Changes

Love and marriage. Marriage is an institution that is pervasive throughout American life. It isn't just about love or procreation. It defines things like inheritance, rights, privileges, and immigration--just to name a few (see, for example, previous post on [[When did interracial marriage become legal in the United States?|interracial marriage]]). Marriage directly impacts reproduction and the composition of its citizens. With citizenship being attached to birth here after the passage of the 14th Amendment, marriage policy essentially underscores national belonging<ref>Margot Canaday, ''The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America'', 2011.</ref>. Throughout history, the United States has idealized faithful, intraracial monogamy in the name of public interest and securing public order, and it formed the basis of defining appropriate sexual activity.<ref>Julian B. Carter, ''The Heart of Whiteness: Normal Sexuality and Race in America, 1880-1940'', 2007.</ref>.  In the present day, our idea of marriage is that it's a partnership between two individuals--hopefully for love and companionship. However, marriage also has religious undertones, and in some religions is an important event. Legally, marriage is also a contract. Since marriage functions as an entryway into so many of these things, it's significance has changed over time, and it has been subject to regulation. But how did marriage become an institution in the United States?

In the 19th century, Webster's dictionary defined marriage as "the act of uniting man and woman, as husband and wife, for life." For most of American history, marriage was a practical household arrangement based on reciprocal obligations. It united men and women into a singular identity and transformed men in to into husbands and women into wives. In idealized marriage, men worked and used their wages to provide for their home and family in exchange for women's help and domestic service.<ref>Carole Shammas, ''A History of Household Government in America'', 2002.</ref>.

Throughout most of American history, women's lives were defined by the English common law that was brought to the American colonies, and then reshaped and defined over time. These rights and laws related to married women fell under the umbrella of "coverture." Coverture was a literal understanding of Webster's definition of marriage that effectively meant that women did not have a separate legal existence from their husbands. Under coverture, husband and wife were legally one person--the entirety of that person being the husband. Women's legal, civil, and property rights were suspended once married. Her own separate, legal existence merged into her husband's and she lost the capacity to contract for herself, sue for herself, or be sued herself, or own her own property or wages. In the eyes of the law, married women were treated in the same class as other household dependents--like children or slaves (pre-13th Amendment). Furthermore, marriage provided husbands with their own consortium of rights, including sexual intercourse (which is why marital rape, for example, has legally been treated and viewed differently from nonmarital rape for most of American history).

====Conclusion====It was not until 2015 that same-sex marriage was fully decided in "Obergefell v. Hodges". When this case was before the US Supreme Court, the primary issues at hand were discussing whether the 14th Amendment required a state to license marriages of same-sex couples, and whether a state had to recognize the legal marriage of a same-sex couple that had been licensed and performed in another state. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled yes and yes. In his closing remarks, Justice Kennedy wrote: