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First Women's Property Act
1839 Mississippi passes the first Married Woman's Property Act, followed by New York
in 1848. Many similar acts are passed in the next two decades, providing women in some states with a measure of security in their own property. The Mississippi Act is inspired by a state Supreme Court ruling in 1837, which held that Betsy Allen, a Chickasaw, could protect her property from her white husband's creditors because Chickasaw tradition granted married women independent property rights.
