Research Paper
Pre-Confederation Canada:
Marriage and Divorce Before 1867
What was it like to get married and divorced in Pre-Confederation Canada before 1867? Marriage favored sound minded males and the laws of marriage and divorce were influenced by religion and males who were practicing law. You can imagine just by how the laws favoured males what it was like to be a female in a marriage or trying to get a divorce. Marriage in general was to help populate communities, as stated in “ A Fille Du Roi’s Passage” by Adrienne Beaver Leduc. However was also to ensure that there was a “bread winner” and a “home maker” which was talked about in another article “ Social Roles of Women in New France” by SL. In most cases the male would benefit from marriage and the female would lose everything because she was expected to do as the male wanted, this topic was talked about in the legal document “ A Treatise on the Law Relating to Marriages In Lower Canada” by James Armstrong. Divorce was not much different. It seemed as though the man could divorce the women easily and would walk away with all the property and even the children whereas the women could only divorce the man if she had proof of him being unfaithful to her.
Marriage for a female meant leaving behind a life she grew up knowing, to marry into a mans life and to live a life that supported his choices and maintain a household for him. For a male on the other hand marriage meant very little change, he would continue to work and make a living but would be supporting and coming home to a family and a well kept home “ Men were strictly breadwinners, whereas women were the homemakers-unless of course the husband left on the fur trade journey.” (pg 3 of Social Roles of Women in New France by SL). In the case of the men leaving on the fur trade journey the women would take over both the male and female role of “ bread winner” and “home maker” until he got back. Divorce for a female meant that she had to prove that her husband was being unfaithful and if in the off chance she did prove this and got granted a divorce it often meant that she lost everything to her husband including the children, for a male divorce meant that he still had to have a good reason for divorce but didn’t have to try as hard as a female might have to, it also didn’t mean a lot in the way of losses for him. He would lose his wife but he would still own the property and have custody of the children. Marriage and Divorce favored males over females in Pre-Confederation Canada.
Marriage was also a way for communities to populate themselves as it was not seen as right to have children out of wedlock in this era, so people would get married to have children “ At seventeen, you were also the right age for childbearing an important consideration for a group of girls who would become the ancestors of most French Canadians” (pg 2 of A Fille Du Roi’s Passage by Adrienne Leduc). In Pre-Confederation Canada life was hard and many children were lost to disease or lack of food, therefore men married women to have children but women had children more out of obligation and as a chore then to have family to love “ Women were expected to bear many children over their lifetimes, but since child-rearing and giving birth was so dangerous at the time, “ there was little point in growing attached to a fragile being….”” (pg 2 of Social Roles of Women In New France By SL) In the time period before 1867 it was nothing for a women to give birth multiple times over her life time however lose most of the babies she carried. A Women would carry the burden of losing children and not doing her “job” in society whereas a man would not be blamed as long as he was trying to have children and bringing home a decent living to be able to support his family.
Marriage allowed for the male to be in charge of all the females possessions, property and activities. This made it so that the female could not do anything with out the permission of her husband and what made it worse was this wasn’t just something society viewed as right it was actually a law as stated in “A Treatise on the Law Relating to Marriages In Lower Canada” by James Armstrong “ The husband has the absolute direction of the person of his wife, and from thence our laws have established that the wife can do nothing without the authorization of the husband, and that the husband has the enjoyment and administration of the property of the wife, upon the condition of his supporting the family expenses,” (pg 17)
What was it like to get Married in Pre-Confederation Canada before 1867? For a male it meant very little change other than he would gain all possessions that came with his wife and he would have a well kept home and family to come home to. For a female it meant that all of her property and all of her decisions would be controlled by her husband and she would be expected to take care of him as well as the children without much reward. What was it like getting divorced in Pre-Confederation Canada before 1867? For a male it meant proving that his wife was being unfaithful however losing nothing but her. He would remain in control of the children as well as all the property and money that went with the relationship. For a female it meant not only proving that her husband was being unfaithful but convincing a judge of it as well and if she managed to do so she would be free from her marriage but have no custody over her children and no right to any of the property or money that went with the relationship. The laws of marriage and divorce were influenced by religion and males who were practicing law. Marriage in general was to help populate communities, and was also to ensure there was a “bread winner” and a “home maker”.In most cases the male would benefit from marriage and the female would lose everything because she was expected to do as the male wanted. Divorce was not much different and seemed as though the man could divorce the women easily and would walk away with all the property, and the children whereas the women could only divorce the man if she could convince a judge with proof of her husband being unfaithful to her however she would still walk away with nothing.
Work Cited
Armstrong, James. “ A Treatise on the Law Relating to Marriages, In Lower Canada” Printed by John Lovell, at the Canada Directory Office ST. Nicholas Street, Montreal (1857) pg. 9-35
Leduc, Adrienne. 2001. “A Fille Du Roi’s Passage.” Beaver 81 (1): 20.
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SL. “Roles of Women In New France”. Persons of Note. A discussion of Canadian women’s history. January,24,2014 pg.1-3
Van Kirk, Sylvia. From “Marrying-In” to “Marrying-Out”
Frontiers. 2002. Vol.23,No. 3. Aboriginal/ Non-aboriginal marriage in Colonial Canada