Plural marriage
Encyclopedia
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.
The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within Western society and the Church itself. Puritan America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy, with the Republican platform at one time referencing "the twin relics of barbarism - polygamy and slavery." On its web site, the Church attempts to clarify by making a clear distinction between doctrine and practice. According to the church, “The standard doctrine of the church is monogamy, as it always has been, as indicated in The Book of Mormon (Jacob chapter 2): “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 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.” The reason given in The Book of Mormon for the practice of polygamy, then, is by revelation from God in order to "raise up seed unto [God]." The private practice of polygamy, or more accurately, polygyny
, was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith, Jr. The public practice of polygamy (“plural marriage”) by the church was announced and defended in 1852 by one of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Orson Pratt, by the request of the church President at that time, Brigham Young
.
For over forty years, the church and the United States were at odds over the issue, with the federal government aggressively seeking to eradicate the practice consistent with prevailing public opinion and the church defending it as a matter of religious freedom. Polygamy was probably a significant factor in the Utah War of 1857 and 1858, given the Republican attempts to paint Democratic President James Buchannan as weak in his opposition to both polygamy and slavery. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories (including Utah) and dis-incorporated the church. In spite of the law, the Mormons continued the practice of polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1879, in Reynolds v. United States
, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Morrill Act, stating: "Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinion, they may with practices."
The public practice of polygamy by the church was terminated in 1890 by the Manifesto issued by church President Willford Woodruff in which he publicly declared “that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land." Today, over 14 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) are strictly monogamist, and members who are known to practice polygamy are excommunicated. Still, the practice of plural marriage continues among tens of thousands of members of various fundamentalist splinter groups long disassociated from the main body of the church, such as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) or the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). These polygamist sects are generally located in Utah
, Arizona
, Texas
, and other parts of the Western United States
, Canada
, and Mexico
. Even though polygamy is generally illegal in all 50 states and in all three countries, practitioners are almost never prosecuted unless there is evidence of abuse, statutory rape, welfare fraud, or tax evasion.
(D&C) prohibited polygamy and declared that monogamy was the only acceptable form of marriage:
As early as 1832, Mormon missionaries were laboring successfully to make converts among Maine's
followers of polygamist religious leader Jacob Cochran
, who went into hiding in 1830 to escape imprisonment due to his practice of polygamy. Among Cochran's marital innovations was 'spiritual wifery', and "tradition assumes that (Cochran) received frequent consignments of spiritual consorts, and that such were invariably the most robust and attractive women in the community". The majority of what became the Quorum of the Twelve
in 1835 attended Mormon conferences held in the center of the Cochranites in 1834 and 1835. Brigham Young, an apostle in the Twelve, was acquainted with Cochran's followers as he made several missionary journeys through the Cochranite territory from Boston to Saco, and later married Augusta Adams Cobb, a former Cochranite.
Joseph Smith
publicly condemned the practice, denying the fact that he was involved in it, and participants were being excommunicated, as church records and publications reflect. But church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Sidney Rigdon
, during a period when he was apostate from the church, wrote a letter in backlash to the Messenger and Advocate
in 1844 condemning the church's Quorum of the Twelve and their alleged connection to polygamy:
At the time the practice was kept a secret from non-members, and many church members at large. Throughout his life, Smith publicly denied having multiple wives.
However, John C. Bennett
, a recent convert to the church and the first mayor of Nauvoo
, used ideas of eternal and plural marriage to justify acts of seduction, adultery
and, in some cases, the practice of abortion
in the guise of spiritual wifery
. Bennett was called to account by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and was excommunicated from the church. In April 1844, Joseph Smith referred to polygamy as "John C. Bennett's spiritual wife system" and warned "if any man writes to you, or preaches to you, doctrines contrary to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the book of Doctrine and Covenants, set him down as an imposter." Smith mused
The practice was publicly announced in Utah in 1852, some five years after the Mormons arrived in Utah
, and eight years after Smith's death. The doctrine authorizing plural marriage was published in the 1876 version of Doctrine and Covenants
.
to accept all of Smith's plural wives, and warns of destruction if the new covenant is not observed. Smith's wife Emma
was publicly and privately opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand. Emma publicly denied that her husband had ever preached or practiced polygamy, which later became a defining difference between the church under Brigham Young, and the church under her son Joseph Smith III
that she remained affiliated with until her death at the age of 74. Emma Smith claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of the 1843 polygamy revelation was when she read about it in Orson Pratt
's booklet The Seer in 1853.
