[ansel12]

One straw man type argument put up by libertarians on the issue of homosexual "marriage" is that marriages were not licensed by the states until the mid to late 19th Century.

Thomas Jefferson bought a marriage license, George Washington paid for his favorite nephew's marriage license.

Jefferson an attorney sometimes involved in divorce law, lamented that when the Roman empire was weak in the 5th century or so, the Catholic Church took over marriage.

[manc]

interesting, thank you and I agree with your posts.

[Wallace T.]

Were the licenses obtained by Washington and Jefferson issued by the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church or the state/county? Until its disestablishment in 1786, the Church of England was the state church of Virginia, as had been case since its founding as an English colony. Except for Delaware and Rhode Island, the original 13 states had church (Anglican or Congregationalist) establishments. After the Declaration of Independence, the states disestablished the churches, the last being Massachusetts in 1833. From my genealogical research, state wedding licenses started in the mid-19th Century. Canadian, British, and Irish government agencies have taken possession and maintenance of church wedding and baptismal agencies.