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Yet divorce was no mere metaphor on the eve of the Civil War. In
fact, it was a volatile political issue, one that occasionally seemed to
divide the nation as sharply as the slavery question did. In early
1861, the question of when – or even whether – a man and woman
should be permitted to end their marriage was being hotly debated
by many of the same legislators, journalists and activists who were
also arguing over national disunion. Like slavery and secession,
divorce was an issue involving civil rights, moral responsibilities
and conflicts over state and federal authority. It was a controversy
that, in many ways, foreshadowed present-day debates over
marriage laws and rights.
In most states in the early 19th century, an act of the legislature was
required to end a marriage – and the process of obtaining one could
be long, expensive and publicly humiliating, which discouraged all
but the most desperately unhappy spouses. But by the 1850s, this
was beginning to change, and in some states, divorces could be
obtained unobtrusively in court.
On March 14, 1861, The New York Times’ editors considered these
nationwide discrepancies in the fresh light of the secession crisis. In
an editorial entitled “Is Democracy a Failure?”, they asked whether
“our Government has, after all, ever been a Republic? … We have
laws as different in our States as in the various countries of Europe.
… The mere subject of divorce, with its contradictions, has more
than once been pointed out by writers as entirely inconsistent with
the idea of a stable and harmonious Government.”