Radical Robert Dale Owen issued the following statement on the occasion of his 1832 wedding to Mary Jane Robinson, to protest the state of law by which women lost property and other legal rights upon marriage.
Of the unjust rights which in virtue of this ceremony an iniquitous law gives me over the person and property of another, I cannot legally, but I can morally, divest myself. And I hereby distinctly and emphatically declare that I consider myself, and earnestly desire to be considered by others, as utterly divested, now and during the rest of my life, of any such rights, the barbarous relics of a feudal, despotic system.
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Also on this site:
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Marriage Protest - 1855 - Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell
Statement by Stone and Blackwell at their wedding, later distributed by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the presiding minister. -
Women's Property Rights and
Coverture
Information on the legal status of women and changes over time in related laws. -
Marriage
More on marriage, divorce, widowhood and other related topics, through the centuries and around the world.
Part of a collection of etexts on women's history produced by Jone Johnson Lewis. Editing and formatting © 1999-2005 Jone Johnson Lewis.
