Self-paced
P1
In England before 1660, a husband controlled his wife's property. ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ██ █ █████████ ███
Intro topic / historical context ·
In late 17th and 18th centuries, marriage in England had features of a contract
Before 1660, husbands controlled wives' property. Implication that this changed after marriage started to become like a contract.
Historians' perspective ·
Contract aspect of marriage was a gain for women
It reflected changing views about democracy and property after 1660.
Staves' perspective ·
Judicial decisions undermined any gains from marriage contracts
P2
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Staves' support 1 ·
Definitions of men's and women's property was harmful to women
Example: property inherited by wives after husbands' death couldn't be sold. But property inherited by men from wives could be sold.
Staves' support 2 ·
New legal concepts in connection with marriage contracts were unfair to women
Examples: certain limits on pin money and maintenance allowances.
Historians' response ·
These problems were minor and would disappear soon
Staves' response ·
Judges fell back to pre-1660 assumptions about property
P3
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Implication of Staves' work 1 ·
Staves has changed her view on whether separate maintenance allowances were good for women
Before, she said they were good. Now, she thinks that's oversimplified.
Implication of Staves' work 2 ·
Challenges an assumption underlying Stones' view
Stones argued that in late 18th century, wealthy men married widows less often than they used to, because more people started to marry for love rather than for financial reasons. Staves counters the assumption that widows had more money than non-widows.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
24.
The primary purpose of the ███████ ██ ██
a
compare two explanations ███ ███ ████ ██████████
Neither the historians nor Staves explain any phenomenon. Instead, they discuss the implications of marriage contracts in the 17th and 18th centuries— the historians argue that marriage contracts represented a gain for women, while Staves argues that they did not.
b
summarize research that ███████ ██ ████████
The author summarizes Staves’ research, which refutes the historians’ argument that marriage contracts in the 17th and 18th centuries represented a gain for women.
c
resolve a long-standing ███████████
Staves’ view challenges the traditional view that marriage contracts in the 17th and 18th centuries represented a gain for women. But we don’t know that this is a “long-standing controversy.” It’s possible that everyone agreed with the traditional view until Staves came along.
d
suggest that a ██████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████████
Anti-supported. The author actually suggests that an old hypothesis— the historians’ view— should be reevaluated in light of a recent hypothesis— Staves’ view.
e
provide support for █ ███████████ ██████
Anti-supported. The passage provides support for Staves’ theory, which refutes the traditional theory.