Forgiveness for fornication in post-Revolutionary New England

[breathedout]

Although women’s sexual behavior was carefully scrutinized in the honor culture [of late 18th- and early 19th-century New England], being the subject of sexual gossip did not necessarily leave a permanent disability. Women could regain their social standing with proper application. The records of the church Charity [Bryant] attended as a young woman are filled with evidence of premarital pregnancies. When parents who had conceived a child before marriage wanted their child to be baptized they first had to make a formal apology for fornication. This might appear to be evidence of a harsh social stigma, but it is really the opposite. The pattern of confession-baptism was so routine the the church records used the same stylized language to record the process each time. It is just what people did. They courted, had sex, got pregnant, got married, had children, confessed, and had their children baptized, in that order. […]

There was more trouble when girl became pregnant and the father did not marry her. But, again, there were routines for dealing with this common situation. The county courts routinely handled ‘prosecutions’ for fornication that were really glorified legal proceedings to secure child support. An unmarried mother would appear before the court, confess herself guilty of fornication, name the father, and the court would assign financial obligations to him. Sometimes the mothers were fined small amounts, but the proceedings were less about punishment than arranging matters to prevent an infant from becoming financially dependent on the town.

—Rachel Hope Cleves, Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

An interesting correction to the notion that pre- or extra-marital pregnancy and childbearing are a modern innovation that signals the unraveling of America’s moral fiber.