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Colonial Society MODULE

and Culture 2.7
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During the early eighteenth century, challenges to the culture of traditional patriarchy and religion
in the colonies sparked a religious response. Young people experienced increased independence
from their parents and developed tighter bonds with siblings, cousins, and neighbors their own
age. Colonial people in general had greater mobility, moving more often in the dynamic economy.
Further, towns and cities developed clearer hierarchies by class and status, which at times
protected wealthier individuals from punishment for misdeeds and undermined social confidence in
the patriarchal order.
The practices of traditional religion faced challenges as well: generally reduced religious
enthusiasm during the later seventeenth century led some to believe that new approaches
to religion were needed to correct society’s ills. The combined contexts of a more open, less
patriarchal society, and the failure of traditional religion to inspire devout Christian followers
unleashed powerful religious forces — later called the First Great Awakening — that swept through
the colonies in the early eighteenth century.
As you read this module, pay careful attention to historical developments, including
simultaneous historical events, that help explain the era discussed in this module. Remember also
to consider how context shapes the most important events you read about and to periodically ask
yourself why important developments occurred. The overarching question you should keep in mind
as you read this module is: What aspects of the Enlightenment and First Great Awakening led to
fragmentation in colonial society, and why?

Colonial Family Life and the
Limits of Patriarchal Order

By the early eighteenth century, many colonial writers promoted the idea of marriage
as a partnership, even if the wife remained the junior partner. This concept took prac-
tical form in communities across the colonies. In towns, the wives of artisans often
learned aspects of their husband’s craft and helped oversee as well as care for appren-
tices, journeymen, and laborers.
Colonial mothers likewise combined childbearing and child rearing with a great
deal of other work. Infants were the most vulnerable to disease, and childbirth was also
a dangerous ordeal for colonial women. In 1700, roughly one out of thirty births ended
in the mother’s death. Women who bore six to eight children thus regularly faced death.
When a mother died while her children were still young, her husband was likely to
remarry soon afterward to maintain the family and his livelihood. Even though fathers
held legal guardianship over their children, child care undoubtedly was women’s work.
While most families accepted the idea of female subordination in return for patriar-
chal protection, signs of change emerged in the early eighteenth century. Ads for runaway

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