There is a subtle difference between 'sealing' (which is a Mormon priesthood
ordinance that binds individuals together in the eternities), and 'marriage' (a social tradition in which the man and woman agree to be husband and wife in this life). In those early days of this religion, common practices and doctrines were not yet well-defined. Even among those who accept the views of conventional historians, there is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith had: Fawn M. Brodie
lists 48, D. Michael Quinn
46, and George D. Smith 42. The discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support the alleged marriages to some of the named wives.
A number of Smith's "marriages" occurred after his death, with the wife being sealed to Joseph via a proxy who stood in for him. One historian, Todd M. Compton, documented at least 33 plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime.
showed "with 99.9 percent accuracy" that five of these individuals were in fact not Smith descendants: Mosiah Hancock (son of Clarissa Reed Hancock), Oliver Buell (son of Prescindia Huntington Buell), Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (son of Mary Ann Frost Pratt), Zebulon Jacobs (son of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith), and Orrison Smith (son of Fanny Alger). The remaining seven have yet to be conclusively tested, including Josephine Lyon, for whom current DNA testing
cannot provide conclusive evidence either way. Lyon's mother, Sylvia Sessions Lyon, left her daughter a deathbed affidavit telling her she was Smith's daughter.
Church apostle Heber C. Kimball
had forty-three wives, and had sixty-five children by seventeen different women.
). President Buchannan, anticipating Mormon opposition to a newly appointed governor to replace Brigham Young, dispatched 2,500 federal troops to Utah to seat the new governor, thus setting in motion a series of unfortunate misunderstandings when the Mormons felt threatened in light of their past history.
signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
into law, which forbade the practice in US territories. President Lincoln told the church that he had no intentions of enforcing it if they would not interfere with him, and so the matter was laid to rest for a time. Nevertheless, the rhetoric continued, and polygamy became an impediment to Utah being admitted to the United States. This was not a concern to Brigham Young, however, who preached in 1866 that if Utah will not be admitted to the Union until it abandons polygamy, "we shall never be admitted."
After the Civil War, immigrants to Utah who were not members of the church continued the contest for political power. They were frustrated by the consolidation of the members. Forming the Liberal Party
, they began pushing for political changes and to weaken the church's advantage in the territory. In September 1871, President Brigham Young was indicted for adultery due to his plural marriages. On January 6, 1879, the Supreme Court upheld the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in Reynolds v. United States
.
, a prominent leader in the church, was denied a non-voting seat in the House of Representatives due to his polygamous relations. This revived the issue 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, where 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. 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.
allowed the seizure of the church and its property and further extended the punishments of the Edmunds Act of 1882. In July of the same year, the U.S. Attorney General filed suit to seize the church and all of its assets.
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. Teaching new marriage and family arrangements where the principles that could not be openly discussed, compounded the problems. Those authorized to teach the doctrine had always stressed the strict covenants, obligations and responsibilities associated with it—the antithesis of license. But those who heard only rumors, or who chose to distort and abuse the teaching, often envisioned and sometimes practiced something quite different. One such person was John C. Bennett
, an earlier mayor of Nauvoo and adviser to Joseph Smith, who twisted the teaching to his own advantage. Capitalizing on rumors and lack of understanding among general church membership, he taught a doctrine of "spiritual wifery". He and associates sought to have illicit sexual relationships with women by telling them that they were married "spiritually", even if they had never been married formally, and that the Prophet approved the arrangement. These statements were false. The Bennett scandal resulted in his excommunication and the disaffection of several others. Bennett then toured the country speaking against the Latter-day Saints and published a bitter anti-Mormon
exposé charging the Saints with licentiousness. Those that twisted teachings of polygamy over the years often caused serious problems and acted as a fuel for distress over the issue, associated rumors, and misunderstandings.
Following the aforementioned passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887, the church found it difficult to operate as a viable institution. Among other things, this legislation disincorporated the church, confiscated its properties, and even threatened seizure of its temples. After visiting priesthood leaders in many settlements, President 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 plural marriage and thereby losing the temples, "stopping all the ordinances therein," and, on the other, ceasing plural marriage in order to continue performing the essential ordinances for the living and the dead. President Woodruff hastened to add that he had acted only as the Lord directed:
as inspired, there were differences among them about its scope and permanence. Some leaders were reluctant to terminate a long-standing practice that was regarded as divinely mandated. As a result, over 200 plural marriages were performed between 1890 and 1904.
