Colonial America by Richard Middleton Anne Lombard & Anne Lombard

Author:Richard Middleton, Anne Lombard & Anne Lombard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2011-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

3 Gender in a Commercializing Culture: The Eighteenth-Century Refined Lady

The expansion of transoceanic commerce in the eighteenth century brought the societies of British North America into the empire, transforming the Atlantic coastal settlements from isolated frontier outposts into increasingly prosperous and commercial British provinces. As the transmission of news and information speeded up and consumer goods became more available, colonists' expectations about appropriate standards of living began to change. Gender ideology, which had been closely tied to ideas about economic productivity and household living standards, changed along with the colonists' new economic reality. Nowhere was this transformation more visible than in the ideas of the emerging colonial gentry.

The growth of transatlantic communications made wealthy colonists in British North America both more aware of, and in a sense more connected to, the concerns and values of the British middle and upper classes during the eighteenth century. Ships that crossed the Atlantic carried not only goods but also travelers, newspapers, and mail. Visitors and letters provided a means to exchange news and strengthen relationships with friends or family members in Great Britain. Rich colonial planters and merchants began to send their sons to school in England, where they learned how to behave like British gentlemen. When the sons came home to run their fathers' businesses and plantations, they brought their new, more sophisticated manners and tastes along with them. Even the children of merchants and planters who could not afford a metropolitan education for their offspring soon had models close to home to show them what it meant to act and live like members of the British gentry. Among other things, it meant that achieving economic independence as a farmer or a business owner was no longer sufficient for a man who wished to be treated like a gentleman. In addition to independence, he had to become refined.

Refinement was a multifaceted ideal. It required people to master a particular code of behavior that had been popularized among members of the aristocracy during the previous century and was now becoming widely adopted by members of the gentry and upper middle classes in Britain. Refinement was more than simple respectability. Refined people were expected to behave more courteously than ordinary people, adopting the more sophisticated manners, conversational styles, eloquence, and even posture that were becoming recognized as the hallmarks of upper-class status in Britain. Becoming refined also meant developing particular consumer preferences and tastes, in order to demonstrate that one knew how (and could afford) to live like a gentleman or a lady. Proper housing was the first prerequisite for a refined life, and colonial merchants and planters adopted it enthusiastically.

During the first six decades of the eighteenth century, the housing of the colonial elite improved steadily in quality. The fashion favored a colonial Georgian style, featuring columns, friezes, pediments, and other decorative devices popular in ancient Greece and Rome. At the front of the typical house was a large hall, perhaps with a colonnaded entrance, which could be used for entertaining. Windows were

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