After the assassination of Joseph Smith Jr. and his brother Hyrum in Carthrage, Illinois in June 1844, Brigham Young led the Mormon exodus into the American West. This band of religious pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. As Brigham Young looked upon the valley for the first time he said: “This is the place;” they had found the ground upon which they could begin building Zion, the Kingdom of God on earth (Meinig 197). From this time until the turn of the century the Latter-day Saints founded around 500 settlements in Utah and surrounding states (Rood and Thatcher n.pag.). As the Mormons withdrew themselves from the rest of American society, “‘celestial marriage,’ originally identified with plural marriage…became a necessary condition for exaltation[,]…a form of deification that Mormonism posits as its fundamental goal” (White and White 166). For men, the more wives they married strengthened their chances of achieving a “superior divine status” in the afterlife. Women were taught that it was better to marry an already married, high-ranking clergy member than to wed an unmarried man of a lower priesthood standing because by doing so, they would progress to the highest level of heaven as Gods (Whaelen 122). During this time the practice of plural marriage was more broadly extended throughout the Mormon constituency however, it never became widely practiced with ordinary church members. Overall, 20 to 30% of the Mormons were polygamists; most of them leaders in the church who could afford it (“The Mormons”). The strange living arrangements set up by Mormon families did not go unnoticed by travelers through the Utah Valley Territory. Reports of men living with multiple wives and dozens of children soon reached the ears of the national government and the issue of polygamy entered the political spectrum.
For years after the exodus from Nauvoo, the Mormon Church adamantly denied all accusations of polygamy brought against them. But on August 29, 1852, Brigham Young announced to a conference of Mormon missionaries that these accusations were in fact, true. He read to them the revelation of the plurality of wives which Joseph Smith had recorded almost decade earlier (Whaelen 127). In the years directly following Young’s announcement, the Mormon religious leaders pointed to prophets of the Old Testament such as Abraham, as justification for the plurality of wives. Yet in The Book of Mormon, there are several passages denouncing polygamy including the following from Jacob 24, 27: “Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, Saith the Lord…Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not be any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none” (121). It is difficult to overlook the hypocrisy presented by the Mormon Church during these times. Clearly the practice of polygamy was advocated by its leaders, yet in their own scripture the taking of more than one wife is stated in multiple passages as an abomination before God. Later on, as the debate over the controversial practice expanded into the realm of national politics, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly denied any associations with polygamy while continuing to perform plural marriages behind closed doors.
The church would pay a high price politically for its embrace of polygamy. President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law on July 2, 1862 (Whaelen 134). This was the first legislation implemented by the national government “designed to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the [United States]” (“Morril” n.pag.). In subsequent years, further anti-polygamy legislation was presented by both houses of Congress. Although none of these measures were passed into law, they represented the national government’s refusal to withdraw from the fight against polygamy. Finally in 1874, Congress passed the Poland Bill in order to eliminate the nearly total control the Mormons had over the Utah justice system. The Poland Act “redefined the jurisdiction of Utah courts,” restricting the local authority of the probate courts and abolished the offices of the territorial marshal and territorial attorney, “giving their duties to a U.S marshal and a U.S. attorney. Finally, the Act opened up Utah juries to non-Mormons” (“Poland Act” n.pag.). With the passage of the Poland Act, Mormon polygamists were prosecuted, convicted, and subjected to the full consequences of their crimes. The war against plural marriage had yet another victory in 1882 with the passage of the Edmunds Bill. The act defined polygamy as a crime and defined “unlawful cohabitation” as living with more than one wife. The punishment for polygamists included exclusion from voting or holding public office. Furthering the anti-polygamy cause was an even stronger Edmunds-Tucker Bill passed in 1887. As a result of this bill, the property of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was confiscated and the church was disincorporated (Whaelen 134). At this point, the Mormon Church began to question its fight to preserve the practice of plural wives. Families were being torn apart and polygamous husbands were fleeing out of the Utah Territory to escape imprisonment. In a final attempt to keep the faith of the Mormon people in the doctrine of plural marriage, Brigham Young declared: “It is the word of the Lord, and I wish to say to you, and all the world, that if you desire with all your hearts to obtain the blessing which Abraham obtained, then you will be polygamists…This is as true as that God lives.” Young passionately defended polygamy until his death in 1877, but the national government continued to attack the Mormons from all political angles and in 1890 the church abandoned the practice of plural marriage.
