It is time to move the Gay and Lesbian Civil Union controversy out of the American Closet and while the pundits are arguing for Marriage, kindly note women got 'the vote' long after Black Men.
...the entry for divorce states, "The fact that an American couple may be regarded as man and wife in one state while divorced in another, or as never married at all in a third state has long been noted. In addition to absolute divorce, the several states have laws for annulment of marriage, partial divorce, alimony, re-marriage, residence (usually one year), age limits, common law marriages, prohibited and voided marriages, etc.
In the case of Haddock vs. Haddock, it was decided by the United States Supreme Couirt in 1906, four justices dissenting, that a divorce granted in a state where the defendant is not domiciled, without personal service of process or a voluntary appearance by the defendant, though valid in the state where decreed, need not be recognized by any other state.
A report on divorce and marriage was published by the Department of Commerce in 1924. It contained the following figures for 1923:
Marriages .................................1,223,825............................8.4% increase over last year.
Divorces..................................... 165,139............................11.o% increase over last year.
Divorces granted husband ...............................32.0%
Divorces granted wife.......................................68.0%
Causes of divorce-
Adultery - 10.9%, Cruelty - 34.5%, Desertion - 32.8%, Drunkenness - 1.0%, Neglect to provide - 4.2%, Combinations of above causes - 8.7%, other causes - 7.7%
In the proportion to the number of persons married, the number of divorces is greatest in the states of Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and California. It is lowest in District of Columbia, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota and New Jersey. As a general tendency, the proportionate number of divorces is greates in the Western states and lowest in teh Eastern states.
