Why I Taught the Source

In early modern France, discussions about the ideas relating to childhood can be found readily, but documents revealing the actual experiences of children are rare. In an effort to overcome these obstacles, some historians of early modern France have studied orphanage records. The records serve as important resources because they provide small glimpses of the silent masses of children who lived at the margins of society.

Orphanage records allow teachers to integrate an analysis of poor children and charitable institutions into history courses, and teach historical methods for analyzing, organizing, and interpreting quantitative data. Students can use their examination of orphanage records to explore broader themes related to the history of early modern families, populations, and institutions. In the process, students will have a chance to experience, first hand, the interpretive challenges, frustrations, and joys of studying early modern social history.

Most orphanage documents are unpublished and lie preserved in public archives throughout France. But important samples have emerged in published collections of primary documents and in larger monograph studies. Moreover, since the 1970s scholars have published the results of their research about the abandoned children who ended up in orphanages. Much of this research is quantitative, and the results are presented in tables and charts.

This essay outlines a three-stage project designed to allow students to work together on individual sources and then to derive historical questions from them. Once students frame their questions with the initial documents, other sets of primary or secondary documents allow them to expand their historical window and to make some preliminary conclusions about the lives of these children and of the society in which they lived. Those preliminary conclusions can then provide the catalyst for lectures, discussions, research assignments, or even creative writing exercises on broader themes in early modern social history.

How I Introduce the Source

To give the students a feel for the nature of the documents, I provide them with a series of mini-biographies compiled and translated from orphanage records located in Dijon, France. Crucial to any study of welfare and charity in the 18th century are records from the urban Hôpitaux Généraux, or general hospitals. The hospitals were products of charitable work by the French Catholic Church and institutional responses to poverty and vagrancy by state officials. Charged with helping those in need, the hospitals cared for the sick and housed orphans, vagrants, and the elderly. These institutions were financed by alms, by local, privately funded bureaus of charity, and to some extent by the crown.

For this exercise, we have included translations of 20 entries from two different sources (10 boys and 10 girls). These entries are derived from registers that focused on older abandoned children (generally in their teens) who for one reason or another spent time in the orphanages.

Reading the Source: Stage 1

Students are placed in groups of two to examine each brief biographical document. In essence, they are assigned an orphan. I then ask them to identify specific facts about the child. After a brief discussion about their sample entries, students might indicate, for example, that they could identify the birth date to estimate the age of the child upon entry. Parental information, including the father's profession, could be noted so that students could gain a clearer picture of the familial and economic situation of the child.

Other information can emerge from the documents. In some instances, students could record the child's native village. Dates of entrance and exit could inform the students about the child's length of stay. Some entries allow students to record where, when, and for what purpose the orphans left the institution. A notation that the child died is a somber reminder of the fate that met many.

As an example of the introductory exercise, we could review entry numbers one and twelve. In entry one, we can identify the child's name, his father, and his father's occupation—a butcher. After living in the orphanage's nursery for an unspecified number of years, 12-year-old Simon advanced to the Bonnets Rouges (the red hats) in 1705, the name of the room for the adolescent orphans who wore red hats as a sign of their orphaned status. He left the orphanage in 1712, at approximately age 19. His sister took him out of the orphanage. That is all the entry tells us.

In entry 12, we find 13-year-old "Margueritte," an orphan since birth. Her record shows that, like many children, she spent time in and out of the orphanage. After two years at the orphanage, a local, presumably wealthy, resident, Mr. de Bourbonne, sponsored a foster contract (a pension) with a village family. Under these arrangements, Barbe Villat, a laborer's wife in a nearby village, would presumably receive a monthly stipend for her care of Margueritte, now 15-years-old. In return, Margueritte would contribute to her new foster-family's household economy through her labor. We do not know anything else about Margueritte after she left for her foster family in 1755 at age 15.

When we combine entries one and twelve, for example, students will understand that different information emerges from each entry. But even these two entries share common aspects. Both children were orphaned very young, both probably spent time in different rooms of the orphanage, having finally arrived in the adolescent sections. Both children left in their teens. In one case, kin came to assist the orphan, in another the orphanage set up a fosterage system. In both cases, the orphanage served as a social axis where adolescent orphans could hope to become members of reconstituted households at a time when the children's ages permitted them to contribute to the household economy.

Instructors might also augment these sources with published notarial documents that also allow a glimpse into the fortunes of individual children. One document, dated 11 November 1540, is a contract for the adoption of an orphan. The other, dated 25 July 1542, is an apprenticeship contract. These documents illustrate typical success stories and the positive role that the hospitals could play in the lives of these children.

Once the students appear comfortable with the types of information available in their individual sources, I then ask them to compare and contrast with two or three other groups of students, and for someone in the group to begin organizing the information while the discussion ensues. The purpose of this activity is to get students to consider what a combination of multiple sources might reveal about the orphaned children. I ask them what larger issues they might be able to identify through the combined factual information in the entries.

After the students have located facts, compared documents, and identified issues that the comparisons raise, I encourage them to raise any historical questions that emerged from the examination of the sources. Here, instructors are guiding students toward understanding that a combination of entries raises questions that allow the students to move beyond a literal description of the texts themselves.

Some students question why parents might abandon a child in the first place. Others wonder how long they remained at the orphanage, and what happened when they left. Some ask about the gender distribution of abandoned children. Students also ask about the institutions that existed to help the poor and destitute. The teacher can record all of the questions, and the students themselves can make a hierarchical list of the questions they deem most significant.

By the end of this stage, the class will have created two tangible products of their work. First, they have created a chart, or table, that compiles the data they extracted from all of the primary sources. Second, they have created a hierarchical set of historical questions that launch potential investigatory roads of interest to the class. The professor should then make photocopies of the chart and the questions for each student as the class begins the second stage of analysis.

