Note 766 — Chapter XIII · ECCLESIASTICAL RITES AND THE RISE OF CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

Thus Doyle, Eng. Colonies, I, 453, says the acts of the assembly of 1669/70, of which the marriage act is one, tended to make North Carolina "an Alsatia for ready and profligate adventurers." So also George Chalmers, Political Annals of the United Provinces: in Carroll, Hist. Coll. of S. C., II, 291, concludes, "From this remarkable law we may judge of their state of religion and morals." On the other hand, Hawks, Hist. of N. C., II, 152, 153, says of this statute: "It has given rise to some abortive efforts at wit, which, if genuine, would, we think, be sadly misplaced; and has, besides, sorely troubled the over-sensitive and camel-swallowers who thank God they are 'not as other men are;'" justly adding: "It is difficult to conjecture any other course, which under the circumstances, they could reasonably have adopted. The very fact that any plan was devised to afford a legal and decent mode of entering into the marriage contract, certainly implies that the moral sense of the community revolted at general concubinage." Cf. also Weeks, Church and State in N. C.: in J. H. U. S., XI, 244.