Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz

The years from 1607 to 1783 constitute the founding era of what became the United States. In the early years of this era, in these American colonies, the penalty for sodomy was death, and a number of executions are documented. Sodomy was usually conceived of then as anal intercourse between men. But why was sodomy thought of as treason against the state and punished so harshly? And what do we know of sexual and intimate relationships between women in these years, and the laws and responses to such intimacies? This feature presents or references the original documents that Jonathan Ned Katz collected in his books Gay American History (1976) and Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983), along with evidence that others subsequently discovered. Published originally on OutHistory in 2012.

Legal Case: Elizabeth Johnson, Massachusetts Bay, December 5, 1642

"Unseemly practices"

The Essex County Court, meeting at Salem in Massachusetts Bay, reported the sentencing of a servant, Elizabeth Johnson, for a series of insubordinate and illegal acts.(1)

Elizabeth Johnson, servant to Mr. Jos. Yonge, [is] to be severely whipped and fined 5 li. [pounds] for unseemly practices betwixt her and another maid; also, for stubbornness to her mistress answering rudely and unmannerly; and also for stopping her ears with her hands when the Word of God was read...

The record adds that Johnson was also punished "for 'spurning an ewe goat till both [mother and offspring?] died'; also for killing a pig and burying it."

References

Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983), pp. 85-86, citing George Francis Dow, ed., Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County. . . (Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1911), vol. 1, p. 44.