May 4, 1855
T. W. Higginson sends to the Worcester Spy, an account of a wedding at which he has officiated, at a farmhouse in West Brookfield. The bridegroom was a leader of the Western Anti-Slavery movement, Henry B. Blackwell, and the bride, Lucy Stone. The two have signed a “protest” of the existing marriage laws because the laws “refuse to recognize the wife as an independent rational being, while they confer upon the husband an injurious and unnatural superiority, investing him with legal powers which no honorable man would exercise, and which no man should possess.” They outline those specific instances of this inequity, and then sign the statement “we enter our protest against rules and protests which are unworthy of the name, since they violate justice, the essence of Law.”
Comments are closed.