Norton, "The Small Circle of Domestic Concerns."

In chapter one, Norton describes the fundamental structure of a typical eighteenth century American home.  The husband was the head of the family.  The women desired notoriety with respect to their daily household affairs.  Livingston romanticized the colonial female in his essay “Our Grand-Mothers.”  Livingston paints a picture of a woman who is content; she strives to please her husband with every action and attempts to instill this in her own daughters.  Norton continues the chapter discussing the woman’s role in finances.  The husband controls the money and prevents the wife from having any input.  The women are put at a significant disadvantage due to inexperience regarding monetary matters in the absence of the husband.  Norton does not fail to mention that the women are just as much responsible as the men.  Norton highlights the many examples of this phenomenon such as the shock of learning debt burdens for the first time.  Males and females experienced drastically different situations in the eighteenth century.