But only with a stick no larger than his thumb.
The husbandly stick was never imported into the United States.

Even the dour Puritans forbade its use.

The very first modification of the English common law, in its application to American women, was made in 1650, when the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that a husband beating his wife, or, for that matter, a wife beating her husband, should be fined ten pounds, or endure a public whipping.
The Pilgrim Fathers and the other early colonists in America brought with them the system of English common law under which they and their ancestors had for centuries been governed.

From time to time, as conditions made them necessary, new laws were enacted and put into force.

In all cases not specifically covered by these new laws, the old English common law was applied.