| Sex in the City on the Hill: A Look at Premarital Sex in the 17th and 18th Century New England |
| When the Puritans arrived in the new world they wanted to create a God-fearing society, free of corruptions. John Winthrop called it a city upon a hill. These settlers took great efforts to achieve this dream. As such, both the bonds of family and the church were important cornerstones to their society. Furthermore, strict legal codes were emplaced to further encourage good behavior. However, as the 17th century ended and the 18th century began, things were started to change in New England society. Many of the old beliefs and traditions were being broken down and replaced with more secular ideas. Attitudes towards premarital sex were one of the things. However, some things in society remained very much the same, for example, the treatment of women in maters of premarital sex and pregnancy. This paper will attempt to look several different questions regarding this matter. First, of all we will look at the disparity in how men and women were treated in these matters. Secondly, we will look at how the general attitude towards premarital sex shifted from the 17th century to the 18th century. Finally, we will look at how the answers to the preceding questions shed light upon how Puritan society viewed women. This aspect of colonial history is really quite fascinating and gives us an incredible insight into the every day lives of these young people.
To say that there was a disparity in the treatment of men and women in regards to premarital sex is not to say very much at all. This is because it is no real, especially for that period of history in colonial America. Men and women were being treated differently in every other aspect of life, so why should premarital sex be any different. What is surprising though is just how vast this disparity was. Furthermore, the harshness of the treatment of women is also a surprise. In Puritan society, to say that premarital sex was frowned upon is an understatement, especially when it resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child. Punishments would include public belittlement, stiff fines, and whippings. This too is not a huge surprise, and fits well with our view of Puritan society. The real surprise lies with the fact that the punishment of women was far harsher than the punishment of men. We can look at several examples of this in court documents of the time. In one such example Mary Hawkins was convicted of ��bold whorish carriages and having a bastard Childe and impudent and pernicious Lying.� The court went on to sentence her to be whipped twice, 25 lashes each time. Furthermore, she would be forced to pay court fees and had to spend time in prison until her sentence was carried out . In all fairness, her sentence would be reduced upon appeal, but only after the first whipping had taken place. Still though, 25 lashes is nothing to laugh about. What it perhaps the greatest surprise though is the punishment that Mary�s lover, Ezekiel Fogg, received. Fogg was sentenced to pay only 10 pounds, as well as court fees . This was not an isolated case. Sarah Phillips would also be sentenced to two whippings of 15 lashes each. Unlike Hawkins though, she received her punishment in full . A third example is the story of Mercy Veering who was convicted of �uncivil carriage with Sammuell Smith�. She was sentenced to 25 lashes, although officials did postpone the execution of her sentence until after the birth of her child. Smith himself would be sentenced to 30 lashes, but his sentence would be overturned and instead was only asked to pay 10 pounds and leave Boston . So why were the women punished so severely while the men got off relatively easily? Both the man and women were equally guilty of the crime. Furthermore, in almost every aspect of society, women were looked upon as the weaker sex. So why sentence them to such stiff and physical punishment? Sadly, it is probably representative of the shifting attitudes towards premarital sex, in the late 17th century New England. At this time, village elders still fondly remembered the dreams of the �City on the Hill� and were still striving to achieve this utopia. Of course, the young people of the villages saw things differently. One explanation for this shift in attitude from the older to younger generations is economic in nature. By this point, these young adults were third generation New Englanders. Land availability was becoming a major problem. This in turn forced young men to marry later and later, since they could not marry until they had secured their lively hood which in turn meant securing land. These men and women were in their early 20�s and to expect young men and women to abstain from physical contact with one another until they were almost 30 is not very realistic. Yet this is exactly what village elders tried to do. Furthermore, when it came to punishment men had the money to pay fines and avoid whippings where as women did not. In essence, they were able to plea bargain their way out of a stiffer punishment. A second explanation for the disparity of punishment between men and women in colonial New England might also have something to do with the religious attitude of village elders. At this time village elders, who would have made up the courts and handed out punishment, were still of the older generation. They were hard core Puritans who still held great stock in their traditional religious faith. In traditional religious teaching, Eve was to blame for the eviction of both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In this eye, Eve blamed for Original Sin, and seducing Adam. Furthermore, at this time Puritan law was heavily based upon religious teaching. When viewed in this light the disparity in punishment can be easily explained. In these circumstances, village elders were placing the blame upon the women as the seducer of the man, just as Eve seduced Adam into eating from the tree of knowledge. The 18th century marked a major change in the attitudes of New Englanders when it came to premarital sex and pregnancy. Instead of focusing on punishment, they focused upon encouraging the young men and women to take responsibility for their actions through either marriage, or at least the man offering some financial assistance to the raising of the child. However, it did not change the fact that men and women were still being treated differently in this matter. Pregnancy out of wedlock still carried with it a strong social stigma for a woman that it could not for men. Furthermore, a young man might find his life ambitions curtailed by being forced to marry his pregnant lover, or by the shame of abandoning her. In these circumstances men often avoided the whole thing by refusing to claim the baby. This is more than evident in the case of Amasa Sessions and Sarah Grosvenor, two villagers from Pomfret in Connecticut. What made this case unique were the steps that Amasa took to get Sarah to have an abortion. Lust, not love, had gotten them into the situation they were in. Amasa encouraged Sarah to have the abortion so he would be free of responsibilities to her and the baby. Sarah