the devil because of the story of Adam and Eve. Carol Karlsen’s work describes the type of women who are prime candidates for suspicion of witchcraft as women who “stood in the way of orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another.” Karlsen suggests that the most important risk factor for a woman in accusations of witchcraft in the seventeenth-century New England was to be a widow without sons or brothers. Of the nineteen executed 90% were female thus enhancing the lower status of women. The Quakers, another religious group, settled in Pennsylvania in the latter portion of the seventeenth century did not share in the views of the Puritans on issues of female subornation. Quaker women spoke at meetings and traveled extensively as preachers. Quaker women also had more parental authority in the home with the enormous task of transmitting faith to their sons and daughters. Quakers should be viewed as the exception rather than the rule in seventeenth century New England because they were the only group that embraced any notion of equality; no other groups seemed to have any desire to restructure themselves after Quaker society. During eighteenth century the colonies became more populous and stable reshaping women’s roles. In some cases roles that were established just decades before would be challenged. The consumer revolution that emerged during this era widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor creating a society that is separated not only by location but also by economics.In the southern colonies during the eighteenth century there was erosion in the position of women. The strengthening of patriarchal family patterns was a result of a more favorable set of demographic circumstances. Southern women also lacked intense religion, therefore, they were not provided with a springboard into public action like their northern New England women and Quakers. The upper class women ...
