"Weird Common Practices in Colonial America in the" Topic

…Early History

"In the mid-eighteenth century, prior to the events of the American Revolution, about one of every three young women who walked down the aisle to marry did so while with child, according to extant court and parish records. This rate varies but slightly among the colonies, whether Puritan New England, Quaker Philadelphia or genteel Charleston. By comparison in England, the aptly named mother country, nearly 50% were pregnant when wed. Colonial society often viewed marriage as a business contract and matches were usually arranged based on the fortune, social status, and earning ability of the future husband. Among the arrangers, love was something which would come later, if at all. Husbands and wives had duties to each other and together to the community, the raising of a family among them…"

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Armand