Women, Divorce, and American Independence

Amid Talk of Liberty, More Women Sought to Dissolve Marriages

Sep 27, 2009

In Massachusetts, the number of divorces rose as the Revolution approached. Most were initiated by women, though men were more likely to have divorces granted.

The story of the American Revolution tends to focus on the lives of men and their attitudes about liberties and rights. But what of women? How did this talk affect them?

Little is known, because little was written down. But divorce records suggest that the spirit of the times may have affected women's attitudes about married life.

Historian Nancy F. Cott, in a study of 18th-century Massachusetts records, found a surge in petitions for divorces in the years leading up the the War of Independence and during the war itself. There was an increase in petitions from husbands, but wives accounted for most of the overall increase.

Puritans Made Divorce Easier Than in England

Thanks largely to the influence of the Puritans, divorce had long been easier to obtain in colonial Massachusetts than in England, where the Church of England made divorce nearly impossible for everyone except the rich.

Still, divorce was rare enough in colonial Massachusetts. Cott tracked 229 divorce petitions in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1786 and found that most were submitted after 1764, and one third after 1774. The increase outpaced the increase in population, and there was no significant change in divorce law accounting for the the surge. The war itself also does not seem to be related. Few petitions refer, for example, a wife's pregnancy during a husband's absence while serving in the military.

Cott suggests that the increase stemmed from change in outlook inspired by the ideas circulating before and during the war. She also proposes that perhaps as more women petitioned for and received divorces, news about such cases prompted other women to act.

Women then had many of the same reasons as women today for seeking divorce. There were others as well. Take the example of a woman trying to run a business while married to a deadbeat husband. She would have difficulty borrowing money or getting credit because, according to the marriage contract, her husband controlled her property and what she earned. This is what Henrietta East Caine of Boston complained about when she asked for divorce in 1979. Her marriage meant "her Friends will not supply her with Goods to carry on her business as before."

Marriage Made It Difficult To Start Business

Another woman argued that marriage made it difficult to get help to start a business. With divorce, she expected "she shall be able to find Friends that will place her in some business to maintain herself and children."

Adultery, Desertion, Fraudulent Marriage

In petitions for divorce, adultery was the most common reason given by husbands. Adultery was a common reason given by wives as well, but usually in combination with some other reason, such as desertion, non-support, cruelty, or "interracial adultery." Twelve petitions from wives charged husbands with bigamous or fraudulant marriage. Forty-two of the 128 petitions from wives charged husbands with cruelty alone or with both cruelty and adultery.

Through the entire period that Cott studied, 128 women filed petitions, compared to 101 men. Men were more successful in receiving in divorce decrees. Sixty-three percent of men were successful in obtaining divorce compared to 40 percent of women.

Source:

Cott, Nancy F. "Divorce and the Changing Status of Women in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Oct. 1976), oo 586-614.

The copyright of the article Women, Divorce, and American Independence in Colonial America is owned by Brian Deming. Permission to republish Women, Divorce, and American Independence in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.