Free and Happy Bonds

Loving v. Virginia declares that marriage contributes to the pursuit of happiness. It supports this claim by citing 19th century precedent, precedent which itself drew upon a longstanding view of marriage and happiness's pursuit. This article examines that view in state and federal opinions from the decades surrounding 14th Amendment ratification. The courts saw marriage as fulfilling the human need for community, thereby aiding in the private happiness of those marrying and the public happiness of the political society. Marriage supported private happiness by forming a bond that provided for physical, material, and emotional needs. Courts sought to aid these goals while also protecting spouses' rights. Marriage supported public happiness through creating and educating future citizens as well as cultivating virtuous habits among those married—goals which the courts also sought to protect. The article concludes by discussing the continuity and discontinuity between these 19th century cases, Loving, and Obergefell

Bond · Economics · Happiness · Law and economics · Political science · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment