Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

== Church officially ends polygamy ==

=== U.S. government actions against polygamy ===
{{more citations needed|section|date = August 2019}}
Mormon polygamy was one of the leading moral issues of the 19th century in the United States, perhaps second only to slavery in importance. Spurred by popular indignation, the U.S. government took a number of steps against polygamy; these were of varying effectiveness.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foster |first=Gaines M. |url=https://archive.org/details/moralreconst_fost_2002_000_7102584/page/233 |title=Moral Reconstruction: Christian Lobbyists and the Federal Legislation of Morality, 1865–1920 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8078-5366-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/moralreconst_fost_2002_000_7102584/page/233 233–34]}}</ref><ref>''E.g.'', Donald T. Critchlow and Philip R. VanderMeer, ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2012; Volume 1, pp. 47–51, 154.</ref> Anti-polygamy laws began to be passed ten years after the church publicly announced the practice of polygamy.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|191}}

==== Anti-polygamy Bill of 1854 ====
The first legislative attempt to discourage polygamy in Utah was presented in the 33rd Congress. The bill was debated in May 1854. The bill included the provision that any man who had more than one wife would not be able to own land in the Utah Territory. This bill was defeated in the House of Representatives after multiple representatives argued that the federal government did not have the authority to legislate morals in the states.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|194–195}}

==== 1857–1858 Utah War ====

{{Main|Utah War}}
As the church settled in what became the Utah Territory, it eventually was subjected to the power and opinion of the United States. Friction first began to show in the [[Presidency of James Buchanan|James Buchanan administration]] and federal troops arrived (see [[Utah War]]). Buchanan, anticipating Mormon opposition to a newly appointed territorial governor to replace Brigham Young, dispatched 2,500 federal troops to Utah to seat the new governor, thus setting in motion a series of misunderstandings in which the Mormons felt threatened.<ref>{{Citation |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |title=Utah History Encyclopedia |year=1994 |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=Allan Kent |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113105715/http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/u/UTAH_WAR.html |contribution=The Utah War |contribution-url=http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/u/UTAH_WAR.html |place=Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher=[[University of Utah Press]] |isbn=0874804256 |oclc=30473917 |access-date=November 11, 2013 |archive-date=January 13, 2017 |author-link=Richard D. Poll |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act ====
{{Main|Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act}}In 1862, the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act became law. The act criminalized the practice of polygamy, unincorporated the church, and limited the church's real estate holdings. The act was largely understood to be unconstitutional and was only enforced in rare cases.<ref name="Arrington 1985">{{Cite book |last=Arrington |first=Leonard J. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11443615 |title=Brigham Young : American Moses |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-51022-4 |edition=1st |oclc=11443615}}</ref>{{rp|422}} While the act outlawed bigamy in the US territories, it was seen to be largely weak and ineffective at preventing people from practicing polygamy.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Phipps |first=Kelly Elizabeth |date=2009 |title=Marriage and Redemption: Mormon Polygamy in the Congressional Imagination, 1862–1887 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25478708 |journal=Virginia Law Review |volume=95 |issue=2 |pages=435–487 |jstor=25478708 |issn=0042-6601}}</ref>{{rp|447–449}}<ref>{{harvnb|Hardy|2007|pp=243–244}}</ref> However, due to the continuous threat of legislation targeting polygamy and the church, Brigham Young pretended to comply.<ref name="Arrington 1985"/>{{rp|422}}

On January 6, 1879, the Supreme Court upheld the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in ''[[Reynolds v. United States]]''.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Firmage |first=Edwin B. |date=1987 |title=The Judicial Campaign against Polygamy and the Enduring Legal Questions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43041301 |journal=Brigham Young University Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=91–117 |jstor=43041301 |issn=0007-0106}}</ref>{{rp|93}}

==== Wade, Cragin, and Cullom Bills ====
The Wade, Cragin, and Cullom Bills were anti-bigamy legislation that failed to pass in the US Congress. The bills were all intended to enforce the Morrill Act's prohibition on polygamy with more punitive measures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toler |first=Lorianne Updike |date=October 2019 |title=Western Reconstruction and Women's Suffrage |url=https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1917&context=wmborj |journal=William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=147–170}}</ref> The Wade Bill of 1866 had the power to dismantle local government in Utah.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |date=1986 |title=The Legislative Antipolygamy Campaign |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43042251 |journal=Brigham Young University Studies |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=107–121 |issn=0007-0106 |jstor=43042251 |jstor-access=free}}</ref> Three years after the Wade Bill failed, the Cragin Bill, which would have eliminated the right to a jury for bigamy trials, was introduced but not passed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prior |first=David |date=2010-09-10 |title=Civilization, Republic, Nation: Contested Keywords, Northern Republicans, and the Forgotten Reconstruction of Mormon Utah |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/14/article/392714 |journal=Civil War History |language=en |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=283–310 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2010.0003 |s2cid=145660564 |issn=1533-6271|url-access=subscription }}</ref> After that, the Cullom Bill was introduced. One of the most concerning parts of the Cullom Bill for polygamists was that, if passed, anyone who practiced any type of non-monogamous relationship would not be able to become a citizen of the United States, vote in elections, or receive the benefits of the homestead laws. The leadership of the church publicly opposed the Cullom Bill. Op-eds in church-owned newspapers declared the bill as unjust and dangerous to Mormons.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History |publisher=Church Historian's Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-62972-150-7 |editor-last=Derr |editor-first=Jill Mulvay |at=3.12 |chapter=Minutes of 'Ladies Mass Meeting,' January 6, 1870 |editor-last2=Madsen |editor-first2=Carol Cornwall |editor-last3=Holbrook |editor-first3=Kate |editor-last4=Grow |editor-first4=Matthew J. |chapter-url=https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/part-3/3-12?lang=eng}}</ref>