was never thrilled with the idea, but felt that she had no other choice. When all was said and done though Sarah Grosvenor would be dead. Amasa Sessions and John Hallowell, the doctor that performed the abortion, would eventually be investigated for their roles in her death, but both men would avoid punishment . What is perhaps the saddest aspect of this whole story was that the whole even would be swept under the rug. Amasa Sessions would go on to become a prominent man in Pomfret and the Sessions and Grosvenor families continued to be close. By this time, premarital sex was no longer the taboo that it once was, although it was still very much frowned upon. This shift in attitude represented a broader shift in society�s attitude towards their children. Of course, to say �children� is a bit misleading. Sarah Grosvenor was nineteen and Amasa Sessions was twenty-seven at the time of their relationship . These were actually young adults. Society was finally recognizing this fact and giving them some space to live their lives. Another important point in the story is the fact that Amasa Sessions was not put on tried for fornication as he would have been half a century earlier. Instead, he was put on trial for his involvement the death of Sarah Grosvenor. The fact of the matter was men were no longer being prosecuted for the crime of fornication, although women still were. This was a huge inequality. The women now had to bear the total responsibility for an unexpected pregnancy. Sarah Grosvenor faced this exact situation. Amasa had no real desire to marry Sarah and so strongly encouraged her to have the abortion. When an herbal abortifacient failed, Amasa suggested that Sarah have a surgical procedure to abort the baby. He went so far as to even find a doctor to perform the operation. Yet in the end he would be absolved of any wrong doing. The matter was complicated by the fact that Sarah�s parents knew nothing of the pregnancy until after the abortion had taken place and Sarah had miscarried. Sarah was in a no win situation. It is tragic that her death would be the result of the abortion that was more or less forced upon her. From the story of Amasa and Sarah, we are able to draw a couple of generalizations about the general attitude towards women in 18th century New England. First, women who had premarital sex and became pregnant out of wedlock faced serious social and legal problems. Furthermore, the women would forever bear the physical evidence of her sin in the form of a child. At the same time, the man responsible would not be punished and would be able to lead a normal life. When faced with a difficult situation like this it is not surprising that many women turned to abortion as a solution. Unfortunately, this was often a dangerous procedure. Sarah Grosvenor paid for her abortion with her life. There is no telling how many women did the same. Secondly, we can see that parents were becoming less informed as to the social lives of their children. We have already discussed how parents were giving their older children more freedom. With this in mind, the fact that Sarah�s parents did not find out about her pregnancy until after the fact is not surprising. If they had known, things would have probably turned out much differently. Instead, she told her peers. This marks a major departure from what was done in the 17th century. The role of family elders in directing the lives of the children was being greatly reduced by this time. Instead, these young adults were turning towards friends, cousins, brothers, and sisters for advice and guidance. We have now looked at the general attitudes towards premarital sex in both the 17th and 18th century. The next question is what overall changes do we see when we compare the two side by side. First, we can see that the overall attitude towards premarital sex softened over time. The whippings and fines that were prevalent in the 17th century were displaced by fines for women and no legal punishment for men. This is of incredible importance for it also shows the disparity in punishment of men and women. In both the 17th and 18th century women were punished more severely than the men were. Secondly, the attitude of parents made a dramatic shift from the 17th to the 18th century. Strict controls over their children�s social interaction, in the form of laws against immoral behavior were the norm in 17th century New England. Massachusetts General Court passed a whole series of regulations concerning this very matter. Young �unsober� people who were found guilty of �ill behaviour� could face fines of up to 20 pounds or ten days in jail time . In the 18th century, we see a shift in this attitude. Instead, parents gave their children more freedom to control their own lives. Lastly, we see a shift in the importance of family elders from the 17th to the 18th century. The role that family elders played was being supplanted by the support of younger friends and relatives. There is undoubtedly a link between this trend and the fact that parents were giving their children more leeway in their social lives. More freedom to run their lives undoubtedly led them to form their own support circles, independent of their family elders. In this paper, we have looked at the disparity in treatment of men and women when it came to premarital sex. Furthermore, we have looked at how the attitude of Puritan New England shifted from the 17th and 18th century. In doing so we realize that this disparity in treatment never went away. If anything, it actually increased. This has given us a tremendous insight into the general attitude of Puritan New England in matters of premarital sex. Attitudes may have changed from the 17th to the 18th century, but it did not change the fact that premarital sex was still considered a sin, a sin that was made all the more visible for women who became pregnant because of it. Our look at premarital sex also sheds light onto the larger question of how society viewed its women in general. The fact was women had a far tougher time when it came to dealing with the results of premarital sex. Not only were their punishments harsher then their male counterparts, but also in the case of pregnancy they would have to literally carry the results. They were given all the blame and by the 18th century they were also given all the punishment. In a way, a woman�s position regressed in matters of premarital sex from the 17th to the 18th century. At least in the 17th century men were being punished, even if it was usually just a slap on the wrist. The prevalence of abortion in Puritan New England is no real surprise when viewed in this light. We can see how this tragic situation developed though both through the economic and religious circumstances of the time. Although we may have a historical explanation for the disparity in treatment of men and women, it does not justify these actions. When it is all said and done, the conclusion that we come to is that despite the fact that society was generally changing in it views towards premarital sex; women were still being treated unfairly, just as they were throughout the rest of society in this period of our history. |