Write an Essay on the book Charity and Sylvia: Same Sex Marriage in Early America.Historians of the Early American Republic have taken great pains to lay out the boundaries between romantic and erotic same-sex friendships. For this essay, you will consider how we draw this line between same-sex relationships that were seen in their time as appropriately affectionate, and those that crossed into inappropriately sexual territory. What qualities made a same-sex relationship acceptable to the wider public? What qualities raised public skepticism?In order to address this topic, you will provide evidence from Rachel Hope Clevess Charity & Sylvia in addition to one of our other class readings on romantic/erotic friendships (Richard Godbeers A Settled Portion of My Happiness or Karen V. Hansens No Kisses Is Like Youres). Use specific examples to illustrate how the works we have read address this boundary between acceptable and unacceptable intimacy.