The introduction of the Cullom Bill led to protests by Mormons, particularly Mormon women. Women organized indignation meetings to voice their disapproval of the bill.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|xii}} The strong reaction of Mormon women surprised many onlookers and politicians. Outside of the church, Mormon women were seen as weak and oppressed by their husbands and the men of the church. The political activism in support of polygamy of Mormon women was unexpected from a group that had been portrayed as powerless.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kitterman |first=Katherine |date=2020-03-16 |title=How Utah Women Gained the Right to Vote in 1870 (Part 2) |url=https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/2020/03/how-utah-women-gained-the-right-to-vote-in-1870-part-2/ |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=Better Days 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=xii–xvi}}

==== 1874 Poland Act ====
{{Main|Poland Act}}
Following the failure of the Wade, Cragin, and Collum Bills, the Poland Act was an anti-bigamy prosecution act that was successfully enacted by the [[43rd United States Congress]]. The Poland Act, named after [[Luke P. Poland|its sponsor]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|US House of Representatives]], attempted to prosecute Utah under the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act for refusing to stop practicing polygamy. The act stripped away some of Utah's powers and gave the federal government greater control over the territory. Among other powers, the act gave US district courts jurisdiction in the Utah Territory for all court cases.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Poland Act |url=https://www.famous-trials.com/mountainmeadows/933-the-poland-act |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=www.famous-trials.com}}</ref> The Poland Act was a significant threat to Mormons practicing polygamy as it allowed for men who had multiple wives to be criminally [[Indictment|indicted]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Chapter Thirty-Three: A Decade of Persecution, 1877–87 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/church-history-in-the-fulness-of-times/chapter-thirty-three?lang=eng |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref>

==== 1882 Edmunds Act ====
{{Main|Edmunds Act}}
In February 1882, [[George Q. Cannon]], a prominent leader in the church, was denied a non-voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives due to his polygamous relations. This revived the issue of polygamy in national politics. One month later, the [[Edmunds Act]] was passed by Congress, amending the Morrill Act and made polygamy a felony punishable by a $500 fine and five years in prison. "Unlawful cohabitation", in which the prosecution did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), was a misdemeanor punishable by a $300 fine and six months imprisonment.<ref name="Embry19942" /> It also revoked the right of polygamists to vote or hold office and allowed them to be punished without due process. Even if people did not practice polygamy, they would have their rights revoked if they confessed a belief in it. In August, [[Rudger Clawson]] was imprisoned for continuing to cohabit with wives that he married before the 1862 Morrill Act.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Dickinson|first1=Ellen E. |last2= Spaulding |first2=Solomon |author-link= |date=1885 |title= New Light on Mormonism|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=d7wUAAAAYAAJ |location= [[Harvard University]]|publisher=[[Funk & Wagnalls]] |pages= 182–184|isbn=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hardy |first=B. Carmon |author-link= |date=August 30, 2017 |title= Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy – Its Origin, Practice, and Demise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TgQxDwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher= [[University of Oklahoma Press]]|page= 291|isbn=9780806159133}}</ref>

==== 1887 Edmunds–Tucker Act ====
{{Main|Edmunds–Tucker Act}}
[[File:Polygamists in prison.jpg|thumb|290px|Polygamists, including [[George Q. Cannon]], imprisoned under the Edmunds–Tucker Act, at the Utah Penitentiary in 1889.]]
In 1887, the [[Edmunds–Tucker Act]] allowed the disincorporation of the LDS Church and the seizure of church property; it also further extended the punishments of the Edmunds Act. On July 31 of the same year, U.S. Attorney General George Peters filed suit to seize all church assets.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Alexander|first1=Thomas G. |date= 1991|title= The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/23286430 |journal= [[Journal of Mormon History]]|volume=17 |issue= |pages= 169–206|doi= |jstor=23286430 |access-date=February 5, 2024}}</ref>

The church was losing control of the territorial government, and many members and leaders were being actively pursued as fugitives. Without being able to appear publicly, the leadership was left to navigate "underground".<ref>{{harvnb|van Beek|2003|p=123}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bowman|2022|p=174}}.</ref>

