Marriage Essay

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Kaitlyn Decker

Mrs. DeMarchi

English 4, Period 7

November 4, 2010

Marriage Essay

Marriage, like the United States Constitution, is a living, breathing object. The history of marriage for the American society was founded by different cultures such as Hebrew, Germanic, Roman and many more. Later it was shaped by the Christian church along with other factors displaying themselves in the country such as the Industrial Revolution and the Protestant Reformation. Marriage in the twenty-first century is also being changed with the society and world around it, not just socially but legally.

Looking back into marriage during the nineteenth century many stereotypes from the twenty-first century can be seen, supported by facts. This would include that for the most of part it is commonly acknowledged that marriage was not a mere personal matter concerning only husband and wife, it seemed actually not to include the wife what so ever besides her physical body. Rather the business of the two families concerned, where they would bring together the husband and wife, with or with out the individuals consent, therefore the majority of marriages that took place in the nineteenth-century could be labeled as arranged marriages. As many of these arranged marriages were actually means of economic succession, there was little talk of need for room that would host for romantic love between the husband and wife. Simple pleasantries or affectionate gestures were not mandatory as well between the couples, as the marital duties were all that were important in the eye of society at the time; these duties including procreation and open cooperation by both parties of the marriage. Moreover, the wife usually had much fewer rights than her husband and was expected to be subservient to him.

It came as a surprise though to discover that in the nineteenth-century, divorce was often easily granted and an efficient divorce system was actually created during the mid...
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