Family Life and the Role of Women in the Colonies
A Milestone Documents E-text
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https://doi.org/10.3735/9781961844520.book.part.019

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Abstract

One of the first goals of British colonists in the Americas was to recreate the traditional institutions of their homeland, and the organization of their families represented those structures in a microcosm. John Demos, a noted historian of early America, referred to the family as a “little commonwealth,” which embodied the major values and traditions of English life. A sense of God-given order, patriarchal authority, and communal well-being governed the behaviors of all members of Anglo-American society as well as those of its individual families.

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