A Territorial Legislature Grants a Divorce
In 1859, Alice Davis asked Washington's lawmakers—not a court—to end her marriage, and the House obliged by an 18-to-3 vote.
OLYMPIA, W.T., Monday, Dec. 12, 1859. The House convened this morning at 10 o'clock, A.M., and at once proceeded to business. The most important business before the House today was the message of a bill introduced in the House by Mr. Tennant, from Whatcom, providing for a dissolution of the marital bonds existing between William W. Davis and Alice Davis. The appeal of the applicant, Mrs. Alice Davis, to the Legislature for an abrogation of the marriage ties between herself and the aforementioned William Davis, is one of the most pathetic petitions that I have ever heard read. There were but few dissenting voices upon the passage of the bill. The vote stood 18 in favor to 3 against it. Though there are many intelligent gentlemen who cling inflexibly to the opinion that the Legislature is not the proper authority to annul marriage contracts—and an opinion, too, from which your correspondent has no reason to dissent—yet, under certain circumstances, among others we might mention poverty, we hold, especially as stated in the memorial before the Legislature, that it is proper for the Legislature to dissolve such civil contracts.
“The appeal of the applicant, Mrs. Alice Davis, to the Legislature for an abrogation of the marriage ties between herself and the aforementioned William Davis, is one of the most pathetic petitions that I have ever heard read.”
Before Washington had a mature court system, the territorial legislature occasionally acted as a divorce court, blending private hardship with public law. The petition's appeal to poverty and legislative remedy echoes modern debates over whether family courts are accessible to everyone. The episode also shows how civil marriage was governed by whatever institution held authority.
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