Colonial American bastardy laws

Colonial American bastardy laws were laws passed by British colonists in what is now the United States in the 1700s. These laws said that if someone's parents were not married when the person was born, then the person was known as a "bastard", and treated differently from people whose parents were married. The laws said that the mother had to take care of the bastard, instead of the father, and it made it hard for a bastard to inherit property or get an education. These laws were meant to make sure that people followed the rules of getting married before they had kids.