Life in Colonial America

From a young age girls were being taught their position in life consisted of taking care of their husband and the children they will provide him. Duties which demanded they remain in their home to complete. Typically the role of the female included being educated by their mother’s on how to sew, quilt,

Colonial life was very much unlike our lives today. During colonial life philosophies and what people did were very different from today. Some of which they did has had influence on our own daily lives. This meant the colonies had influence and taught us lessons on the daily life for women, daily life of children, slavery/racism and government.

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

Women did not have an easy life during the American Colonial period. Before a woman reached 25 years of age, she was expected to be married with at least one child. Most, if not all, domestic tasks were performed by women, and most domestic goods and food were prepared and created by women. Women performed these tasks without having any legal acknowledgment. Although women had to endure many hardships, their legal and personal lives were becoming less restricted, although the change was occurring at a snail’s pace.

Colonial women spent most of their life bearing children and most of their adult life raising them . There were some large families of ten to fifteen children, but the average family had six or seven. Many children died from disease in infancy or early childhood (only about half of Colonial infants reached adulthood ). The daughters of Colonial women were trained to be wives and mothers. The girls helped with cooking,

In the seventeenth century, colonial America was categorized into three major regions; New England, the Middle Colonies, and the South. Each region provided various opportunities and breakthrough ideas that created a distinct economic, cultural, and political society different from any other region. These ideas became the beginning of some prominent themes and beliefs Americans see as essential in today’s society.

Whether by land or by sea, eighteenth century colonial travel was arduous, expensive, and many times dangerous. Because of this, few people traveled very far from their homes. Transportation has changed dramatically since the late 1700’s. It was during this time that Colonial America was budding as a new country. This was before airplanes, which appeared in the very early stages of the 1900’s. Cars showed up about the same time, so rewind about 200 plus years and we’re back in colonial America. It wasn’t civilized like it is today. The dirt roads were bumpy, grimy, and when the rains came, they were mud baths. So how did people during this time get around? Often, they didn’t. Not many people could afford the cost of travel back then. Daily American Colonial Life was extremely harsh for the first settlers and colonists. They were faced with a new country, unknown territory and no friends, relatives or neighbors to help them “In those days, it was fairly expensive to travel. Because of this, generally only government officials, merchants, and planters took the risk (Constitution Facts).” Women were supposed to stay home and look after the children while the husband went off to do business. America was still a budding country, so there were not as many cities as there are now and they were more spread out. If the man wanted to travel, it would require several hours, or even several days to ride on horseback. Often the husband wouldn’t return for a couple of days, and when he

Life for women in Colonial America was tougher to endure than life back in England. With daily home chores, that generally lasted all day, to keeping the children under control, women were often burdened by the amount of work they had. Luckily, settling down and finding a husband was inevitable. Although, many women who first came to America as indentured servants would have to wait for marriage until the end of their service.

Colonial Americans faced many hardships as they came to the new land and established the new country. These hardships were explained and told in the writings of John smith, Phillis Wheatley, and Anne Bradstreet. As these writers were primary sources, meaning they experienced the suffering and privation first hand, you can have a better understanding of what it was like for them, or the people during that era. These colonists had suffered a great amount. Either these colonists did not know how to hunt for game, they did not know how to farm correctly, they were slaves, or had troubles with many other things. Which had led to many of these colonists’ having to suffer in many different ways, such as from the lack of proper nutrition, being diseased, or from the vicious beatings of their owners. Many colonist’s lost their lives, starved, and did not know how to live when they found or were coming to the new land. There were many different types of hardships that the people of that era endured. Each writer had their own rough experience they spoke about in their writings.

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America

The Massachusetts colony, otherwise known as the ‘Massachusetts Bay colony’ was originally settled by Puritans in 1630. They were plagued by the religious persecutions of King Charles I and the Church of England. Weary from this dogged torment, they left England under the leadership of John Winthrop. These original colonists quickly established many small towns in the name of high religious ideals and strict societal rules. They also planted churches, spread Puritanism and religiously educated the masses, as these were some of their goals. A utopian society that other colonies looked upon with high regards was the ultimate goal.

Inequality has been a major issue in the Colonial Virginia and it was originated within a hierarchy of race, gender, and social class that already existed in the mother country of England.

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.

The colonial period in the United States all started when people starting immigrating to Boston in the 1630s. With high articulation of Puritan cultural ideas, the New England colonies have been regarded as the center of early American literature. In class we only talked about a few of the writing throughout the period but in this paper, I am going to tell you about the colonial period as a whole.