Families in crisis in the Old South
Subtitle: divorce, slavery, and the law
By: by Loren Schweninger
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 236
ISBN-13: 9780807835692
Subjects: Domestic relations; Adultery; Divorce; Law and legislation; Slavery; Wife abuse
Description: "In the antebellum South, divorce was an explosive issue. As one lawmaker put it, divorce was to be viewed as a form of 'madness,' and as another asserted, divorce reduced communities to the 'lowest ebb of degeneracy.' How was it that in this climate, the number of divorces rose steadily during the antebellum era? In Families in Crisis in the Old South, Loren Schweninger uses previously unexplored records to argue that the difficulties these divorcing families faced reveal much about the reality of life in a slave-holding society as well as the myriad difficulties confronted by white southern families who chose not to divorce. Basing his argument on almost 800 divorce cases from the southern United States, Schweninger explores the impact of divorce and separation on white families and on the enslaved and provides insights on issues including domestic violence, interracial adultery, alcoholism, insanity, and property relations. He examines how divorce and separation laws changed, how married women's property rights expanded, how definitions of inhuman treatment of wives evolved, and how these divorces challenged conventional mores"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The evolution of divorce laws; title: Adultery and the question of race; title: Insanity, alcoholism, abandonment, and abuse; title: Lawyers, judges, juries, and decrees; title: Married women and property; title: Slaves and owners' domestic conflicts.