Difference between revisions of "Week 8 Questions/Comments-327 11"
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I kind of enjoyed reading this section, in the same way you enjoy reading the police blotter. It was like a tabloid with odd spelling- but the punishments kind of appalled me. I realize that lashings were a very common punishment in this time, but some of the sentences seemed extreme for the crime committed. The sentence given to the Backways, for example- by the time of this writing, they were already married. Why was the court still punishing them for something they had done a while back? There was no mention made of a child, so I wonder how they ended up confessing in court to pre-marital sex. I was also startled by the sentence given to Margaret Brewster, which says she is to "strip to the waist" before being whipped. That they would ask a woman to take off clothing seems like it would be very unusual, and none of the other cases mention the woman being told to take off her clothing before being whipped, so this seems like a departure from the norm. - Rebecca W. | I kind of enjoyed reading this section, in the same way you enjoy reading the police blotter. It was like a tabloid with odd spelling- but the punishments kind of appalled me. I realize that lashings were a very common punishment in this time, but some of the sentences seemed extreme for the crime committed. The sentence given to the Backways, for example- by the time of this writing, they were already married. Why was the court still punishing them for something they had done a while back? There was no mention made of a child, so I wonder how they ended up confessing in court to pre-marital sex. I was also startled by the sentence given to Margaret Brewster, which says she is to "strip to the waist" before being whipped. That they would ask a woman to take off clothing seems like it would be very unusual, and none of the other cases mention the woman being told to take off her clothing before being whipped, so this seems like a departure from the norm. - Rebecca W. | ||
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| + | When Woloch mentions women serving as an extension of their husbands in the courts, does she mean as a "deputy husband?" Also, I found the case of Margaret Brewster extremely interesting. As a woman who disguised herself in wearing black face and teaching the Word of God, she is definitely an exception. What was even more surprising than her actions was her extremely severe punishment for such a crime. "to bee stripped unto the waste and to bee tied to a cart's tayle and whip't out of the Town with twenty stripes, beginning at the said meeting house." Harsh. --Mary Beth M. | ||
== Virginia, 1642, NY 1721-1759 – Widows, Wills and Dower Rights == | == Virginia, 1642, NY 1721-1759 – Widows, Wills and Dower Rights == | ||
