Polite Children: Children’s Education in the Early Modern British Atlantic

Janet Hammond

Advisor: Jessica Marie Otis, PhD, Department of History and Art History

Committee Members: Christy Pichichero, Randolph Scully

Horizon Hall, #3223
April 17, 2026, 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Abstract:

This dissertation examines how British Atlantic children learned to act respectably in polite company from the 1660s through the 1760s. It provides a synthetic understanding of childhood in the Anglophone Atlantic and argues that the concept of politeness became embedded in literacy education during this period. The inculcation of politeness through literacy ensured that elite and upwardly-mobile children in the British Atlantic not only learned to read but absorbed implied, instructional social-behavioral messages that ensured they would maintain or improve their social status as adults.
 
In the eighteenth-century culture of politeness, individuals controlled their deportment as an outward expression of (supposed) morality and often leveraged their participation as a way to bolster or justify their social status. Children were taught behaviors such as elegant penmanship, managing accounts, morality (particularly propriety for girls), industrious ethics, excelling in different endeavors, modes of dress, humility, and benevolence. Many of these behaviors had previously been part of religious instruction but with the increasing secularization of philosophy and John Locke’s popularization of the idea of the mind as a tabula rasa, printed primers continued to shift away from explicit religious teachings and instead began to focus on less doctrinally defined instruction that can collectively be considered politeness. 
 
In arranging their education, (in)formal guardians mindfully considered how the children’s literacy learning informed the child’s and family’s social standings, attending to the location of learning, moral maxims, and the level of literacy. Sometimes, children pushed against polite teachings or failed to embody them, misbehaving and sometimes receiving punishment like time out, financially being cut off or having limited financial access, or receiving (written) lectures. Young people exemplified their degree of learned politeness based on whether their letters included manners such as asking after one’s health, demonstration of financial responsibility, diligence in learning, looking after their sibling, tipping, and gift giving. Their voices give some insight into sibling dynamics, particularly the way in which eldest brothers fulfilled their obligation to promote their siblings’ welfare and other children respected his position. However, thanks to monetary disparities as well as tense family dynamics such as parents preferring some child over others, there was ample opportunity for rivalries leading to teasing and rude comments. In taking the time to research these families, this dissertation provides greater insight into early modern Atlantic children's lives and how politeness became embedded in literacy education.