Timeline of civil marriage in the United States

Many laws in the history of the United States have addressed marriage and the rights of married people. Common themes addressed by these laws include polygamy, interracial marriage, divorce, and same-sex marriage.

1800–1899

• 1830 – Married women are granted the right to own property in their own name, instead of being owned exclusively by the husband, in Mississippi.
• 1848 – Married women are granted the right to own property in their own name in New York.
• 1856 – The platform of the Republican Party refers to polygamy as one of the "twin relics of barbarism" (alongside slavery). At the time, polygamy was a practice of some Mormons. (See Mormonism and polygamy.)
• 1862 – The United States Congress enacts the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which made bigamy a felony in the territories punishable by $500 or five years in prison.
• 1873 – The Supreme Court rules that a state has the right to exclude a married woman from practicing law. (Bradwell v. Illinois)
• 1874 – Congress passes the Poland Act, which transfers jurisdiction over Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act cases to federal prosecutors and courts in Utah, which were not controlled by Mormons.
• 1879 – The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Reynolds v. United States.
• 1882 – Congress passes the Edmunds Act, which prohibits not just bigamy, which remained a felony, but also bigamous cohabitation, which was prosecuted as a misdemeanor, and did not require proof an actual marriage ceremony had taken place. The law also allows polygamists to be held indefinitely without a trial.
• 1887 – Congress passes the Edmunds-Tucker Act, which allows prosecutors to force polygamist wives to testify against their husbands, and abolished the right of women in Utah to vote.
• 1890 – Mormons in Utah officially renounce polygamy through the 1890 Manifesto.

1900–1999

• 1900 – All states now grant married women the right to own property in their own name.
• 1904 – Mormons in Utah officially again renounce polygamy with the Second Manifesto, excommunicating anyone who participates in future polygamy.
• 1907 – All women acquire their husband's nationality upon any marriage occurring after that date.
• 1933 – Married women granted right to citizenship independent of their husbands.
• 1948 – California Supreme Court overturns interracial marriage ban (Perez v. Sharp).
• 1965 – The Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting married couples from using contraception.
• 1967 – The Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting interracial couples from marrying (Loving v. Virginia).
• 1969 – The first no-fault divorce law is adopted in California.
• 1971 – The Supreme Court upholds an Alabama law which automatically changes a woman's legal surname to that of her husband upon marriage.
• 1971 – The Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling allowing prohibition of same-sex marriage (Baker v. Nelson).
• 1972 – The Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting unmarried couples from purchasing contraception.
• 1973 – Maryland becomes the first state in the U.S. to define marriage as "between a man and a woman" in statute.
• 1975 – Married women allowed to have credit in their own name.
• 1975 – Three states outlaw same-sex marriage by statutes.
• 1976 – The Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting abortions for married women without the consent of the husband.
• 1993 – All 50 states have revised laws to include marital rape.
• 1994 – 40 of the 50 states amend their marriage statutes to outlaw same-sex marriage.
• 1996 – President Bill Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act into law, which outlaws federal recognition of both same-sex marriage and polygamy, and removes any requirement that states recognize such marriages entered into in other jurisdictions.
• 1998 – Hawaii amends its constitution to allow the legislature to ban same-sex marriage, in response to a court ruling which would otherwise have allowed such marriages. Alaska becomes the first state to bar same-sex marriage in its constitution.
• 1998 – South Carolina is the penultimate state in the U.S. to remove the ban on interracial marriage in its state constitution.

2000–present

• 2000 – Nebraska amends its state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy.
• 2000 – Alabama becomes the last state in the US to remove the ban on interracial marriage in its state constitution.
• 2002 – Nevada amends its state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy.
• 2004 – Massachusetts grants and recognizes same-sex marriages, while 14 states rush to outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy through their state constitutions in response.
• 2005 – Texas amends its state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy.
• 2006 – 26 states outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy through their state constitutions.
• 2008 – New York starts recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other places but does not grant such marriages. Connecticut begins granting same-sex marriages. California briefly grants same-sex marriage until the passage of Proposition 8 later in the year, but continues recognizing marriages entered into prior to the proposition's passage. 29 states outlaw same-sex marriage and polygamy through their state constitutions.
• 2009 – Iowa and Vermont grant and recognize same-sex marriages; the District of Columbia starts recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other places but does not grant such marriages. Maine rescinds planned legalization of same-sex marriage by popular vote.
• 2010 – New Hampshire and the District of Columbia grant same-sex marriages. Maryland recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. In Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a district court overturns California's ban on same-sex marriage (however, the decision is stayed pending an appeal).
• 2011 – New York begins granting same-sex marriages.
• 2012 – A federal appeals court upholds the district court decision that struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage (the case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court).

See also

• Marriage in the United States
• Polygamy in the United States
• List of benefits of marriage in the United States
• Domestic partnerships in the United States

• Same-sex marriage in the United States
  • Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States
  • Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States by state
  • Same-sex marriage in the United States public opinion
  • Same-sex marriage status in the United States by state
  • Defense of Marriage Act
  • Marriage Protection Act
  • U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions
  • Federal Marriage Amendment
  • Respect for Marriage Act