Polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Name	Polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Founder	Joseph Smith
Founded in	Kirtland, Ohio
Regions	Utah Territory, Idaho, Arizona
Theology	Restorationism (Mormonism), Latter Day Saint movement

Polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a practice originating in the early Latter Day Saint movement that involved plural marriage among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, leaders in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois introduced plural marriage, which later became publicly associated with the settlement of Utah Territory and generated prolonged conflict with federal authorities and public opinion in the United States.

Origins and early practice

Polygamy traces to revelations claimed by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois, with early practitioners including Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff, and congregations in Missouri and Illinois before the Mormon Exodus to Salt Lake Valley. Early adoption involved figures such as Emma Smith and controversies with members like William Smith and communities around Commerce, Illinois; tensions over plural marriage contributed to the Mormon War (1838) and the Extermination Order issued by Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs. Migration under Brigham Young established plural marriage more openly among settlers in Great Salt Lake City and affiliated settlements like Provo, Utah and St. George, Utah.

Doctrinal basis and theology

Church leaders cited revelations recorded in Doctrine and Covenants and teachings attributed to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to justify plural marriage as part of exaltation and celestial marriage theology, linking practices with scriptural interpretations including references to Abraham, Jacob, and David. Key theological proponents included Orson Pratt and Parley P. Pratt, while critics arose within circles such as Emma Hale Smith and secular observers like William Law. Debates over covenant, sealing authority associated with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ordinances performed in settings such as the Nauvoo Temple and later the Salt Lake Temple framed theological justifications and internal controversies.

Legal conflicts and federal suppression

Public disclosure and media coverage in New York City and Chicago intensified conflicts with statutes in the United States. Congressional legislation including the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act targeted polygamy, and enforcement actions by officials like Alfred Cumming and prosecutors during the Utah War heightened tensions. Court decisions such as Reynolds v. United States upheld criminalization of plural marriage, while territorial governance under Brigham Young and subsequent federal appointees produced stand-offs marked by actors like President James Buchanan and President Abraham Lincoln, and later enforcement by President Ulysses S. Grant and President Grover Cleveland amid anti-polygamy statutes including the Edmunds Act and the Edmunds–Tucker Act.

Official abandonment and the 1890 Manifesto

Facing asset seizure, disenfranchisement, and arrests following Edmunds–Tucker Act provisions and rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States, church president Wilford Woodruff issued the 1890 Manifesto, which announced a cessation of new plural marriages in order to comply with United States law. The 1890 Manifesto was followed by the 1904 “Second Manifesto” under Joseph F. Smith to address continued plural unions abroad, and institutional adjustments included changes in Temple (LDS Church) practice, legal recognition of Utah statehood, and negotiation with federal authorities such as Attorney General Richard Olney.

Post‑Manifesto splinter groups and fundamentalist polygamy

After the Manifesto, dissenting members formed groups often labeled Mormon fundamentalists, led by figures such as John W. Woolley, Lorin C. Woolley, Rulon C. Allred, and later organizations like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Apostolic United Brethren. These splinter movements established communities in locations including Short Creek, Arizona (near Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona), Bountiful, British Columbia, and Dixon, New Mexico, continuing plural marriage practices and producing legal and social clashes with state and federal authorities, as seen in raids and prosecutions involving leaders such as Warren Jeffs.

Social and demographic impacts

Plural marriage shaped family structure, settlement patterns, and gender demographics among Latter-day Saints in the nineteenth century, affecting populations in Salt Lake City, Cedar City, Utah, and Ogden, Utah. Economically, polygynous households influenced landholding and colonization strategies tied to leaders like Brigham Young and Apostles of the LDS Church who organized communal and cooperative ventures such as the United Order and Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. Demographic consequences included skewed marriage patterns, migration to frontier settlements, and social tensions with neighboring populations in Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona Territory.

Contemporary church stance and public perception

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today repudiates polygamy, emphasizing monogamy in public communications by leaders including Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson, while continuing to distance itself from fundamentalist groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Contemporary controversies surface in media outlets in Salt Lake City and national publications, with civic debates in venues like the Utah State Legislature and cultural treatments in works referencing Salt Lake Tribune reportage and documentary films about communities including Hildale, Utah. Public perception remains shaped by historical episodes and ongoing legal and social disputes involving plural marriage adherents outside the mainstream church.

Category:History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Polygamy in North America