The Hanging Of Ephraim Wheeler

1788 Words4 Pages

The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler In this paper I will explain and discuss the historical events that took place in a small rural town in early Massachusetts. The setting for which is Irene Quenzler Brown's and Richard D. Brown's, The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler. I will explain the actions and motives of Hannah and Betsy Wheeler in seeking legal retribution of husband and father Ephraim Wheeler. I will also discuss the large scope of patriarchal power allowed by the law and that given to husbands and masters of households. Of course, this will also lead to discussions of what was considered abuse of these powers by society and the motivation for upholding the Supreme Court's decision to hang Ephraim Wheeler. Ephraim Wheeler was convicted and hanged for the rape of his thirteen year old daughter Betsy Wheeler. It occurred in the woods of rural Massachusetts on June 8, 1805. The incident was reported to Hannah Wheeler, Betsy's mother. Hannah Wheeler then reported the incident to Justice Robert Walker, who then arrested Ephraim Wheeler on that day. What was expected of a wife in 1805 Massachusetts, when confronted with such a vicious criminal act? Having such a crime inflicted upon yourself, would be hard enough to live through, but to have such an evil act forced upon your helpless thirteen year old daughter- by a husband and father is unfathomable. Cases of incestial rape by father's upon their daughters, where actually rarely reported (Brown, 131). Most mother's and daughters kept incidents like these secret from the public or rarely even confronted their husbands and fathers for fear of experiencing further harm. Not to mention that it was a hard crime to prove (Brown, 112). Incest has been against the law for a long time- so the father of a household could be jailed a short while for the crime, but shockingly, girls only needed to be older than ten years of age to give consent to sex (Brown, 60). Thus making it easy for defense attorneys to establish reasonable of doubt rape and making the father guilty of incest instead (Brown, 89). So what was Hannah Wheeler to do? Before she could even consider what action to take- she had to consider what options where even available to her? Betsy had come home assaulted and raped, but running away with her children was not an option that housewives had (Brown, 145).

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis of ?The Life and Murder Trial of Xwelas, a S?Klallam Woman

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walking next to his father through the woods on a cool winter day, young Mason hears the sound of a bullet entering his father’s body. As he looks ahead, he sees his mother, Xwelas, lower a shotgun. In the essay The Life and Murder Trial of Xwelas, a S’Klallam Woman, Coll-Peter Thrush and Robert H. Keller, Jr. recall the events before, during, and after the murder of George Phillips, a Welsh immigrant killed by his native wife. Xwelas’ the life before the murder, the actions which provoked Phillips’ death, and how the trial was influenced all help to describe the unusual history that took place in the seventeenth century.

    Read More

  • A Review of John Pagan’s "Anne Orthwood’s Bastard"

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...his seemingly routine case of fornication and premarital pregnancy proved to be significant for early American legal history. The unfolding of this story and the legal changes that it brought about makes evident that by the end of the seventeenth century, The Eastern Shore had shaped a distinct legal culture. The characters involved in each case also revealed the extent the powerful players were able to shape the law to their own self-interests. The goal of the powers to be was to protect property interests, protect personal reputation and liberty, and to maintain social order.

    Read More

  • Moral Dilemmas in Celia, A Slave by Melton McLaurin

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    Melton McLaurin’s book Celia, A Slave is the account of the trial, conviction, and execution of a female slave for the murder of her “master” Robert Newsom in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through studying documents from Callaway County, Missouri and the surrounding area during the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Although much of what can be determine about this event is merely speculation, McLaurin proposes arguments for the different motives that contribute to the way in which many of the events unfold. Now throughout the book the “main characters”, being Celia, her lawyer Jameson, and the judge William Hall, are all faced with moral decisions that affect the lives of two different people.

    Read More

  • Vindicating the Suffering Revolutionary Women in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to examine why Wollstonecraft felt this quest into the genre of novel for the politics which she already had discussed at length in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)? The second strand of inquiry will be into the domestic ideas of despotism which arise from gender discrimination perpetuated by the state machinery, with the legal system, in particular. This second strand will envelope the prevalent issues like the legally disadvantageous position of married as well as maternal women and how the revolutionary bodies of these mothers are confined along with infliction of mental harassment by both private and state systems. The issue of the imprisonm...

    Read More

  • Simple Justice

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this story it clearly shows us what the courts really mean by freedom, equality, liberty, property and equal protection of the laws. The story traces the legal challenges that affected African Americans freedom. To justify slavery as the “the way things were” still begs to define what lied beneath slave owner’s abilities to look past the wounded eyes and beating hearts of the African Americans that were so brutally possessed.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Salem Witch Trials And Mccarthyism

    259 Words  | 1 Pages

    Death , hysteria and false accusations were things that haunted the 1690’s and 1950’s . The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism both both began with difference in someone’s religious and political views. This essay will compare the similarities.

    Read More

  • Deposition Letter To Elizabeth Proctor

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    I am Elizabeth Proctor, widow of John Proctor and mother of two children. Reverend Parris is a notorious, power hungry and self-pitying figure. He is the minister of Salem’s church and has been in this esteemed position for three years. The recent catastrophe of an apparent witchcraft outbreak, has caused a great flood of grief over a multitude of families because of the copious lies believed in this courtroom. The unjust punishment, no mass murder! I will not and cannot blink at this brutality due to the pivotal role this man played in this court case.

