Summary of the article
In their article, Michele Adams and Scott Coltrane expounds on how divorce was perceived in America in early days and the steps that were employed in order to reduce its occurrence in the societies. The article also expounds on how the Americans believed in divorce strengthening marriages.
According to the authors, divorce was a sign of disapproval of one party due to either indulging in adultery, desertion or experiencing sexual incapacity. Unfortunately, most men misused it; they practiced it occasionally leading to many women being single mothers. However, the signs of marriage impediments coming into an end started to appear in early 19th century when the American state involved itself in solving marriage issues.
Michele and Scott also explain on how American State advocated for the formation of Anti-divorce Movement that took part in ending divorce laxity among men. According to them, the American State took part in not only controlling marriage contracts, but also advocating for educational campaigns against divorce.
Additionally, the American State took part in informing the public on not only how divorce contributed to social disorders, but also how it impaired with women rights. To end the probability of occurrence of divorce among marriages, the American State was also forced to come up with stern rules that bared parties from seeking divorce. It enforced individuals seeking for divorce to involve other parties such as judges and lawyers.
General points of the article
From the article, it is evident that most people considered divorce good in the past. Divorce played a significant role in keeping the marriage morals. However, the contemplation of divorce as a non-fault practice affected women negatively by not clarifying on marital property. Thus, it is evident that women are the main victims of divorce in most societies. Additionally, it is evident that men are considered the key proprietor of most properties in the society.
It is also evident that most marriage laws are passed in the favor men. For instance, most laws entitled the role of taking care for children to women. The failure of most marriage covenants can also be associated with failure of men taking family issues seriously.
Though media is used by specific persons in airing out their views, it also takes part significantly in reducing the incidence of divorce in the society. For instance, most published articles condemn divorce and advocate for the implementation of tough rules that could bar individuals from seeking divorce.