Due FRIday, January 5, 2007

I. Children in Colonial Times

What was life like for children? Difficult.

Large numbers of children, 16-25 in some families, were common.
Many children died before reaching adulthood. Many women died in childbirth.
Children over the age of 6 were considered "Small Adults" and were expected to help with chores and work. They dressed like adults also.
"Boys and girls meant workers - producers of wealth - the boys on farm or sea or in the shop, the girls in the home."
"Industry was the law of the day, and every child soon became a producer."

Most toys, particularly for the non-wealthy, were homemade. Cornhusk dolls were common. Boys used corncobs to build "cob houses".

Children learned and played games. Typical were -

- "scotch-hoppers", known today as hop scotch
- "cratch cradle" or cat's cradle
- Oats, beans, and barley
- Skin the snake

Using the information above, answer the following questions in complete sentences in your own words on a separate sheet of loose-leaf paper.

1. In what ways were the lives of Colonial children difficult?

2. What were Colonial children expected to do from an early age? Explain.

3. How did poor children get toys?

II. Colonial Punishments – Cucking and Ducking Stools

Ducking stools and cucking stools are chairs formerly used for punishment. They were meant to embarrass and punish women who were guilty of scolding or backbiting. Less often, they were used as punishments for offences like having an illegitimate child or prostitution. They were technological devices that formed part of the wider method of law enforcement through social humiliation (or public embarrassment). A common alternative was a court order to recite one’s crimes or sins after Mass or in the market place on market day.

People made cucking and ducking stools in their own towns, and there was no particular way in which they were made. Most were simply chairs into which the victim could be tied and exposed at her door or the site of her offence. Some were on wheels that could be dragged around the city. Some were put on poles so that they could be plunged into water, hence ducking (dunking) stool. Men were more often embarrassed by being put in the stocks (shown below), although both men and women suffered both types of punishments.

There does seem to have been difference in usage between a ducking stool and a cucking stool. Although both were primarily forms of public exposure and humiliation, the cucking stool seem to have involved no water, and the victim being raised up on show.

Using the information above, answer the following questions in complete sentences in your own words on a separate sheet of loose-leaf paper.

1. What were the types of “crimes” that a woman could commit to get the punishment of the ducking stool?

2. What one of the most important effects of the ducking or cucking stool on the people punished?

3. What was the other type of punishment mentioned in the passage that was used to embarrass men?

III. Sectionalism in the Colonies – Review

The colonies were split up into three different parts: The Southern, Middle, and New England Colonies. Each region was a little different.

The Southern Colonies were Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Farming was very important to the colonists, and the soil was very good for it. They farmed tobacco, indigo, cotton, etc. The South had many slaves, big plantations, and factories. Many of the southerners were rich plantation owners. Malaria and other diseases were very common, and many settlers died.

The Middle Colonies were New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The Middle colonies were a mix of the Southern and New England Colonies. These colonists traded and farmed a little bit. There were a few hills, but no big mountains. There were a few plantations and a few slaves. There were a couple big cities besides all the farmhouses. The Middle Colonies were sometimes called the "Bread Basket Colonies."

The New England Colonies were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The colonists traded beaver pelts and other various items. There were big trading ports here such as Boston Harbor. There were big cities and very few, if any, farmhouses. There were many mountains, and the soil was rocky and not good for farming.

Using the information above, identify which region best answers the question - Southern, Middle, or New England - on a separate sheet of loose-leaf paper.

1. Which region depended the most on trade on the ocean?

2. Which region provided food for the other colonial regions?

3. Which region was most dependent on cash crops?

4. Which region included the land on which I.S. 318 is built today?