Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Foreword ix
4. Acknowledgments xiii
5. Introduction 1
6. Part I Race and Colonization
7. 1 Indian Children in Early Mexico 11
8. 2 Colonizing Childhood 33
9. 3 Imperial Ideas, Colonial Realities 48
10. Documents
11. “The Younger Sort Reverence the Elder” 61
12. “I Have Often Been Overcome While Thinking on It” 63
13. Part II Family and Society
14. 4 Sibling Relations in Early American Childhoods 75
15. 5 “I Shall Beat You, So That the Devil Shall Laugh at It” 90
16. 6 “Improved” and “Very Promising Children” 104
17. Documents
18. “A Dutiful and Affectionate Daughter” 116
19. “A Most Agreeable Family” 119
20. Part III Cares and Tribulations
21. 7 “Decrepit in Their Early Youth” 125
22. 8 Idiocy and the Construction of Competence in Colonial Massachusetts 141
23. 9 “My Constant Attension on My Sick Child” 155
24. Documents
25. “I Had Eight Birds Hatcht in One Nest” 168
26. Part IV Becoming Americans
27. 10 From German Catholic Girls to Colonial American Women 173
28. 11 “Let Both Sexes Be Carefully Instructed” 191
29. 12 From Saucy Boys to Sons of Liberty 204
30. Documents
31. “Though I Was Often Beaten for My Play” 217
32. “A Bookish Inclination” 222
33. In Search of the Historical Child 230
34. Suggested Readings 235
35. About the Contributors 245
36. Index 249