferior to those of their brothers” (America: A Concise History 4th edition...
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...Pressure on the Mestiza/Indigenous Women of Colonial Latin America Colonial times in Latin America were tough for both mestizas/indigenous and Spanish women. Latin America’s status of indigenous women changed in terms of their positions in the hierarchy of society, labor roles, and their marriage responsibilities and their own freedoms. The Spanish women began to impose several changes in order to accustom the indigenous women to their level in order to make the “New Spain” a reality. During early conquest, mestiza women, especially those of noble classes were accustomed to be married off as soon as their fathers had an idea of who they wanted to be allied with and to move up in hierarchy. As Susan Socolow said, “Indeed, chiefs offered their sisters and daughters to Spanish conquistadors, continuing the pre-Columbian pattern of using women to appease the powerful and ally with them.” Reigning Spanish conquistadors or other tribal leaders sought to establish alliances, so women were in other words seen as objects to benefit them. Spanish women at the time of colonization were rare, but for instance, Juan Jaramillo was one of the early conquistadors who married. As said, “Her father, don Leonel de Cervantes was a comendador of the Order of Santiago…” The few rare Spanish women available during the colonization state tended to be noble daughters of comendadors, who were married off quickly to other rising nobles, which is similar to how mestiza women were given off, but different...
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...states did not become a colonial power in the period 1450–1750? a. Italy b. Russia c. Spain d. France FEEDBACK: Italy was not a unified state in the period 1450–1750 and thus did not have colonies. (See the chapter introduction in your textbook.) 2. Which of the following statements most accurately describes Europe’s global position in 1450? a. Europe had climbed to relative equality in Eurasian commerce. b. Europe had little trade contact with Africa or Asia. c. Europe remained marginal in Eurasian commerce. d. Europe had come to dominate Eurasian commerce. FEEDBACK: The determination of European elites to progress beyond their marginal position in Eurasian commerce was a main incentive for European exploration after 1450. (See section “The European Advantage” in your textbook.) 3. What was the single most important factor that aided the European conquest of the Americas? a. Gunpowder b. Disease c. Horses d. Superior organization FEEDBACK: The peoples of the Americas had no immunity to European disease and up to 90 percent of the population died after contact with the Europeans, greatly easing the process of conquest. (See section “The Great Dying” in your textbook.) 4. Which of the following is an old-world crop that was soon established in Europe’s American colonies? a. Tobacco b. Potatoes c. Corn d. Rice FEEDBACK: Rice is a Eurasian product that soon became an agricultural staple in many locations in the Americas. (See section “The Columbian...
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...from their homes in Europe and go to the American colonies. This immigration quickly increased the population and made the colonies more diverse. The diversity caused the colonies to be primarily divided along cultural lines. The colonist divided themselves according to their ethnic, regional, racial, and religious differences (Davidson, 2006). Because many of these immigrants had no money and no way to pay for their trip to America, they had arrived in the colonies already signed into indentured servitude (Davidson, 2006). The population increase had a significant impact on the lifestyles of the colonists in the eighteenth-century. At this time the birth rate had increased dramatically as women typically gave birth to five to eight children. This fast population increase made nearly every part of the eighteenth –century American life more frantic and hectic. Social relations in the era grew more strained, as many of the colonials found that this diversity made it impossible to form a shared and common identity. Eighteenth-century colonial societies most often divided along many social lines (Davidson, 2006). An individual’s political and legal rights determined their social class; additionally, clothing was a key factor, as well as a person’s religious affiliation and obligations. The gentry’s class had access to most money and financial power, the highest...
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...Shauna Donovan HIS 115 Many factors led up to the Seven Years’ War and in this paper I will describe the social and political backgrounds existent in eighteenth-century America, explain how the diverse backgrounds and views led to the Seven Years’ War and explain how the outcome of the Seven Years’ War affected me and America. All of this will be explained as you read along in this paper. In the seventeenth-century before I was born, “the colonies were becoming overrun by various, very different immigrant groups” (Davidson, J., 2006). Famine, warfare, and religious persecution forced many non-English groups to flee their homes in Europe to the American colonies. This immigration quickly increased the population and made the colonies greatly diverse in backgrounds. This diversity in backgrounds caused the colonies to be divided along the cultural lines. The colonists divided themselves according to ethnic, regional, racial, and religious differences (Davidson, J., 2006). “Since many of these immigrants had no way to pay for their trip to America, they arrived in the colonies already signed into indentured servitude” (Davidson, J., 2006). The population increase had a significant impact on the lifestyle of colonists in the eighteenth-century. “At this time the birth rate also increased with women typically giving birth to between five and eight children” (Davidson, J., 2006). My family, for example, is quite large. I have my parents, my three brothers, and my two...