Reading the Source: Stage 2

Now stage two of the exercise can begin. In this stage, I provide sets of quantitative data that historians have developed from orphanage records, both from within France and then, for comparative purposes, from other parts of Europe. 1

In the final years of the Ancien Régime, roughly 40,000 children were left to the care of society in France every year. Paris alone had four institutions in the 18th-century that existed primarily to help aid abandoned children. The sheer numbers of abandoned children astonish students.

Quantitative data derived from hospital records indicate the rising number of abandoned children in 18th-century Paris, the geographic origins of the children (both within and outside of Paris), the age of the abandoned children and the occupations of their parents, and the relationship of abandonment trends to wheat prices over the century. This specific type of data about abandonment in particular might be augmented by broader data about household composition, fertility, and mortality.

At this point, the instructor should encourage students to compare specific types of data, and point out where the data might reveal some meaningful relationships. With this approach, students can examine data about abandonment and be introduced to early modern demographic characteristics at the same time.

Reading the Source: Stage 3

While the charts and graphs allow students to see trends in the abandonment of children over time and across Europe, student interest in the combinations of documents can then lead to the third stage of the exercise: drawing initial hypotheses about patterns of child abandonment and adding contextual explanations.

This last stage can be achieved in a number of ways, and each depends on the goals and methodology of the instructor. If the instructor utilizes the primary documents in one or two class sessions, for example, he or she could augment the student-led generation of facts and analysis with a short series of lectures on poverty, the family economy, sexuality, or institutional responses to child abandonment. On the other hand, instructors who have more time to devote to the subject, or who want to use the history of childhood as a larger theme in their courses, could use the exercise as a launching point for student research into the broader social issues and questions that arose through their initial analysis of the mini-biographies.

Reflections

A number of important issues readily emerge from the study of child abandonment. For example, some students could research poverty and the early modern family economy, while others could research infanticide patterns and early modern reactions to it. Investigations into the life-course of the family, and especially the fragility of family because of parental death, could also prove fruitful.

Some students might want to investigate the options available to a single woman who became pregnant before marriage. Others are fascinated by the concept of wet-nursing and the circulation of children through foster and apprenticeship contracts. A vast number of secondary studies allow students to explore the various institutional responses to poverty, infanticide, and abandonment over the course of the early modern period.

After conducting further independent research on abandonment, instructors could encourage the students to return to the orphan biographies originally assigned to them and create short fictional "biographies" about the orphans. With the aid of the secondary material, the students could present their historically plausible life-stories about the orphans in the form of short vignettes to one another as a means of bringing the exercise to a conclusion.

Throughout the exercises, instructors should encourage students to return frequently to the individual orphan biographies, connecting an otherwise anonymous individual child to larger sets of quantitative data and broader social or economic themes. Students thus give voice to people who didn't have much opportunity to leave their thoughts and aspirations to posterity during their own lifetimes.

Students should be able to link these orphan biographies to the longer-term trends and characteristics of early modern social life and to create plausible conclusions for their original questions and working hypotheses. In the process, the students will have learned much about early modern orphans and their wider social contexts, and about integrating primary documents with a wide variety of secondary sources. At the end of the exercise, students will also have gained an understanding of how social historians go about their daily work.

Additional Resources:

See: Monica Chojnacka and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, eds., Ages of Women, Ages of Man: Sources in European Social History, 1400-1750 (New York: Longman, 2002), pp. 28-35 for primary sources on orphans.

See: Kristen Elizabeth Gager, Blood Ties and Fictive Ties: Adoption and Family Life in Early Modern France (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 125-126 for primary sources on orphans.

A good introduction can be found in John Henderson and Richard Wall, eds., Poor Women and Children in the European Past (New York: Routledge, 1994).

Adoption of an orphan, France 1540

Guillaume Percheron, day laborer living on the rue de Copeaulx in the dwelling of the Carmelites [an order of friars] of Paris, and Jehanne Goret, his wife, she authorized in this matter, affirm that, for the great love and attachment that they have and declare for Batiste Bernard, aged three years or so, they have taken and retained him and by this contract take him in their custody, to raise him.

[Batiste Bernard is] the minor son of the late Symon Bernard, who while living was poor and a day laborer living in the said street, and [the late] Catherine Corbillon, his wife, the two previously the father and mother of the boy, who were natives of Saint Martin d'Étampes, and who died, it is said, at the [poor relief hospital of] Hôtel Dieu of Paris after Saint Jehan Baptiste past.

[Percheron and Goret] have promised and promise to supply and deliver what he needs in terms of drink, food, fire, bed, lodging, and light, as much in health as in sickness; to instruct him in good morals; and to maintain him in all his clothing and other necessities whatsoever, all well and duly as appropriate and as if he were their own child.

And [they also promise] to provide for him in marriage or otherwise as appropriate to his standing and according to the ability and property of the said Percheron and his wife.

And in consideration of the things said here, they give him all and each of their possessions that they may have at the time of their passing on, to take as if he were their own child and rightful heir.

Present for this [was] Estienne Papillon, plowman of vines, living at Bonyeres les Cellees, near the said Étampes, uncle of the said minor through Martine Bernard, his wife, who was the sister of the deceased [father] of the said minor; and Audrye Papillon, wife of Jehan Gaillard, living at Saint Michel in Paris, rue du Puys de Fer, cousin of the said minor, who have given and give the said minor to the said Percheron and his wife as is stated; and they affirm clearly that this is for the benefit and welfare of the said minor, who has no possessions or kin who are able to provide for him.

Promising, etc., obligating, etc., each in his own right, etc., renouncing. Done in duplicate and passed, that is by the said Percheron and Estienne Papillon and Audrye Papillon on Thursday the 11th day of November, the year 1540, and for the said Jehanne Goret, wife of the said Percheron, on the day of [blank], 15 [blank].

