SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

scholarship on divorce law continue to add to the knowledge of divorce in both Kansas and the
United States and to substantiate the role of women as related to divorce law. 10
This study will argue that some women, like Mary Elizabeth Lease, used the liberal
divorce laws in Kansas to protect their individual property interests in a marriage. Though such
women were by no means the majority of women who sought divorce, their cases highlight a
growing controversy in the late nineteenth century Kansas over the state’s provisions for divorce.
The openness of the state’s divorce laws allowed individuals, including female individuals, to
use the law for their own purposes. Faced with the staggering increase in the Kansas divorce rate
by the end of the century, some judges complained that the law did not adequately protect the
state’s interest in preserving marital unions.
To date, the historiography on divorce has focused on nation-wide trends. By focusing
on Kansas law and the experience of women in the north central part of the state, this study seeks
to open up an analysis, not just of the law, but of how individuals used the law. Through an
analysis of newspaper records, divorce case law, state and national divorce statistics, and local
divorce cases, this study will contend women used the liberal divorce laws in Kansas to protect
their own interests and explain why district court judges were so upset about the lack of care for
the marriage union. Chapter One includes a discussion on the evolution of divorce law in the
United States. Chapter Two focuses on Kansas law and the uses that two particular women
made of that law to act on their own behalf. Chapter Three examines the growing controversy in
late nineteenth century Kansas regarding the rising divorce rate and uses a controversial Clay
County case to highlight some of the judicial concerns about the “abuses” of the law.
10 Sandra F. VanBurkleo, Belonging to the World: Woman’s Rights and American Constitutional Culture, (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
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