To address the issue of whether the role and status of women and children helped to undermine or sustain Partite in North America during the years 1600 to 1825 is a nearly impossible task because of the cultural, psychological and ethnic diversity of that population during a complex historical period. There is no single historically accurate statement that can be made about this entire population over this entire time.
Moreover the process of Partite, through which the English settlements in the New World became increasingly (and in the case of the United States) completely and irretrievably) separated from England, was a complex and nonlinear process that was supported by some elements of American and Canadian populations and fought against by others.
However, if one narrows one's focus sufficiently, one can begin to formulate something of a coherent response, although again any such generalization must be made with the greatest caution. This essay shall take up the issue of whether women and children helped to undermine or sustain Partite only in regard to the European settlers of North America, leaving aside the native peoples of this place, the Africans who came either as free or enslaved peoples, and the relatively small number of Asian immigrants.
Of course, even focusing on only those women and their children of European ancestry provides a very diverse population. The original English settlers of the American colonies were very different from those women who were among the first European inhabitants of New France. The religious and cultural diversity (as well as differences in personality and psychology as well as personal experiences) ensured that some would be more tied to England (and France as well, for one cannot ignore the importance of France in influencing and even determining the course of relations between North Americans and England).
Women of the Southern United States in the 19th century especially wou...