![]() Yet she brought suit after Breckinridge, who had repeatedly promised to marry her if he ever became free, wed someone else. Due to the pervasive sexual double standard, the certain revelation that Pollard had been Breckinridge’s mistress made this a risky venture. At a time when women’s security was linked to well-chosen spouses, women could instigate lawsuits against men who reneged on matrimonial proposals, though few women chose to endure such public scrutiny. ![]() ![]() In her full-length debut, journalist Miller dusts off a long-forgotten scandal that gripped the nation’s capital in the late 19th century, expertly revealing it as “an important chapter in the history of the social, political, and sexual emancipation of women.” Madeline Pollard, a young woman with no social standing, sued prominent Kentucky congressman William Breckinridge in 1894 for breach of promise. ![]()
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