Final answer:
Puritan women did not retain title to property due to the legal doctrine of coverture, which subsumed a married woman's legal identity and property rights under her husband's control. This principle contributed to women's economic dependence and lack of suffrage.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reason why Puritan women did not get to retain title to property has its roots in the legal principle of coverture. This principle rendered married women legally and economically dependent on their husbands. Under coverture, any property or wages a woman owned or earned reverted to her husband's control. Although single women and widows could own property, married women's legal identities were effectively erased upon marriage, consolidating both their assets and political voices with those of their husbands. Moreover, this lack of independence underpinned arguments against women's suffrage, as women's disenfranchised status was seen as a reflection of their domestic roles and perceived mental delicacy.
This situation persisted post American Revolution. Despite an increase in social and legal rights for women during the 1780s and notions such as 'Republican motherhood' that recognized their role in educating future citizens, married women's property rights remained limited. Furthermore, changes in property laws following the revolution even made it easier for husbands to sell their wives' real property without consent, further eroding women's economic independence.