Apprenticeship of orphans, France 1542

Jacqueline Parisot, hosier [maker of stockings] and wife of Anthoyne Gougneulx, day laborer, the said Jacqueline living in the rue Anemairet in the building whose sign is the seal of France, in Paris, affirms that the Commissioners appointed on the matter of the poor of this city of Paris have given her, as apprentice, from today for two years, Marguerite Massarpe, impoverished child aged 8 or 9 years, orphan without mother or father.

Jacqueline has taken [Massarpe] as her apprentice, to whom she has promised to show and teach her the profession and trade of hosier well and duly; and during the said time will well and honorably provide her with what she needs in terms of drink, food, fire, bed, lodging, light, clothing, footwear of linen, body linen, and similarly all her other necessities whatsoever; however, she will be paid by the said Commissioners 100 sous tournois for each of the said two years.

To do this is present the said Marguerite, apprentice, who has promised, promises, and guarantees to serve the said Jacqueline in the said profession and learn well and duly the said trade, obey all [Jacqueline's] lawful and honorable commands, work to her benefit, avoid losses to her; without fleeing or serving elsewhere during the said time.

Promising, etc., obligating, etc., event he said Marguerite renouncing body and possessions, etc., Done and passed in duplicate in the year 1542, Tuesday, the 25th day of July.

The period of U.S. history when thousands of Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II is well represented in internet resources for study. One of the richest sites on this topic is the Denshō Website, which documents the lives of internees through text, photographs, maps, and video interviews with survivors. Because today's survivors were children and teens during World War II, their stories reveal the experiences of youth during the incarcerations.

Full access to the Denshō archives, containing "hundreds of hours of video testimony and tens of thousands of historical images," requires free registration; but the site includes a section labeled "From the Archive," which offers highlights from the collection that anyone can explore. One such highlighted feature is titled "Lessons in Democracy," a page using quotations, photographs, and video to explore children's education as "Americans" while living in the camps. In the words of one survivor, "It makes me a little teary-eyed because I think of the irony of learning the Pledge of Allegiance while being behind barbed wire fences."

A teacher could make good use of these materials in a lesson on the contradictions of democracy in U.S. history, and indeed, other parts of the Denshō Website offer resources for augmenting such a lesson. For example, a section of the site named "Sites of Shame" includes an extensive timeline of Asian-American history; it begins with the infamous Naturalization Act of 1790, which stated that only "free white persons" could become citizens, and includes subsequent entries on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 as well as other undemocratic actions against Asians by the U.S. government. This feature helps students to realize that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was not an isolated event caused merely by World War II, but one that resulted from 150 years of racism toward all Asian immigrants. In this context, the Japanese incarcerations are less about "defending the country" and more an example of the systemic, historic hatred that used to be called "The Yellow Peril," brought to a crisis by a military event.

The "Sites of Shame" section also includes a unique feature that charts the experiences of one particular family, the Yasutakes, as told by four siblings who were children and teens during the incarceration. Unfolding in several different "chapters," with audio interviews and photographs, the Yasutake experience is detailed from the moment when their home was first searched by the FBI through their incarceration, their ultimate release, and the modern-day aftermath they have experienced as adults. One interview clip draws an insightful parallel between past and present: noting how often he's been told to put that "ancient" past behind him, one Yasutake sibling states that the jingoistic response to the 9/11 attacks prove "this 'ancient' history from 60 years ago is just as relevant now as it ever has been."

The "Sites of Shame" section of the Denshō Website further offers an interactive map of the U.S., allowing visitors to click on the locations of numerous detention centers; each click yields statistical data about the camp in question, and many of these pages include brief video interviews with survivors detailing the lives of children and teens in the camps. The page for the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming includes a video of a woman recalling her group of high-school girls singing Christmas carols to one of the camp's armed guards. Though intended as a subtle, sarcastic act of resistance, the carols had an unexpected effect: the guard, homesick, became choked-up and thanked the teenage girls for what he thought was their kindness. Anecdotes like these make a deep impact on viewers by revealing the complicated emotional experiences behind historical facts.

Details of daily life are further illuminated on the page for the Santa Fe Department of Justice Internment Camp, where a man's video interview describes the educational activities of children and youth: "[W]e had many schools in Santa Fe like drawing, physics, electricity, in shigin and shakuhachi and utai, and of course Japanese language. And then they had the pen shuji -- that's Japanese calligraphy, writing with the regular pen, not the brush. And so our time spent there was never idle. We always did something."

Using these pages along with the Denshō site's resources on "Lessons in Democracy," a teacher can juxtapose the dual, competing cultural lessons—American and Japanese—that framed the lives of incarcerated children. On the Denshō site's main page, one can click the "Learning Center" tab for a wealth of other suggestions designed specifically for high-school and college teachers to build lessons around the site's rich materials.

Several other internet sites, though less comprehensive, offer useful materials on the subject of children's lives in the camps. The Denshō site's information about the daily experiences of children can be fruitfully paired with "Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar," an online collection hosted at the Library of Congress's massive American Memory website. Though limited to only one detention camp, Manzanar, Adams' beautiful photographs illuminate many of the experiences of daily life that were common among internees at several camps. By searching the collection for "child," "family," "boys," and "girls," visitors will find stunning high-resolution images of the contexts of children's lives: interiors of living quarters, schoolrooms, gardens, hospitals, and camp stores where families shopped. These photographs provide a haunting glimpse of the bizarre contradictions of camp life: the relative appearance of "normality" (children living with their parents, going to Sunday School, playing games, shopping) in the starkly depressing context of broken-down barracks and barren desert surroundings, with barbed-wire borders.

Another resource for study can be found on the PBS website for the documentary, Children of the Camps. The most useful of the ancillary materials is a timeline of events that is briefer and more specific to WWII than the Asian-American timeline at the Denshō site. This timeline would be useful to students who are gaining their first sustained exposure to the topic.

