Why did colonists in the late seventeenth century adopt the practices of femme covert the English common law concerning the legal status of a wife?

"In England so great a Regard and Reverence is had to the Judges, that if any man strike another in Westminster Hall, while the Judges are sitting, he shall lose his Right Hand, and forfeit his Land and Goods, for so doing. And tho' the Judges here claim all the Powers and Authorities within this Government, that a Court of King's Bench has in England, yet I believe Mr. Attorney will scarcely say, that such a Punishment could be legally inflicted on a Man for committing such an Offence, in the Presence of the Judges sitting in any Court within the Province of New-York. The Reason is obvious; a Quarrel or Riot in New-York cannot possibly be attended with those dangerous Consequences that it might in Westminster Hall; nor (I hope) will it be alledged, that any Misbehaviour to a Governor in the Plantations will, or ought to be, judged of or punished, as a like Undutifulness would be to Our Sovereign."

According to Andrew Hamilton, attorney representing Peter Zenger, how were the laws of the colonies related to the laws of England?

"Mr. Hamilton. May it please Your Honour; I agree with Mr. Attorney, that Government is a sacred Thing, but I differ very widely from him when he would insinuate, that the just Complaints of a Number of Men, who suffer under a bad Administration, is libelling that Administration. Had I believed that to be Law, I should not have given the Court the Trouble of hearing any Thing that I could say in this cause. . . . What strange Doctrine is it, to press every Thing for Law here which is so in England? I believe we should not think it a Favour, at present at least, to establish this Practice. In England so great a Regard and Reverence is had to the Judges, that if any man strike another in Westminster Hall, while the Judges are sitting, he shall lose his Right Hand, and forfeit his Land and Goods, for so doing."

At the libel trial of Peter Zenger in 1736 in New York, Andrew Hamilton argued that Zenger should be...

"In general then I rise at five o'Clock in the morning, read till Seven, then take a walk in the garden or field, see that the Servants [slaves] are at their respective business, then to breakfast. The first hour after breakfast is spent at my musick, the next is constantly employed in recolecting something I have learned least . . . , such as French and short hand. . . . I devote the rest of the time till I dress for dinner to our little Polly and two black girls who I teach to read, and if I have my papa's approbation (my Mamas I have got) I intend [them] for school mistres's for the rest of the Negroe children. . . . [After dinner, musick and then] the rest of the afternoon in Needle work till candle light, and from that time to bed read or write. . . ."

From Eliza Lucas's Letter to Miss Bartlett (c. 1742), it can be concluded that Lucas belongs to which social class?

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How did changing marriage patterns influence accusations of witchcraft in the 17th century New England?

Why were some colonists discouraged by the state of religious practice in the colonies before the Great Awakening?

What characterized colonists approaches to Indians religions and cultural practices in the middle of the eighteenth century in Pennsylvania?

Why did British colonists in Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania complain about German and Scots