<P> Sexual activity was expected to be confined to marriage . Sex outside of marriage was considered fornication if neither partner was married, and adultery if one or both were married to someone else . Fornication was generally punished by fines and pressure to marry; a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child could also be fined . Adultery and rape were more serious crimes, and both were punishable by death . Rape, however, required more than one witness, and was therefore rarely prosecuted . Sexual activity between men was called sodomy, and was also punishable by death . </P> <P> Within the marriage, the husband was typically responsible for supplying the family's financial needs, although it was not uncommon for women to work in the fields and to perform some sort of home labor (for example, spinning thread or weaving cloth) to supplement the family income . Women were almost exclusively responsible for seeing to the welfare of the children . </P> <P> Children were baptized at the local meeting house within a week of being born . The mother was usually not present because she was still recovering from the birth, and the child's name was usually chosen by the father . Names were propagated within the family, and names would be reused when infants died . If an adult died without issue, his (or her) name could be carried on when the siblings of the deceased named children in his memory . </P> <P> Most children received some form of schooling, something which the colony's founders believed to be important for forming a proper relationship with God . Towns were obligated to provide education for their children, which was usually satisfied by hiring a teacher of some sort . The quality of these instructors varied, from minimally educated local people to Harvard - educated ministers . </P>

The colonist in massachusetts practiced a form of democracy first practiced in