Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-314).
Summary
Overall view of life for the Colonial woman and the experience that have strengthened today's American woman.
Contents
I. Colonial woman and religion: Its repressive effect on woman ; Sabbath rules and customs ; Religious regulations ; Effect on dress ; Effect on feminine repression ; Meetings of Quaker women ; Female rebellion ; The Antinomians ; Activities of Anne Hutchinson ; Woman and Witchcraft ; Lack of recreation ; Religion outside of New England ; First church in Virginia ; Southern strictness ; The Dutch church -- II. Colonial woman and education: School curriculum ; Woman's education in the South ; Jefferson's advice ; Brilliant exceptions to female ignorance ; Southern and Northern women contrasted ; Eliza Pinckney ; Jane Turrell ; Abigail Adams ; Practical education ; Franklin's advice ; Female seminaries ; Moravian schools ; Dancing ; Etiquette ; Rules for eating ; Complaints ; Fancy sewing -- III. Colonial woman and the home: Descriptions of home life ; Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Hamilton at home ; South vs. North ;
(Con.) Lack of conveniences ; Colonial cooking ; Cooking utensils ; Candles ; Soap ; Herbs ; Infant death-rate ; Children as workers ; Mary Rowlandson's account ; Cotton mather as disciplinarian ; Eliza Pickney's motherliness ; Abigail Adams to her son ; Judge Sewall's noble words ; John Adams with the children ; Mrs. Benedict Arnold -- IV. Colonial woman and dress: Dress regulations by law ; Magistrates vs. women ; Effect of wealth and travel ; Size of hoops ; Hair-dressing ; Fashions in Philadelphia and New York ; Dolly Madison's costume ; The meschianza ; Dolls as models ; Men's jokes on dress -- V. Colonial woman and social life: Southern isolation and hopitality ; Social effect of tobacco raising ; Virginia hospitality ; Fithian's description of a Southern mansion ; Eliza Pinckney's opinion of Carolinians ; A letter by Mrs. Washington ; Social effects of slow travel ; New England social life ; Funerals as recreations ; Funeral cards ; Trials and executions ;
(Con.) Treatment of condemned criminals ; Lecture day ; Fast days ; Scant attention to Thanksgiving and Christmas ; Laws against lodging relatives of the opposite sex ; Husking parties ; Dutch social life ; Love of flowers and children ; Love of eating ; Picnicking ; The Schuyler home ; Card-playing and dancing ; Gambling in society ; Mrs. Washington's dislike of stateliness ; Disgust of the democratic ; Senator Maclay's description of a dinner by Washington ; Society in Philadelphia ; The beauty of Philadelphia women ; Washington's birthday ; Martha Washington in Philadelphia ; Theatrical performances ; Strange customs in Louisiana ; Influence of Creoles and Negroes ; Accounts by Berquin-Duvallon ; Drawing the color line ; Race prejudice at balls ; Lack of education ; Berquin-Duvallon's disgust -- VI. Colonial woman and marriage: New England weddings ; Freedom of choice for women ;
(Con.) The dowry ; Independance of colonial women ; The banns and the ceremony ; Matrimonial restrictions ; Frequency of bigamy ; Marriage with relatives ; Spinsters ; Bachelors and spinsters viewed at with suspicion ; Fate of old maids ; Separation and divorce ; Marriage in Pennsylvania ; Ben Franklin's marriage ; Quaker marriages ; Strange mating among Moravians ; Dutch marriages ; Marriage in the South ; Buying wives ; Indented servants ; Romance in marriage ; Feminine independence ; Jane Turell's advice to herself ; Law against marriage of relatives ; Use of the Scarlet letter ; Custom of bundling ; Adultery between indented white women and Negroes ; Amazonian wives ; Punishment for slander -- VII. Colonial women and the initiative: Perseverance of Mary Dyer ; Martyrdom of Quakers ; Women as merchants ; Mrs. Franklin in business ;
(Con.) Pay for women teachers ; Women as plantation managers ; Martha Washington as manager ; Woman's legal powers ; Margaret Brent ; Martha Washington's valor ; Mercy Warren's calmness ; Catherine Schuyler's valiant deed.
