Social+reforms+pp.+356–359

By the law of the U.S. in the early 1800s, women lost their personality when they married. The system of covertures stated that women were under the “wing, protection, or cover” of their husbands. Coverture was based on the English medieval feudal system; it gave husbands superiority over their wives. Coverture denied women their rights to own and manage property, to form contracts, to sue or be sued, and to have custody over children. Women also gave up their personal property to their husbands. Coverture did give women a few legal benefits: their husbands took responsibility for any crimes committed by their wives, and wives could avoid responsibility for financial transaction mistakes since they did not have the right to enter into them anyways. Widowers had the right to 1/3 of their husband’s property if he died without a will. Some women, wealthy women for the most part, found loopholes to take advantages of. One example of such a case is Harriet Douglas, a New York heiress, who wanted a premarital contract agreeing for her property to be kept separate from her husband’s and also wanted her husband to adopt her surname. Their marriage ultimately ended in a divorce over financial controversies. The Married Woman Property Act, which was passed by the New York legislature one year before the Cruger vs. Cruger (the formerly mentioned) case--it allowed married women to keep and maintain property tat they had inherited before they were married. The calls for the freedom and independence of women were the strongest in New York. Women first concentrated in changing the hearts and minds of people by comparing women to slaves--after all, they couldn’t own property, sign contracts, sue, or keep their own names. After 1840, women’s rights reformers turned to legal solutions. The first women’s rights convention in the world took place in Seneca Falls, New York. The speech given there by Stanton was based on the Declaration of Independence; it listed the wrongs done unto women, and stated 12 resolutions to the problems. Winning the right to vote was a part of their aim, but they focused mostly on the laws of marriage. The 12 resolutions passed. The Declaration of Sentiments became famous around the world; it also inspired women’s rights reform movements in Europe. The success of the women’s rights movements can be attributed to many factors: the movement to codify the law into written codes to ensure democracy and to minimize the power of judges and lawyers who favored the rich over the poor. Despite the Married Women’s Property Acts, women without wealth faced severe legal constraints because they did not control their earnings. Years after the Married Women’s Property Acts, the Earnings Act was passed in1860 in New York--it stated that any married women could work and keep her wages separate from her husband’s. It proved unsuccessful overall as courts interpreted it narrowly and held it in contempt; however, the Married Women’s Property Acts were more successful in that many states had adopted it by the 1870s.
 * The Legal Rights of Married Women **