Interesting that he chose the Civil War as the turning point:
Prior to the mid-1800s, most legal systems implicitly accepted wife beating as a valid exercise of a husbandâs authority over his wife.[73][74] One exception, however, was the 1641 Body of Liberties of the Massachusetts Bay colonists, which declared that a married woman should be âfree from bodilie correction or stripes by her husband.â[75]
Political agitation during the 19th century led to changes in both popular opinion and legislation regarding domestic violence within the United Kingdom and the United States.[76][77] In 1850, Tennessee became the first state in the United States to explicitly outlaw wife beating.[78][79] Other states soon followed suit.[74][80]
In 1878, the Matrimonial Causes Act made it possible for women in the UK to seek separations from abusive husbands.[81] By the end of the 1870s, most courts in the United States were uniformly opposed to the right of husbands to physically discipline their wives.[82] By the early 20th century, it was common for the police to intervene in cases of domestic violence in the United States, but arrests remained rare.[83] Wife beating was made illegal in all states of the United States by 1920.[84][
Wikivf