    Read More

  • Anne Orthwood's Bastard Analysis

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Ruston Pagan’s book, Anne Orthwood’s Bastard, is split into sections describing the different components of sex and law in early Virginia. Pagan describes these components through the story of Anne Orthwood, John Kendall, and their bastard son, Jasper. Anne Orthwood was born an illegitimate child. There was much shame and disgrace for illegitimate children. Although illegitimacy made Anne’s life especially hard, she also faced the same pressures as other members of her generation. Her generation was dealing with shortages of land and labor; increasing prices, rent, and unemployment rates; and declining wages. These struggles caused many people to emigrate from Britain to the Americas.

    Read More

  • Kindred

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the middle of the night, four white men storm into a cabin in the woods while four others wait outside. The cabin belongs to Alice and her mom. The four men pull out Alice’s father along with her mom, both are naked. Alice manages to scramble away. The men question Alice’s father about a pass, which allows him to visit his wife. Her father tries to explain the men about the loss of the pass but the men do not pay any attention to him. Instead they tie him to a tree and one of the white man starts to whip him for visiting his wife without the permission of Tom Weylin, the “owner” of Alice’s father. Tom Weylin forbid him to see his wife, he ordered him to choose a new wife at the plantation, so he could own their children. Since Alice’s mother is a free woman, her babies would be free as well and would be save from slavery. But her freedom “status” does not stop one of the patroller to punch her in the face and cause her to collapse to the ground.

    Read More

  • Rape and the Corrupt Legal System of the American Colonies

    1972 Words  | 4 Pages

    The legal system of the colonial times renounced from punishing white males but did not falter from finding accountability with the actions of females, causing women to pause at reporting rape against white men. Two famed cases in history, those of Martha Richardson and Goodwife Fancy, represent this perception. Martha Richardson had gotten pregnant before her wedding with a man other than her fiancé. Upon this disclosure, Martha recalled fainting at her master's residence some time ago in the company of two white males and concl...

    Read More

  • Katherine Watkins Vs Common Law

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    This scandalous case centers on a woman named Katherine Watkins. On Friday, August 18, 1681, Katherine accused a slave by the name of John Long, also known as Jack, of rape. There was some evidence of violence, but there were also outstanding questions about her character and conduct. Those who testified, however, painted a different picture about certain events preceding the crime. They were John Aust, William Harding, Mary Winter, Lambert Tye, Humphrey Smith, Jack White (Negro), Dirk (Negro), and Mingo (Negro). Whether these individuals were so inclined because Katherine Watkins was a Quaker, rather than an Anglican, we can never really know. That certainly fueled the fire, though. The day in question involved an afternoon of cider drinking. Several of the witnesses in the testimonies recounted Mrs. Watkins sexual advances to multiple of Thomas Cocke 's slaves, particularly, a mulatto named Jack. John Aust pleaded that Katherine, at one point, had lifted the shirt of one slave and announced “Dirke thou wilt have a good long thing” (Sex and Relations, 53). She allegedly had thrown another on the bed, kissed him, and, “put her hand into his codpiece” (Sex and Relations, 53). The most interesting piece of evidence that Aust brings forward is that Jack was actually avoiding Watkins at the party, an apparent attempt at avoiding any intimate entanglement with her (Sex and Relations, 52). Finally, he reported that Watkins and Jack had gone into a side room (Sex and Relations, 53). Later in the trial, Humphrey Smith seemingly referred to Aust 's testimony. His deposition suggested that he and Aust had some reservations about Jack 's guilt (Sex and Relations 54). Clearly, the character of the plaintiff was considered important evidence in the trial of a slave for rape. The reasonable extenuating circumstances of the case might have granted the magistrates leave way

    Read More

  • Abortion During the 18th and 19th Centuries

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 18th century, Sarah Grosvenor’s death was under a spotlight operated by the court system in Connecticut (Women in America, 117). The reasoning behind this focus on her death was very unusual for her time, the abortion that eventually led to her death. Grosvenor was involved with much older Amasa Session...

    Read More

  • Essay On The History Of The Jury System

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    The crowded courtroom was absolutely silent as the 12 all white and all men took their seats at the jury box. Chief Justice Albert Mason, one of the presiding judges in the murder case, asked Charles I. Richards, the foreman, to rise. Mr. Richards was asked to read the verdict. “Not guilty”, replied the foreman. Even though the circumstantial and physical evidence pointed to Lizzie Borden guilty of killing her step-mother and father, the all-male jury, men of some financial means, could not fathom that a woman who is well bred and a Sunday school teacher could possibly do such a heinous crime (Linder 7).

    Read More

  • Celia A Slave Analysis

    1426 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the nineteenth century, slaves were afforded very few, if any, civil rights and freedoms, often being treated very cruelly. Although the abusive treatment of slaves was not unusual, the act of a slave protecting themselves against a master was. In the book Celia, A Slave, McLaurin recounts the trial of a female slave who was charged, convicted, and later executed for the crime of murdering her master in 1855. The author provides evidence for her argument through analyzation of documents gathered from Callaway County, Missouri, and the area surrounding, during the mid-nineteenth century. As the circumstances of Celia’s case were unique, in the fact that she had violently retaliated, the debate arose as to whether she was afforded rights to

    Read More

  • America: Myth Of Equality

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    When analyzing equality, a sociological and legal approach must be made. In the case of the United States, the sociological stratification, or division of power, of minority groups had adversely affected the development of the legal system. Especially in the 1600s and 1700s, legal and social equality of those not of the Caucasian persuasion, the less fortunate, and of the female gender was almost nonexistent. This inequality is a direct result of the early American society’s ranking system. Equality was not perceived in the minds of such individuals as John Winthrop, John Adams, and James Madison, and as a result, their significant accomplishments towards the development of the American system have tainted the institution itself.

    Read More

More about The Hanging Of Ephraim Wheeler

Open Document