A Short History of Marriage in America

Today, some Americans want the act of marriage to be considered something scared which should only be allotted to some.

What many don't know, is that there was a time when marriage was used as a way to civilize those which [at the time] were not viewed as equal citizens.

THE BRAND OF SHAME
The leaders of Reconstruction were as united against sex as they were in favor of work. During the war, Congress established the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission to recommend what to do with the emancipated slaves. In its hearings, the commission heard from administrators of the "contraband" camps that were set up to house black refugees. Colonel William Pile, who oversaw the camp in Vicksburg, Mississippi, testified that

one great defect in the management of the Negroes down there was, as I judged, the ignoring of the family relationship.... My judgement is that one of the first things to be done with these people, to qualify them for citizenship, for self-protection and self-support, is to impress upon them the family obligations.

In its reports to the secretary of war, the commission upheld the dominant view among that blacks were uncivilized, but it also overturned the assumption that they could not become civilized. Just as it had done for whites during and after the American Revolution, the government and its allies would teach blacks to whip themselves. For the newly freed slave, "the law, in the shape of military rule, takes for him the place of his master, with the difference - that he submits to it more heartily and cheerfully, without any sense of degradation." There was no more heartily and cheerfully, without any sense of degradation." There was no more effective mechanism for this transformation than marriage, "the great lever by which [the freed men and women] are to be lifted up and prepared for a state of civilization." -- A Renegade History of the United States By Thaddeus Russell >> Google Books

Many which oppose Gay Marriage today, do so because of their religious views - But there was a time when marriage was defended as a 'provision' which was 'necessary for the safety of the white race.'

The apology for a law according to which a woman' cannot testify against the violator of her person, or a son against the murderer of his father, is, that in a community where negro slavery prevails such a provision is necessary for the safety of the white race. The same apology is adduced to justify the taking from the slave the right of property, of marriage, of family ties, of education, of self-defense. -- Final report of the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission to the Secretary of War - Chapter 1 -- Slavery http://www.civilwarhome.com/commisionreportchapt1.htm