Sauk Marriages

Mone Phiouthong

CS2

Instructor: Dr Brooke

Essay Topic 2

First Draft

Sauk and Meskwaki Marriages

Marriage is one of the greatest things in life. It allows a man and a woman to come together, helping each other through sickness and hardships. They are able to share everything with one another, the good times and the bad. They also gain the support of their spouse throughout their lives together. Marriage is more than people living together, it provides permanent stability, as people from, not only an economic unit, but a social force against the harsh realities of the world. Most importantly though, marriage is the foundation of the family. Having a strong marriage will yield a healthy family, providing a loving and stable home for children to come into the world and learn from positive role models.

That being said, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, “divorce rates have risen over the past 150 years, they have been falling for the past quarter century. Marriage rates have also been falling, but more strikingly, the importance of marriage at different points in the life cycle has changed, reflecting rising age at first marriage, rising divorce followed by high remarriage rates, and a combination of increased longevity with a declining age gap between husbands and wives. Cohabitation has also become increasingly important, emerging as a widely used step on the path to marriage. Out-of-wedlock fertility has also risen, consistent with declining "shotgun marriages"(Stevenson, and Wolfers).

Everything changes with time, that includes views on marriages and divorce among all cultures. The Meskwaki marriages today our much like marriages of modern Americans, besides holding great importance of the wedding ceremony as many couples participate in across the United States. No matter how time may change views and ideas, some beliefs and sayings are as true today and they were years ago.

“You don’t just marry the man, you marry the family” is an...