What's Notable July: Let Freedom Reign Already

Happy Independence Day! Some of you!

Snapped at a market stall in Cairo.

According to everyone everywhere, big crowds are expected this weekend as we turn out in droves to eat hot dogs because we are free people. And though the Constitution was neither written nor ratified on July 4th, it gets a lot of press this time of year. Especially considering last week’s moves to uphold its original intentions.

Let us pause and recall who had rights according to the original Constitution.

Back then, though abortions were advertised freely in the newspaper, women’s lives were highly regulated. Married women couldn’t own property, sign contracts, or enter legal suits. They were legally beholden to submit their will and their money to their husbands. In fact, the legal model for wives became the basis for the legal model for slaves.

Single women had all the above rights. They could own property, sue people, and keep their own money. Which made me wonder why women got married at all back in the day, until I remembered that many professio…