In a section of the site called "Historical Documents," one can find a full-text copy of Franklin D. Roosevelt's infamous Executive Order 9066, that mandated the evacuation and imprisonment of Japanese American families, as well as subsequent government documents that attempted to repair the damage: the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, mandating reparations and apologies to the survivors, and a copy of President Clinton's formal letter of apology on behalf of the nation.

As a helpful prompt to further study, Children of the Camps has assembled an extensive list of links to websites that offer more detailed histories of the camps themselves, their locations, and other aspects of Japanese-American history in the aftermath of the incarcerations. This page of links does not seem well-maintained, as a few of the links are currently dead. The active ones, however, are well worth exploring. They offer innumerable helpful materials to any teacher or student seeking to study the Japanese-American experience during and after World War II.

The Adoption History Project is a superb resource for scholars and students alike. Not only does it offer a broad and consistently high-quality range of historical information, the site itself was designed with user accessibility in mind—it is easy to navigate and welcoming for students.

The home page introduces the five major categories. Of these, one that might appeal most immediately to students is the Timeline, which gives a concise, one-page overview of major developments in adoption history from 1851 to 2000. Other categories include: major people and organizations; explanations of adoption studies and adoption science; general topics in adoption history; and a rich collection of primary-source documents that, in itself, offers hours of compelling reading. See, for example, the illustrated excerpts from The Dangerous Classes of New York and Twenty Years' Work Among Them [1872] by Charles Loring Brace, a leading figure in 19th century social reform and child-rescue.

Shorter primary sources appear in full-text form; longer ones are efficiently excerpted for easy reading, with full citations provided. Further Reading offers references to many useful texts. One of the site's nicest design features is that much of this information is cross-indexed, so that visitors can find the same pages easily through a variety of different paths. To make navigation even simpler, a Site Index provides a clear and cogent list of topics.

Written in a clear and engaging style, the site offers quick access to major issues that shape the field of adoption history. For example, Adoption Studies/Adoption Science leads to a paragraph that neatly explains: "Adoption has been the subject of four major types of empirical research: field studies, outcome studies, nature-nurture studies, and psychopathology studies." Each term is hyperlinked to chronological lists of studies in the relevant area. The page also provides descriptions of particular studies and excerpts, making it relatively simple for someone new to the field to quickly grasp the general shape of the discourse of adoption history.

The overall content reflects the impact of Cultural Studies and multiculturalism on the field of adoption history. Pages on transracial adoptions, African-American adoptions, and the Indian Adoption Project complement those devoted to the more traditionally visible history of white orphans, white social workers, and white adoptive parents.

One small critique of the biographies of major figures: the pages devoted to female figures (such as Pearl S. Buck and Anna Freud) mention their marital and/or parental status, often in the very first paragraph, presenting the impression that a woman's personal relationships are the most necessary and relevant facts of her life. Meanwhile, the male figures are discussed solely for their professional importance, with little or no mention of their family life.

Feminist historians will find this irritating, especially in the case of Anna Freud, who is described reductively as an apparent victim of an Elektra complex: "She made her father's profession her own . . . . Anna Freud never married or had children. She was her father's constant companion, his colleague, and his nurse during the final years of his life." Especially because it appears in the first paragraph, this is an inappropriately condescending description of someone who deserves to have her professional accomplishments foregrounded. That flaw, however, could easily be turned into a good teaching opportunity with students who are old enough to grasp the concept of gender bias in historiography.

Overall, the Adoption History Project is among the best-designed and most succinctly comprehensive historical websites currently available. It is useful for students and scholars at all levels of academic proficiency.

Francisco Ferreyra versus Don Pedro Sueldo about reclaims. Córdoba, May 12th, 1853. In Villa de Rosario [Córdoba province] on May 17th, 1852, witnesses testified that Sueldo had escaped to Santa Fe [province] to avoid prosecution, and they did not know if the animals that he took belonged specifically to Vicente Ferreyra. Francisco Ferreyra on June 3rd, 1852 accused Sueldo of taking his family's estancia during the 1840s. He stated that the order came specifically from the government. One witness saw the Ferreyra family's brand mark on one cow. He also brought witnesses who worked for Sueldo.

For all of the declarations that have been brought, Señor Mayor, Sueldo disposed of our property as if he was the owner of all our property. . . The most serious measures were taken [against our family] for the security and tranquility of the province. . . [in the 1840s] Don Vicente Ferreyra found out somewhere that it was said that Colonel Salas would march to the province of Córdoba with force, but in fact, he had escaped with various soldiers at his command to Santa Fe, Don Ferreyra having been one among them. . . Ferreyra also drove toward Sante Fe, and he and others emigrated after being ordered to do so. . .

On July 29th, 1852, it is the order of this court, considering first that the estancia was taken with public authority without which had been proven and that [Sueldo] was given permission to its particular uses; second, that Sueldo had used the embargoed property in Calchín; third, that the same [Sueldo] took the [Ferreyras'] furniture; and fourth, that Sueldo took all of the animals out of the province for Santa Fe. . . Don Pedro Sueldo would be absolved of the first three charges; [however,] he is ordered to pay in money or value the attached appraisal of 27 sheep, 70 goats, 21 bushels of wheat, 15 milking cows, etc with more than 200 pesos multiplied by the private interest which accrued during the course of eleven years. . . Tomás Garzón.

[Pedro Sueldo was not satisfied with the verdict and appealed. Daniel, Francisco's brother, responded to one of Sueldo's appeal.]

