Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

==== 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}}