Abigail_Bailey

Does her lack of actions make her guilty' Was Abigail Abbot Bailey an innocent victim or was she a perpetrator of what can be considered one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed upon a human being' One may be able to consider Mrs. Bailey an accomplice to what occurred to her daughter. I do not believe this to be true. Her memoirs do not support that she was anything but a victim. She was definitely not a perpetrator as she does not meet the definition of the word. A perpetrator is one who commits a crime, atrocity; someone who carried out some action, often a bad thing like a crime. A perpetrator is the person who commits the crime; it would be the opposite of a victim. It is difficult to defend her as an “innocent victim” since she had knowledge of what was occurring. This however is the path I will pursue for the purpose of this paper. During the late eighteenth century, the man ruled the home. Abigail was not only a victim of adultery, but also the victim of physical abuse by her husband, Asa. Women and children under the age of eighteen years were considered property of the husband/father. The social and economic consequences of divorce were grave for women. Technically, Women would have to leave the home naked following a divorce, since their clothing belonged to their husband. Abigail Bailey was an innocent victim. It was late in the eighteenth century, and if she had spoken up and reported the actions of her husband, much disgrace would have been brought upon the family. As indicated in the memoirs, there was no hard evidence she could provide to substantiate that a crime had been committed. Her daughter Phebe, the victim of incest, was only seventeen years of age and thus not old enough to be a legal witness (An Iron Furnace of Affliction). Law enforcement for this type of crime was in its infancy and there were no such things like Crime Scene Investigators or a building known as a crime lab. Abigail’s only hope to put a stop to the crimes being committed was through dialogue with her husband. This proved futile, but during these times, it was the best option available. Abigail was a deeply religious woman. Her desire to serve God and remain married at nearly all cost is admirable. She prayed for the madness to end however the assaults continued for nearly two years from 1788-1790. She was the mother of fourteen children and surely took their welfare into consideration when considering other actions she could take. This was her best course of action given the times but certainly not a recommended course of action in today’s world. Abigail was also physically abused by Asa. Following a single month of marriage, the physical abuse began. She had endured this torture for approximately twenty years. She must have considered the beating she was going to suffer had she suggested divorce. She also must have considered the trauma she would receive should she confront her husband regarding the incest that was occurring. It was a “no win” situation. Abigail was forced to choose from the better of two terribly horrible options in an attempt to have the child abuse cease. She must have also been considering the other children in her family and what consequences they may suffer should Asa became enraged. In support of her innocence, Abigail was basically kidnapped and dumped in the New York frontier by Asa (Jon Pahl abstract). Asa would not have felt compelled to do this to the mother of his children if she had been a willing accomplice to his evil ways. This also shows his greed. With Abigail away from home, she could not file for divorce and thus Asa would retain all of his financial wealth and secure the proceeds of their common property (Jon Pahl abstract). However, Abigail was determined. She returned home, through no easy measure, more determined than ever to end this situation once and for all. Once Abigail was home, she clearly communicated to her husband. She explained to him what his options were to bring an end to the abuse. She did not back down to Asa even though deep down inside she must have been terrified. Asa could see it in her eyes and here it in her voice that it was over. He realized that he had nowhere to turn for support. Abigail was innocent and finally freed from a nightmare of a marriage. Abigail Abbot Bailey finally secured a divorce from Asa Bailey in 1793, after twenty-six years of marriage.