Marriage, as an institution, has evolved in recent decades. As society has progressed, ideas and attitudes about marriage have changed. Today, people are able to choose their partners and are more likely to marry for love than for convenience. While individuals are guaranteed the right to marry and the freedom to choose their partner, this has not always been the case. From colonial times until the late 1960s, the law of several states prohibited interracial marriages and unions. Fortunately, in 1967, a landmark case declared such laws unconstitutional. Nowadays, with the progress of society, racism and social prejudices have decreased and interracial marriages have become not only legal but also widely accepted. While society has made tremendous progress, the freedom to marry someone of a different ethnicity is relatively new. The anti-miscegenation laws adopted by so many states were created in colonial times. Anti-miscegenation regulations and laws existed long before the United States became a nation. The colony of Maryland passed its first anti-miscegenation law in 1664. This law prohibited the mixing of different racial groups through marriage and sexual intercourse. For example, to discourage Caucasian women from having relationships with African-American or African men, one law “required [that a] white woman who marries a male slave, [must] serve the master for the life of her slave husband.” (Robinson 3-4). After Maryland enacted its first anti-miscegenation law, colonies such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, and Georgia took the lead in enacting laws prohibiting unions between Caucasians and other races. The first anti-miscegenation law was passed in 1664. The spread of such laws throughout the United States, however, was only possible thanks to discriminatory opinions and behaviors