[ansel12]

I know. It was allowed because it seem harmless. Government outside its constitutional limits is never "harmless."

No it wasn't, it had to be done, the Continental Congress, and America had to deal with marriage in 1780, and 1794, and 1798, and 1802, and so on.

Government has always had to deal with marriage, whether Roman, Greek, or Apache Indian, or whatever.

[PapaNew]

If the post-ratification central government "had" to deal with the subject of marriage, then why didn't the founders delegate some power regarding marriage to the federal government in the Constitution? I suspect that the states "had" to deal with it but apparently it wasn't necessary for the federal government to deal with it enough to include in the Constitution.

Regardless, the subject of marriage is outside the scope of the constitutional powers of the federal government (and rightly so - I don't see why marriage should have been or should be added as an amendment to the Constitution. The rogue federal government doesn't need more power - it already has assumed way too much power illegitimately already.)