Marriage and Family in Early America

Marriage and Family in Early America Sexuality and matters of sex have long been the strings that held humanity in transition from one generation to the other. Different cultures the world over had different definitions of sex and the order of importance in which it had (Peiss, 2002). At the center of sex is the role that each gender plays in the society since it was gender and sexuality that essentially defined an individual’s role in a community. The role of men in the community was that they were an advantaged gender and so it was up to them to initiate all matters on sex, from casual sexual relations to serious proposals leading to marriage and establishment of a family unit. The role of women was mainly a supportive one in which the men led and the women were expected to follow. This was the similarity of sexuality in the vast majority of cultures in almost all of humanity.

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The one thing that vastly shaped sex and sexuality was the stance of the religion that a community subscribed to. It is religion that set out the boundaries of interaction between men and women or any other unorthodox interrelation between similar genders. These boundaries were set out in the form of morality which dictated the important aspects of sexual relation (Sterling, 2009). These aspects included the age at which persons could start to engage in sex, conditions under which sex was permitted such as marriage and acceptable marriage arrangements such as polygamy and inbreeding. Understandably, different cultures had varied views on the subject and interactions of the different cultures had a huge effect on the resulting view of sexuality (Horowitz, 2006). This was the case in colonial America when different cultures ranging from the French, English and Spanish of Europe interacted with the native populace of Indian tribes and the immigrant African populace.

This paper examines the views of the Europeans on sex, marriage and family in the new world and how their stances on the subject reacted when they came head to head with the residing indigenous populace (Reis, 2001). The similarities in sexuality are observed together with the stark differences of the cultures. The paper also looks into measures that the Europeans took in their quest to ‘purify’ the Indian communities’ ‘immorality’ in sexuality. Apart from the measures that the Europeans took, the paper also examines some of the compromises that Europeans such as the French made for the sake of the ‘bigger picture’ (Peiss, 2002). By taking a chronological account, the paper examines these interactions from the early days of settlement, towards colonization, the arrival of slaves, and lastly in the colonial period. Throughout the account, the paper looks into how intermarriage and mixed race individuals were viewed in the emerging multicultural American nation.

Various Cultures in Early America

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Spanish The Spaniards arrived in the regions of North America in the early 14th century when they reached at the footsteps of the Aztec empire in Mexico (Oakes et al. 2011). Their influence was to spread southwards towards South America and northwards towards California. Their dominion was soon to be anchored in the southern shores of America when in 1565 they established a fort in St. Augustine, Florida. Apart from the Spanish gold thirst that drove their expedition, they were also keen to spread their religion, Roman Catholicism, in the areas where the Spaniards crown had sent its conquistadors (Sterling, 2009). This usually brought the Spaniards at loggerheads with the native populace especially with regard to the Spanish’s proposed cultural changes to accompany Catholicism. Though many Indians accepted to take up Christianity after ‘persuasion’, they remained very skeptical of the regulations especially those outlawing polygamy. The Spanish were largely successful in forcefully enforcing their rules, but they had to forego some of their tight restrictions after expansion further inland.

Their expansion had the negative effect of spreading the Spanish too thin relative to the Indians especially when they moved to places such as Santa Fe by the early 17th century. They reluctantly allowed polygamy and other sexual practices that were prevalent to the Indian culture to continue unabated as long as the Spanish overlords continued to get labor and produce from their new subjects (Reis, 2001). An important thing to note with regard to the Spanish was although in theory they conquistadors were vital in the spread of Catholicism, the Spanish Crown was aware of the contraventions that they practiced in America. For instance, rape and sex outside marriage was frowned upon by biblical teachings, however, the conquistadors after overcoming resistance from local Indian tribes would often rape the women and hold on to some women as spoils of war (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998). This to the locals was the heart of

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hypocrisy, considering it was the same people who were now preaching to them this new religion were things like rape and sex before marriage were considered as cardinal sins (Horowitz, 2006).

French The French arrived into North America during the early parts of the 16th century (Oakes et al. 2011). Their foray into this new world was largely driven by the need to establish trade routes to the Pacific and also to gain control of new territories similar to other big European powers at the time. The new French territories extended from as far north as French Canada to the west of New Found land, cutting through the Midwest of America, down the Mississippi and up to the Gulf of Mexico port city of New Orleans (Sterling, 2009). The French were hell bent on establishing colonies in their new territories but were often ill prepared to deal with the harsh winter climate of the northern region (Peiss, 2002). However, with time the French were able to establish their settlements but with a lot of difficulties on the part of those who opted to move to the new lands. To go around these problems, the French Crown generously rewarded those who were willing to move by giving out cash. To bolster the population of the colonies, officials encouraged the settlers to have huge families. To ensure that this occurred, women of marriageable age were shipped in droves from their motherland so as to increase the French populace in the colonies (Sterling, 2009).

