Packard, Elizabeth - Civil Rights Advocate

Susan B. Anthony once said women in America would never be truly free until women could vote. Her point was pretty simple. When people vote, they have the power to elect representatives who make the laws. People who make laws listen to their constituents. If a lawmaker has no female constituents, why would he care what women think? The story of Elizabeth Packard illustrates Susan Anthony's point.

In 1864, Elizabeth was married to a minister who thought his wife was "slightly insane." Illinois law, at the time, required evidence of insanity - in all cases - before a person could be committed to a mental institution. In all cases, that is, except when a man wanted to send his wife to an insane asylum. The same law existed in many other states. Elizabeth spent three years in the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane based solely on her husband's assertion.

When she was set free, her husband thought she was still insane. Taking matters into his own hands, he locked his wife in the nursery and nailed all the windows shut. This time, however, he had gone too far. Illinois law did not allow a husband to "put away" his wife in her own home. Elizabeth managed to slip a note outside the nursery window. Her friend found the note and appealed to a judge for help. The judge issued a writ of habeus corpus (bring forth the body.) A jury would decide her sanity.

At the trial, Rev. Theophilus Packard, Jr. used other people to help him try to prove his wife was insane. (The pictures depict Packard in 1862 and 1872.) Since Elizabeth's religious views differed from those of her minister husband, religious issues were at the top of his evidence list. Here is a summary of some of the testimony:

• Elizabeth (who wanted to leave her husband's church) would not leave the church unless she was insane.



• Elizabeth accused her husband of not allowing her to think for herself on matters of religion.



• Elizabeth was angry at her husband when he would not help her weed the flower beds.

It took just seven minutes for the jury to agree. Elizabeth Packard was a free, sane woman.

Although Elizabeth didn't have the right to vote, she had been personally penalized by an unjust law. She spent the rest of her life trying to convince lawmakers (including Governor Carpenter and State Senators in Illinois) to change the laws on mental confinement and women's property rights. By the time she died, she had made a difference in thirty-four states.

Elizabeth never reconciled with her husband and did not live with him after 1864.  She lived in Chicago, in her home on Prairie Avenue.  He lived first in Massachusetts, then in a Chicago boarding house.  During his later years, Packard lived in Manteno (Illinois), with his sister and brother-in-law. 

Although Elizabeth maintained her residence in Chicago, the home was rented most of the time.  She had more important things to do - like traveling through the country, promoting her legislation.

READ MORE ABOUT IT:

The Private War of Mrs. Packard, by Barbara Sapinsley.

Elizabeth Packard and Boundaries of Gender, Religion, and Sanity in Nineteenth-century America, by Linda V Carlisle.

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

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Original Release Date:  June, 2000
Updated Quarterly, or as Needed