They were passed as part of a Prohibition-era moral panic over the idea of couples getting married while drunk.
In 1927, The Pittsburgh Press said, "It was believed that a three-day cooling off would temper the ardor of unruly impetuous maids and swains.
[10] The New York state law requiring a three-day waiting period was passed in 1936 championed by Jane Hedges Todd.
[11] Oregon passed a gin marriage law in 1933, it required a four-day wait.
B. Swenssen said "we women feel many divorces are the result of hasty marriages, many of them made while young people are under the influence of liquour".