domestic relations in seventeenth-century New England.
Morgan gives a comprehensive understanding of the Puritan Faith in his book, The Puritan Family. He shows how the Puritans honored God above any and all things, and that the Puritans" main goal was to survive a truthful life with overflowing blessings which would secure a place in heaven for their kind. The Puritan Family describes in detail the jobs and duties of each member of the Puritan family. .
Relationships and associations among the Puritan wife and husband, their parents and their children are all noted and well covered. Over all in this first chapter I get the feeling that the author wanted to let the reader know that the puritans believe religion was not morality and morality shown in company of others was not the same morality that God saw. .
In the second chapter Morgan shows us how Puritans believed marriage to be a hallowed agreement between men and women. A Puritan husband and wife were expected by society to create a family and remain together until death. Under some circumstances the civil courts would grant divorce when either party could prove that the other had neglected a primary duty; however both were certain to be shunned by the community. "Since marriage was an ordinance of God and its duties commands of God, the Puritan courts enforced these duties- (39). Equally husbands and wives were assigned jobs by God, and it was vital for the Puritans to carry out their lives based on these jobs. "When husband and wife neglect their duties they not only wrong each other, but they provoke God by breaking his law" (pg. 30). The government and the entire society were both subjected by the laws of God.
The husband was expected to remain faithful to his wife his whole life. He had a duty as a husband to support his wife, and this was enforced by judicial action. "When a.
woman married, her property passed to her husband" (40) and in return he furnished her support.