The Transition Of American Families In The 18th Century
Abstract
This historiography will examine the American families and their roles in the 18th century. It will focus mainly on three major areas: the colonial era, the 18th century and the progressive era. The family roles and relationship has been highlighted. Highlighted in the essay too is the rapid change in the family structure and relationship towards the early 20th century. The family roles have been broken into parental roles and the children roles in the family and the society at large. The family transition over the years have also been highlighted and finally a brief conclusion.
Keywords; Family roles, colonial era, the transition.
Introduction
Although family life in the colonial era was quite different, the family unit was very …show more content…
Parents were responsible for the religious development of their children (Laslett & Wall, 1972). The responsibility over the young fell heavy on parents to maintain the order in the society which included supervising the young individuals, punishing minor offenses and reporting major offenses to the local officials since unlike today there was no police force. It was the role of parents to provide basic needs such as health care, food, clothing, and entertainment. Everyone was expected to play their role as parents in order for the survival of the family. Despite the fact that both men and women contributed to the success of the family, men had more power than women. They are the ones who held the high positions in the government, higher education and in the church. Women had no marital status, only remaining with those granted by their husbands. Divorces were rare, but in the case of separation, the fathers had the custody of their children. Therefore, women were left to do a lot in the homestead. The status of women within the 13 colonies was basically determined by the men in their lives. So if you were a woman married to a wealthy business owner or say a wealthy tobacco farmer, you were considered to be of high-status Unmarried women were considered as the legal property of their fathers. Men had unlimited power in the household and they are the ones who decided how money was to be used, if there was a lot of money to go around, women generally had a little bit freedom on how to spend but on the other hand if there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, the men got to decide (Ramos,
This historiography will examine the American families and their roles in the 18th century. It will focus mainly on three major areas: the colonial era, the 18th century and the progressive era. The family roles and relationship has been highlighted. Highlighted in the essay too is the rapid change in the family structure and relationship towards the early 20th century. The family roles have been broken into parental roles and the children roles in the family and the society at large. The family transition over the years have also been highlighted and finally a brief conclusion.
Keywords; Family roles, colonial era, the transition.
Introduction
Although family life in the colonial era was quite different, the family unit was very …show more content…
Parents were responsible for the religious development of their children (Laslett & Wall, 1972). The responsibility over the young fell heavy on parents to maintain the order in the society which included supervising the young individuals, punishing minor offenses and reporting major offenses to the local officials since unlike today there was no police force. It was the role of parents to provide basic needs such as health care, food, clothing, and entertainment. Everyone was expected to play their role as parents in order for the survival of the family. Despite the fact that both men and women contributed to the success of the family, men had more power than women. They are the ones who held the high positions in the government, higher education and in the church. Women had no marital status, only remaining with those granted by their husbands. Divorces were rare, but in the case of separation, the fathers had the custody of their children. Therefore, women were left to do a lot in the homestead. The status of women within the 13 colonies was basically determined by the men in their lives. So if you were a woman married to a wealthy business owner or say a wealthy tobacco farmer, you were considered to be of high-status Unmarried women were considered as the legal property of their fathers. Men had unlimited power in the household and they are the ones who decided how money was to be used, if there was a lot of money to go around, women generally had a little bit freedom on how to spend but on the other hand if there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, the men got to decide (Ramos,