SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

divorce was not unheard of in those days and was more easily obtained in Vermont than in many
other states, it was still uncommon enough to raise eyebrows in most locales.” 60 Clarina chose to
keep her divorce quiet in order not to embarrass Justin’s family. She then married George on
March 6, 1843. A few years later Justin Carpenter died of typhus in New York City. 61
Once Clarina was fully involved in the women’s rights movement she used her personal
experiences as material for lectures. Nichols identified with women in desperate circumstances.
Through her experiences she understood what it took for a woman to have to worry about how to
feed her family and pay bills. Nichols contended that the root of the problem was the lack of
rights for women. Eckhoff explains her position,
Once a woman said ‘I do,’ she may as well have added, ‘I do hand over to my
husband my property, my money, and all my earthly possessions. He may do
with them as he wishes.’ The quilt her mother made for her, the horse her father
gave her, the wedding dress she bought with her own earnings—all these now
belonged, legally, to her husband. He could sell, gamble, or give them away, as
he chose, and his wife could not object, for she was under her husband’s legal
control. In the eyes of the law she did not exist. …Gradually, Nichols came to
believe that married women could never achieve security for themselves and their
children unless they had economic rights—the legal right to own and control their
own property and wages. 62
After moving to Kansas, Nichols wanted to help women gain rights to own property and petition
for divorce. She believed that this new territory had the opportunity to help women by providing
these legal rights and she was going to work to achieve these rights.
60 Ibid., 39.
61 Ibid., 39-40.
62 Ibid., 45-46.
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