My Account

Numerous Cardinal libraries in western NC are temporarily closed due to impacts of Hurricane Helene. This may cause delays in the fulfillment of hold requests. Please contact your local library or county/municipal officials for more info on closures in your area.

Families in crisis in the Old South divorce, slavery, and the law Cover Image

Families in crisis in the Old South [electronic resource] : divorce, slavery, and the law / Loren Schweninger.

Schweninger, Loren, (author.).

Summary:

"In the antebellum South, divorce was an explosive issue. As one lawmaker put it, divorce was to be viewed as a form of 'madness, ' and as another asserted, divorce reduced communities to the 'lowest ebb of degeneracy.' How was it that in this climate, the number of divorces rose steadily during the antebellum era? In Families in Crisis in the Old South, Loren Schweninger uses previously unexplored records to argue that the difficulties these divorcing families faced reveal much about the reality of life in a slave-holding society as well as the myriad difficulties confronted by white southern families who chose not to divorce. Basing his argument on almost 800 divorce cases from the southern United States, Schweninger explores the impact of divorce and separation on white families and on the enslaved and provides insights on issues including domestic violence, interracial adultery, alcoholism, insanity, and property relations. He examines how divorce and separation laws changed, how married women's property rights expanded, how definitions of inhuman treatment of wives evolved, and how these divorces challenged conventional mores"--Provided by publisher.

Electronic resources

Click for online content.

Record details

ISBN: 9780807837504
ISBN: 9798890840400
Physical Description: 1 online resource (xv, 236 pages) : illustrations
Publisher: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2012]
Distributor: [Getzville, New York] : William S. Hein & Company, [2016]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-228) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The evolution of divorce laws -- Adultery and the question of race -- Insanity, alcoholism, abandonment, and abuse -- Lawyers, judges, juries, and decrees -- Married women and property -- Slaves and owners' domestic conflicts.
Source of Description Note:	Description based on PDF title page, viewed October 1, 2016.