History of Marriage Essay

Marriage is a well-disposed institution recognized by custom and rectitude. It is a relation that exists between one or more men to one or more women. Custom or justness gives recognitions of the duties and rights of the parties mixed in such an institution. The union may result to children being born in it. In general, the societal expectation is one where in that location is familiar pleasure between a maintain and married woman. There are legal issues that may arise as a result of adultery, which may force one spouse to dissolve the coupling.This relation is at some point regarded as an economic institution in which a hus drive outd is fully responsible for the needs of the wife and children. With the current women empowerment in the society they are also able to provide for their families. A father has a general control and power oer his family but for the children his powers are for a limited time. This generates as a result of the need for children to practice deci sion making and show responsibility specially at adulthood. Marriage is in accordance to the laid down custom or law and the coincide of individually parties involved must be considered.Parents for example may ask for a bride price and after this is settled a marriage takes place. These are important steps especially where the conditions stipulated by custom or by law are complied with. The origin of marriage is seen to be a habitual practice from the medieval period. A man and woman would live together, have inner relations and from this union children would come forth. The father would play their role as a protector and supporter of his family while his wife nurses and cares for the family.As time passed it was authoritative by custom and by law and it became legal social institution. Marriage is therefore seen to be an intimate relationship which the society, the government and religion recognizes. Marriage has more forms but the major one constitutes a man and a woman. Mar riage 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 idea while planning to enter into marriage.Some of the major reasons may include need for legal 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 have been changes in the understanding and approach of marriage from the older days. In the United States marriage for example was a consideration of status as well as an oversight on the future economic stability and prosperity of the person.It was therefore an economic arrangement in which one would choose their potential spouse and so they would plan t o wed . Marriage ceremonies between same sexes were done in the 5th-14th centuries by the Roman Catholic Church. Many issues nearly marriage caught the interest of many leaders and Pope Alexander II in 1975, prohibited 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 political authorities, servants and day laborers would be free to marry in Bavaria and Austria.In1921 this order was fully abolished. Public wife selling was witnessed in the 1960s-1870s where a come apartd wife was tied with a rope around her manage and sold in public. Until 1686, marriage was quite a a civilian ceremony for the puritans in Massachusetts Bay. In the British colonies, there was no penalty given up for interracial marriages until 1662 when Virginia doubled fornication fines for interracial couples. Maryland banned interracial marriages in 1664 and subsequently, in 1750 interraci al marriages had been outlawed in all southern colonies. hook up with women, until mid 19th century, had no legal standing under the English common law in all American states. It was until 1848 that women had the right to own dimension while married, through the Married Women Act. http//www. lulu. com/content/247174 At the age of 10 years, consent for sexual intercourse was go forthed in most 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 contract in twelve states.Anti-Miscegenation laws were declared 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. This included Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, and Oregon among others. Ten states had by 1990, outlawed rap e in marriage. This was after New York outlawed rape in marriage in 1978. Rape in marriage was seen as a crime 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 world 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 particular 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 have continued 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 warring on the issue that it should be redefined to suit jocund marriage. When the Massachusetts peremptory Judicial Court made a ruling in 2004, and said that civil union was not enough, this raised national debate. A number of people wanted the definition of one man-to- one woman to stand and others wanted it to ramify 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. Later on, in 1724, there was introduction Louisiana after the break ones backs were freed. Laws that were known as black codes were used to control and even forbid marriages constituted by slaves while the slave master was not consented. In 1769, the English common law showed that husband and wife were one. A consti tution was written in 1787 and was adopted the avocation year.It was potent in 1789 and replaced the articles of federation, which was the government document of the USA. It remains to be the basic law of central government. In 1839, Mississippi granted 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 minute vs. Celia case of 1855, the case was used to show that enslaved women had no right or legal recourse if they were raped by their masters.This meant that black women had no right to celebrate themselves after an act of rape by the master. When the Mississippi black code was passed, it was an attempt to control slaves and ensure social inequality. 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/co ntent/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 implement but was overturned in 1965 on all state laws that prohibited the use of contraceptives. In 1948, in Perez v Sharp case, there was a ban on interracial marriage in the California Supreme Court. This was the first state high court 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 loving v. Virginia.The immigration act in 1965 admitted different races and nationalities and emphasized on family reunification with great concern. The ac t defined a family to be strictly on hetero sexual and nuclear 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 owned with his wife. Nancy 2001) . http//family. jrank. org/pages/1118/Marriage-Ceremonies. htmlArticles were print and they advocated for legalization of same-sex couples and this was especially because these authors were gay and wanted to pursue their demand. In 1990, the congress repealed ban on gay and lesbian immigration. Homosexuals were disqualified as foreigners and were not allowed to come in to the United States. It was in 1993 that Hawaii Supreme Court said that the ban on same-sex couples from marr ying 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 back up two 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 legislation 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 right 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 marri age 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 struck 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 chiliad married women and currently 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 1000 unmarried women. This has been a 50 percent drop and it is attributed to cohabitation rather than marriage. These posses a great risk 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 unstable 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 going 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 need for each other in terms of economical survival. The rate has also been on the higher(prenominal) side because of birth control programs that allow men and women to separate sexual activity from bearing children.