Essay/Term paper: Social and political reactions to polygamy

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Miscellaneous

"We are a peculiar people," Elder Bruce R. McConkie once said (McConkie 25).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of a few "odd" Christian religions.

Many of its practices have created much persecution and political reaction, polygamy

being one of these. It created much social and political persecution of the Mormons.

Most of this persecution had come from anti-polygamist Christians. This is ironic

because the anti-polygamists believed in the Bible, but not polygamy, one of its teachings.

Many of God"s righteous followers in the Old Testament practiced polygamy. Abraham

married Hagar, Sarai"s handmaiden (Genesis 16:1-3). Jacob was married to Leah,

Rachel, Billah, and Zilpha all at the same time. In the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of

modern revelation used as scripture by the LDS church, it states that "in nothing did they

[the Old Testament prophets] sin save in those things they received not of me

[God]"(132:38). Quickly one sees that God gave those women to the prophets of old

because they were righteous.

So what exactly is the justification and reason for polygamy? Mormons believed

that when a couple or family is sealed in the temple of the Lord by one holding God"s

priesthood keys of sealing, that the bond is not "until death do us part," but rather for all

eternity. If this is true, then when a man is widowed and he marries a second wife, he

then has two wives. The Mormons believe that if a man can have multiple wives in

heaven, then the same should be true on Earth. "According to the Lord"s law of marriage,

it is lawful that a man have only one wife at a time unless by revelation the Lord

commands plurality of wives in the new and everlasting covenant" (McConkie5770). If a

woman who is sealed in the temple is widowed, she not allowed to be resealed: only a

man is allowed a plurality of spouses.

Before the founding and organizing of the LDS church and introduction of

polygamy, Joseph Smith received bitter persecution. He was tarred and feathered by a

mob, but this was nothing compared to the treatment the saints received when their

practice of polygamy became well known (Arrington JS 26-7). In order to escape the

torture, Joseph Smith led one hundred and fifty or more saints from New York to

Kirtland, Ohio in 1831 (Arrington JS 21). After living in harmony with the native Gentiles

for several years, the town of Kirtland became a prosperous city. In 1843, the local

Gentiles found out that Joseph Smith and many other church members were practicing

polygamy. When questioned, they confessed to the act, but from then on they hid it from

the Gentiles (Newell 66-7). The news spread quickly, and the persecution returned at an

even greater intensity.

Social persecution quickly turned into political persecution. On October 30, 1838,

Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order in which he wrote "that the

Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if

necessary, for the public good." (Benton 787) A few days later at Haun"s Mill, 17

Mormons were killed and many others, including women and children, were severely

wounded (Benton787). In October 1838, the Missouri state militia was marching toward

the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio:

Anxious to avoid bloodshed, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt,

Lyman White and George Robinson went to negotiate with state officials

under the flag of truce. Instead of treating the group with respect,

however, militia officials seized the group. An order was issued to have

Joseph and the others shot, but Colonel Alexander Doniphan, a secondary

Missouri officer, courageously refused to carry out the order. Instead of

court-martial and execution, the prisoners were taken on November 2 to

Jackson County for Prison and trial."(Arrington JS32)

After spending six months in prison, the group escaped with the help of the jailer

(Arrington JS 32). Joseph then purchased a large amount of land in Jackson county,

Missouri to which the Mormons could flee for safety.

There Smith founded the city of Nauvoo, to which approximately 2,500 Mormons

fled, from Ohio and New York. "At first the Mormons were kindly received by the

Missourians who looked upon them as a set of harmless fanatics, very susceptible of being

molded into good and honest citizens" (Benton 796). Native Southerners soon found that

the Mormons were against slavery, and therefore began to despise their presence (Benton

797). William and Wilson Law organized a paper called the Nauvoo Expositor, and

printed their first and last paper in which they reinforced the rumors among the Gentiles

that the Mormons practiced polygamy. Anti-Mormon mob violence increased in response.

Smith had the press destroyed and gathered the Nauvoo legion to quell the mob violence

and to protect the city (Benton 797):

For this he was charged with treason and with others, including his brother

Hyrum, incarcerated in Carthage jail under pledge of protection by

Governor Ford. This pledge was not kept. On the afternoon of June 27,

1844, a mob of armed men with blackened faces assaulted the jail and

murdered Joseph and Hyrum Smith. John Taylor was severely wounded,

but Willard Richards, their fellow prisoner, escaped unhurt." (Benton 797)

The prophet and president of the church was dead, and for the next three years. The

Mormons were led by the Quorum of the Twelve. Brigham Young, the senior member of

the Twelve, was then appointed by the Twelve and overwhelmingly ratified by the

congregation (Benton797). Under Brigham Young, the Mormons faced their final move.

On September 10, 1845 Young appointed 1,500 men to go to the Great Salt Lake

Valley, and two weeks later an agreement was made with the county and the state officials

in Missouri for a prompt evacuation of Missouri. In the early spring of 1846, several

thousand Mormons evacuated Nauvoo to head for Salt Lake (Arrington BY 55).

The Salt Lake Valley "was selected because of its very unattractiveness, with the

hope, therefore, that it would not be coveted by others"(Benton 797):

Constitutional conventions of 1856, 1862, 1872, 1882, and 1887

accomplished nothi8ng in the face of the determination of the federal

government to force abolition of polygamy which became the symbol of the

supremacy of United States law over the Mormon way of life. (Benton

910)

Not until 1895 was Utah allowed entrance into the union as a state, because Congress

wanted more non-Mormons in Utah and because they wanted to be sure that polygamy

was finished there (Arrington 343). They eventually received status as a United States

territory under the name of Utah, instead of statehood.

Under their new status as a territory, the Mormons were treated poorly by their

appointed territorial governor and congress. During the 1850s, Associate Justice William

Drummond and the United States Attorney General Jeremiah Black sent claims to

President James Buchanan that the records of the territorial Supreme Court had been

damaged under Brigham Young"s command (Roberts 4:46). After several more reports of

serious treason were reported to Buchanan, he sent in General Albert Sidney Johnston

with several thousand troops and the newly appointed territorial Governor Alfred

Cumming to quell the rebellion and restore peace. Due to severe weather conditions and

guerrilla attacks, in which supplies were taken or destroyed, the army was forced to stay in

Camp Scott near Fort Bridger (Benton 797). In the Spring the troops moved in and found

that the records were intact. In preparation for the federal troops, Young had ordered that

all Mormons in the Great Salt Lake Valley area were to flee south (Roberts 4:444). The

troops returned to Camp Scott and reported to Buchanan that the peace had been restored

(Roberts 4:43). "The whole military episode soon became known as "Buchanan"s blunder"

and did much to ruin his fortunes politically"(Benton798).

After "Buchanan"s blunder," Congress reverted to laws instead of the military to

rid the United States of polygamous Mormons. The first of many anti-Mormon and anti-

polygamy laws was the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862. Lincoln approved this bill on

July 8, 1862 which made the practice of polygamy illegal (Roberts 5:7). In 1882 the

Edmunds Law was enacted, providing for imprisonment of those convicted of polygamy

or "unlawful cohabitation" (Kenney 195). Because of these two laws the Mormons were

subject to extreme persecution (Roberts 5:7); many of the Mormon leaders "were forced

to flee their homes to keep from being thrown in prison for a practice basic to their

religious beliefs" (Swinton 145):

These laws were questioned because it was thought that they constituted

an infringement upon religious liberty as guaranteed by the constitution. In

1890, however, after the US supreme court had reaffirmed the

constitutionality of the anti-polygamy laws. . . (Benton 799)

On September 24, 1890. In response to the decree of the Supreme Court Wilford

Woodruff issued what became known as the "Woodruff Manifesto." It is printed at the

end of every copy of the Doctrine & Covenants. It reads in part as follows:

Inasmuch as Laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural

marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of

last resort. I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to

use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to

have them do likewise. (D&C292)

Although the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer

sanctioned or allowed polygamous marriages in their temples, the practice continued

among rebellious and stubborn members.

Persecution continued because many Gentiles rightly felt that the Mormons were

still practicing polygamy. The Idaho Test Oath was used to disenfranchise those men who

continued to practice polygamy. Gentile women fought to gain suffrage in order to aid the

passage of anti-polygamy laws. Once women were enfranchised they realized it was only

aiding the polygamists and began lobbying for disenfranchising women (Bitton 212-3).

Not all Mormons liked polygamy; many felt it was not an institution of God. At

first, even Joseph Smith dreaded it (Newell 292). Women, especially, did not approve of

it. They fought against it because of its accompanying hardships. Emma Smith, Joseph"s

wife, was one such Mormon woman. In her journal she writes of the hardships she had to

go through because of polygamy:

Today Lucie Rigdon told me she had heard of another of Joseph"s wives. I

just can"t cope with sharing my husband. (Newell 272).

Men also rejected polygamy. They felt it was a form of justified adultery. Not all Mormons

reacted the same way to polygamy. Some left, and others had their testimonies

strengthened by it.

The Mormons were subject to severe persecution and unjust treatment for

believing that polygamy was morally, spiritually, and legally correct and for upholding the

two percent who practiced it (Robert 6:149). The Mormons were driven across the nation

to escape the persecution but were never successful. Many church historians have felt that

polygamy was practiced in order to make the early and present members stronger by

forcing them to defend their beliefs as Mormons (Roberts 5:294-300).



Works Cited

Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. New York: Alred A Knopf,

Inc., 1895.

Arrington, Leonard J. ed. The Presidents of the Church. Salt Lake: Desert Books, 1986.

Arrington, Leonard J. "Joseph Smith," Presidents.

Arrington, Leonard, J. "Brigham Young," Presidents.

Benton, William, ed. Encyclopedia Britanica. Chicago, 1965.

Bitton, Davis & Beecher, Maureen U. New Views of Mormon History. Salt Lake City:

University of Utah Press, 1987.

- - -. Doctrine & Covenants. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints, 1989.

- - -. The Holy Bible. King James Version. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, 1989.

Kenney, Scott. "Joseph F. Smith," Presidents.

McConkie, Bruce R. Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Inc., 1886.

Newell, Linda King & Avery, Valeen. Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. Garden City,

NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1984.

Roberts, B. H.. A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints. Salt Lake City; Bookcraft, 1957.

Swinton, Heidi S. "Lorenzo Snow," Presidents.