Remember that show sister wives?

Polygamy is deeply ingrained in United States history and within many religions.
In the United States it is currently illegal to obtain multiple marriages at once. An interesting case of late was the Sister Wives television show which documented the lives of a Mormon family in which multiple females were "married" to the same man. They did not obtain marriage licenses for all the marriages but lived in the same home and raised their children together.

What was interesting is that the federal judge found that they were in there rights to live as such as long as they did not apply for multiple marriage licenses.



Link hear to an article about the case.

In a few days I will post more about polygamy's deep roots in American History, specifically the histories of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and the Mormon Churches involvement as it pertains to our nations history.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time if you were a single women that was the only way you had rights to property. If you married you were giving up all of your land, free will and more.

This article talks about the rights women had in 1776 until the 19th century

In the 19th century a new trend was coming about. Women were living with women and establishing lives with these other women. This is now known as Boston Marriages. This is one of the first instances in which lesbian women held homes and businesses together and lived together in what would be considered today as a common law marriage.

Some even shared headstones together. Although legally speaking they were not married on paper they were in a common law marriage in which they each shared each others assets. These women were pillars within their community and it was not uncommon.

The article below discusses Charity and Sylvia a female couple during these times and the researcher that discovered their records.


Boston Globe Article about Boston Marriages and Vermont marriages

Slave marriage

Pre-civil war many slaves were not allowed to marry one another. Their relationships were not legally recognized because they were not seen as people. This video talks about the journey of slaves towards gaining equality in the arena that is marriage.

world history of marriage in a video :)

Marriage the movie.

On April 10th 1967 the United States Supreme Court began looking at the case Loving v. Virginia.
This landmark case featuring Mildred and Richard Perry was the the final nail in the coffin for miscegenation laws.

What are miscegenation laws?

Miscegenation laws were laws that prevented the mixing of races, either through interracial marriage or reproduction.

In almost states miscegenation was once illegal. The change in morality up to and after the civil war allowed people to decide whether or not this was morally okay.

I personally am glad that this is no longer illegal because many of my friends and family exist in interracial relationships.

The fact that the thought of interracial couples was morally repulsive and is now the norm is an important facet to recognizing marriage norms are constantly changing.


In the article below it talks about Mildred and Richard Perry and the percentage of interracial couples almost 50 years after they got married.

Nbc article talking about the amount of interracial marriages

Earlier last week I learned about positive laws and natural laws in the judicial system in regards to the Dred Scott decision.

Positive laws are laws that are enacted by governments and can be changed.

For example women may walk around topless in New York City.

Natural laws are laws that cannot be changed and to many are laws of higher power.

For example people are free to believe in whatever religion they would like to. You can try and force your religion on someone but not everyone will believe in that religion or change their beliefs because you ask them to,

Many people argue that marriage is a positive law that it can change. Many laws are archaic and don't change in accordance with technology or change in moral climate at the time.

Many more people argue that marriage is a natural law where it is dictated by the laws of god, allah, and so many more demigods and deities.

So what does this have to do with today?

Today it was published in the New York Times that the GOP is having a difficult time deciding whether or not to fight gay marriage and what that strategy is going to be in the upcoming 2016 elections.

Click here for link to the New York Times article!

I feel like in our modern time this is a prime example of why marriage is fluid and that the construct of marriage in our country will forever be changing.