History of Marriage Essay

join is a social institution recognized by consumption and faithfulness. It is a relation that exists between hotshot or more work forte to one or more wo workforce. Custom or virtue gives recognitions of the duties and proper(a)s of the parties compound in much(prenominal) an institution. The union may result to children being innate(p) in it. In general, the societal expectation is one where there is versed gratification between a husband and wife. There be legitimate issues that may a hiking as a result of adultery, which may force one partner to dissolve the conglutination.This relation is at some detail regarded as an stinting institution in which a husband is in full responsible for the needs of the wife and children. With the current women empowerment in the community they argon also able to provide for their families. A father has a general cover and power over his family but for the children his powers are for a limited time. This comes as a result of the n eed for children to pr wreakice finish making and show responsibility especi eachy at adulthood. Marriage is in accordance to the laid down custom or practice of law and the approve of for each one parties involved must be con cheekred.Parents for model may convey for a bride price and by and by this is settled a marriage takes place. These are important steps especially where the conditions stipu later(a)d by custom or by law are complied with. The origin of marriage is seen to be a familiar pr act asice from the medieval period. A man and woman would live together, contrive inner relations and from this union children would come forth. The father would play their component as a protector and supporter of his family while his wife nurses and cares for the family.As time passed it was accepted by custom and by law and it became level-headed social institution. Marriage is therefore seen to be an intimate relationship which the society, the political sympathies and reli gion recognizes. Marriage has many forms but the major one constitutes a man and a woman. Marriage is the basis of a family unit in which procreation takes place. Through a marriage setup children can grown, be protected and shown love through provision of food, shelter, clothing, education among others. There are a variety of intentions that one has in mind while intend to enter into marriage.Some of the major reasons may include need for healthy stability, social and/or economic stability. Through marriage, there is a provider, protector and the union is legally bound. Marriage can be witnessed in a wedding celebration and this marks the beginning of individual obligation to each other and to the society at large. There experience been changes in the dread and approach of marriage from the older days. In the United States marriage for example was a consideration of status as well as an unmindfulness on the future economic stability and prosperity of the person.It was therefor e an economic arrangement in which one would choose their potential spouse and so they would plan to marry . Marriage ceremonies between very(prenominal) sexes were done in the 5th-14th centuries by the Roman Catholic Church. Many issues about marriage caught the following of many attractors and Pope Alexander II in 1975, taboo marriages between couples who were closely related and especially with no more than 6 cousins related to a person. In the 16th century, only with the permission of local anesthetic political authorities, servants and day laborers would be free to marry in Bavaria and Austria.In1921 this install was fully abolished. Public wife selling was witnessed in the 1960s-1870s where a disjoint wife was tied with a rope around her neck and sell in public. Until 1686, marriage was rather a civil ceremony for the puritans in Massachusetts Bay. In the British colonies, there was no penalty apt(p) for racial marriages until 1662 when Virginia doubled fornication fin es for interracial couples. Maryland banned interracial marriages in 1664 and subsequently, in 1750 interracial marriages had been outlawed in all gray colonies.Married women, until mid 19th century, had no legal standing chthonic the English putting green law in all American states. It was until 1848 that women had the even up to own property while married, through the Married Women Act. http//www. lulu. com/content/247174 At the age of 10 years, fancy for sexual intercourse was allowed in about American states while in Delaware it was at the age of 7 years only. With parental consent young boys of 14 and girls of 12 would marry, as late as 1930. In 1940, married women could non make legal skip in twelve states.Anti-Miscegenation laws were take holdd unconstitutional in Virginia and other states such as Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas among others. Fourteen states had in the fifteen years prior to the decision, repealed their anti miscegenation laws. Th is included Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, and Oregon among others. Ten states had by 1990, outlawed fumble in marriage. This was after bracing York outlawed rape in marriage in 1978. Rape in marriage was seen as a wickedness in thirty-six states and this was only in certain circumstances. It was surprising that in four states, rape in marriage was never a crime.Marriage has had lots of controversies but the initial union in the religious humans was the social union that benefited the society. It is seen as the union of one man and one woman blessed and united by a religious leader as seen in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhists and Hindu. The privileges enjoyed in marriages are of benefit while peculiar(prenominal) concerns were raised on homosexual couples. The commitment of traditional couples which constituted a man and woman could be seen as that of same-sex couples and so they discombobulate keep to fight for their rights and the legalization of their marriage. The sacred value of marriage should not be changed despite the fact that advocates are aggressive on the issue that it should be re specify to suit animated marriage. When the Massachusetts overbearing Judicial Court do a ruling in 2004, and state that civil union was not enough, this raised national debate. A number of people wanted the explanation of one man-to- one woman to stand and others wanted it to sepa score same-sex institutions, with others against it. In 2004, California and New York mayors were authorizing same sex marriages while defying law and these marriages were said not