{"id":5568,"date":"2025-01-16T22:24:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T22:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/?page_id=5568"},"modified":"2025-01-17T14:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T14:48:59","slug":"sarah-grosvenor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/course-syllabus\/sarah-grosvenor\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Grosvenor"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h2><strong>How should we teach the story of Sarah Grosvenor?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Case Study:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/taking-the-trade\/\">\u00a0Taking the Trade<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>1742 in Pomfret, Connecticut<\/li>\n<li>Amasa Sessions (age 27) impregnates Sarah Grosvenor (age 19)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDoctor\u201d John Hallowell gives Sarah \u201ctrade\u201d and attempts surgical abortion<\/li>\n<li>Sarah miscarries and dies in September 1742<\/li>\n<li>Sarah\u2019s older sister Zerviah reveals the story in 1745<\/li>\n<li>Hallowell convicted in 1747 but escapes to Rhode Island<\/li>\n<li>Sessions and Grosvenor families continue to remain intermingled<\/li>\n<li>Amasa Sessions serves in French &amp; Indian War and dies as an old, respected figure in town<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-3466\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-1024x551.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-1024x551.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-1536x827.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM-500x269.png 500w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-11-at-5.13.51-PM.png 1594w\" alt=\"Grosvenor\" width=\"940\" height=\"506\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In \u201cTaking the Trade,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.oah.org\/lectures\/lecturers\/view\/1656\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cornelia Hughes Dayton<\/a>\u00a0narrates a chilling tale of two young eighteenth-century Puritans and their Connecticut families as they plunge deeper and deeper into a moral catastrophe.\u00a0 The story challenges almost all of the assumptions students have about Puritan culture, but Dayton deftly uses the case involving Pomfret residents Sarah Grosvenor and Amasa Sessions to illustrate a culture in transition.\u00a0 In this case, student should think about how individual actions by ordinary figures can reflect wider changes in social norms or cultural values.\u00a0 Those who need additional background on Puritan culture, should seek out a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsu.edu\/~campbelld\/amlit\/purdef.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">succinct outline<\/a>\u00a0provided online by Donna Campbell, a professor of American Literature at Washington State University.\u00a0 To view some key resources and even some of the actual documents in the Grosvenor-Sessions legal proceedings, see these links below from a now-defunct website created by Woody Holton, Cornelia Dayton, and Jessica Linker:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20100625121606\/http:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/takingthetrade\/chrono.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Timeline<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20100625124433\/http:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/takingthetrade\/bio.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Biographies<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20100625135502\/http:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/takingthetrade\/images.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Virtual Tour<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20100625134650\/http:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/takingthetrade\/depo.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Depositions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20100625130253\/http:\/\/history.uconn.edu\/takingthetrade\/indic.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indictments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Abortion in American History and Traditions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cGuided by the history and tradition that map the essential components of the Nation\u2019s concept of ordered liberty, the Court finds the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/amendmentxiv\" aria-label=\"US Constitution Amendment xiv\">Fourteenth Amendment<\/a>\u00a0clearly does not protect the right to an abortion. Until the latter part of the 20th century, there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. No state constitutional provision had recognized such a right. Until a few years before\u00a0<em>Roe<\/em>, no federal or state court had recognized such a right. Nor had any scholarly treatise. Indeed, abortion had long been a\u00a0<em>crime\u00a0<\/em>in every single State. At common law, abortion was criminal in at least some stages of pregnancyand was regarded as unlawful and could have very serious consequences at all stages. American law followed the common law until a wave of statutory restrictions in the 1800s expanded criminal liability for abortions. By the time the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/amendmentxiv\" aria-label=\"US Constitution Amendment xiv\">Fourteenth Amendment<\/a>\u00a0was adopted, three-quarters of the States had made abortion a crime at any stage of pregnancy. This consensus endured until the day\u00a0<em>Roe\u00a0<\/em>was decided.\u00a0<em>Roe<\/em>\u00a0either ignored or misstated this history, and\u00a0<em>Casey<\/em>\u00a0declined to reconsider\u00a0<em>Roe<\/em>\u2019s faulty historical analysis.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013<strong>-Justice Samuel Alito, majority opinion,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/19-1392\">Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization (2022)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, the majority opinion refers as well to some later and earlier history. On the one side of 1868, it goes back as far as the 13th (the 13th!) century. But that turns out to be wheel-spinning. First, it is not clear what relevance such early history should have, even to the majority. If the early history obviously supported abortion rights, the majority would no doubt say that only the views of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/amendmentxiv\" aria-label=\"US Constitution Amendment xiv\">Fourteenth Amendment<\/a>\u2019s ratifiers are germane. Second\u2014and embarrassingly for the majority\u2014early law in fact does provide some support for abortion rights. Common-law authorities did not treat abortion as a crime before \u201cquickening\u201d\u2014the point when the fetus moved in the womb.<a id=\"DISSENT_8-2ref\" class=\"footref\" href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/19-1392#DISSENT_8-2\" aria-label=\"reference 2 of Kagan Dissent\"><sup><strong>2<\/strong><\/sup><\/a>\u00a0And early American law followed the common-law rule.<a id=\"DISSENT_8-3ref\" class=\"footref\" href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/19-1392#DISSENT_8-3\" aria-label=\"reference 3 of Kagan Dissent\"><sup><strong>3<\/strong><\/sup><\/a>\u00a0So the criminal law of that early time might be taken as roughly consonant with\u00a0<em>Roe<\/em>\u2019s and\u00a0<em>Casey<\/em>\u2019s different treatment of early and late abortions.\u201d\u00a0<strong>\u2013Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting opinion,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/19-1392\">Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization (2022)<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Read the American Historical Association (AHA) f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news-and-advocacy\/aha-advocacy\/aha-amicus-curiae-brief-in-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization-(september-2021)\">riend-of-the-court brief<\/a>\u00a0filed on behalf of Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization in the Dobbs case in September 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How should we teach the story of Sarah Grosvenor? Case Study:\u00a0\u00a0Taking the Trade 1742 in Pomfret, Connecticut Amasa Sessions (age 27) impregnates Sarah Grosvenor (age 19) \u201cDoctor\u201d John Hallowell gives Sarah \u201ctrade\u201d and attempts surgical abortion Sarah miscarries and dies in September 1742 Sarah\u2019s older sister Zerviah reveals the story in 1745 Hallowell convicted in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5568","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5568\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-204pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}