Marriage:
the evolution of an institution
·Prior
to 1200 not a legal institution, still binding.
·1400s
church asserts some control.
·1493
marriage ceremony becomes a sacrament
·No
priests are required until 1563.
THE HISTORY
OF MARRIAGE IS A HISTORY OF INCREASINGLY FORMALIZED SOCIAL CONTROL
Lord
Hardwick’s Marriage Act of 1753 standardized marriage law in England.
DIVORCE:
·Wealthy
could get a divorce by an act of Parliament.
·Poor
simply ran away.
Inside
the lives of some families...
The
Landowners
·Marriage
is a transmission of property.
·Wives
supervised professional household managers, served the community, bore
children and pursued the arts.
·Husbands
worked to gain more property to pass on to heirs, or at least keep property
from diminishing.
·Eldest
sons were heirs. All boys educated. Younger sons became professionals.
·Daughters
were not educated, pursued social interests (esp. Attracting a marriage
partner).
·Wives
acted as “vice president” to their husbands, managing the household in
the husbands’ absence.
Professionals
·Three
factors contributed to a rise in the number of professional families during
the 1700s and 1800s:
1.Clergy
allowed to marry
2.Demand
for professional services rose
3.Consumerism
increased providing more business opportunities.
·Men
married late so they could provide for their wives, children and possibly
their widows and orphans.
·Bankruptcy
second only to death in the demise of a business.
·Sons
raised to continue the profession.
Women
primarily to supervise the home.
Working
Landowners: Farmers & Craftsmen
Farm
and Craft businesses involved the whole family
Craftsmen
sent sons to apprentice
Farmers
sent sons to school
Wives
were valued for thrift and good supervision
Daughters
often engaged in the work
Husbands
were valued for hard work
Poor,
Illiterate Laborers
Agricultural
or domestic work prominent
Children
work begging and doing menial piecework
Men
and Women sought thrifty spouses
Families
were very unstable
Review:
Families in England
Laborers
- literacy
COLONIAL
U.S. ~1600
Characteristics
of the Chesapeake Region:
·Large
numbers of indentured servants -- had to wait to marry.
·Overwhelmingly
male -- hard to marry -- result: low levels of social control.
·Disease
was prevalent due to constant influx of new immigrants and inhospitable
environment -- result: families were constantly changing.
Second
Generation in Chesapeake (late 1600s)
·Shift
to slavery
·gender
distribution evens out
1.low
immigration decreases disease.
2.Marriage
occurs at younger ages.
3.More
children born.
New
England Colonies (~1600)
·Populated
by whole families -- sex ratio relatively normal
·Slower
immigration, different climate -- less disease
·Marriage
patterns transfer from Europe
Second
Generation New England
(late
1600s through 1700s)
·Revolutionary
war and increased trade increases disease.
Families
in Chesapeake and New England begin to resemble each other more.
African American
Families under slavery
Early
assumptions:
-slavery
weakened family ties
-Evidence:
scattered quotes and overall views of slavery
-Research
since the 1970s
oLocation
mattered
oType
of sale mattered
Better
Evidence
WPA
narratives of 2300+ former slaves
Slave's
life narratives
Records
and writings of whites
Findings
34% had separated members
46%
nuclear
80%
likely functioned as traditional families
-
fathers were marginal to the family
Recent
research shows:
·AA
families had extensive, strong and highly organized kin networks.
·Premarital
pregnancy was common.
·25%
of sons were named for their fathers
Three
“types” of family:
·Public
Family (<1700)
-
produced joint goods
-
familial mode of production
·Modern
Family (1700-1970)