Plural Marriage

Introduction

Polygamy, usually called plural marriage, plurality of wives, or the Principle, by Mormons, is the most controversial practice of the Mormon Church, properly called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even though Mormons have not practiced it since 1890. Mormons actually practiced polygymy, where one man marries multiple women. This practice led to severe persecution and repression of Mormons by the United State Government in the latter half of the nineteenth century and its abandonment became a condition for Utah statehood. Many misunderstandings, misperceptions, half-truths, and outright lies have attended discussions of polygamy among the Mormons and it is still fodder for anti-Mormons and ex-Mormons who attempt to attack the Church and its teachings today. This article will address the history of polygamy among Mormons and the official teachings of the Mormon Church about polygamy.

Polygamy and the Book of Mormon

Though anti-Mormons and critics of the Mormon Church claim the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy, and hence contradicts later Mormon teachings, the Book of Mormon is in fact the earliest revelation by Joseph Smith that hints at God commanding polygamy. In the Book of Jacob, the third book of the Book of Mormon, an ancient American prophet teaches:

Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes. (Jacob 2:27-29)

Critics cite this as contradicting Joseph Smith’s and Brigham Young’s later teachings commanding polygamy, but they fail to quote the next verse:

For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. (Jacob 2:30)

Hence, the Book of Mormon teaches that sometimes God commands his people to practice polygamy, and sometimes he forbids it, but when he does command it, the purpose is to raise righteous children unto the Lord. This corresponds precisely to what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught:

• [...] I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord directs otherwise. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Page 324)

• God never introduced the Patriarchal order of marriage with a view to please man in his carnal desires, nor to punish females for anything which they had done; but He introduced it for the express purpose of raising up to His name a royal Priesthood, a peculiar people. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:264)

• This revelation, which God gave to Joseph, was for the express purpose of providing a channel for the organization of tabernacles [i.e. bodies], for those spirits to occupy who have been reserved to come forth in the kingdom of God, and that they might not be obliged to take tabernacles out of the kingdom of God. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:265)

Critics of the Mormon Church who try to distort what the Book of Mormon says and what Brigham Young and Joseph Smith said are either purposely lying and covering up the truth, or are ignorant about the subject.

Joseph Smith and Polygamy

see also the Mormon history article covering this time period.

Though never practiced or taught openly during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, it is nevertheless certain that he was the one who introduced it. Rumors about it circulated in the 1830s and 1840s until Brigham Young had it announced publicly for the first time in 1852. Joseph’s first inkling about it likely came as early as 1831, one year after the founding of the Church, as Joseph Smith was working on a translation of the Bible. According to the revelation given to Joseph Smith, but not written down until July 12, 1843, Joseph Smith approached the Lord and asked Him why he permitted ancient prophets like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to have multiple wives. The revelation states that only God can command men to practice polygamy and that he appoints a prophet to be in charge of it when he does.

Joseph Smith was hesitant to teach this new principle and did not even share it with his closest associates for many years. According to later statements by Lorenzo Snow, and Brigham Young Joseph was himself repelled by the idea and not until an angel of Lord appeared to him and ordered him to practice it and teach it did he begin. This apparently took place sometime after 1839 when the Mormons had been driven to Nauvoo, Illinois. When Brigham Young learned about it he said:

Some of these my brethren know what my feelings were at the time Joseph revealed the doctrine; I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to envy the corpse its situation, and to regret that I was not in the coffin, knowing the toil and labor that my body would have to undergo; and I have had to examine myself, from that day to this, and watch my faith, and carefully meditate, lest I should be found desiring the grave more than I ought to do (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:266).

It is not clear exactly how many women Joseph Smith married, but it is apparent that Joseph Smith did not ever live with any of these other wives. Mormon teachings on marriage, which Joseph Smith had begun teaching in Nauvoo, taught that men and women could be married for all eternity, not just in this life. Marriage was for “time and all eternity.” Time referred to this mortal life while eternity referred to the next life. Hence, according to Joseph Smith marriages could be just for this life, for this life and the next, or just for the next life.

This last category has caused much confusion and led to many attacks on the characters of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. For persons whose spouses were not Mormons and thus could not be married for “time and all eternity” to that spouse, early Mormon practice allowed the person to be sealed, a Mormon word referring to temple marriage for all eternity, to one person, but married for time to another. Thus, the person would continue to live with one spouse in this life, but have the blessings of eternal marriage, called celestial marriage, with another. Many of Joseph Smith’s and Brigham Young’s wives were of this sort. They never lived with the person or had sexual relations with them. Also confusing, was a later practice where women whose husbands could not enter a Mormon temple because of unworthiness, or else were not a Mormon, were sealed to a deceased man like Brigham Young. Thus while Brigham Young only cohabited with about sixteen women, he was sealed to dozens more.

