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First Anti-Miscegenation Law in Virginia
In 1691, Virginia passes a miscegenation law banning marriage between white and English colonizers and slaves and Native Americans. The law states that marriage between "English or other white man or woman being free" and "a negroe, mulatto, or Indian man or woman bond or free" would result in banishment from the colony of Virginia. This law marks an early step in US history to use the institution of marriage as a system of regulating racial and national purity. -
Louisiana's Code Noir
The Louisiana Code Noir, or slave code, is introduced in 1724 and stays in place until the United States' purchase of Louisiana in 1803. While the U.S. government does not directly regulate the code, it is still important to chart in early U.S. history regarding marriage regulation, particularly miscegenation laws. The code includes several articles that forbid marriage between white men and women and slaves, and marriage between slaves without the consent of their masters. -
U.S. Constitution ratified
The US ratifies the constitution on September 17, 1787. Marriage is not mentioned in the document, delegating the task of regulating marriage to individual states. This absence of marriage leads to discourse surrounding marriage as a fundamental right, debated heavily during the legalization of same-sex marriage. Image: National Archives, Public Domain -
New York Married Women's Property Act
The New York Married Women's Property Act is used as a model for most states regarding women's property rights in the 1850s. Passed in 1848, the law reads that the "real and personal property of any female who may hereafter marry… shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband," and "shall continue her sole and separate property, as if she were a single female." Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain -
Seneca Falls Convention
The first women's rights convention in the U.S. is held in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. The agenda focuses on valuing women as full U.S. citizens and capable of action beyond marriage and childbearing; suffragists assert that women have the right to be free from coercive marriage and motherhood and hold societal value, income, and power in politics. Image: Joseph. "'First Convention for Women's Rights' Historic Marker, Seneca Falls, NY." Flickr Creative Commons. -
Mississippi Black Codes
In 1866, Mississippi is one of the first states to pass a series of "Black Codes" to deny rights to freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. The codes declare marriage between freed slaves and whites unlawful, making any interracial marriages a felony and designating the punishment a life sentence. The anti-miscegenation laws are yet another way the state uses marriage as a tool for national and racial "purity." -
Bradwell v. Illinois
Myra Bradwell passes the Illinois Bar examination in 1869 and after being denied admission to the Bar based on her gender, asserts her right to a license to practice law because of her U.S. citizenship. In Bradwell v. Illinois, her application is denied because as Justice Bradley writes, "The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother." Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain -
Immigration Act of 1917
The Immigration Act of 1917 bans "mentally defective" individuals or those with a "constitutional psychopathic inferiority" from entering the United States. This language is used by the U.S. government to describe homosexual individuals. By denying entry based on sexuality, the United States only recognizes relationships between heterosexual couples as legitimate, designating homosexuality an "illness." Image: Library of Congress, Public Domain. -
Nineteenth Amendment ratified
After the women's suffrage movement changes tactics and begins to push for an amendment specifically addressing a woman's right to vote, the Nineteenth Amendment is ratified on August 18, 1920, giving women the right to vote. This expansion of the electorate hugely influenced American politics and the women's rights movement. Image: National Archives, Public Domain -
Loving V. Virginia
An interracial couple, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, fight against Virginia's miscegenation laws and win; the Supreme Court rules that state bans on interracial marriage are unconstitutional. -
Baker v. Nelson
The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge by Jack Baker and Michael McConnell for a same-sex marriage license. Turned down in a one-sentence dismissal, the case marks the first known same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license in the U.S. -
Marital rape recognized as crime in all 50 states
While it may appear that with the Married Women's Property Act and the Nineteenth Amendment that marriage might have been equalized, the lasting marital rape exemption shows the slow progress of equality within marriage, and highlights attitudes surrounding marriage between a man and woman well into the 1990s. It is not until 1993 that marital rape is recognized as a crime in all 50 states, and even now, the laws vary from state to state. -
Defense of Marriage Act
In 1996, President Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act, which outlaws federal recognition of same-sex marriage and polygamy. The act defines "marriage" as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." The passage of the act allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage, barring same-sex couples from the benefits marriage can offer: insurance, joint tax filings and returns, immigration and citizenship status, social recognition, and more. -
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that gay and lesbian couples cannot be excluded from marriage in the state after seven same-sex couples apply for and are denied a marriage license. As a result of this ruling, same-sex marriage is legally recognized in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004, the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. -
United States v. Windsor
In this landmark civil rights case, the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Defense of Marriage Act's interpretation that "marriage" and "spouse" only apply to opposite-sex unions is unconstitutional. Image: Hoover, Joshua M. "SCOTUS DOMA 110." Flickr Creative Commons. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples are guaranteed the fundamental right to marry, meaning that all fifty states must lawfully license, perform, and recognize marriages between two people of the same sex. Same-sex marriage is legalized in the United States. Image: Fagen, Adam. "Waving the flag for equality." Flickr Creative Commons.
