Merril D. Smith - Sex and Sexuality in Early America (1998).jpg
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In 1683, Priscilla Willson, a sixteen-year-old orphan from Hammersmith, Massachusetts, was convicted of fornication. Samuel Appleton, the presumed father of her child, was not. Several witnesses suggested he had forced himself on Willson, whom neighbors testified had “behaved herselfe soe modestly and Civilly all her time before this transgression.” The notion that pregnancy could result only from consensual sex was so pervasive, however, that despite evidence to the contrary, no one in the village actually accused Appleton of rape. The people of this Puritan community assumed that Priscilla Willson had isbehaved, even if she had been led astray by Appleton. The reality of the situation, that Appleton most probably seduced or raped the much younger Willson, was lost to a canon that condemned premarital sex, but permitted class and gender double standards. Although Appleton did have to pay half the court costs, as well as expenses incurred with the birth, his status as a gentleman and his connections to the judges enabled him to maintain his honor.