Following the passage of the Edmunds–Tucker Act, the church found it difficult to operate as a viable institution. After visiting priesthood leaders in many settlements, church president [[Wilford Woodruff]] left for San Francisco on September 3, 1890, to meet with prominent businessmen and politicians. He returned to Salt Lake City on September 21, determined to obtain divine confirmation to pursue a course that seemed to be agonizingly more and more clear. As he explained to church members a year later, the choice was between, on the one hand, continuing to practice polygamy and thereby losing the [[temple (LDS Church)|temples]], "stopping all the ordinances therein" and, on the other, ceasing to practice polygamy in order to continue performing the essential ordinances for the living and the dead. Woodruff hastened to add that he had acted only as the Lord directed.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==== 1879 ''Reynolds'' vs. ''United States'' ====
{{Main|Reynolds v. United States}}
In 1879, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled that a defendant cannot claim a religious obligation as a valid defense to a crime and upheld the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in ''[[Reynolds v. United States]]''.<ref name=":7" />{{rp|93}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/98/145/ |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref> The Court said that while holding a religious belief was protected under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] right of freedom of religion, practicing a religious belief that broke the law was not.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs |title=Reynolds v. United States |url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/cases/reynolds-v-united-states |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=berkleycenter.georgetown.edu |language=en}}</ref> ''Reynolds'' vs. ''United States'' was the Supreme Court's first case in which a party used the right of [[Freedom of religion in the United States|freedom of religion]] as a defense. The ruling concluded that Mormons could be charged with committing bigamy despite their religious beliefs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Stephen Eliot |date=2009 |title=Barbarians within the Gates: Congressional Debates on Mormon Polygamy, 1850–1879 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23921808 |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=587–616 [587]|doi=10.1093/jcs/csq021 |jstor=23921808 |issn=0021-969X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== 1890 Manifesto banning polygamy ===
{{Main|1890 Manifesto}}
The final element in Woodruff's revelatory experience came on the evening of September 23, 1890. The following morning, he reported to some of the [[general authorities]] that he had struggled throughout the night with the Lord regarding the path that should be pursued. The result was a 510-word handwritten manuscript which stated his intentions to comply with the law and denied that the church continued to solemnize or condone polygamous marriages. The document was later edited by [[George Q. Cannon]] of the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] and others to its present 356 words. On October 6, 1890, it was presented to the Latter-day Saints at the [[General Conference (LDS Church)|General Conference]] and unanimously approved.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

While many church leaders in 1890 regarded the [[1890 Manifesto|Manifesto]] as inspired, there were differences among them about its scope and permanence. Contemporary opinions include the contention that the manifesto was more related to an effort to achieve statehood for the Utah territory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mormons – Special Features – PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/mormons/sfeature/utah_04.html |website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> Some leaders were reluctant to terminate a long-standing practice that was regarded as divinely mandated. As a result, over 200 polygamous marriages were performed between 1890 and 1904.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hardy|1992}}</ref>

===1904 Second Manifesto===
{{Main|Second Manifesto}}
It was not until 1904, under the leadership of church president [[Joseph F. Smith]], that the church completely banned new polygamous marriages worldwide.<ref>Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Sunday Schools, Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union, 1968, p. 159.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Appears to be a denominational Sunday School manual|date=February 2024}} Not surprisingly, rumors persisted of marriages performed after the 1890 Manifesto, and beginning in January 1904, testimony given in the [[Reed Smoot hearings|Smoot hearings]] made it clear that polygamy had not been completely extinguished.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The ambiguity was ended in the General Conference of April 1904, when Smith issued the "[[Second Manifesto]]", an emphatic declaration that prohibited new polygamous marriages and proclaimed that offenders would be subject to [[Disciplinary council|church discipline]].{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} It declared that any who participated in additional plural marriages, and those officiating, would be excommunicated from the church. Those disagreeing with the Second Manifesto included apostles [[Matthias F. Cowley]] and [[John W. Taylor (Mormon)|John W. Taylor]], who both resigned from the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve]]. Cowley retained his membership in the church, but Taylor was later excommunicated.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Although the Second Manifesto ended the official practice of new polygamous marriages, existing ones were not automatically dissolved. Many Mormons, including prominent church leaders, maintained their polygamy into the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name=1950s>{{Cite web |last=Embry |first=Jessie L. |year=1994 |title=The History of Polygamy |url=https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107044102/https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |archive-date=2018-11-07 |access-date=2018-12-31 |website=heritage.utah.gov |publisher=Utah State Historical Society |quote=Those involved in plural marriages after 1904 were excommunicated; and those married between 1890 and 1904 were not to have church callings where other members would have to sustain them. Although the Mormon church officially prohibited new plural marriages after 1904, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.}}</ref>

In 1943, the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] learned that apostle [[Richard R. Lyman]] was cohabitating with a woman other than his legal wife. As it turned out, in 1925 Lyman had begun a relationship which he defined as a polygamous marriage. Unable to trust anyone else to officiate, Lyman and the woman exchanged vows secretly. By 1943, both were in their seventies. Lyman was excommunicated on November 12, 1943. The Quorum of the Twelve provided the newspapers with a one-sentence announcement, stating that the ground for excommunication was violation of the [[law of chastity]].{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}