Married Women's Property Acts in the United States

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Married Women's Property Acts in the United States

The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was based in New York City, the movement was created by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The Married Women's Property Acts are laws enacted by the individual states of the United States beginning in 1839, usually under that name and sometimes, especially when extending the provisions of a Married Women's Property Act, under names describing a specific provision, such as the Married Women's Earnings Act. The Married Women's Property Acts helped to rectify some of the difficulties that women faced under coverture, the English common law system that subsumed married women's ability to own property, wages, enter into contracts, and otherwise act autonomously, to their husband's authority.^[1] After New York passed its Married Women's Property Law in 1848, this law became the template for other states to grant married women the right to own property.^[2]

Background[edit]

Under the common law legal doctrine known as coverture, a married woman in British North American colonies and later in the United States had hardly any legal existence apart from her husband. Her rights and obligations were subsumed under his. She could not own property, enter into contracts, bring a law suit, or earn a salary in her own name.^[3] An unmarried woman, a femme sole, on the other hand, had the right to own property and make contracts in her own name.

Over several decades, beginning in 1839, statutes that enabled women to control real and personal property, enter into contracts and lawsuits, inherit independently of their husbands, work for a salary, and write wills were enacted.

 

State by state

 

Texas[edit]

Texas, still an independent republic rather than a state, passed its act in 1840. It was the most expansive legislation of any enacted in the South and allowed a married woman to enter into certain contracts, write a will, and sue for divorce. Not only could she veto the sale of her property, but she could veto the sale of the family homestead even if she was not its owner. Without referencing the independence of the wife that advocates for such legislation envisioned, legislators argued that the legislation protected the wife and children from irresponsible husbands.^[13]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_Women%27s_Property_Acts_in_the_United_States