untold numbers of other colonists simply deserted their unwanted or
offending mates.

Thus, divorce has been developing and growing in what is today
the United States for over three hundred and fifty years. Today it is a
customary, or traditional, way to resolve marital incompatibility. Yet,
despite its increasing prevalence, only two historians have traced its
development in American society from the early 1600s on; one in
1904 and the other in 1962. ² It is the purpose of this book to provide
a historical overview of divorce from its beginnings to the present so
that today's divorce-prone Americans can understand how divorce
became woven into the fabric of their society.

This is not to suggest that all Americans accepted divorce. Many
opposed divorce in the past, and many continue to oppose it today.
Over the years, critics and opponents of divorce have maintained that
marriage is a religious sacrament and a lifetime undertaking. In their
eyes, the growth of divorce signaled impending breakdown and disin-
tegration of the American family.

Opponents of divorce usually believed that marriages should be
terminated only for the reason stated in the Bible: adultery. As a
result, some supported restrictive divorce statutes stipulating only
adultery as a ground for divorce, while others were willing to accept
other limited grounds as causes for divorce, such as consanguinity
and insanity. Although critics of divorce usually condoned the dissolu-
tion of marriage by annulment, not all thought that divorce of bed
and board--a limited divorce that prohibited remarriage--was valid.
They also strongly opposed migratory divorce, in which divorce-
seekers fled strict laws in their own home jurisdictions to obtain
divorces in more permissive states, territories, or countries.

On the other side of the divorce issue were people who argued that
marriage was a contract, and that parties to any contract had the right
to dissolve it. They also maintained that divorce was not the root cause
of family disintegration. Rather, they saw divorce as a symptom, not a
disease; as a cough is to a cold. Divorce was little more than a sign of
turmoil and transition in the American family. Divorce was after the
fact; it was the final seal of a couple's need to separate rather than the
reason for their decision. Consequently, divorce was a result rather
than a cause of changes in the institution of the American family.

Supporters of divorce often hoped that ease of divorce would
eventually lead to equality and reciprocity in marriage. A growing
number believed that divorce was a citizen's right in a democratic
society. If divorces were easy to obtain for many causes ranging from
adultery to mental abuse, there would seldom be reason for a couple
to choose annulment, divorce of bed and board, or migratory divorce
as a solution to their problems.

-4-