Another aspect of Mormon polygamy that often gets attacked is reputed marriages to teenage girls. Today in the United States the average age for a first marriage is between 25 and 27 years old, but in the nineteenth century teenage marriages were not that unusual and in many cases the marriage was contracted, but the girl remained with her family until she reached adulthood.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith began teaching polygamy to his closest and most trusted associates. Nearly 100 people were taught about it before Joseph Smith’s martyrdom. A few began this practice before the exodus of 1846, but it remained in hiatus until the Mormons were established in Utah. During the Nauvoo period, Joseph and the others walked a fine line. As quoted above, Joseph Smith taught publicly that everyone should only have one wife unless God commanded otherwise, however they were wary of misunderstandings and persecution from the surrounding communities and so the practice continued in secret for a time.

Some close associates took advantage of this situation. John C. Bennett, a friend of Joseph Smith and mayor of Nauvoo perverted these teachings to gratify his own lust. He told single and married women that Joseph was teaching “Spiritual Wifery,” as he called it, which he claimed gave them permission to sleep with whomever they desired. Bennett was eventually caught. He confessed that Joseph Smith had never taught “Spiritual Wifery,” which amounted to adultery, and was soon excommunicated. He left Nauvoo and began publishing scathing attacks on Joseph Smith. Another close associate, William Law, pled with Joseph Smith to renounce polygamy. When he would not, Law and a few other disaffected Mormons published the Nauvoo Expositor which claimed Joseph Smith was teaching adultery and fornication and called for him to be hung. The city council decided this was a public nuisance and so destroyed the press. Riots followed and Joseph Smith was arrested, imprisoned in Carthage jail, and there murdered on June 27, 1844.

Polygamy in Utah

see also the articles on Mormon history covering this period.

Polygamy Publicly Announced

The Mormons were driven out of Illinois in 1846. Once established, Brigham Young directed Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to announce the practice publicly. He did so on August 29, 1852. In this speech and others that followed, he set forth the Church’s explanation and defense of polygamy. He claimed first that God had commanded it. Secondly, the reason God commanded it was so that Mormons could raise righteous children. Lastly he noted that God only permitted His prophets to direct who will practice polygamy. As evidence he cited the story of the Prophet Nathan and King David, where Nathan tells he gave David his wives from a commandment of God (See 2 Samuel 12:1-9).

The practice continued in Utah until 1890, when a revelation came from the Lord forbidding further polygamous marriages. At first, being isolated in Utah, the Mormon Church practiced it openly and without harassment. In the 1850s the newly formed Republican Party made part of its platform the abolishment of the ‘twin relics of barbarism’: slavery and polygamy. Distracted by the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, little happened at first, though the issue of polygamy was part of the justification for the Utah War. President Buchanan sent 5,000 troops to crush a non-existent rebellion in the territory in 1857.

Anti-Polygamy Legislation and Raids

Beginning in 1862, the U.S. Congress passed a series of increasingly stringent laws outlawing polygamy. The first, Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, passed on July 1, 1862, outlawed polygamy. This was difficult to prove as records were scanty and while some Mormon leaders including Brigham Young were arrested, they were generally released. George Reynolds, Young’s secretary and a British immigrant, was arrested and tried. He appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court arguing that polygamy was protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights which guaranteed free exercise of religion. In ruling on Reynolds v. United States the Court said that this clause protected beliefs only and that Congress could pass laws preventing practices “which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order” (98 U.S. 164). Reynolds was sentenced to five years jail time.

Despite this legal victory, polygamy remained difficult to prove and in 1882, the Congress passed the Edmunds Act which outlawed mere cohabitation. This led to what Mormons called “the raids” in the 1880s when thousands of Mormons were arrested and jailed. The Edmunds Act also forbade all persons living in polygamous families from holding public office, serving on juries, or voting. This disenfranchised many more Mormons. In 1885, Idaho required voters to swear an oath stating they opposed polygamy and any organization that condoned it, thus disenfranchising all Mormons.

The True Nature of Polygamy in Utah

This raids and attacks make it appear that all Mormons were living in polygamy. Though records are not always clear, done deliberately to prevent government officers from easily finding polygamists, it is clear that only a minority ever practiced polygamy. Estimates are that at maximum 20 to 25 percent of the Church at any given time was practicing it. Approximately one third of women in the 1880s lived in polygamous families. The 1,300 men arrest is certainly a small percentage of the nearly 150,000 Mormons at the time and that number approached 200,000 by 1890. Some people, anti-Mormons and even some Mormons have tried to claim that Mormon prophets of the nineteenth century said that every man must practice polygamy to get into heaven, but this is a distortion of the truth. In 1866, John Taylor, who succeeded Brigham Young as President of the Church said:

When this system was first introduced among this people, it was one of the greatest crosses that ever was taken up by any set of men since the world stood. Joseph Smith told others; he told me, and I can bear witness of it, "that if this principle was not introduced, this Church and kingdom could not proceed." When this commandment was given, it was so far religious, and so far binding upon the Elders of this Church, that it was told them if they were not prepared to enter into it, and to stem the torrent of opposition that would come in consequence of it, the keys of the kingdom would be taken from them. When I see any of our people, men or women, opposing a principle of this kind, I have years ago set them down as on the high road to apostasy, and I do to-day; I consider them apostates, and not interested in this Church and kingdom (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 11:221).

