Editing 1890 Manifesto (section)

==Background==
{{LDSpolygamy}}

The Manifesto was issued in response to the anti-polygamy policies of the [[federal government of the United States]], and most especially the [[Edmunds–Tucker Act]] of 1887. This law disincorporated the LDS Church and authorized the federal government to seize all of the church's assets. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] upheld the provisions of the Edmunds–Tucker Act in ''[[Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States]]'' in May 1890.<ref>{{ussc|136|1|1890}}.</ref>

In April 1889, Woodruff, the president of the church, began privately refusing the permission that was required to contract new plural marriages.<ref>{{harvnb|Van Wagoner|1989|p=135}}</ref> In October 1889, Woodruff publicly admitted that he was no longer approving new polygamous marriages, and in answer to a reporter's question of what the LDS Church's attitude was toward the law against polygamy, Woodruff stated, "We mean to obey it. We have no thought of evading it or ignoring it."<ref>''Salt Lake Herald'', 1889-10-27, quoted in: {{harvnb|Van Wagoner|1989|p=136}}</ref> Because it had been Mormon practice for over 25 years to either evade or ignore anti-polygamy laws, Woodruff's statement was a signal that a change in church policy was developing.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2005|pp=62–63}}</ref>

In February 1890, the Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Davis v. Beason]]''<ref>{{ussc|133|333|1890}}.</ref> that a law in [[Idaho Territory]] which disenfranchised individuals who practiced or believed in plural marriage was constitutional.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2005|pp=63–64}}</ref> That decision left the Mormons no further legal recourse to their current marriage practices<ref>{{Citation | last = Lyman | first = Edward Leo | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = Manifesto (Plural Marriage) | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MANIFESTO_PLURAL_MARRIAGE.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230530204027/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MANIFESTO_PLURAL_MARRIAGE.shtml | archive-date = May 30, 2023 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = August 14, 2024 | quote = After years of determined resistance to governmental pressure to end [polygamy], including test cases in the federal courts, hopes waned of receiving a favorable outcome. The most crucial development was the ''Davis v. Beason'' decision in 1890 ... .}}</ref> and made it unlikely that without change [[Utah Territory]] would be granted statehood.{{cn|date=September 2020}}

Woodruff later said that on the night of September 23, 1890, he received a [[revelation]] from [[Jesus Christ]] that the church should cease the practice of plural marriage.<ref name = wwremarks>Remarks of Wilford Woodruff at Cache [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|Stake]] Conference, [[Logan, Utah]], November 1, 1891; reported at Wilford Woodruff, "Remarks", ''Deseret Weekly'' (Salt Lake City, Utah) November 14, 1891; excerpts reprinted in LDS Church, [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng "Official Declaration 1"], [[Doctrine and Covenants]].</ref> The following morning, he reported this to some of the [[General authority|general authorities]] and placed the hand-written draft on a table. [[George Reynolds (Mormon)|George Reynolds]] would later recount that he, [[Charles W. Penrose]], and [[John R. Winder]] modified Woodruff's draft into the current language accepted by the general authorities and presented to the church as a whole.<ref>{{citation |title= Proceedings Before the Committee On Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate in the Matter of The Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator From the State of Utah, To Hold His Seat |volume= II |pages= [https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsbefor02unitrich#page/52/mode/2up 52–53] |first1= Julius C. |last1= Burrows |first2= Joseph Benson |last2= Foraker |author3= United States Congress Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections |year= 1906 |series= 59th Cong., 1st sess. Senate. Doc. 486 |oclc= 4795799 }}</ref> Woodruff announced the Manifesto on September 25 by publishing it in the church-owned ''[[Deseret News|Deseret Weekly]]'' in [[Salt Lake City]].<ref>Wilford Woodruff, "Official Declaration", ''Deseret Weekly'' (Salt Lake City) '''41''':476 (1890-09-25).</ref> On October 6, 1890, it was formally [[Common consent (Mormonism)|accepted]] by the church membership, though many held reservations or abstained from voting.<ref name = manifestoend/><ref>{{cite book | author=Joseph Stuart | chapter='For the Temporal Salvation of the Church': Historical Context of the Manifesto, 1882–90 | year=2012 | title=BYU Religious Education Student Symposium, 2012 | publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]] | isbn=978-0-8425-2829-0 | chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/byu-religious-education-student-symposium-2012/temporal-salvation-church-historical-context#_ednref39 | access-date=2015-06-16 | archive-date=2016-01-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123212144/https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/byu-religious-education-student-symposium-2012/temporal-salvation-church-historical-context#_ednref39  }}</ref><ref name = erickson>{{cite book | author=Dan Erickson | title='As a Thief in the Night': The Mormon Quest for Millennial Deliverance | year=1998 | publisher=[[Signature Books]] | page=205 | url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/as-a-thief-in-the-night-08/ | access-date=2015-06-16}}</ref>

Utah ratified [[Constitution of Utah|its constitution]] in November 1895 and was granted statehood on January 4, 1896.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Thomas G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alejCO6B7sMC&pg=PA91|title=Edward Hunter Snow: Pioneer – Educator – Statesman|date=2012|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-8795-2|page=91|language=en}}</ref> One of the conditions for granting Utah statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into its state constitution.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kaplan|first=David A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8muDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA423|title=The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court in the Age of Trump|date=2019|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-1-5247-5991-9|page=423|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pulido|first=Elisa Eastwood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWHdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|title=The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878–1961|date=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-094212-0|page=42|language=en}}</ref>