FOUR MAJOR HISTORIC CHANGES
TO MARRIAGE IN NORTH AMERICA
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Accommodating past changes in the institution of marriage:
Marriage has taken many forms, throughout history:
The Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament) describe
six different marriage/family forms that were
practiced in ancient Israel, in addition to the standard "one man-one
woman" format .
Marriage in North America has evolved in different ways over the past
16 decades:
Polygamous marriages: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (a.k.a. LDS
church), first introduced the concept of polygyny -- one man married to
multiple spiritual wives -- in the early 1840s.The
practice has been variously called the Law of Abraham, or the
Patriarchal Order of Marriage, and Celestial Plural Marriage.
The associated Law of Sarah stated that women must stoically
accept plural marriages. Their founder, Joseph Smith, allegedly had 33
wives. 1 Brigham Young had 55. 2 In
1890, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could
take away citizenships from all members of the church as long as the LDS
continued its practice of polygyny. Later, the government announced that
they would start to seize the church's temples and other assets. Shortly
afterwards, the LDS Church announced that they had received a revelation
from God that radically changed church beliefs and practices. President, Wilford Woodruff issued the "Great Accommodation" manifesto on
1890-SEP-24. It suspended the solemnization of plural marriages for an
indefinite period. They remain suspended today. Many splinter
groups were later founded by disgruntled Mormons who were committed to
polygyny. Some still exist and practice plural marriages openly, with minimal
opposition from the Utah government. A fundamentalist group in British Columbia,
Canada, also practices polygyny openly. The provincial Attorney General
decided to not prosecute them because he felt that religiously motivated polygyny
would probably be ruled constitutional under Canada's Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. More information on LDS
polygyny
African-American marriages: In the mid 19th century,
African-American slaves were not free to marry as white couples were. "...marriage
could only take place after obtaining permission from the owner.
Southern state laws denied the slaves legal marriage contracts." 3Just as some gay and lesbian couples in
recent years have gone through commitment ceremonies at sympathetic
churches, "slaves...held ceremonies that revealed the seriousness with
which they regarded married life." 3 Restrictions
on African-American marriages were lifted after the civil war. Couples of
all races were then free to legally marry anywhere in the U.S. -- as
long as both spouses were of the same race.
Inter-racial marriages: Until a few decades ago, inter-racial
marriage was considered a criminal act in some U.S. states. In 1958, Mildred
Jeter, a Black woman, and Richard Loving, a White man, had
been legally married in the District of Columbia. When they
returned to Virginia, they were arrested because their inter-racial marriage
violated Virginia's miscegenation laws. They pleaded guilty and were and
sentenced to one year in jail. "...the trial judge suspended the
sentence for a period of 25 years on the condition that the Lovings
leave the State and not return to Virginia together for 25 years."
The trial judge, speaking for God, berated the Lovings with a theological
speech which seems
quaint to many people in the 21st century. He stated in an opinion
that: 'Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay
and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the
interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such
marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not
intend for the races to mix'." 4 The Lovings later
asked that their sentences be vacated. They lost at the trial court , in an appropriately named case, Loving
v. Virginia. They also lost
at the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. However, they won
their appeal to
the U.S. Supreme Court. The court's 1967 decision was sufficiently broad to
overturn as unconstitutional all U.S. miscegenation laws, including the
one in Virginia and similar legislation in 15 other states. Inter-racial
couples were free to marry anywhere in the U.S. for the first time. In
fact, with the exception of consanguinity and age restrictions, any
woman and any man could marry in any North American jurisdiction.
Same-sex marriages: Until 2003-JUN-10, same sex couples are
not allowed to marry anywhere in North America. On that date, same-sex
marriages became legal in Ontario, Canada. They became available in the
province of British Columbia, Canada on JUL-8. In these jurisdictions,
any two loving, committed couples can now marry, subject only to the
consanguinity and age restrictions in the case of opposite-gender couples.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court is expected to make its ruling on Monday,
2003-JUL-14 in a
same-sex marriage case.
These four changes were painful experiences for many North Americans at
the time. Many people view the institutions of marriage and the family as
forming the
basic foundation of society. Any attempt to change either the structure of
marriage or the eligibility of people to marry can be profoundly distressing
and destabilizing. North American culture has been able to adapt to the
first three major changes -- Polygyny in Utah, African-American marriages,
inter-racial marriages with no apparent long-term harm. If past
accommodations to marital changes are any indication, then North Americans
should be able to accept same-sex marriage in stride.
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References:
Vern Anderson, "In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph
Smith," Book review in the Salt Lake Tribune, 1997-DEC-13, at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/12117.shtml
Beverly White, "The Black American Family in Literature and Art,"
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, at:
http://www.yale.edu/
"The Loving Decision - (June 12, 1967)," Association of
MultiEthnic Americans, at:
http://www.ameasite.org/loving.asp This essay contains the text of
the U.S. Supreme Court decision, abridged for easier reading.
