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Full-Text Articles in Law
Matrimonial Bonds: Slavery And Divorce In Nineteenth-Century America, Elizabeth B. Clark
Matrimonial Bonds: Slavery And Divorce In Nineteenth-Century America, Elizabeth B. Clark
Publications
In the covenant of marriage, woman is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master -- the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement. He has so framed the law of divorce . . . as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women -- the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands.
Self-Ownership And The Political Theory Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Elizabeth B. Clark
Self-Ownership And The Political Theory Of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Elizabeth B. Clark
Publications
The emphasis on freedom or enslavement of the body, and the issues that sprang from that focus, were feminists' contribution to nineteenth-century American liberalism, as well as their link to radical thought. Elizabeth Cady Stanton drew arguments from the realm of political liberty and religious tolerance to make the case for choice in private life. But the vision of individual autonomy in sexual and domestic matters served also as the basis for her definition of citizenship and as a paradigm for relations among citizens and between citizens and the state. Self-ownership was the unifying theme that ran through Stanton's political …