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...The Family Sphere: The Changing Role of Women in the Home HIS 310 American Women's History Instructor: Dr. Cheryl Lemus April 18, 2016 Dr. Barbara Welter penned an influential article in 1966 titled “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820–1860” which shed light on the often restrictive family sphere of existence within which, most American women throughout history had dwelt. According to Welter, true womanhood held that women were designed exclusively for the roles of wife and mother and were expected to cultivate Piety, Purity, Submissiveness, and Domesticity in all their relations (para.2). The Cult of True Womanhood, the idealized sainted mother, unconditional devotee of her husband and children, and the core power within the home still exists in the minds of many American men and women and seems to be an intrinsic part of our shared history. The ideal of the sphere of the American women and her relationship to the family evolved as the colonization of the United States evolved. When the first settlers arrived, women held a much more equitable role, laboring alongside the men to establish the country’s first settlements. As the initial settlements grew, the women who had proved vital in their creation were expected to lay down their hammers and saws and return to the family sphere. The supposition being that the return of the American woman to the family sphere was a returning to of them to their natural roles. She would leave the public sphere and revert to the more domestic...
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...During the colonial era, distinct political, religious and economic conditions led to settlement in America. Many diverse groups of people played roles in this settlement and created truly unique societies along the eastern seaboard, in the southwest, and in the upper Great Lakes regions. Drawing from the examples in your textbook, consider the perspectives of large landowners, farmers, artisans, native Americans, women, indentured servants, and slaves and discuss a couple of the groups of people who you believe were most instrumental in the creation of the unique colonial societies and why. Please include specific examples from your textbook and cite your sources. Answer: Every group given above played crucial role in creation of the unique colonial societies. The groups which I believe most instrumental in the creation of the unique colonial societies were slave and large landowners. Majority of the slaves were black. They were brought from African countries. The first slaves to be brought to the British colonies of North America were disproportionately male. Considered more valuable workers because of their strength, enslaved men performed labors that ranged from building houses to plowing fields. Their major role was to assist their masters in farming. Some slaves used to work in industries. Lots of restrictions were imposed on slaves. Slaves were not allowed to live with their families. They were forced to work for 18-20 hrs. In return of their hard work, they were...
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...courses involving women, religion, and Latin America, she wrote Amazons, Wives, Nuns, and Witches. This is one of her book written in English, rather than Portuguese which examines women in colonial Brazil. Myscofski argues colonial Brazilian women were instructed how to fill their role in society by both religious and state authorities, whereas the roles they filled derived from such instruction it was their understanding of the role which altered the practice of their role in society. Women were placed into a restricted domestic sphere, the ideal was that they become honorable wives. The demands placed on women by society resulted in...
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...The Catholic Church was an integral part of colonial Mexican life. The Spanish conquest led to the conversion of the indigenous populations, which then led to a blending of the Catholic tradition with that of the indigenous religions. Catholicism became a part of everyday life for the populations of colonial Mexico and because Catholicism is a hierarchal religious tradition, it reinforced the pre-existing social class structure within the Spanish kingdom. The minorities continued to be excluded from certain aspects of society, including religious positions and education. Both of which were greatly influenced areas of colonial society by the Catholic Church. The church was deeply involved in most, if not all aspects of colonial Mexican life including influencing politics, education, and other local social issues. The Spanish conquest of the Americas was one of great expansion in more ways than one. The Spanish crown not only added new areas of the world to their kingdom but simultaneously spread Christianity throughout this New World. The Catholic Church, a powerful institution in its own right, with the dedicated word of European missionaries, the growth of the religion led to the conversion of much of the indigenous populations in the Americas. The missionaries built missions and had haciendas that created environments in which the Catholic religion was a fundamental incorporation of life, so as to convert the indigenous population. The missionaries also built schools and...
