The issue here is that I have never had to give thought to the role of government in marriage before, since, as mentioned above, it pretty much perfectly coincided with the Divine concepts.  

The main argument for the government being involved in marriage is based on the idea that the government’s job is to encourage the highest and best for its citizens. As one author notes, 

“Marriage benefits everyone, because separating child-bearing and -rearing from marriage burdens innocent bystanders: not just children, but the whole community. It’s the community that often must step in to provide (more or less directly) for their wellbeing and upbringing. A child born and raised outside marriage is six times more likely to experience poverty than a child in an intact family—and therefore welfare expenditures grow. So by encouraging the norms of marriage—monogamy, sexual exclusivity and permanence—the state is strengthening civil society and reducing its own role.”  https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/why-government-the-marriage-business

However, this isn’t the real issue anymore.  What has happened is a transfer of ownership.

God created marriage and left it in the hands of the original family.  

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.  Gen 2:24-25

He left the teachings of His design…

He forbade adultery, restricted marriage to within the worshipers of Yahweh, and eventually provided guidelines for divorce… but the Holy Bible always assumes that God is the proprietor of marriage.

For most of human history, marriage has been little more than an agreement between two families, sociologically. Communities and churches might recognize them, but the validity was dependent on the relationship of the families and the couple.

Obviously, it is impossible to tell when the first government involved itself in the first marriage… but I found that as the Protestant movement defined marriage as something other than a “sacrament”, there was some concern as to what marriage would be.  (In the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is one of the sacraments).

In the conversation continued in Great Britain, civil laws about divorce were created, and eventually the Marriage Act of 1836 was put into place recognizing a non-religious acceptance of marriages.  At this time, the State also began to keep track of marriages – so soon, even religious marriages needed to be recorded by the State.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17351133

In the US, it seems that some of the first marriage laws were actually to forbid polygamy.  In 1907, there was a law that declared that women who married foreigners lost their US citizenship.  In 1913, married couples were mentioned as having a legal status regarding taxes (the beginning of the marriage penalty).  

By 1929, all of the united states had laws regarding marriage licenses.  The motivation for this is unclear.  Likely, part of the motivation was taxation and census; part was to create laws to protect the sanctity of marriage; part may have been an attempt to make sure that “races” didn’t mix in marriage, and I am sure there were more.

At some point, the government began to be under the impression that marriage was a concept that was created or at least the sole property of the government.  After all, the government licenses marriages, right?  It is responsible for taxing marriage and responsible for ending marriages… and after a few hundred years, decided it was also responsible to define marriage.

This is nothing more or less than some kind of eminent domain. The US government sees itself as the creator, protector, and definer of certain rights. Of these, only “protector” is appropriate. More to follow…