Domestic Violence in the Colonial Era
In our society today, countless people consider domestic violence, a major offense and many individuals serve multiple sentences of jail time because of it. Only within the past ten or so years, have women been able to speak about their experiences. What if today’s society accepted this domestic violence? What if this terrible occurrence happened to you one day and there was nothing that could be done about it? Although modern families often romanticized early colonial life, colonists often wrongfully used domestic violence as discipline.
In the early 1600’s, in Colonial America, domestic violence was not seen by the colonists in the way that we look at it today. It was a form of punishment for women, children, slaves, and spouses. No one ever said anything about it, because no one was aware of the significance of the abuse. At first, the colonies did not see a need to make laws and rules to stop the violence, but after a few men and women took their cases to court, they decided it was time to take action. Eventually, the courts established laws against the domestic violence, but not after an extended time of the ongoing abuse.
One of the major offenses that happened quite often …show more content…
Women or children were not punished as harshly as the men were. It was not until recently where domestic abuse has become a concern. Most people normally kept their mouth about it. In the colonial era, it was even worse because no one knew it was terrible, so they continued to do it. Some of the cases are horrifying and many end in death. It is that reason why domestic violence was one of man’s biggest inhumanities to man. It was in the next house, or ten feet away and no one ever did anything about it until recently. Knowledge is the one thing we have over colonists in that time, and now we know it is in the wrong to perform such
In our society today, countless people consider domestic violence, a major offense and many individuals serve multiple sentences of jail time because of it. Only within the past ten or so years, have women been able to speak about their experiences. What if today’s society accepted this domestic violence? What if this terrible occurrence happened to you one day and there was nothing that could be done about it? Although modern families often romanticized early colonial life, colonists often wrongfully used domestic violence as discipline.
In the early 1600’s, in Colonial America, domestic violence was not seen by the colonists in the way that we look at it today. It was a form of punishment for women, children, slaves, and spouses. No one ever said anything about it, because no one was aware of the significance of the abuse. At first, the colonies did not see a need to make laws and rules to stop the violence, but after a few men and women took their cases to court, they decided it was time to take action. Eventually, the courts established laws against the domestic violence, but not after an extended time of the ongoing abuse.
One of the major offenses that happened quite often …show more content…
Women or children were not punished as harshly as the men were. It was not until recently where domestic abuse has become a concern. Most people normally kept their mouth about it. In the colonial era, it was even worse because no one knew it was terrible, so they continued to do it. Some of the cases are horrifying and many end in death. It is that reason why domestic violence was one of man’s biggest inhumanities to man. It was in the next house, or ten feet away and no one ever did anything about it until recently. Knowledge is the one thing we have over colonists in that time, and now we know it is in the wrong to perform such