Graduation Year
2003
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
History
Major Professor
Philip Levy Ph.D.
Committee Member
John Belohlavek, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Gary Mormino, Ph.D.
Keywords
bastardy, fornication, race, class, gender
Abstract
This Master's thesis investigates one particular aspect of sexuality in colonial Anglo America--the products of non-marital intercourse. Earlier historical research emphasized the importance of economic considerations in the creation of bastardy laws and the prosecution and punishment for violators of these statutes. Undoubtedly, financial anxieties were a major concern in out-of-wedlock births, but they were only one concern of many. Class, race, and gender dynamics were prominent in colonists' conceptualization of illegitimacy and largely defined who was at risk for having an "insolent and contemptuous carriage" and the resulting punishment for the debauched act. Elite, white officials made women, servants, and Africans increasingly vulnerable to bastardy prosecution, thereby, marginalizing a large segment of the colonial populace.
Gendered relations, class biases, and racial inequities structured colonial society, and, therefore, merit consideration in a study of illegitimacy. This research aims to culturally describe and analyze bastardy within the context of the Chesapeake and New England regions. There is more to the study of colonial illegitimacy than economic concerns. Thus, applying cultural factors to a study on colonial bastardy further explores one of the many concerns that influenced colonists' understanding of illegitimacy.
Scholar Commons Citation
Watkins, John, ""Insolent and Contemptuous Carriages": Re-Conceptualizing Illegitimacy in Colonial British America" (2003). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/1502