, that the church completely banned new plural marriages worldwide. Not surprisingly, rumors persisted of marriages performed after the 1890 manifesto, and beginning in January 1904, testimony given in the Smoot hearings made it clear that plural marriage had not been completely extinguished.
The ambiguity was ended in the General Conference of April 1904, when President Joseph F. Smith issued the "Second Manifesto
", an emphatic declaration that prohibited plural marriage and proclaimed that offenders would be subject to church discipline
. They 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
who both resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve
. Cowley retained his membership in the church, but Taylor was later excommunicated.
Although the 1904 Manifesto ended the official practice of new plural marriages, existing plural marriages were not automatically dissolved. Many Mormons, including prominent church leaders, maintained existing plural marriages well into the 20th century.
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, Elder Lyman and the woman exchanged vows secretly. By 1943, both were in their seventies. Lyman was excommunicated on November 12, 1943 at age 73. 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
, which any practice of post-Manifesto polygamy constituted.
Over time, many of those who rejected the LDS Church's relinquishment of plural marriage formed small, close-knit communities in areas of the Rocky Mountains. These groups continue to practice 'the principle' despite the opposition. These people are commonly called Mormon fundamentalists and may either practice as individuals, as families, or as part of organized denominations. The official style guide of the church objects to the use of the term "Mormon fundamentalists" and suggests using the term "polygamist sects" to avoid confusion about whether the main body of Mormon believers teach or practice polygamy.
Members of these polygamist sects believe that plural marriage is a requirement for exaltation and entry into the highest "degree" of the Celestial kingdom (the highest of three Mormon heavens). This belief stems from statements by 19th century Mormon authorities including Brigham Young, although some of these leaders gave possibly conflicting statements that a monogamist may obtain at least a lower degree of "exaltation" through mere belief in polygamy. Thus, plural marriage is viewed as an essential and fundamental part of the religion.
For public relations reasons, the LDS Church has sought vigorously to disassociate itself from Mormon fundamentalists and the practice of plural marriage. Although the LDS Church has requested that journalists not refer to Mormon fundamentalists using the term Mormon, journalists generally have not complied, and Mormon fundamentalist has become standard terminology. Mormon fundamentalists themselves embrace the term Mormon, and share a common religious heritage with the LDS Church including canonization of the Book of Mormon
.
in 1830, LDS doctrine maintained that polygamy was allowable so long as it was commanded by God. The Book of Jacob
condemned polygamy as adultery, but left open the proviso that "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." Thus, the LDS Church today teaches that plural marriage can only be practiced when specifically authorized by God. According to this view, the 1890 Manifesto
and/or 1904 Manifesto rescinded God's prior authorization given to Joseph Smith.
However, LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie
stated in his 1958 book, Mormon Doctrine, that God will "obviously" re-institute the practice of polygamy after the Second Coming
of Jesus Christ. This echoes earlier teachings by Brigham Young that the primary purpose of polygamy was to bring about the Millennium. Current official church teaching materials do not make any mention of the future re-institution of plural marriage.
Under LDS Church policy, a man whose sealed wife has died does not have to request any permission to be married in the temple and sealed to another woman, unless the new wife's circumstance requires a cancellation of sealing. However, a woman whose sealed husband has died is still bound by the original sealing and used to have to request a cancellation of sealing to be sealed to another man. In some cases, women in this situation who wish to remarry choose to be married to subsequent husbands in the temple "for time only", and are not sealed to them, leaving them sealed to their first husband for eternity.
As of 1998, however, women may be sealed to more than one man. On page 72 of the 1998 edition of the Church Handbook of Instructions, the LDS Church created a new policy that a woman may also be sealed to more than one man. A woman, however, may not be sealed to more than one man while she is alive. She may only be sealed to subsequent partners after both she and her husband(s) have died. Thus, if a widow who was sealed to her first husband remarries, she may be sealed by proxy to all of her subsequent husband(s), but only after both she and the subsequent husbands have died. Church leaders have not clarified if women in such circumstances will live in a polyandrous relationship in the afterlife. However, proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely offered to the person in the afterlife, indicating that the purpose is to allow the woman to choose the right man to be sealed to, as LDS doctrine forbids polyandry
.
in order to be sealed to another woman. This does not void or invalidate the first sealing. A woman in the same circumstances would apply to the First Presidency for a "cancellation of sealing", (sometimes incorrectly called a "temple divorce") allowing her to be sealed to another man. This approval voids the original sealing as far as the woman is concerned. Divorced women who have not applied for a sealing cancellation are considered sealed to the original husband. However, the LDS Church teaches that even in the afterlife the marriage relationship is voluntary. So no man or woman can be forced into an eternal relationship through temple sealing that they do not wish to be in. On occasion, divorced women have been granted a cancellation of sealing, even though they do not intend to marry someone else. In this case, they are no longer considered as being sealed to anyone and are presumed to have the same eternal status as unwed women.
