Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin
Colonizing and Settling: 1607-1776
Curated by Jonathan Ned Katz
The years from 1607 to 1776 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. Why was sodomy, usually conceived as anal intercourse between men, 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 laws and responses to such intimacies ?
This exhibit presents or references all the original documents that Katz collected in his books Gay/Lesbian Almanac and Gay American History. Evidence discovered since those publications will be added over time. If you have or know of such information, please add it as a new entry following the format in this section, or email jnk123@.mac.com.[1]
Timeline: Age of Sodomitical Sin: 1607-1776
1600s
John Smith: Virginia, June 1607
1610s
Sodomy law: Virginia, May 24, 1610
Sodomy law: New Netherland, 1613
1620s
Sodomy case: Cornish executed, Virginia, c.1624-1625
Bradford: Merrymount; Massachusetts, 1626
Legal case: Thomas/sine Hall; Virginia, March 25, 1629
Legal case: boys; Massachusetts Bay, June 29, 1629
1630s
Sodomy case: New Hampshire, February 14, 1635
Sodomy law proposed: Massachusetts Bay, October 1636
Sodomy law: Plymouth, November 15, 1636
Legal case: Allexander, Roberts; Plymouth, August 6, 1637
1640s
Thomas Shepard: heart sodomy, 1641
Sodomy law: Massachusetts Bay, November, 1641
Sodomy debate: Massachusetts Bay, 1641-1642
William Bradford: "sodomy" and "buggery," 1642
Legal case: Michell and Preston; Plymouth, March 1, 1642
Sodomy law: Connecticut, December 1, 1642
Legal case: Eliz. Johnson; Massachusetts Bay, Dec 5, 1642
Edward Coke: "Buggery, or Sodomy," 1644
Legal case: Plaine executed; New Haven, 1646
Sodomy case: Creoli executed; New Netherland, June 25, 1646
Sodomy law: Rhode Island, May 19, 1647
Sodomy law: Massachusetts Bay, 1648
Legal case: Norman, Hammon; Plymouth, March 6, 1649
Legal case: Berry, Joanes; Plymouth, October 29, 1649
1650s
Sodomy law: Connecticut, May, 1650
Michael Wigglesworth: February, 1653
Legal case: New Haven, March 23, 1653
Sodomy law: New Haven, March 1, 1656
Legal case: Hillebrant; New Netherland, August 26, 1658
1660s
Sodomy case: Jan Quisthout; New Netherland, May 13, 1660
Buggery law: North and South Carolina, March, 1663
Sodomy law: Rhode Island, 1663
Buggery case: Mathew Giles; New Hampshire, July 4, 1663
Sodomy law: The Duke of York's Laws; March 1, 1665
Sodomy law: New Jersey, May 30, 1668
1670s
Sodomy law: Plymouth, June 6, 1671
Sodomy law: Connecticut, October, 1672
Samuel Danforth: "The Cry of Sodom," 1674
The Duke of York's Laws: September 25, 1676
Sodomy case: Nicholas Sension; Connecticut, May 22, 1677
1680s
Sodomy law: New Hampshire, March 16, 1680
Buggery law: West New Jersey, 1681
Sodomy law: Pennsylvania, December 7, 1682
Sodomy law: East New Jersey, March 1683
1690s
Sodomy law: Pennsylvania, June 1693
Buggery law: Massachusetts, May 26, 1697
1700s
Sodomy law: Pennsylvania, November 27, 1700
Sodomy and buggery law: Pennsylvania, January 12, 1706
Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury (1661-1723)
1710s
Buggery law: South Carolina, 1712
Buggery case: Mingo; Massachusetts, January 29, 1712
Buggery law: New Hampshire, 1718
Legal case: Clark v. Winn; North Carolina, March 1718
Sodomy law: Pennsylvania, May 31, 1718
1720s
Onania; or, The Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution: 1724
1730s
Buggery law: Georgia, June 29, 1732
Sodomy case: Georgia, March 25, 1734
Bibliography: Colonial America, The Age of Sodomitical Sin
References
- ↑ Acknowledgments in Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983) say: "This section on the early colonial period [in American history] might not have been undertaken without the hours of expert research volunteered by Robert Oaks, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. Jaime Vidal also volunteered many hours of research on early colonial documents, for which I thank him."
See also: Larry Kramer: "Homo Sex in Colonial America," May 19, 2009
Categories
<comments />
