Breaking the Bonds

"The late eighteenth century marked a period of new expectations about marriage, according to Merril D. Smith, and those frequently resulted in marital strife. At the same time, new laws were being written and societal changes were occurring that helped couples in many ways to resolve their differences. During this period new notions about "companionate" marriage coexisted alongside the older patriarchal traditions of the institution, men and women saw their roles in more disparate ways, new expectations about what marriage should be arose, and gender distinctions between husbands and wives grew more complicated." "Few works have been written discussing marital discord in early America, and those that exist tend to focus on divorce. Merril Smith's Breaking the Bonds examines sources of marital strife in Pennsylvania between the years 1730 to 1830, and the various ways couples found to handle it." "The very important Pennsylvania Divorce Act of 1785 provided couples in the state with the legal means to leave their spouses. Readers will find that many of the marital difficulties these individuals faced--sexual, problems of abuse, and problems of domestic violence frequently complicated by alcoholism--did not differ all that much from today. Most couples of course did not divorce, and despite scholars' claims that family life grew more private during the nineteenth century, the cases discussed in Smith's imaginative and original account demonstrate a strongly communicative world in which neighbors knew, discussed and even came to the aid of those locked in unhappy marriages."--BOOK JACKET.