Church doctrine is not entirely specific on the status of men or women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. There are at least two possibilities:
The LDS Church teaches that free agency is given to all and that those in the afterlife would have a choice whether to accept the marriage sealing performed on their behalf.
, by taking Alger as his second wife. Compton dates this marriage to March or April 1833, well before Joseph was accused of an affair. However, historian Lawrence Foster dismisses the marriage of Alger to Joseph Smith as "debatable supposition" rather than "established fact".
Others conclude that many Latter-day Saints entered into plural marriage based on the belief that it was a religious commandment, rather than as an excuse for sexual license. For instance, many of the figures who came to be best associated with plural marriage, including Church President Brigham Young and his counselor Heber C. Kimball
, expressed revulsion at the system when it was first introduced to them. Young famously stated that after receiving the commandment to practice plural marriage in Nauvoo
, he saw a funeral procession walking down the street and he wished he could exchange places with the corpse. He recalled that "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." When Kimball first heard of the principle, he believed that he would marry elderly women whom he would care for and who would not be a threat to his first wife Vilate. He was later shocked to learn that he was to marry a younger woman. His biographer writes that he "became sick in body, but his mental wretchedness was too great to allow of his retiring, and he would walk the floor till nearly morning, and sometimes the agony of his mind was so terrible that he would wring his hands and weep like a child..." While his wife Vilate had trials "grievous to bear" as a result of her acceptance of plural marriage, she supported her husband in his religious duties, and taught her children that "she could not doubt the plural order of marriage was of God, for the Lord had revealed it to her in answer to prayer." Apologists also note that, although the revelation permitting polygamy was not published until 1852, it was actually received by Joseph Smith sometime in the 1830s.
, and found that two of the girls were thirteen years old, 13 girls were fourteen years old, 21 were fifteen years old, and 53 were sixteen years old. LDS historian Todd Compton documented that Joseph Smith married several girls of age 13 or 14. Historian Stanly Hirshon documented cases of girls aged 10 and 11 being married to old men.
However, it seems that Brigham Young attempted to stamp out the practice of men being sealed to excessively young girls. In 1857, he stated "I shall not seal the people as I have done. Old Father Alread brought three young girls 12 & 13 years old. I would not seal them to him. They would not be equally yoked together...Many get their endowments who are not worthy and this is the way that devils are made."
, critics of the early LDS Church point out that polygamy may have caused a shortage of brides in the early LDS community, citing quotes by church leader Heber C. Kimball
who said (addressing departing missionaries):
The precise number who participated in plural marriage is not known, but studies indicate a maximum of 20-25% of LDS adults were members of polygamist households. One third of the women of marriageable age and nearly all of the church leadership were involved in the practice.
, nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, claimed that Young coerced her to marry him by threatening financial ruin of her brother.
The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within Western society and the Church itself. Puritan America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy, with the Republican platform at one time referencing "the twin relics of barbarism - polygamy and slavery." On its web site, the Church attempts to clarify by making a clear distinction between doctrine and practice. According to the church, “The standard doctrine of the church is monogamy, as it always has been, as indicated in The Book of Mormon (Jacob chapter 2): “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 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.” The reason given in The Book of Mormon for the practice of polygamy, then, is by revelation from God in order to "raise up seed unto [God]." The private practice of polygamy, or more accurately, polygyny
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
, was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith, Jr. The public practice of polygamy (“plural marriage”) by the church was announced and defended in 1852 by one of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Orson Pratt, by the request of the church President at that time, Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
.
For over forty years, the church and the United States were at odds over the issue, with the federal government aggressively seeking to eradicate the practice consistent with prevailing public opinion and the church defending it as a matter of religious freedom. Polygamy was probably a significant factor in the Utah War of 1857 and 1858, given the Republican attempts to paint Democratic President James Buchannan as weak in his opposition to both polygamy and slavery. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories (including Utah) and dis-incorporated the church. In spite of the law, the Mormons continued the practice of polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1879, in Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case that held that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment...
, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Morrill Act, stating: "Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinion, they may with practices."
The public practice of polygamy by the church was terminated in 1890 by the Manifesto issued by church President Willford Woodruff in which he publicly declared “that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land." Today, over 14 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) are strictly monogamist, and members who are known to practice polygamy are excommunicated. Still, the practice of plural marriage continues among tens of thousands of members of various fundamentalist splinter groups long disassociated from the main body of the church, such as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) or the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). These polygamist sects are generally located in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and other parts of the Western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Even though polygamy is generally illegal in all 50 states and in all three countries, practitioners are almost never prosecuted unless there is evidence of abuse, statutory rape, welfare fraud, or tax evasion.
The origin of plural marriage
The 1835 and 1844 versions of Doctrine and CovenantsDoctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
(D&C) prohibited polygamy and declared that monogamy was the only acceptable form of marriage:
- "In as much as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again".
As early as 1832, Mormon missionaries were laboring successfully to make converts among Maine's
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
followers of polygamist religious leader Jacob Cochran
Jacob Cochran
Jacob Cochran was a non-denominational preacher born in Enfield, New Hampshire, USA who founded the Cochranites in Saco, Maine. Cochranite worship is said to have resembled Shakerism, but which also practiced a new doctrine called spiritual wifery...
, who went into hiding in 1830 to escape imprisonment due to his practice of polygamy. Among Cochran's marital innovations was 'spiritual wifery', and "tradition assumes that (Cochran) received frequent consignments of spiritual consorts, and that such were invariably the most robust and attractive women in the community". The majority of what became the Quorum of the Twelve
Quorum of the Twelve
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve was one of the governing bodies of the church hierarchy organized by the movement's founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and patterned after the twelve apostles of Christ In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve (also known as the...
in 1835 attended Mormon conferences held in the center of the Cochranites in 1834 and 1835. Brigham Young, an apostle in the Twelve, was acquainted with Cochran's followers as he made several missionary journeys through the Cochranite territory from Boston to Saco, and later married Augusta Adams Cobb, a former Cochranite.
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
publicly condemned the practice, denying the fact that he was involved in it, and participants were being excommunicated, as church records and publications reflect. But church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...
, during a period when he was apostate from the church, wrote a letter in backlash to the Messenger and Advocate
Messenger and Advocate
Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate was an early Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly in Kirtland, Ohio from October 1834 to September 1837...
in 1844 condemning the church's Quorum of the Twelve and their alleged connection to polygamy:
At the time the practice was kept a secret from non-members, and many church members at large. Throughout his life, Smith publicly denied having multiple wives.
However, John C. Bennett
John C. Bennett
John Cook Bennett was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second-in-command to Joseph Smith, Jr., for a brief period in the early 1840s....
, a recent convert to the church and the first mayor of Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
, used ideas of eternal and plural marriage to justify acts of seduction, adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
and, in some cases, the practice of abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
in the guise of spiritual wifery
Spiritual wifery
Spiritual wifery is a term first used in America by the Immortalists in and near the Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the 1740s...
. Bennett was called to account by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and was excommunicated from the church. In April 1844, Joseph Smith referred to polygamy as "John C. Bennett's spiritual wife system" and warned "if any man writes to you, or preaches to you, doctrines contrary to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the book of Doctrine and Covenants, set him down as an imposter." Smith mused
The practice was publicly announced in Utah in 1852, some five years after the Mormons arrived in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, and eight years after Smith's death. The doctrine authorizing plural marriage was published in the 1876 version of Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
.
Joseph Smith's wives
The 1843 polygamy revelation, published posthumously, counseled Smith's wife EmmaEmma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
to accept all of Smith's plural wives, and warns of destruction if the new covenant is not observed. Smith's wife Emma
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
was publicly and privately opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand. Emma publicly denied that her husband had ever preached or practiced polygamy, which later became a defining difference between the church under Brigham Young, and the church under her son Joseph Smith III
Joseph Smith III
Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and Emma Hale Smith...
that she remained affiliated with until her death at the age of 74. Emma Smith claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of the 1843 polygamy revelation was when she read about it in Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...
's booklet The Seer in 1853.
