To Marry or Not to Marry: It Should Not be a Question

History of Marriage

As with most things, the Greeks started tradition of marriage with the point of marriage being to procreate and/or even settle business deals. In the beginning of marriage, women were treated as well as slaves brought to the Americas. At first, marriage was not a needed tradition, but the lawmaker Solon said that marriage was an essential social need and that childless, single men were to be frowned upon. A wedding started with a father find a suitable wife for his son. He then would draw up a contract that was signed in front of a witness. Soon, a ceremony would be held and the newlywed couple, who may have never met before that day, are shown to their beds ("History of Marriage in Western Civilization").

Greek men were monogamous but were also allowed to seek pleasure in places other than his wife. Often times, men sought sexual pleasure from prostitutes and health from concubines. It was Demosthenes, a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens, who said, “We have prostitutes for our pleasure, concubines for our health, and wives to bear us lawful offspring" ("History of Marriage in Western Civilization").

The Romans then adopted this tradition. At the age of fourteen, a girl was considered ready to be wed. Her father would then choose a groom and do any and all arrangements for the wedding. Still, in this day, love did not matter in the institution of marriage. Marriage was for economic and inter-family ties. Any and all possessions a female would have going into the marriage, she would lose to her husband’s oldest living male relative, thus leaving the wife with no possessions of her own. In view, women were only good for bearing children, raising them, and managing the household ("Women and Marriage in Ancient Rome"). From these ancient civilizations, countries grew and spread and so did the tradition of marriage. When Europeans came to America, they also brought with them their values in marriage.

Marriage in America was seen just the same as it was back in Europe when Europeans first came over: women were still the property of men and that love did not matter. Women were earning a bit more respect as slaves came to the Americas from Africa and were soon given enough freedom that they were no longer their husband’s property. Although women were happy and free, soon a new challenge came to the marriage forefront: African American slaves and white Americans were loving one another. This was deemed as an abominable act and was outlawed. African Americans and white Americans were not allowed to marry or even be together in a relationship. This act may have not been allowed but the people who were already together did not care. The first mulatto baby, half white American and half African American, was born in in 1620 (Nittle).

“On June 12, 1967, the nation's highest court voted unanimously to overturn the conviction of Richard and Mildred Loving, a young interracial couple from rural Caroline County, Virginia,” stated an announcer on the National Public Radio (“Loving Decision: 40 Years of Legal Interracial Unions”). This was the first allowed interracial marriage in the United states and this marriage paved the way for many more to come. Marriage evolved from a woman being a mans property to a woman be free to interracial peoples not allowing to marry.