In the name of the offended, justice commands silence to those, like Sueldo, who have the audacity to say that they served the Patria, [and] who invoke a reputation [and] a good name that they never had received [in the first place]. They talk about their services to the state! These [services] are evident in Villa [de Rosario], a place once full of respectable families before and now depopulated [and] in ruins. They refer to their work for the Patria, but those like [Sueldo] only served as instruments of tyranny to tie the hands and feet [of the Country], sending it to the monster that devours it!!! Oh! No, it is better that Sueldo remain silent. Daniel Ferreyra

José Antonio Juárez requests the court's permission to marry Candelaria Portillo. In Buenos Aires on May 15th, 1830, presented before the Señor President of the Tribunal of Justice is José Antonio Juarez, native of Corrientes, son of Martín Juarez, of Pardo status, and of Manuela Antonia Bentis, Indian, and both parents deceased, and said that he aspires to contract a marriage with Candelaria Portillo, slave of Don Juan Antonio Carmona, who lives in the neighborhood of the residence in this city.

[He is] requesting through the Señor Provisor judicial license in a manner showing that he is older than 25, that he does not have living parents nor kin (relatives) in this city where he has been raised since he was a very young child, that there is a difference of status [between the two], [and] that his expected wife is a slave. In consequence of this request, it will happen that within four days, I will present witnesses which they know and to whom are certain to testify about their deceased parents and of the condition that she has shown. . . Fernando Baez Escobar.

[Excerpted from Final Judgement, June 8, 1831]

In Buenos Aires on June 8th, 1831, [those] present in the courtroom of the Public Court are Dr. Don Ventura Martínez, Counsel to Don Eduardo Brown, his son Don Leonardo Brown, Don Manuel Alvarez, and Doña Magdalena Rivas and her daughter, Doña Magdalena. Having provided the report of Don Martínez, as the counsel to the first expressed [Don Eduardo Brown], to the judge: that in attention to having left the authority of his father without consent and finding the young Don Leonardo still under the patria potestad for not being more than nineteen years of age, asked the court the restitution of what was taken, such as a box that had been bought and a mattress as a sign of marriage which had been given to the young woman that he had tried to marry. In this case, I take the word of Doña Magdalena Rivas, mother of the young woman indicated, who confessed that these were gifts that had been made to the referred daughter by the young man Don Leonardo. Heard before all of You Señores and Señoras, it is resolved that the young man be returned to his house of his father, ordering the same mother of the young woman the expressed indicated be restituted with which this concludes this act. . .

Edward Brown
Leonard Brown

[Plea to Court, August 11, 1831]

Don Edward Brown, appearing before Your Excellency as the best law provider, says: that after having reclaimed from Your Excellency the legal protection of patria potestad for the flight that my son made from my house and the other excesses committed by my son, Leonardo, he reached the point of denying his ancestry, which I proved to the satisfaction of the court. Unfortunately, another incident has occurred that adds further credence to the bad behavior of this young man.

He has presented himself before the President of the most Excellent Chamber denying my authority as a father and requesting permission to contract marriage, and to prove my authority, it is indispensable to have the court clerk provide me the affidavit of what happened before Your Excellency for the reasons I have already indicated. . . Edward Brown, Buenos Aires, August 11, 1831.

LONG LIVE THE FEDERATION!

General Department of Police

CONTRACT
Buenos Aires, March 1841
Year 32 of Liberty, 25 of Independence,
and 12 of the Argentine Confederation

We, the undersigned, in accordance with the Law of November 17, 1821, agree upon the following articles:

Art. 1. We, the principals of Bourgan, Funge, and Co., declare that, in accordance with the proposal made to us by Doña Juana María Olivera to accept her son, Benjamín Montes, as apprentice in our factory, and receiving her promises of his good conduct, have agreed to do so for a term of three years, beginning at such time as we commence his training in the making of plush and silk hats at the level of perfections at which they are currently produced.

Art. 2. We commit ourselves to his maintenance and to give him shelter and thirty-five pesos monthly during the agreed-upon term of three years.

Art. 3. Benjamín Montes commits himself to perform all duties customary in the factory on Sundays and holidays, as required of him. He will maintain his cleanliness, he will be punctual in his working hours, and with his obligations away from the factory during such days when there is no work, and he will comply with his religious obligations.

Art. 4. Benjamín Montes, apprentice, will be obligated to maintain good order and harmony with the other members of the house during the agreed-upon term of three years, and to obey without hesitation whatever we or the foreman may ask of him (which will be only those things related to the factory or to its good order), and in the event that Benjamín should flee from the factory, it is the obligation of his mother to find him and to bring him back, and two days will be added to the contracted period of service for every day that he remains a fugitive.

Art. 5. I, Benjamín Montes, fully cognizant of everything contained in the previous four articles, and with the approval of My Lady Mother, declare that from this day forth I enter into apprenticeship for the agreed upon term of three years in the hat factory of Messrs. Bourgan Bunge (sic) and Co. under the conditions and obligations herein expressed, and as proof or our [agreement] they add their signatures to the one of My Lady Mother…and to the same effect it is all hereby authorized by the Chief of Police.

1. Lynch, John. Argentine Caudillo: Juan Manuel de Rosas. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001.
   This classic work is the most accessible English-language biography on Juan Manuel de Rosas; it provides a cogent explanation of how the rosista state employed state terror within Argentina.
2. Shumway, Jeffrey M. The Case of the Ugly Suitor and Other Histories of Love, Gender, and Nation in Buenos Aires, 1776-1870. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
   This important book documents the rich variety of legal challenges that young people of Buenos Aires brought against parental and state authorities.
3. Stevens, Donald F. "Passion and Patriarchy in Nineteenth-Century Argentina: María Luisa Bemberg's Camila." In Based on a True Story: Latin American History at the Movies, edited by Donald F. Stevens, 85-102. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1997.
   Stevens's superb article compares the real life story of Camila O'Gorman with María Luisa Bemberg's film Camila (1984), which, as he argues, is a feminist critique of patriarchy and state authority. Author includes a solid bibliography of Spanish-language primary sources on O'Gorman's life.
4. Szuchman, Mark D. "A Challenge to the Patriarchs: Love Among the Youth in Nineteenth-Century Argentina." In The Middle Period in Latin America: Values and Attitudes in the 17th-19th Centuries, edited by Mark D. Szuchman, 141-65. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1989.
   The author deftly traces how children challenged parental authority by filing lawsuits in provincial courts over spousal choices.
5. Szuchman, Mark D. Order, Family, and Community in Buenos Aires, 1810-1860. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988.
   Szuchman discusses the impact of authoritarianism on household structure and families. He also includes seminal chapters on parental conflicts with children during the Rosas era and the Argentine state's attempts to use the educational system to socialize children.

by Janelle Collett
(Suggested writing time: 50 minutes)

The following question is based on the documents included in this module. This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents.