Suffice to say that the French officials were very determined to put roots in their ‘New France’ and put in place mundane rules and laws to guarantee that this happened. Large families received hefty rewards for populating the colonies while young girls were required by law to be married by age 15 (Reis, 2001). Those families that had unwed daughters past fifteen years were heavily fined. The French were also determined to spread Christianity to the local populace and they did this through the work of French missionaries. As expected, the new religion did not go

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down well with native tribes whose ideas of marriage and sexual morality greatly differed with those professed by the missionaries. The fur trade was also very influential in the early family dynamics of the French foray in North America (Peiss, 2002). Unlike missionaries who flat out condemned the culture of the locals, the traders were mainly driven by hunger for fur and were willing to ignore the transgression of the locals if it meant getting their fur. As beaver numbers in the colonies continued to dwindle, traders moved further inland and some traders took up local Indian women as wives and concubines to establish good rapport with the locals and ensure constant supply of their fur. Effectively, some traders were practicing polygamy with the locals in clear contravention of the Christian teachings of the missionaries which the locals were expected to follow (Horowitz, 2006).

British The arrival of the Europeans from the British Isles took longer than that of fellow Europeans the Spanish and the French. But upon their arrival in the late 16th to early 17th century, the English settled in the American east coast. These places that the English inhabited were populated with significant numbers of Indian tribes. The colonialists were eager to replicate their rich English culture into their new settlements (Reis, 2001). Among the means that they adopted to do this through was the use of religion and English customs in their new colonies. In the religious front, English missionaries spread their Anglican sect to their colonies much like the French and Spanish had spread Catholicism. Their teachings were similar to that of Catholicism that condemned polygamy and pre marital sexual liaisons. Naturally, they found it hard enforcing their religion to the natives, but nonetheless were very determined to ‘purify’ the Indians (Oakes et al. 2011).

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The biggest challenge that the English had in replicating their social norms of family and community feel in their American colonies was the demographic outlay of the colonies (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998). The settlers considered themselves to be of greater blood than the natives and so it was an unspoken rule that for the colony to replicate the motherland, families had to be of British lineage. The problem with this was that the demographics of the colonies at the time would not realistically allow for this. The male to female ratio was at around four to one, and so this threatened the realistic growth of the colonies. What contributed to these uneven ratios was the way in which persons migrated from the motherland. For instance, in the New England colony, settlers were mainly from the middle class of British society and arrived as families to their new homes (Oakes et al. 2011).

In contrast, settlers who settled in Maryland and Virginia were mainly poor laborers and servants who paid for their arrival to the colonies by offering indenture servitude as payment.

Consequently these servants usually did not arrive in family units but as single individuals. For these reasons, the settlers in the northern colonies such as New England were able to replicate the social stature of back home more easily (Sterling, 2009). Family structure and the sanctity of marriage were more pronounced among the family unit settlers as sexuality was easily channeled to marriage. In comparison, those that settled in the Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland had more cases of premarital sex and brides giving birth in less than nine months into marriage (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998). What contributed to this was mainly the lack of tight family values originating from young ones growing up in stable family units. The result was that individuals in these places found it relatively harder to control their sexual urges.

Indians

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The Indian tribes were the local inhabitants of the new colonies and had very deep rooted cultures that governed their family structure. Most of the Indian tribes that the Europeans came up against were polygamous, which was a major source of tension when it came to the spread of Christianity. But still, their views of marriage had strong roots in the way that they viewed sexuality. It was no secret that sexual perversion, by the settler’s description, was prevalent in the Indian communities (Peiss, 2002). For instance, the Indian tribes did not have any qualms with the subject of nudity. Female nudity especially was not considered as being morally wrong or a taboo, contrary to the settlers who viewed this as a sign of serious shortcomings in morality. In fact the act of sex was viewed as a normal human activity that was not surrounded with feelings of guilt and shame by the community. Alternative sex practices were also prevalent in some of these Indian tribes, for instance homosexuality existed and was openly practiced in some communities (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998).

A distinction of the Indian view on sexuality was the community’s view on marriage selection. Unlike most of the settler groups who in their bid to maintain their social classes from Europe regularly organized arranged marriages, the Indian women had considerable choice (Sterling, 2009). The women of certain tribes could select their partners for marriage mainly due to the freedom afforded to them when they were growing up. Certain tribes accepted premarital sex and sexual experimentation by children. The experimentation included cross dressing and sexual play be itself, same gender or cross gender activities. The missionaries in their efforts to purify the Indian communities would often demand of their new converts to abandon their cultural activities (Oakes et al. 2011). They were required not to engage in sexual relations in front of their children, females to cover their bodies to discourage sexual temptations and most importantly obey the 7th commandment.

