Abstract:
During its formative years following its founding, North Carolina lacked a evolved political, legal, and social structure. In this environment, women were able to assert themselves into the North Carolina legal system, unlike their contemporaries in Europe. Thus women, especially unmarried women, are quite visible in the legal records of colonial North Carolina. As the colony matured physically, economically, socially, and demographically from frontier to colony, the opportunities for women became less and less apparent.