Drawing on specific examples from the sources in the module, write a well- organized essay of at least five paragraphs in which you answer the following question:

• What ideals did the Rosas regime promote for the youth of Argentina? How did the regime enforce those ideals and how did the youth combat them?

Your essay should:

• have a relevant, clear thesis that answers the question,
• use at least six of the documents,
• analyze the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible, not simply summarize the documents individually, and
• take into account both the sources of the documents and the creators' points of view.

Be sure to analyze point of view in at least three documents or images.

What additional sources, types of documents, or information would you need to have a more complete view of this topic?

You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following institutions for primary sources:

• Archivo General de la Nación,
• Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires,
• Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Córdoba,
• Planeta Publishing,
• Scholarly Resources,
• Stanford University Press, and
• Taurus Publishing.

About the Author

Jessie Hingson is an Assistant Professor of History at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida. He received his Doctorate from Florida International University and is the author of several articles on the history of race and family in post-independence Argentina. His work has been supported by grants from Fulbright, Rotary International, and the Department of Education.

About the Lesson Plan Author

Janelle Collett is the chair of the History Department at Springside School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she teaches seventh grade World History, ninth grade World History, and electives on the history of violence and nonviolence. In January of 2006, she was a member of an American History Association Conference panel, "Teaching the Nation as Imagined Community: Strategies for Understanding Nationalisms in the Classroom," and she has presented in a variety of settings on effective uses of technology in the classroom.

Between 1810 and 1860, Argentina emerged as a deeply divided nation. One of the main problems that remained unresolved throughout the 19th century was how power would be shared between Buenos Aires, the capital, and the rest of the provinces. Juan Manuel de Rosas, who ruled the country between 1829 and 1852, provided some semblance of order. However, he failed to share power with other groups, and the nation was not able to establish a lasting peace until the early 1860s. Studying this period is significant because it allows us to better understand the reasons for underdevelopment, authoritarianism, and political instability in Argentina's not so distant past and why these problems continue to exist in many parts of Latin America today.

A New and Divided Nation

After Argentina formally declared its independence from Spain in 1816, partisan wars broke out between two elite factions, Federalists and Unitarians. These groups had vastly different visions for how Argentina should be governed, but these views were based mostly on self-interest rather than ideology. Unitarians promoted the idea of centralizing power into Buenos Aires. They sought to reduce the power of the Catholic Church, which they saw as a symbol of the "colonial past." and they wanted to establish freer domestic and foreign trade. Unitarians also imagined a nation that promoted European-style "progress" and "civilization." This vision of modernization favored European immigrants over Argentina's poorer gaucho (rural itinerant workers) population and caudillos (regional strongmen). During the 1820s, Unitarian governments in control of Buenos Aires attempted to implement their reforms throughout the nation.

Opposing these efforts, Federalists emerged as a broad-based group, including ranchers and local merchants, who saw free trade and foreign competition as threats to their economic interests. Federalists tended to favor local political control and viewed Unitarians' political reforms as violations of their sovereignty. Federalists also wanted to maintain the power of the Church as an institution of social control. The Unitarians rejected what they called the "barbarism" of Federalist supporters, including Argentina's poorer gaucho (rural itinerant workers) population and their caudillo (regional strongman) leaders.

Throughout the 1820s, Unitarian governments implemented their reforms in Buenos Aires while the rest of the country fiercely resisted these efforts. Political tensions mounted when, in 1826, Unitarians tried to impose a Unitarian constitution over the rest of the country. However, in the following year, the Unitarian government in Buenos Aires resigned under pressure from powerful interests within the interior provinces. Manuel Dorrego, a Federalist, became governor. One of his first acts was to invalidate the Unitarian constitution, but he especially angered Unitarians by establishing peace with Brazil, which had been at war with Argentina since 1825. Both countries had been fighting for control of the eastern bank of the River Plate. Unitarians wanted to continue the war in order to add another province to Argentina and to prevent the loss of lands held by wealthy ranchers from Buenos Aires. However, the war was costly, and in late 1828, Dorrego accepted a British-brokered deal, which recognized the creation of a new "Uruguay" as a buffer state between the two countries. Returning from their military campaigns, Unitarian forces overthrew the Federalist government and assassinated Dorrego. The provinces did not accept the Unitarian constitution, and civil war broke out.

"The Restorer of the Laws"

In response to the discord, different regions of the country experienced the rise of brutally repressive regimes ruled by caudillos, who re-established order. Beginning in 1829, Juan Manuel de Rosas, a wealthy rancher and Federalist, asserted his control over Buenos Aires and the rest of the nation. Supported by a powerful, large land-holding class, Rosas governed through a combination of patronage and state violence. Seen by his supporters as "The Restorer of the Laws," he sanctioned property confiscation, execution, torture, and forced exile against Unitarian suspects and other political enemies.

Historians often underscore Rosas's brutality against his foes by pointing to the headings on most official documents: "Long Live the Federation! Death to the Savage Unitarians!" By 1835, Rosas dominated the other provinces, expanded the Indian frontier, awarded land to influential people and loyalists, and exported wool and hides to meet the demands of Western Europe. In 1852, the dictator's reign ended when other Federalists, tired of his meddling in provincial affairs, defeated him at the Battle of Caseros.