to be legally binding. Nancy 2001) http//www. lulu. com/content/247174In 1619, Virginia enacted a law in which if a bond married a Negro, Mulatto or Indian, they would be banished in the woods so that they are cast out of the colony. by and by on, in 1724, there was introduction Louisiana after the slaves were freed. Laws that were known as black codes were used to control and even forbid marr iages constituted by slaves while the slave master was not consented. In 1769, the English common law showed that husband and wife were one. A constitution was written in 1787 and was adopted the following year.It was effective in 1789 and replaced the articles of federation, which was the government document of the USA. It carcass to be the basic law of central government. In 1839, Mississippi apt(p) the women a right to hold, with their respective husbands permission, property in their own name. This saw many states legalizing this grant to women so that they would have control over property and earnings. This was in 1900. In the Missouri vs. Celia fiber of 1855, the case was used to show that enslaved women had no right or legal safety if they were raped by their masters.This meant that black women had no right to defend themselves after an act of rape by the master. When the Mississippi black code was passed, it was an go about to control slaves and ensure social inequalit y. This prohibited blacks, in 1865, from marrying whites and in this case, it was guilty as was seen through life imprisonment. http//www. lulu. com/content/247174 More was to come and in the United States, an immigration act of 1917 banned immigration of Asians and those with abnormal sexual instincts and until 1990, lesbians and gay immigrants were excluded from coming into the United States. (Nancy 2001)In a case of New York v. Sanger, doctors would advice married couples on use of birth control pills for health purposes. The law was still enforced but was overturned in 1965 on all state laws that prohibited the use of contraceptives. In 1948, in Perez v snappy case, there was a ban on interracial marriage in the California Supreme Court. This was the first state high chat up to declare it unconstitutional but later on in 1967 the U. S Supreme Court declared that there was freedom to marry allowing for interracial marriages on all Americans. This was evidenced in the case of L oving v. Virginia.The immigration act in 1965 admitted different races and nationalities and emphasized on family reunification with great concern. The act defined a family to be strictly on hetero sexual and atomic ties and banned on lesbian and gay deviates. In 1969, California adopted a divorce law that allowed divorce by mutual consent and especially where one party simply wants it. The major challenge in this was that one party can refuse to sign the separation agreement. In 1981, there was an over turn of events when the states laws described a husband as a head and master and having control of property which is jointly own with his wife. Nancy 2001) . http//family. jrank. org/pages/1118/Marriage-Ceremonies. hypertext mark-up languageArticles were published and they advocated for legalization of same-sex couples and this was especially because these authors were gay and wanted to betroth their demand. In 1990, the congress repealed ban on gay and lesbian immigration. Homose xuals were disqualify as foreigners and were not allowed to come in to the United States. It was in 1993 that how-do-you-do Supreme Court said that the ban on same-sex couples from marrying must be justified and in 1998, it was amended to allow strict marriage to men and women only .In 1994, gays and lesbians sought to be part of the humanitarian law as a social group rather than an immigration group. A Person Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act explicitly promoted marriage and formation of heterosexual families. The federal law supported ii parent families and in the same year, 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage as exclusively between one man and a woman. It was evident that this act did not recognize same sex marriage at all. In 1998, there was a covenant marriage principle in which couples promised to stay together for life and that they would denounce the no-default divorce.In the same year, May 1998, Alaska ruled that it was a fundamental r ight to choose a marital partner. The following year, the Vermont Supreme Court allowed for same-sex marriage to occur and that they have all rights and benefits of marriage but no marriage licenses. A governor in Oklahoma in March 2000 announced a $10 million plan that encouraged marriage than divorce and in 2001 gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts filed law suits seeking a right to marry. This followed with other New Jersey lesbian and gay couples suing the state court for denial of their right to marry.In 2003, the US Supreme Court smitten down the remaining anti-gay sodomy laws which were in Texas and in other states. http//family. jrank. org/pages/1118/Marriage-Ceremonies. html In 2003-2004, the Federal Marriage Amendment was proposed but was defeated in congress. The amendment ought to have denied marriage rights to same-sex couples by indicating that marriage would only exist between a man and a woman.The divorce rate in 1980 was 22. 6% per thou married women and curre ntly it is rated at 17. 7 percent. Other observations and statistics show that the rate of marriage has declined from 76. 5 to 39. 9 percent per gram unmarried women. This has been a 50 percent drop and it is attributed to cohabitation rather than marriage. These posses a great guess on the children as it affects the family stability. Breakup rates for cohabitating couples are twice as that of married couples and in 40% of such couples children are born in this rather un fixed and shaky relationship. The United States is found to have the weakest families in the western world.This is attributed to the high divorce rates as well as the increase in solo parenting. The divorce rate has generally been way out up more recently with about 20 divorces for every 1000 women over the age of 15. (Nancy 2001) The divorces rate has had significant factors that have led to the rise in the United States. One of them has been that men and women are economically stable and so there is less ne ed for each other in terms of economical survival. The rate has also been on the higher side because of birth control programs that allow men and women to separate sexual exertion from bearing children.