Divorce, Patriarchal Authority, and Masculinity: A Case from Early National Vermont

This article explores the effects that divorce had on patriarchal authority within early nineteenth-century marriages by analyzing the experiences and perceptions of one Vermont man. Elias Hall's wife obtained a divorce on the ground~ of intolerable severity, as well as a sizeable alimony award. Believing the divorce and alimony award to be unjust, Hall published a pamphlet in which he provided an autobiographical sketch and detailed accounts of his marital conflict and the legal proceedings surrounding the divorce. Hall's pamphlet reveals that his marital difficulties and divorce experience were painful and disconcerting because they violated beliefs that were central to his masculine identity. The court's affirmation of his wife's charge of intolerable severity threatened Hall's sense of himself as a benevolent husband and father. The alimony award granted to his wife jeopardized Hall's ownership of his property, threatening his status as an independent producer. Finally, Hall believed that his wife's successful divorce, which he felt she obtained through fraud and manipulation, threatened his right as a citizen to a fair, impartial hearing in a court of law. Hall's pamphlet demonstrates the potential of divorce to threaten patriarchy and masculinity in very concrete ways.