New England Women and economic autonomy

New England Women and economic autonomy

The descendants of English immigrants, who had far more land at their disposal, jumped quickly into marriage. During the seventeenth century native born New England women married at age twenty and men at twenty-five, much younger than their counterparts in England. By the end of the century similar patterns had appeared in the Chesapeake region and in North Carolina. Pennsylvania's Quaker pioneers were almost as young. As land became more expensive in older areas during the eighteenth century, the age at first marriage climbed to twenty-three for women and twenty-six for men. To care for aged parents, sons of long lived New Englanders postponed marriage; to look after younger siblings, orphaned sons in the South did the same (). But in frontier areas such as backcountry South Carolina, with its abundance of unimproved land, men married at twenty-two and women at nineteen. Despite the pressure to postpone marriage in older areas, enough families moved to frontiers to keep marriage age low. Early marriage and household formation came at the end of a complex but hardly inevitable process. The millions of acres settlers conquered allowed men to marry young. But the high ratios of land to labor that ready access to land created could have led colonial rulers to impose serfdom on the rest of the populace ().

 

No matter their class, however, colonists demanded personal freedom. Serfdom and feudalism had so withered away in England that no one turned servants into serfs, and every attempt to impose feudalism in the colonies failed. Colonial household formation was predicated upon plentiful land and this expectation of freedom. As long as land remained abundant, marriage and household formation continued on a generational cycle. The conjugal couple bore many children, used their labor to build capital in land, and repaid them for their efforts with a dowry or inheritance that allowed them to marry, find land on a new frontier, and begin the cycle again ().  Married women bore children every other year throughout their twenties and thirties, giving birth to seven or eight children if they remained married through age forty-five. Marital fertility was low in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake region and after an increase toward the end of the century probably declined again. It stayed high nearly everywhere else. Few families except possibly Quakers and scattered families in New England in the late seventeenth century and the late eighteenth century practiced birth control. These high levels of fertility meant that most children lived with many siblings and most middle-aged men headed large households ().

 

Men gained independence when they formed households and married; women exchanged subservience to fathers with dependence on husbands when they wed. Soon after settlement, all colonies adopted laws that subsumed the legal identity of a wife into that of her husband. Husbands governed their wives, had the right to demand access to their bodies, and by custom could discipline them. Married women lost the right to make contracts or sue or be sued unless they brought suit with their husbands. Rising consumption helped divide rural society into sharply delineated classes. Rich seventeenth-century families owned more land, livestock, and slaves than their poorer neighbors, but they lived in similar housing and bought similar consumer goods (). The household amenities middling farmers and farmwives bought made their houses more comfortable and enhanced female dominated ceremonies surrounding meals, allowing farm women to become arbiters of diet and custom. However, the modest purchases of middling farm families hardly presaged the start of a consumer society, much less a consumer revolution ().

 

 Women in New England had a different kind of treatment by its society. They were allowed by society to do small amount of things.  They cannot decide things for themselves. In terms of New England women and economic autonomy two different people have different position on such issue. Gloria Main believed that Women in New England were given  sufficient participation in the economic affairs of the region.  She believed that the women in New England were valued for their quality of labor and contribution to New England’s economy. On the other hand Lyle Koehler believed that the women in New England was discouraged by Puritan beliefs and this caused them be unproductive and this made them unable to provide major economic contribution to the region.  It can be said that colonial New England women did and did not enjoy significant economic autonomy.  Different factors contributed for women in New England to enjoy at the same time be disappointed at the way significant economic autonomy is given to them.

Slavery and the black family

The long historical evolution of the African American family through a labyrinth of oppression and denigration has caused the emergence of postmodern African American family enlightenment. The family is a more informed, advanced, self-reliant social unit, whose bonded fabric reflects phenomenal resiliency of the human spirit and the incredible will to survive and prosper. Drawing from a history of unrelenting oppression, educational advances, increased economic leverage, and modern insights brought on by global communications, the African American family has become much more enlightened, rational, self-reliant, and future-oriented (). Running the gauntlet of institutional racism, discrimination, and bigotry is a way of life for African American families. This seemingly eternal struggle has come to be expected as part of the rite of passage to, at best, a marginalized existence with regard to the greater scheme of American life as set forth by the majority's structuralist-functionalist orientation of status quo. Like all other American families, African Americans have been, and are being, affected by all the major social systems of the society, most notably economic, political, health care, welfare, housing, educational, criminal justice, military, transportation, communication, and religious systems ().

 

Clearly, the African American family's survival reflects its high degree of adaptability to the many vagaries of these systems and their many changes. The African American family continues to display astounding regenerative qualities.

 

African American family enlightenment and resulting coping strategies take on an African-centered orientation. This worldview combines compassion with rational thought within the context of facilitating same-race system maintenance (). The net result is a shared concern not only for the well-being of the rank-and-file disenfranchised but for an equitable quest to assure the continued psychosocial, economic, cultural, and educational development of mainstream African American citizens. For example, countless social, fraternal, and civic African American organizations provide annual college scholarships. These same organizations conduct perennial cultural and civic events that are focused on African American self-development. Discipline-specific educators routinely hold national conferences designed to enrich and enlighten themselves, students, and the general African American public ().

