SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
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to protect women legally, economically, and physically, because they perceived women as<br />
incapable of protecting themselves. Illinois legislators recognized divorce as a necessary remedy<br />
for women and instituted a divorce law that was strategically designed to protect them.” 53 Illinois<br />
became a popular place for couples to get divorced, because the Illinois circuit courts applied<br />
divorce laws liberally. By 1860, the state of Illinois had the highest number of divorce decrees<br />
in the nation.<br />
This pattern was followed elsewhere in the west. Western states that became known as<br />
divorce mills either had a shorter waiting period, a larger number of grounds that could be used<br />
to petition for divorce, or an omnibus clause. The state of South Dakota, for example, shortened<br />
their waiting period to six months, and like most western states had numerous acceptable<br />
grounds for divorce. The distinction between east and west states clearly showed how western<br />
states allowed their restless, mobile residents an easier way to obtain a divorce. 54 This shift in<br />
jurisdiction also symbolized, as Richard Chused argues, “the lessening role of families as a<br />
central organizing force of religion, politics, and the economy.” 55 The patriarchal system within<br />
American society was changing.<br />
Such changes did not indicate that married women had somehow assumed equality under<br />
the law, however. Divorce remained controversial as most Americans still viewed marriage as a<br />
lifetime commitment. But the relative openness of western states certainly allowed women a<br />
greater opportunity to use the law in their own behalf. <strong>Kansas</strong> was no exception to the western<br />
pattern. In its first decade of statehood, <strong>Kansas</strong> recognized ten grounds for divorce and in<br />
53 Ibid., 74.<br />
54 Ibid., 73.<br />
55 Richard H. Chused, Private Acts in Public Places: A Social History of Divorce in the Formative Era of American<br />
Family Law, (Philadelphia: <strong>University</strong> of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), 11.<br />
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