
Contents
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Divorce and the Jurisdictional and Personal Politics of Revolution Divorce and the Jurisdictional and Personal Politics of Revolution
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Blair v. Blair, Somerset v. Steuart, and Imperial Anxiety about Household Politics Blair v. Blair, Somerset v. Steuart, and Imperial Anxiety about Household Politics
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The Creation of American Liberality The Creation of American Liberality
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Divorce and Emancipation: A Useful False Equivalence Divorce and Emancipation: A Useful False Equivalence
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Antislavery Activists’ Opposition to Divorce Antislavery Activists’ Opposition to Divorce
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Marital Obligations and the Preservation of Racial Hierarchy Marital Obligations and the Preservation of Racial Hierarchy
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Indissoluble Marriage and the Defense of Slavery Indissoluble Marriage and the Defense of Slavery
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Divorce as a Woman’s Remedy: Revolutionary Expectations and the “First Families” of the United States Divorce as a Woman’s Remedy: Revolutionary Expectations and the “First Families” of the United States
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Sensibility and Patriarchy: The Case of Ann Shippen Livingston Sensibility and Patriarchy: The Case of Ann Shippen Livingston
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Marital Politics and Enslaved Runaways in the Washington Family: The Case of Ona Judge Staines Marital Politics and Enslaved Runaways in the Washington Family: The Case of Ona Judge Staines
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“Down the Stream of Time Unnoticed”: Family Secrets, Family Stories, and Legal Change “Down the Stream of Time Unnoticed”: Family Secrets, Family Stories, and Legal Change
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8 Rethinking the Revolutionary Road to Divorce
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Published:April 2021
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Abstract
Chapter Eight examines the emergence of state legislative action on divorce in the context of transatlantic revolutionary politics, bottom-up pressure from constituents, and sensational cases involving the founding generation’s “first families” and its preeminent legal minds. Blair v. Blair aligned Virginia governor Lord Dunmore and the radical Patrick Henry against Thomas Jefferson, who drafted extensive Notes on Divorce. In conjunction with the English antislavery case Somerset v. Steuart, the conflict prompted the Privy Council’s 1773 ban on colonial divorce legislation. The chapter also discusses cases involving Arthur Lee, printers Isaiah Thomas and Robert Bell, Nancy Shippen Livingston, George and Martha Washington and Ona Judge Staines. These cases have not entered “founding” political narratives because protection of familial and masculine interests usually outweighed political principles. The disclosure of female grievances and family discord was still seen as a greater threat than the grievances themselves. Settlements for white women came at the expense of enslaved families. Antislavery activists and slaveholding states both resisted legal divorce, but for opposite reasons. Opponents of slavery like Anthony Benezet used Christian marital indissolubility to contest the break-up of enslaved families; proponents of slavery used indissoluble marriage and wives’ dependence to justify the perpetual dependence of slaves.
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