 

Building racial pride, self-respect, and a strong sense of racial identity are key components in cultivating the family unit. By instilling a strong sense of ethnic pride, Black families communicate to their children that they matter and that they are important to their communities and families. One value found within the African American culture that has a lasting legacy in strengthening the family unit is spirituality. Spirituality can assume multiple meanings; for example, spirituality can be manifested in a belief structure of perpetual optimism and the ability to recover from adversity (). African Americans' undaunted belief in a better day is said to be based on a strong religious orientation. Such a belief system sustains the family unit, because this belief is transferred and transposed onto children. Likewise, spirituality leads to parental hopefulness, which is under girded by love, support, and commitment to children. Many family preservation programs are premised on the belief that there are inherent strengths, capabilities, and positives in all individuals and families (). Such strengths are utilized in planning interventions with the family. Family preservation programs emphasize to families that their services are different from traditional services in which, for various reasons, a family may have developed feelings of hopelessness and distrust. Family preservation emphasizes a family's ability to self-direct its life and to assume its inherent power to make necessary changes ().

 

Slavery was part of the black family’s history. It gave various hardships to different kinds of people especially the black family. Although slavery was a big problem of the black family it did not destroy this kind of family. Slavery on the other hand provided benefits to the black family. It made the family stronger and have more unity. Slavery made the black family bind amongst themselves so that they can survive such problem.  Slavery provided the black family an opportunity to establish within themselves a well defined set of values. It provided a chance for the family to establish good kinds of values to themselves and the generation following them. There might be situation of slavery wherein the family is treated well thus the relationship between owners and the slave works well and the family becomes stronger.

Disagreement in the constitutional convention

One disagreement in the constitutional convention involves different people trying to assert their own laws in drafting the constitution, this is based on the different motives they have.  Some members of the panel making the constitution have their own motives and they insist on adding to the constitution laws that can relate to their motives. Another disagreement in the constitutional convention is the too much length of time used between the articles of confederation and the drafting of the constitution. There are some people who refuse to accept that there is such a huge time disparity from the time the articles of confederation was adopted and the constitution was drafted.  A disagreement in the constitutional convention is it took a long time before it was completed and this lead to different problems to the country. The inability to finish the constitution in time caused different kinds of concerns for the country and its government.

 

Hamilton’s financial objectives and policies

Hamilton concentrated on creating various reports that started the financial revolution in the American Economy. Hamilton wanted the federal government to shoulder the state debts that was incurred during the revolution. Hamilton wanted to counter any attempts for America to be a farmer nation and he wanted America to be a dynamic industrial economy. Moreover Hamilton provided a big contribution in creating agencies such as the American Mint and the first national bank. 

Crisis between the American Colonies and England

The crisis between the American Colonies and England transpired due to different things. One cause of the crisis was Taxation without representation. Taxation was not a major problem of American colonies; the problem was the British did not inform the representatives of the changes they want to impose on taxation. Another cause of the crisis was when England sent more troops that were not anymore needed. This tarnished the national pride of the Americans. Moreover a cause of the crisis was the Boston Massacre. This event was used as a black propaganda by the enemies of the British to cause public uproar.  Lastly a cause of the crisis between the American colonies and England is the desire for freedom in most American colonies.

 

The period before the revolution

When the English began colonization, they were forced to settle in what were thought to be the less desirable areas of the New World, except for the smaller islands in the West Indies which Spain had not occupied. Throughout the colonial era England looked upon her West Indian colonies as the most valuable because they produced sugar and other tropical crops. Nevertheless, the most populous, wealthy, and powerful English colonies were those that grew up on the North American mainland ().The founders of colonies had various motives, but most of them wanted to make fortunes or to increase the fortunes they possessed. Even the religious dissenters who founded Massachusetts and Pennsylvania as places where they could practice their religious beliefs as they pleased were not exempt from the hope of bettering themselves economically. The men who founded colonies realized that if they were to make money, they must bring laborers and farmers from England and Europe to work upon the vast areas of unsettled wilderness. Therefore the founders advertised their colonies as regions of opportunity where land was either free or cheap, and where any man, no matter how poor, could hope to better himself ( ).

 

The English colonies were political societies in which more men could vote than in any other place in the world; for the ownership of fifty acres of land gave men the right to vote in most colonies, and land was easy to acquire. However, the colonial governments which achieved virtual self-government as opposed to England did not always respond to the wishes of the voters. During the rapid territorial expansion of the eighteenth century, the colonial legislatures, controlled by the old settlements along the seacoast, were slow to extend representation to newly settled areas on the frontiers, and all too often were indifferent to their needs. On occasion, therefore, the inhabitants of the new areas either revolted or threatened to revolt in order to achieve their demands. But on the whole the colonists preferred to settle their problems by political means, by the mechanism of representative government ( ).The period before the revolution was an era where inequality exists. The British gave more favors to their allies and they gave more problems to the American Colonies. The British concentrated on making sure that their status improves. They were more concerned on their welfare.

The societies that evolved

Different societies evolved in New England and Southern colonies.  New England was focused on maritime industries. This can be seen in the different maritime cuisine they specialize in. New England has various accents that some people parody. New England’s society and culture is different because of its location. Its location is near the sea and because of this the region is more adapted to sea life. On the other hand the southern colonies were focused on plantations. The Southern colonies make its economy work by engaging in trade of different crops like tobacco, rice, indigo, cotton and sugar cane. The main reason for English invaders to land in the colonies is because they were looking for gold, resources and virgin lands. The two colonies were different because of their location and the purpose of the English in invading the colony.

 

Hamilton and Jefferson Philosophies

Hamilton wanted America to be a dynamic industrial economy wherein America would be more adept to manufacturing companies that would like to put up business in the country. Hamilton also wanted to empower the federal government over the state governments. On the other hand Jefferson believed that America should be an agricultural nation where farmers can do things on their own.  Jefferson believed that making the country an industrial economy would make government leaders be tempted into corruption. Jefferson was a defender of the state’s rights wherein he initiated different laws that would make sure that their would be equal policies for all.