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...Much of American Literature in the Colonial Era was factual. All the writings studied in this class have been very formal thus far, and clearly written by educated people. The documents also have a strong emphasis on freedom. During the Colonial Era, America was beginning the fight to separate itself from England. They not only fought for their country, but for their religion as well. Women were also beginning the struggle against society. These themes are visible throughout the writings of this era. The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the ultimate example of the fight against England. The document details the problems with British Rule. One grievance states, “He [the King] has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good”. This is just one of many complaints the Declaration of Independence makes against Great Britain’s rule. The document was a turning point in the national struggle against Britain. Patrick Henry exemplifies the American fighting spirit in his speech, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death”. He calls the nation to arms, saying, “If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending ... we must fight!” His infamous speech is an...
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...well. Freedom comes as a nation, not as a man. The idea of human rights began with the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” in France. This declaration mapped out the individual rights of men, very similar to the Declaration of Independence in the United States. Most importantly, this document expressed that all men are born free and equal, and that their rights are not dependent on their social status. This controversial idea was the start of a revolution, not only in France, but reaching out to colonial empires all over the Atlantic. Many questioned the legitimacy of these rights and whether they truly applied fairly to all people. One group to question the “rights of man” was the women of France. Most men in France agreed upon the thought that women could not have political rights because their life plan was to be married and have children, and this plan withheld them from any opportunity of political duty. Questions about the collective rights of women soon traveled all over the Atlantic...
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...on making colonial religion modern religion. You can use gender as a basis for how the colonial past led our future in one direction. The part I think would be most helpful to you is in red. Open with, “After Adam and Eve, there was Anne Hutchinson and john Winthrop.” Because as you know she was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony By John for preaching something different. Gender: If you happen to be someone who participates in jewish/Christian services? How many men/women attend? Usually more women. Why? Protestant is the most dominant until 1860 As you move into the early 19 century, Baptist and Methodist Predominant is protestant Women in Colonial Society: -Adam’s rib - women is a “helpmeet” for man. The side, to be content with equality. -Equality function - Were on equal terms in the value and their degree of their participation on the development of the colonies. But only men could have leadership roles. Think of a farm. Women were managers of household economy, feeding the family, cultivating and producing the food. Own economic system of home production. Most women would live out their lives as junior partners in the household economy, but denied the control of the land. Yet colonial women were unlikely to feel useless or alienated from their family by the subsistence economy because they conducted the education and discipline of the children and extended family. If her husband died, she would be the sole person responsibly. The colonial man and woman...
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...of the Old World as well as the New. The development of America took place when a static and status-bound European was responding to new intellectual stirrings, growing trade, and competition among emerging nation- states in overseas exploration and commerce. In 1585 Raleigh established the firs British Colony in North America on Roanoke Island. English colonization in America differed in character and consequences from that of other European nations. The English Monarchs had destroyed the power of the feudal nobility and had established a strong centralized state and in so doing, the monarchs had encouraged the growth of the business middle classes, the merchants and entrepreneurs who were to be major agents of the modernizing process. By seventeenth centaury, England's imperial reach was global; it stretched west from Ireland to Newfound land to Bermuda, and eastward to the subcontinent of India. It was to the west in the New World in 1606 that King James issued charter to two joint stock companies to colonize the land that Sir Walter Raleigh had named Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth. The company promptly sent out an expedition of 144 people and after four months arduous voyage they reached Chesapeake Bay in April 1607. The 105 surviving English men than proceeded up a great river, which they named for King James, and founded Jamestown- the first permanent English settlement in North America. For one category of immigrants the Virginia environment...
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...God, colonial Massachusetts’s society regulated women’s sexuality through a paradoxical relationship: women as saints and women as sinners. Introduction In the religion-obsessed society of colonial Massachusetts, Puritan beliefs dominated contemporary views on sexuality, especially with regard to women. Although Puritan ministers understood human nature’s inability to avoid sexual relations, they adamantly professed that sex must not interfere with religion. In order to create stability within their society, ministers and lawmakers turned towards the women to implement and describe sexual regulation. Women’s social function was not only complex, but also difficult to define. As historian N.E.H. Hull notes, “theirs was a special place, not altogether enviable—for in this land of saints and sinners, they were viewed as both saintlier and more sinful than men.” Not only did society expect and desire women to act morally, but society also feared women for their supposed tendencies to act corruptly. Carol F. Karlsen accurately differentiates between these two identities by naming these women either “handmaidens of the devil” or “handmaidens of the Lord.” This distinction demonstrates the binary opposition of women’s place in society that existed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By identifying these two opposing personalities, women became the means of controlling sexuality in colonial Massachusetts. This paper illuminates the notion of sexuality in colonial Massachusetts...
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