Married Women In The 1800's

In the 1800’s married women were treated unfair and unequal, and in this case inequality of all women, of all races, was very evident by the way women were merely property. State law governed in all states that married women were legal possessions rather than equal persons. Married women could not own any personal possession or property, all they had, became their husbands. In the 1800’s women had no rights to vote, and women would not have the right to vote until 1920. There were unequal wages for women in the work force, and men who did the same work load would be paid much higher than women. All Women, especially married women, were treated very unfairly and unequal, Because, they did not have legal rights to vote, own their own property,
The laws against women voting would remain in place, equally important, “in 1838 women played no almost no role, and in 1877 they were still lacking the vote, and still unable to serve on juries. Women began to forge a powerful suffrage movement, certain women were participating in the public political discourse, and the nation had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which would eventually be used to fight sex discrimination. What’s more, organized American womanhood had done much to humanize society. As for the public sphere itself, it was growing because of democratic ferment and because of new forms of organization and communication in the nineteenth century.” (Glena Mathews) (“Women in the public sphere, 1838-1877,” The Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History). However, others argued and disagreed, over the Fourteenth Amendment, which strongly stated that voting was for men only, because the word male was placed next to the word “voters”, this would be a major set-back for women. In the late 1870’s, two Suffrage Associations would be formed, the first would be, the American Women Suffrage Association, which believed in the Reconstruction Amendments. The second which was led by the two best-known suffragists “Susan B. Anthony” and “Elizabeth Cady Stanton”, the National Women Suffrage Association,
State law in all states governed, that married women were legal possessions of their husbands, and not legal persons. “Under coverture” (the status a woman acquired upon marriage, under common law), women had no contract rights. A married women’s legal existence was extinguished by the status of marriage, although the law nominally recognized a marital community of goods, all personal property and community property was vested in the husband’s control, what’s more, the marriage restricted the wife’s legal capacity. Despite all the struggles married women went through to gain legal rights, it would not be until 1848 before changes began to happen, when New York, followed Texas and Mississippi, by passing the Married Women’s Property Act, which gave married women ownership over their own property, property inheritance, and property that had been acquired. When article 1, section 10 passed it constituted a clause that adopted the married women’s property acts, in addition, article 1, section 8 gave the U.S. government the right to levy taxes directly to the people, and acknowledged married women’s rights to possess assets of their own. (Woody Holton) (“Equality as unintended consequence: the contracts clause and the married women’s property act.” Journal of Southern History). Soon