Youth and the Rosas State

The political violence, civil strife, and authoritarianism of the early 19th century deeply affected the daily lives of young people. One consequence was the weakening of powers that fathers, as patriarchs, had within the household. Colonial authorities long recognized the traditional legal concept of patria potestad, whereby absolute authority within families was given to male heads. This meant that patriarchs would have, in theory at least, the last word over their children's life decisions, particularly relating to education, work, and marriage. After independence, however, patriarchal authority began a slow decline. Hundreds of male heads of families were imprisoned, killed, drafted into Unitarian or Federalist armies, or took extended leaves for business or seasonal labor.

For middle class and elite families, Argentina's political leaders viewed schools as one of the most important institutions of civil life and social control. The idea was that teachers would aid in the state's efforts to incorporate children into the political system. Indeed, scholars have shown that primary and secondary schools were crucial in educating an entire generation of new Argentine citizens. Thousands of boys and girls were not only taught grammar and arithmetic, but also a deep respect for authority and patriotic values.

The Rosas state moved aggressively to employ lower-class youngsters when the wars and civil strife of the early 19th century caused labor shortages, especially in rural areas. Social critics also saw lower-class children as a potential source of social disorder and sought to harness their energies as laborers. Law enforcement officials restricted youngsters' mobility by strictly enforcing passport and anti-vagrancy laws.

In towns across Argentina, the conchabo system gave local police broad authority to draft children to work in public works projects, private homes, factories, or wherever laborers were needed. The office typically in charge of placing young workers was called the defensor de menores, a public institution dating back to the colonial period. The defensor drew up labor agreements that tied young people to particular jobs, but these contracts had the unintended effect of giving young people some degree of freedom from parental authority.

Argentina's laws also allowed children to be entrusted with decisions related to marriage and property. Girls could marry and hold a dowry at the age of 12. Boys could not marry until they turned 14. This is not to say that parents or their children sought marriage contracts at these early ages. By law, girls and boys had to wait until they were 23 and 25 years old, respectively, before they could marry without permission from their parents. After 1810, however, young people were marrying at younger ages and had more input into selecting spouses. This included choosing mates who were closer to their own ages and sometimes outside their familial socio-economic and racial boundaries.

Parents lamented with growing frequency and alarm the rebelliousness of their children and attempted to control their behavior through legal means. Many of these disputes appeared in lawsuits, or disensos, filed by parents asserting their parental rights and obligations in order to guide the behaviors of their children. Sons and daughters also sued their parents, seeking the right to marry freely partners of their own choosing.

While these individual actions played out in the courts, authorities under Rosas dealt harshly with youngsters who violated legal and social conventions. In 1847, Camila O'Gorman, the daughter of a prominent merchant, and Ladislao Gutiérrez, a Catholic priest, caused a huge public scandal when they ran away together. The following year, the couple was captured. Rosas personally ordered their execution for violating the social order. According to the dictator, their actions were a direct attack on his authority and that he wanted to make an example out of them.

Camila's story is often seen as an example of the extreme measures the Rosas state took to control the behaviors of Argentina's younger population. Indeed, Rosas wanted to make an example out of the young couple. However, this story of forbidden love is also representative of how young people challenged authority as ideas of republicanism, equality, and individualism swept through the Americas. The execution of the young couple (along with the fact that Camila was eight months pregnant at the time of her death!) undermined support for the Rosas regime. Moreover, Camila's story resonates even today as a reminder of the legacy of authoritarianism in Argentina's history. María Luísa Bemberg wrote and directed the feature film, Camila (1984), as a harsh critique of patriarchy and military rule.

This teaching module incorporates a variety of primary sources that shed light on the shifting boundaries of parental roles and expectations, young people's behaviors, and social status in early to mid-19th century Argentina.

One strategy is to divide the sources into two sets. The first set might include evidence on the expectations that both parents and political leaders had for children. Parents, especially fathers, in early 19th century Argentina wanted their children to marry for particular strategic reasons (e.g., to maintain wealth across generations) rather than for romantic love. In addition, Argentina's leaders sought to socialize children by closely regulating dress, public behavior, and education. Young people today should have little difficulty understanding the weight of parents' expectations on their lives and the rules that authorities create to govern their conduct. Thus, it might be a good exercise to relate these ideas to the students' lives.

A second set of documents would be organized around the variety of ways in which Argentina's youth responded to the rules and regulations that governed their lives. The evidence from the era shows that young people adopted a variety of political viewpoints. Manuelita Rosas's portrait, for example, represents one way in which young people supported the regime. However, legal documents reveal the willingness and capability of young people to use the court system to advance their interests, which were often at odds with those of their parents. Camila's story demonstrates one young person's challenge to both parental and state authority. This evidence not only demonstrates sharp generational differences but also how legal institutions became increasingly involved in family matters as parental authority began to wane.

Examining official records, however, presents special challenges. For example, legal language may be confusing, and biases may be difficult to detect. Nevertheless, it is possible to make sense of these documents by following some general advice.

First, it is necessary to understand that the primary role of civil courts in any adversarial system is to satisfy demands. Typically, this involved two parties, who were recognized as legitimate groups before the courts. Children or their legal guardians had the right to sue, especially when property or transfer of wealth was involved.

Second, gather basic information from the document about what happened. The "facts" of a case might be incongruous with our own understanding of prevailing norms and practices. For example, students today might have a hard time reconciling the fact that people in their early 20s were still considered minors.

Discussion Questions

• What areas of young people's lives did parental and state authorities try to control in Argentina during the early 19th century?
• What strategies did young people in early 19th-century Argentina use to resist parental control?

Lesson Plan: Love and Rebellion in Argentina

by Janelle Collett

Time Estimated: four 50-minute classes

Objectives

1. Synthesize understanding of primary sources with understanding of secondary sources.
2. Understand why the Rosas regime asserted its authority in this case and the larger implications for how an unstable state responds to threats to their power.
3. Debate how a state can best maintain order.

