In Massachusetts, for one State, if a woman owned a saloon and sold beer on Sunday, she would be liable to arrest, and so also would her husband, provided he were in the house when the beer was sold.

Both would probably be fined.

Simply because it was once the law that a married woman had no separate existence apart from her husband, this absurd law, or others as absurd, remain on the statute books of almost every State in the Union.
The ascent of woman, which began with the abolishment of corporeal punishment of wives, proceeded very slowly.

Most American women married, and most American wives were kindly treated.

At least public opinion demanded that they be treated with kindness.