Divorce in the United States
Divorce involves the recognition that a marriage has hopelessly
failed and that at least one of the partners has no desire to
continue the marital relationship. Divorce legally dissolves a
marriage, and permits the partners to remarry if they choose.
Divorce differs from an annulment, which declares a marriage
invalid because of some flaw in the contract.
The early American settlers brought with them three different
views on divorce: 1) the Roman Catholic view that marriage was
a sacrament and that there could be no divorce; 2) the English
view that divor…