Materials

• "To the Spirits of Camila O'Gorman" [Poem]
• "Camila O'Gorman" [Painting]
• Adolfo O'Gorman to Juan Manuel de Rosas [Letter]

Day One

Hook
Read out loud "To the Spirits of Camila O'Gorman." Make sure students are not given the introduction.

Ask students to write a short story imagining who she was and what happened to her.

Have students volunteer to share their stories.

As a class, identify patterns in the stories. What were they able to infer about Camila O'Gorman from the poem?

Homework
Students must read the introduction to "To the Spirits of Camila O'Gorman" in order to find out the story of what actually happened to her AND the introduction to the Teaching Module, "Youth, Love, & Authority in Argentina" (19th c).

Day Two

Background
Discuss "Youth, Love, & Authority in Argentina."

Create a timeline as a class, including the most significant events that occurred in Argentina between 1810 and 1860.

Who was Camila O'Gorman? Why is her fate significant to understanding this period in Argentina?

Examine "Camila O'Gorman" Painting

• How has the artist portrayed Camila? Does she look like a criminal? Like an innocent victim?
• How do you believe the artist felt about her execution?

Read the letter from Adolfo O'Gorman to Juan Manuel de Rosas out loud.

• Why did Adolfo O'Gorman write this letter? (What was his purpose?)
• What arguments does he use to try to persuade Juan Manuel de Rosas to agree with him?

Day Three

Four Corners Debate!

• Write the following statement on the board: "A government has the right to use violence to enforce the law."
• In each of the four corners of the room, hang a poster with one of the following statements: "Strongly Agree," "Agree," "Disagree," and "Strongly Disagree."
• Instruct students to stand in the corner of the room with the poster that states the position they want to argue.
• Once students are in the corner of their choice, instruct them to discuss with their group why they all chose that position. As a group, they must construct an argument and evidence to support that argument. Then, they must choose a group leader.
• Group leaders present their argument and evidence to the class.
• When group leaders are finished presenting, students may change corners if they have been persuaded to another point of view.

Homework
Students will each write a paragraph defending the point of view written on the poster they chose at the end of class yesterday.

Day Four

Debrief

• Which group was most persuasive in their arguments? What did they do differently that made them so persuasive?
• Which group would Juan Manuel de Rosas have agreed with? Adolfo O'Gorman? Camila O'Gorman? Juan Leon Palliére?
• What drives a government to be so extreme in its enforcement of the law?
• What drives individuals to disobey a government that is all-powerful and willing to use violence to punish disobedience?
• Is there any way for a government to maintain order if individuals disobey the law other than violence?

Differentiation

Advanced Students
After the debate, instead of a paragraph, students will write an essay for homework answering the question, "What are the strengths and weaknesses of an authoritarian regime?"

Less Advanced Students
Allow one more day for activity. As a class, fill out a SCARABS sheet for each of the three primary sources.

• Subject of the primary source
• Context: what was happening when it was created?
• Author or creator
• Reason the source was created
• Audience: for whom was this source created?
• Bias of creator of source
• Significance of the source (why is it important?)

. . .[In] X v the United Kingdom (No. 7212/75 referred to above) the Commission found that an objective and reasonable justification existed for the different ages of consent, there being a realistic basis for the Government's opinion that, given the controversial and sensitive nature of the question involved, young men in the 18-21 bracket who were involved in homosexual relationships would be subject to substantial social pressures which could be harmful to their psychological development. . . .

The Commission, however, observes that its Report in X. v. the United Kingdom is now nearly 20 years old. While it is true that the views expressed in that Report have been subsequently repeated, it is also true that major changes have in the meantime occurred in professional opinions - particularly those of the medical profession - on the subject of the need for the protection of young male homosexuals and on the desirability of introducing an equal age of consent. . . . In particular, . . . the Council of the British Medical Association (BMA), which in 1981 gave evidence to the Policy Advisory Committee that boys and girls of the same age did not possess the same degree of emotional and psychological maturity, observed in 1994 that most researchers now believed that sexual orientation was usually established before the age of puberty in both boys and girls and referred to evidence that reducing the age of consent would be unlikely to affect the majority of men engaging in homosexual activity, either in general or within specific age groups. The BMA Council concluded in its Report that the age of consent for homosexual men should be set at 16 since the then existing law might inhibit efforts to improve the sexual health of young homosexual and bisexual men. . . .

Two such principal arguments emerge from the speeches in Parliament and are adopted and repeated in the Government's submissions. In the first place it is argued that certain young men between the ages of 16 and 18 do not have a settled sexual orientation and that the aim of the law is to protect such vulnerable young men from activities which will result in considerable social pressures and isolation which their lack of maturity might cause them later to repent: it is claimed that the possibility of criminal sanctions against persons aged 16 or 17 is likely to have a deterrent effect and give the individual time to make up his mind. Secondly, it is argued that society is entitled to indicate its disapproval of homosexual conduct and its preference that children follow a heterosexual way of life.

The Commission does not consider that either argument offers a reasonable and objective justification for maintaining a different age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual acts or that maintaining such a differential age is proportionate to any legitimate aim served thereby. As to the former argument, as was conceded in the Parliamentary debates, current medical opinion is to the effect that sexual orientation is fixed in both sexes by the age of 16 and that men aged 16-21 are not in need of special protection because of the risk of their being "recruited" into homosexuality. . . .

As to the second ground relied on - society's claimed entitlement to indicate disapproval of homosexual conduct and its preference for a heterosexual lifestyle - the Commission cannot accept that this could in any event constitute an objective or reasonable justification for inequality of treatment under the criminal law. . . .

Consequently, the Commission finds that no objective and reasonable justification exists for the maintenance of a higher minimum age of consent to male homosexual, than to heterosexual, acts. . . .