Prophet Wilford Woodruff inherited the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during one of the most trying periods in church history. The federal government had stripped Mormons of the right to vote, the right to sit on juries, and the right to hold public offices. They had also confiscated over a million dollars in church property. In 1886, the United States government entered the Utah territory and imprisoned over 1,200 leaders of the Mormon Church on polygamy charges (Leone 26). Under enormous pressure, the new leader, Wilford Woodruff, issued the 1890 Manifesto in which he declared that from this time forward, the LDS church renounced polygamy. The manifesto reads:
To whom it may concern: Press dispatches have been sent from Salt Lake City…[and] allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized, and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June, or during the past year, and also that in public discourse the leaders of the church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy. I therefore, as president of the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false…Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages…I do hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws and to use all my influence with the members of the church over which I preside to have them do likewise…I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter Day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land (“No Plural Saints”).
The statement issued by Wilford Woodruff appears to be nothing more than the advice of the prophet. If the manifesto was truly a commandment of God, it would begin with a declaration of “thus saith the Lord” rather than the decidedly secular phrase, “To whom it may concern.” Secondly, the manifesto was rewritten and edited many times and reviewed by Mormon politicians, apostles, and even legal advisors before its announcement (Abanes 324). This evidence suggests that the church leaders viewed the manifesto as a device to get the government to abandon its examination of the church and only years later would Woodruff describe the manifesto as a revelation. Regardless of the reasons for issuing the manifesto, the church’s official renunciation of plural marriage and other political concessions finally led to statehood of Utah in 1896 (Abanes 396).
After the turn of the twentieth century, the Mormon Church began actively separating itself from its polygamous past. The Mormon Church has gone to great lengths to improve its public image. Today, not only does the church renounce polygamy as a legitimate marital form, but it actively roots out modern-day practitioners of plural marriage. Church leaders also faithfully stand by the claim that the manifesto issued by Wilford Woodruff was in fact a revelation from God, and not a political measure taken to ensure the survival of the church. In the 1998 LDS General Conference, the president of the Mormon Church at the time, Gordon B. Hinckley, explained to his audience: “There is no such thing as a Mormon Fundamentalist. It is a contradiction to use the two words together. More than a century ago, God clearly revealed unto his prophet, Wilford Woodruff, that the practice of plural marriage should be discontinued, which means now that it is against the law of God” (“The Mormons”). The implications for the church would be severe if they were to admit that the 1890 Manifesto was not a revelation from God. It would undermine the spiritual authority of all past, present, and future leaders of the church and call into question the legitimacy of other revelations received by the prophets. After all, the doctrine of plural marriage was an ‘everlasting covenant’ revealed by God unto Joseph Smith (White and White 174). The only way for the church to reasonably explain the sudden abandonment of this principle is to claim divine authority of the revelation of Wilford Woodruff.
The bold embrace and then abrupt abandonment of polygamy is a lasting stain on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is evident that the political pressures placed on the Mormon Church and not divine revelation, led them to concede to the will of the federal government and denounce their doctrine of plural marriage. However, the truth of every so-called revelation is essential to truth of the church. The faithful Mormon believes that Joseph Smith was acting in accordance to God’s will when he dictated the doctrine of plural marriage. Similarly, the mainstream Latter-day Saint then also accepts the idea that God determined the rejection of this covenant less than a century later. Mormons and historians may never reach an agreement on the real reason motivating Woodruff’s manifesto. Nevertheless, the transformation of the LDS Church during its relatively short existence is inarguably remarkable. Within two generations, the Mormons went from one of the most persecuted, feared, and misunderstood religions in American history to one of the world’s fastest growing religions, whose members “walk the corridors of power, leaders in Congress and even running for President” (“The Mormons”).
Works Cited
Abanes, Richard. One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003. Print.
The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981. Print.
“Joseph Smith.” The American Prophet. PBS.org, n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2012.
Leone, Mark P. Roots of Modern Mormonism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979. Print.
Meinig, D.W. “The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 55.2 (1965): 191-220. 360LINK. Web. 14 Aug. 2012.
“Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act Law & Legal Definition.” US Legal. US Legal, Inc., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2012.
"The Mormons." Frontline. PBS. KNPB, n.d. PBS.org. Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 30 July 2012.
"No Plural Saints: The Head of the Mormons Denies Plural Marriage." Rocky Mountain News [Denver] 24 Sept. 1890: n. pag. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 30 July 2012.
“The Poland Act.” Famous Trials: Mountain Meadows Massacre Trial. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law., n.d. Web. 14 August 2012.
Rood, Ron, and Linda Thatcher. "Mormon Settlement." Utah.gov. State of Utah, n.d. Web. 30 July 2012.
Smith, Joseph. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: The Deseret Book Company, 1967. Print.
Whaelen, William J. The Latter-day Saints in the Modern Day World. New York: The John Day Company, 1964. Print.
White, O. Kendall, and Daryl White. "Polygamy and Mormon Identity." Journal of American Culture 28.2 (2005): 165-77. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Aug. 2012.
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