Document Text |
Summary |
| In early September 1700, Doña María del Pino Argote and her daughters moved into a convent. She asked the Church court for an annulment of her marriage, and began the process of legally confiscating her husband’s property. Her husband, Don Josef Caballero, petitioned the court to have his daughters and estate returned to him. Doña María’s attorney responded: | |
| “Your Highness should revoke it, replace it, and amend it, protecting and supporting my client regarding her custody of the two daughters, which should be done as a general rule of law. And because my client is in possession of her two daughters—educating, raising, and feeding them—she should not be deprived of them, but rather protected and supported by the rule of royal law which stipulates: If for just cause there is a divorce or separation, the children should stay in the care and custody of the innocent spouse, supporting themselves at the expense of the guilty spouse . . . | The judge should give Doña María full custody because she is already caring for her children. The law states that when a divorce takes place, children should live with the innocent parent. |
| Don Josef Caballero does not have a house nor the means by which he can support his daughters because the fortune that he managed and squandered belongs to my client . . .” | Don Josef cannot support his daughters because any money he had and lost belonged to Doña María. |
Matrimoniales, September 20, 1700. Translated by Alan C. Taylor. Archivo Nacional del Ecuador, Quito.
Background
Women in the Spanish colonies had more economic and legal rights than their neighbors in the Dutch and English colonies. Unmarried Spanish women could own, inherit, and manage their personal property. If a woman got married, she could protect her property by having a dowry and an arras included in her marriage contract. A dowry was any property a woman brought with her to the marriage. An arras was a gift given by her new husband at the time of the marriage. In these contracts, property could mean anything a woman owned, including land, jewelry, money, businesses, and enslaved people.
The dowry and arras legally belonged to a wife. A husband could manage his wife’s property, but if the marriage ended or the husband mismanaged the accounts, he was legally bound to repay his wife the full value of her property. If a husband did not have the money to repay his wife, she was legally entitled to take whatever property he owned. The dowry and arras were included in the marriage contracts of women of all races and social classes in the Spanish colonies. Only women with no property of their own marrying equally poor men would waive the right to protect their economic interests.
About the Document
This document demonstrates how the dowry and arras gave women the ability to escape unhappy marriages. Doña María was able to leave her husband because she could support herself and her daughters with her pre-existing and protected fortune. She was also able to fight his child custody claim by arguing that any property he owned was legally owed to her to make up for the parts of her dowry he wasted. Without property, her husband could not support his daughters like Doña María could. He could not even hire a good attorney to fight Doña María in court. While divorce was not allowed in the Catholic Church, women could in rare cases obtain annulments.
Vocabulary
- arras: A gift of property given to a bride by her new husband.
- Catholic Church: A Christian church that is led by the pope in Rome.
- custody: Guardianship.
- Don: The title for a Spanish man of rank.
- Doña: The title for a Spanish woman of rank.
- dowry: Property a woman brought with her to a marriage.
Discussion Questions
- How did the dowry and arras promote the independence of women in the Spanish colonies?
- What arguments does Doña María del Pino Argote’s lawyer make on her behalf? What do they reveal about the status of women in the Spanish colonies?
- In what ways did the legal rights of married women in the Spanish colonies differ from those of married women in the Dutch and English colonies?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connection: 2.7 Colonial Society and Culture
- Include this document in a lesson about life in the Spanish colonies. This resource can help students understand the rights of Spanish colonial women.
- Invite students to use the document to create a short play about the court battle between Doña Maria del Pino Argote and her husband. What demands does her husband make? How does Doña Maria’s attorney respond? What do they imagine the judge decided in the case?
- Combine this document with Life Story: Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche for a lesson that explores the powers and limitations of married women in New Spain.
- Compare and contrast the legal and economic rights of English, Dutch, French, and Spanish women by coupling this document with any of the following:
Themes
DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY
New-York Historical Society Curriculum Library Connections
- For more resources relating to life in the Spanish speaking Americas, see Nueva York: 1613-1945.
