He didn’t mention common law marriage, he mentioned shacking up until they could get married.
Common law marriage still exists and is recognized by the federal government and all 50 states, as long as it is a legal, common law marriage, if indeed Earp was legally common law married.
Marriage licenses have existed for many centuries, since the 1300s, and before that Banns, and before that other formal actions that made marriage legal, Thomas Jefferson obtained a marriage license.
Contrary to your claim, there was no gay marriage, there has never been a time when a couple, or a few people could not decide among themselves all kinds of things, but it didn’t exist outside of their imagination. Right now you can call whatever you want “marriage”, you could yesterday and ten and 20 years ago.
Common law marriage still exists and is recognized by the federal government and all 50 states
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Not True
Common-law marriage in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_United_States
Common-law marriage in the United States can still be contracted in nine states (Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Iowa, Montana, Utah and Texas) and the District of Columbia. New Hampshire recognizes common-law marriage for purposes of probate only, and Utah recognizes common-law marriages only if they have been validated by a court or administrative order.[1]Common-law marriage can no longer be contracted in 27 states, and was never permitted in 13 states.
I think you are missing the point. You get government involved in this you better make sure you have your hands on the levers to get what you want. At this time, you don’t. That is a fact, not a personal judgement. What a lot of us want is the government to just get of our lives, period. As Mark Steyn has pointed out, the peasants of France under Louis XIV had more personal freedoms than we do in 2013 USA. The kings and nobles of yore did not care what their subjects were up to in their personal lives. We got big shots in DC wanting to tell us what to eat and how much to excercise. It’s for the children, you know. I do not want government to have the power over my personal life. I do not want them to tell me how much to eat. I do not want them to tell me how many guns I can buy, if any. If I want to take a roll in the hay with two broads, I do not want government telling me I can’t. My ideal would be to repeal any laws passed since 1881. If it was legal then, it should be legal now.