Gender Relations & Cultural Conflicts WHITE SERVANTS VS. BLACK SLAVES NEW IMMIGRANTS VS. ESTABLISHED SETTLERS OLD LIGHT RELIGION VS. NEW LIGHT REVIVAL PURITAN MODEL VS. ENGLISH INTOLERANCE NATIVE AMERICANS VS. EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS POWERFUL MEN VS. SUBORDINATE WOMEN WEALTHY MERCHANTS VS. POOR FARMERS CROWDED SEAPORTS VS. LAWLESS FRONTIER NORTH RADICALS VS. SOUTH TRADITION

Social System of Virginia

An Advantageous Position?  Many women wound up raising their social status, as the men who would not have looked twice at them in England were now beating down their door in America

Mary Fish  Most writings from 18th century women are from high-born ladies…diaries like that of Mary Fish are extremely rare  Mary married three separate times, going on to outlive each of her husbands and living well into her 80s

Evil vs. Good

 Most people thought of women were a “necessary evil”…they had more capacity for evil than men…would seduce men into doing evil things

Evil vs. Good  Most people thought of women were a “necessary evil”…they had more capacity for evil than men…would seduce men into doing evil things  Puritans believed women were a “necessary good”…they believed in the family as an agent of good order

Anne Hutchinson

Three Roles for Colonial Women  1) Economic…helped their husbands in the fields…most made household goods themselves  2) Natural…New Englanders celebrated fertility…most women produced between 8-10 children  3) Theological…Puritans argued that women were just as capable as men of being saved

Colonial Women in Church

Witches & Indians

North American Colonies  Early modern people did not have the ideological apparatus to deal with diversity in general let alone women in particular  The fact that these conflicts did not permanently divide Americans from each other makes the coming together of Americans even more striking

Immigrants & Slaves

Safety Valve Theory  When these immigrants first came to North America, they had to settle in the seaport cities out of necessity  As soon as they had the money to buy their own land, they usually left for the frontier  The frontier served as a “safety valve” to relieve the population pressure on the east coast

Seaport vs. Frontier

Other Colonial Conflicts NORTH VS. SOUTH Northerners look at the south as lazy and unworthy…Southerners look at the north as religious zealots RICH VS. POOR Wealthy could attend balls and plays…there were social clubs for the middle class…the poor could attend horse races, cock fights, drink at taverns…the frontier people had nothing to do but read the Bible to each other