Women in Colonial America II: Focus on the Puritans
New England and the Chesapeake compared (17th/early 18th centuries)
New England
Chesapeake
Geography
rocky fields
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flat coastal plains
Town Development
small farms & towns across landscape
 plantations and large farms, few towns
large port cities: Boston, Philly, NYC
 few cities
focus on commerce (trade) & industry
 focus on agriculture, especially cash crops
(especially ship-building, rum distilling)
(tobacco, indigo, rice)
Labor
few slaves
many slaves
Religion
strong Puritan churches
 weaker organized religion
little religious tolerance
 more religious tolerance
Population
relatively equal #’s men & women
 more men than women (until late 17th)
strong, patriarchal, family units
 less patriarchal (until later 17th)
larger families
 smaller families (because of high infant
mortality)
life expectancy: about 65 years [= 10+ than
 life expectancy about 45 years for men [10 less
England]
than England]; for women about 39 years
(because of pregnancy)
New England: Focus on the Puritans
 John Calvin and his doctrine of predestination (Puritans were English Calvinists)
o elect vs damned
 Massachusetts Bay Colony
o Governor John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630)
o the Great Migration (1620s‒40s)
 Anne Hutchinson (banished in 1636)
 Quakerism (established by George Fox in the mid 1600s)
 King Philip’s War (1675‒76)
o Metacomet (aka Philip) and Wetamo (Weetamoo), chiefs of the Wampanoag
o Mary Rowlandson, A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs Mary
Rowlandson (1677)
 captivity narratives
 King William’s War (1689‒97)
 1684: revocation of the charter of Massachusetts Bay Colony by King Charles II (r. 1660‒85)
 Salem Witch Trials (1692)
o Governor William Phips
o witches, accusers & witnesses
HIST 150
Dr. Schaffer