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African American African Americans, unlike the European settlers, did not get to the shores of North America willingly. Their presence in America was mainly as a result of the need for labor in the colonies (Oakes et al. 2011). The more the settlements extended further inland, there was need for additional labor to cater for the growth of cash crops. The continued hunger for cotton and tobacco meant that by the early 17th century indenture servitude from European migrants was no longer enough. Slave trade flourished especially in the southern colonies due to the complete reliance of agricultural productivity on slaves. Unlike the other races in early America whose population growth was mainly reliant on reproduction within the colonies, the numbers of Africans was to the most part completely reliant on the purchase of more Africans for labor. For this reason, the population growth of the African Americans in early America was the highest (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998).

The fact that most African Americans were mainly brought in for labor meant that the race had the greatest demographic inequality in America (Peiss, 2002). The number of men far outnumbered that of women and consequently reproduction in the farms where they resided was very low. The establishment of families by slaves was not a privilege of the African Americans, but rather their owners who dictated whether or not they would have their ‘properties’ start families or not. Unlike the European settlers who migrated into America from the same countries and essentially continued the culture of their motherland in the new world, the Africans did not have the same privilege. The slaves seldom had any cultural values of their own since they did not necessarily have the same origin and culture with those that they were allowed to procreate with. The net effect was that the ensuing generations of slave off springs did not have close

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cultural ties of their ancestry but rather took up whatever form of sexual morality that the religion of their owners dictated (Horowitz, 2006).

Interracial Mixing Interracial mixing in early America occurred in any of three ways; intermarriage, casual relations or rape. Casual relations were prevalent especially in the early days of settlement and exploration by the Europeans. These casual relations were very much a means of the sexually starved explorers engaging with the locals as it was a means of integration and a friendly gesture by the locals (Oakes et al. 2011). A case is noted of an Englishman in the New England colony being amazed at the offer by local Indian women to warm his bed after a friendly interaction with the tribe. French fur merchants were notorious for engaging in sexual flings with local tribe women in an effort to maintain good business rapport and ensure supply of fur from the locals (Reis, 2001). As the colonies developed further during the mid to the later part of the 19th century, the building of railroads and abolition of slavery gave rise to casual encounters taking on an economic aspect, prostitution if you may.

Rape was another way in which interracial mixing occurred. In most of the European settlement like those in Virginia and Maryland, the disproportionate number of men to women made the Europeans lust after the local Indian women (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998). Because it was not permissible to have interracial canal relations, the men in these communities would result to raping women in the local populace. In the slave farms of southern America, it was an unwritten rule for quite a while that the slave owners were of superior lineage and so were not to associate with the slaves in any social way (Oakes et al. 2011). However, it was a known fact that wealthy white men would often lust at their slaves and would often in the dead of the night

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invite the females to their quarters or out rightly raped them. This is evidenced by the large number of mulatto children in the farms.

Interracial marriage was largely frowned upon in early America. However, this could not stop the practice from happening, albeit in small cases (Peiss, 2002). Take the case of the French in the south for instance. There were many interracial couples in places like New Orleans of Frenchmen marrying Indian ladies. However, these marriages were steeped in deep opposition from the European settlers who saw the interaction as diminishing the bloodline of the colony by mixing superior blood with inferior blood to give rise to average offspring. The overall view by the European settlers was that intermarriage was ultimately detrimental to the colony. Some men were forced to marry Indians as punishment for raping the women. Once slavery was banned, southern states unanimously moved to ban interracial marriage by law so as to discourage any ‘impure unions’ (Oakes et al. 2011).

Conclusion The history of sexuality in America is inexplicably linked to the various cultures that formed the early settlements. The ideals of these cultures dictated the direction in which a colony’s expansion took. Understandably, most chose to replicate their definitions of a cohesive society through establishing family unity similar to those in their motherlands (Oakes et al.

2011). Religion played a major role in the ‘holier than though attitude’ of the Europeans who condemned the local Indian culture of polygamy, premarital sex and nudity as constituting immorality. This was despite the very settlers who were condemning the Indians engaging in sexual liaisons with these women without necessarily being under matrimony (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1998). Slavery also played a big role in the sexual history of the nation as it brought about another dynamic of racial segregation. In effect, the early American nation’s history was

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such that unholy alliances such as interracial unions were frowned upon as it was considered as degrading the pure bloodline of the settlers. All these despite the fact that interracial sex, marriage and premarital sex all occurred despite the morality code that religion and legislation in existence preached.

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References D’Emilio, J. & Freedman, E. (1998). Intimate matters: A history of sexuality in America.

Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press: Horowitz, H.L. (2006). Attitudes toward sex in Antebellum America: A brief history with documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Oakes, J., McGerr, M., Lewis, J., Cullather, N. & Boydston, J. (2011). Of the people: A history of the United States. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Peiss, K. (2002). Major problems in the history of American sexuality. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Reis, E. (2001). American sexual histories. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Sterling, A. (2009). Sex, gender, and sexuality: The new basics: An anthology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.