1st Edition
Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750 Steering Toward England
Preface; Introduction; Founding law in Massachusetts Bay, Maine, and Rhode Island; Evolving law in England and its influence on New England; ‘Exposing our children, to be bred ignorantly like Indians’: frontier peripheries and cross-cultural sexual contact; ‘He shall be liable to the charge of maintenance’: morals, economics, and illegitimate children in New England communities; ‘The court doe own him her aturney’: justices, attorneys, and the New England court room; ‘The said Margaret prays process against him’: public and private lives in New England court rooms; Conclusion; Appendices; References; Index.
Biography
Abby Chandler is Assistant Professor of Early American History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She is currently working on her next book project which will examine the use of English legal traditions in political rebellions during the 1760s.
"An excellent feature of this book is its informative appendices, which document the ways that heterosexual misconduct was charged and punished... The decision to include these lists reflects the author’s admirable determination to bring the colonial era to life by listening for people’s voices in court records, in their own plain speech. Chandler makes a strong case that historical change in early North America happened not just when colonial elites spoke, but also in the minds and words of the common people. Her book will interest scholars of early modern gender and sexuality, the law, and the social history of early North America." - Ann M. Little, Colorado State University, USA
