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122 PERIOD 2 Colonial America amid Global Change: 1607–1754

spouses, servants, and enslaved people; reports of domestic violence; poems about bossy
wives; petitions for divorce; and legal suits charging rape, seduction, or breach of contract
These sample pages are distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
make clear that ideals of patriarchal authority did not always match the reality. A vari-
ety of evidence points to increasing tensions around issues of control — by husbands over
wives, fathers over children, and men over women.
In New England, colonial law allowed divorce, but few were granted, and almost
Copyright (c) 2024 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
none to women, before 1750. In other colonies, divorce could be obtained only by an
act of the colonial assembly and was therefore confined to the wealthy and powerful.
Strictly for use with its products. NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION.
In the rare instances when women sought a divorce, they had to bring multiple charges
against their husbands. Domestic violence, adultery, or abandonment alone were not
enough to secure a divorce. Indeed, ministers and relatives were likely to counsel abused
wives to change their behavior or suffer in silence. If a divorce was granted, custody of
any children was usually awarded to fathers who had the economic means to support
them, although infants or young girls might be assigned to live with the mother.
A quicker and cheaper means of ending an unsatisfactory marriage was to aban-
don one’s spouse. Colonial divorce petitions citing desertion and newspaper ads for run-
away spouses suggest that husbands fled in at least two-thirds of such cases.

REVIEW

■ What were the effects of social changes in colonial society during the
early eighteenth century?

Enlightenment and Awakening

Enlightenment By the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, a European cultural movement that
A European cultural emphasized rational and scientific thinking over traditional religion and superstition,
movement spanning the had taken root in the colonies, particularly among elites. The development of a lively
late seventeenth century to transatlantic print culture spread the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like the English
the end of the eighteenth philosopher John Locke and the French intellectuals Montesquieu and Voltaire. These
century, emphasizing rational
and scientific thinking over thinkers argued that through reason, humans could discover the laws that governed
traditional religion and the universe and thereby improve society.
superstition. Benjamin Franklin, a leading printer in Philadelphia, was one of the foremost advo-
cates of Enlightenment ideas in the colonies. His experiments with electricity reflected
his faith in rational thought, and his publication of Poor Richard’s Almanack spread such
ideas throughout the colonies in the 1720s and 1730s.

AP ® WORKING with EVIDENCE

Source: Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1739
“Kind Reader,
Encouraged by thy former Generosity, I once more present thee with an
Almanack, which is the 7th of my Publication. While thou art putting Pence
in my Pocket, and furnishing my Cottage with necessaries, Poor Dick is not
unmindful to do something for thy Benefit. . . .
Ignorant Men wonder how we Astrologers foretell the Weather so exactly,
unless we deal with the old black Devil. Alas! . . . For Instance; The Stargazer
peeps at the Heavens thro’ a long Glass: . . . He spies perhaps VIRGO (or

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