Final answer:
During the Founding era, marriage and family law stressed coverture, with women economically dependent on their husbands. Laws supported family stability and economic vitality, affecting all classes including slaves, and the period post-Revolution brought increased rights for women alongside traditional practices.
Step-by-step explanation:
Marriage and family law during the Founding emphasized coverture, meaning a married woman had no legal or economic status independent of her husband. In eighteenth-century America, laws were aimed at preserving a tax-base of productive households and ensuring economic stability through a strong husband-wife partnership, which was crucial for family economy and the state fisc. Additionally, marriage served as a central aspect of cultural and identity formation and provided a structure in which to raise and nurture offspring, as well as reducing competition among males and females for mates, creating stable socioeconomic households.
Evolution of Women's Rights During the Founding Era
The legal status of married women, or femes covert, did not change as a result of the American Revolution. However, the post-revolutionary period saw women, especially the wives of republican statesmen, beginning to agitate for equality under the law and educational opportunities. The concept of 'Republican motherhood' emerged, reflecting increased social and legal rights for women, and acknowledging their duty to educate children as virtuous citizens. Young girls marrying between fourteen and eighteen to older men and coming under their legal control was a norm during the Founding era.
Marriage's Role in Slavery
For slaves, marriage connected them to their past and offered some protection for the future. By the Civil War, approximately two-thirds of slaves were members of nuclear families, with these familial bonds helping to maintain connections and identity in the face of the dehumanizing institution of slavery.