Here he clearly says that it is the principle that must be accepted, just as men are expected to accept every principle and revelation from God. He says men must be ‘prepared’ to enter into it and defend it, even though they may not be required to do so. If one considers that when he said that majority of those listening were not practicing polygamy and were never asked to do so, it becomes clear that they understood this to mean that they must accept the principle as a revelation from God in order to enter heaven, since Jesus taught that man must live on “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).

For Mormons who practiced polygamy, it brought both blessings and trials to be overcome. Mormon women were generally in favor of polygamy feeling not only that it came from God, but also that is liberated them to do much more. Many Mormon women, with other wives to share the work, went to school and became very accomplished. Anti-Mormon leaders in Utah gave women the right to vote in 1870 hoping that these supposedly oppressed women would vote for anti-Mormon candidates, but the measure backfired. Mormon women under polygamy had much more freedom to pursue vocations and education. Three of Brigham Young’s wives studied medicine and helped found a hospital. There were also challenges and petty jealousies and fights did occur. Most complaints by polygamous wives were that their husband spent too much time with one wife or the other. Brigham Young, who discouraged divorce, allowed polygamous wives to divorce their husbands if they were being neglected to abused, but he refused to condone men to divorce one of their wives if they felt it a burden. He merely told them to work harder. Just like other families, polygamous families had problems to work out, but there is no evidence that polygamous marriages adversely affected children. In fact, many children of polygamous families succeeded very well in life. Rumors that polygamous marriages produced deformed children are also untrue. In nineteenth century Utah, there was such a large influx of new immigrants and converts that there was no need for marriages among close relatives and such marriages were likely rare, or at least no more common than in any other rural area.

Polygamy Renounced

In 1887, the Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act which disincorporated the Church and seized virtually all of its property, except the temples and some church buildings. The Church appealed this ruling, again citing the freedom of religion, but in 1890 in The Late Corporation of the Mormon Church v. United States the Supreme Court again upheld the ban on polygamy.

Facing the utter destruction of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, the forth president of the Church met and prayed with the other apostles. After much prayer, President Woodruff saw a vision of what would happen if the Church continued to practice polygamy. He saw the destruction of the Church, the scattering of the Mormons, and the cessation of all their work. The Lord had previously shown that sometimes he commands men to practice polygamy and sometimes he forbids it, depending upon the circumstance. Wilford Woodruff then realized that the time had come to stop practicing polygamy. He issued what has become known as the Manifesto. It said that the Mormon Church would no longer contract marriages forbidden by law. President Grover Cleveland would later pardon all those who entered polygamous marriages before 1890. Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona were required to ban polygamy in their constitutions. Idaho’s originally kept all polygamists from holding office and for a time Idaho banned all persons married in Mormon temples from voting or holding office.

This act has brought much criticism. Some claimed President Woodruff was a fallen prophet and some groups split away from the Church and continue to practice polygamy today. Often these breakaway groups become so focused on one issue like polygamy that they withdraw into communes and neglect many other important teachings by Joseph Smith. Most of these groups, for instance, do not build temples or send out missionaries, which according to Joseph Smith were two of the most important principles of the Gospel. Anti-Mormons try to claim that Wilford Woodruff caved under pressure, but according to Gordon B. Hinckley, current President of the Mormon Church, the role of the Prophet is to find answers to the problems of God’s people by asking God in prayer. President Woodruff sought help from God and God gave it.

Polygamy since the Manifesto

From 1890 to 1904, some Mormons outside of the United States continued to contract new polygamous marriages in the belief that since neither Canada nor Mexico forbade polygamy, and the Manifesto only explicitly forbade illegal marriages, they could continue. President Joseph F. Smith issued a second manifesto in 1904. Since that time Mormons worldwide have abided by that ruling. Those who practice polygamy are excommunicated from the Church.

The issue continued to affect the Mormon Church for some years. In the 1890s and early 1900s even monogamous Mormons had difficulty getting elected into office. In 1904, Reed Smoot was elected to the U.S. Senate. Though he had never practiced polygamy, he was at first denied his seat and only joined the Senate after a two year investigation of the Church by the U.S. Congress. Since that time, Mormons have become very prominent in public office both in Utah and nationally.

Groups today that practice polygamy, and call themselves Fundamentalist Mormons, are not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most of their members have never been members of the Mormon Church and their actions are considered illegal. These groups often withdraw into isolated communities and seldom gain new converts. This leads to intermarrying of close relatives and has caused heightened birth defects among these groups. These groups often require all men to enter polygamy which causes many problems and has led to an excess of single men unable to marry. These men are often expelled from the group and cut off from their families. Polygamy as practiced by these groups is very different from the historical practice of polygamy by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which never required all men to practice polygamy and never withdrew into secretive communes cut off from the rest of the world.