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Women's rights in Colorado, 19th century
I may as well make the first question post :D
I'm writing Magnificent Seven fanfiction. I'm pretty certain that the series is set before statehood (so around 1875) but I'm not sure when this scene is set exactly.
Anyway Mary Travis is dancing around in my brain complaining about women's rights and my google fu is totally failing me.
What I know -
Colorado became a state in 1876.
Colorado gave women the vote in 1893.
Up until at least the 1860s (dependent on state) married women basically didn't exist in the eyes of the law - they couldn't sign legal documents, they had no control over the disposal, leasing, or collecting of rents on their own property, their husband could basically do what he wanted with it.
By 1900 every state in the Union had in some way amended married women's property rights so that she had at least some rights over her own property. (And that's pretty much what every site I've seen has said or some variation on it, it gives a date by which every state had done something but doesn't say when or what specifically each state did.)
What I don't know -
When Colorado passed an act relating to married women's property rights and exactly what rights it gave them.
I'm assuming that there couldn't be any Colorado specific laws before 1876 but I'll admit to being British and not quite understanding how state v federal laws worked, especially in the 19th century, so if I'm wrong please explain.
Equally I'm assuming it must have been before 1893 since voting rights in the period generally had some relation to property rights.
So some time between 1876 and 1893 Colorado passed an act of indeterminate scope giving women rights of some kind over their property, but I don't know what.
NB yes I realise Mary is a widow and technically most of this wouldn't apply to her anyway, but she's talking about women in general, not herself specifically.
I'm writing Magnificent Seven fanfiction. I'm pretty certain that the series is set before statehood (so around 1875) but I'm not sure when this scene is set exactly.
Anyway Mary Travis is dancing around in my brain complaining about women's rights and my google fu is totally failing me.
What I know -
Colorado became a state in 1876.
Colorado gave women the vote in 1893.
Up until at least the 1860s (dependent on state) married women basically didn't exist in the eyes of the law - they couldn't sign legal documents, they had no control over the disposal, leasing, or collecting of rents on their own property, their husband could basically do what he wanted with it.
By 1900 every state in the Union had in some way amended married women's property rights so that she had at least some rights over her own property. (And that's pretty much what every site I've seen has said or some variation on it, it gives a date by which every state had done something but doesn't say when or what specifically each state did.)
What I don't know -
When Colorado passed an act relating to married women's property rights and exactly what rights it gave them.
I'm assuming that there couldn't be any Colorado specific laws before 1876 but I'll admit to being British and not quite understanding how state v federal laws worked, especially in the 19th century, so if I'm wrong please explain.
Equally I'm assuming it must have been before 1893 since voting rights in the period generally had some relation to property rights.
So some time between 1876 and 1893 Colorado passed an act of indeterminate scope giving women rights of some kind over their property, but I don't know what.
NB yes I realise Mary is a widow and technically most of this wouldn't apply to her anyway, but she's talking about women in general, not herself specifically.
