SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

What is abundantly clear from the New England record is that women were more likely
to take advantage of the possibilities for divorce than were men. Records from the 1620s to the
turn of the 18 th century in six New England colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Rock, New
Hampshire, Connecticut, New Haven, and Rhode Island) show that women petitioned for
divorce two-thirds of the time. Specifically, men petitioned for divorce thirty-one times while
women petitioned sixty-seven times. 19 In these petitions the primary cause listed for the divorce
differed between the male and female petitioners. The primary cause in cases petitioned by men
was adultery, while in cases that were petitioned by women, desertion was the most common
reason given. 20 Women petitioning for divorce looked to escape from poverty or abuse, while
men cited their wives’ infidelity or rebellion against their patriarchal authority in their petitions. 21
Of all the colonies, the Southern colonies were the most conservative. These colonies
were dominated by the practices of the Church of England which did not allow absolute divorce
for any reason. These colonies did, however, break from Anglican church law by allowing
chancery courts, which Glenda Riley defines as “separate courts of equity that adjusted cases
overlooked by common law and statutes,” to grant limited divorces or what was commonly
referred to as a “divorce from bed and board,” or what would now be referred to as a legal
separation. 22 The grounds for granting limited divorces were limited to adultery, desertion, and
extreme physical cruelty. South Carolina and Virginia, for example, only allowed couples the
option of annulment or permanent separation. Spouses in Maryland could use the chancery court
to obtain a separation only if they could prove extreme cruelty or abandonment had occurred. In
19
Additionally during this period, twenty-one people petitioned for either an annulment or legal separation from
their spouse.
20
Phillips, 243.
21
VanBurkleo, 15.
22
Glenda Riley, “Legislative Divorce in Virginia, 1803-1850,” in Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 11, No. 1
(Spring, 1991), 51-52.
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