There is a subtle difference between 'sealing' (which is a Mormon priesthood
Priesthood (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, priesthood is considered to be the power and authority of God, including the authority to act as a leader in the church and to perform ordinances, and the power to perform miracles. A body of priesthood holders is referred to as a quorum.Priesthood denotes elements...
ordinance that binds individuals together in the eternities), and 'marriage' (a social tradition in which the man and woman agree to be husband and wife in this life). In those early days of this religion, common practices and doctrines were not yet well-defined. Even among those who accept the views of conventional historians, there is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith had: Fawn M. Brodie
Fawn M. Brodie
Fawn McKay Brodie was a biographer and professor of history at UCLA, best known for Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, a work of psychobiography, and No Man Knows My History, an early and still influential non-hagiographic biography of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint...
lists 48, D. Michael Quinn
D. Michael Quinn
Dennis Michael Quinn is a historian who has focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a professor at Brigham Young University from 1976 until his resignation in 1988. At the time, his work concerned church involvement with plural marriage after the 1890 Manifesto, in which...
46, and George D. Smith 42. The discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support the alleged marriages to some of the named wives.
A number of Smith's "marriages" occurred after his death, with the wife being sealed to Joseph via a proxy who stood in for him. One historian, Todd M. Compton, documented at least 33 plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime.
Sexual nature of Smith's plural marriages, and alleged children
It is unclear how many of the women Smith had sexual relations with. Many contemporary accounts from Smith's time indicate that he engaged in sexual relations with at least several of his wives. , there are at least twelve early Latter Day Saints who, based on historical documents and circumstantial evidence, have been identified as potential Smith offspring stemming from plural marriages. In 2005 and 2007 studies, a geneticist with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy FoundationSorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is an independent DNA and genealogical research institution with the goal of demonstrating how the peoples of the world are related...
showed "with 99.9 percent accuracy" that five of these individuals were in fact not Smith descendants: Mosiah Hancock (son of Clarissa Reed Hancock), Oliver Buell (son of Prescindia Huntington Buell), Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (son of Mary Ann Frost Pratt), Zebulon Jacobs (son of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith), and Orrison Smith (son of Fanny Alger). The remaining seven have yet to be conclusively tested, including Josephine Lyon, for whom current DNA testing
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
cannot provide conclusive evidence either way. Lyon's mother, Sylvia Sessions Lyon, left her daughter a deathbed affidavit telling her she was Smith's daughter.
Plural marriages of other early church leaders
Church president Brigham Young had fifty-one wives, and fifty-six children by sixteen of those wives.Church apostle Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
had forty-three wives, and had sixty-five children by seventeen different women.
1857-1858 Utah War
As The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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 James Buchanan administration and federal troops arrived (see Utah WarUtah War
The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
). President Buchannan, anticipating Mormon opposition to a newly appointed governor to replace Brigham Young, dispatched 2,500 federal troops to Utah to seat the new governor, thus setting in motion a series of unfortunate misunderstandings when the Mormons felt threatened in light of their past history.
1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
The general opinion of the rest of the United States was that the practice of plural marriage was offensive. On July 8, 1862, President Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was a federal enactment of the United States Congress that was signed into law on July 8, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln...
into law, which forbade the practice in US territories. President Lincoln told the church that he had no intentions of enforcing it if they would not interfere with him, and so the matter was laid to rest for a time. Nevertheless, the rhetoric continued, and polygamy became an impediment to Utah being admitted to the United States. This was not a concern to Brigham Young, however, who preached in 1866 that if Utah will not be admitted to the Union until it abandons polygamy, "we shall never be admitted."
After the Civil War, immigrants to Utah who were not members of the church continued the contest for political power. They were frustrated by the consolidation of the members. Forming the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Utah)
The Liberal Party, like the People's Party, flourished in Utah Territory as a local political party in the latter half of the 19th century—before Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s....
, they began pushing for political changes and to weaken the church's advantage in the territory. In September 1871, President Brigham Young was indicted for adultery due to his plural marriages. On January 6, 1879, the Supreme Court upheld the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case that held that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment...
.
1882 Edmunds Act
In February 1882, George Q. CannonGeorge Q. Cannon
George Quayle Cannon was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow...
, a prominent leader in the church, was denied a non-voting seat in the House of Representatives due to his polygamous relations. This revived the issue in national politics. One month later, the Edmunds Act
Edmunds Act
The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882, is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882, declaring polygamy a felony. The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont...
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, where 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. 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
Rudger Clawson
Rudger Judd Clawson was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 until his death in 1943...
was imprisoned for continuing to cohabit with wives that he married before the 1862 Morrill Act.
1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act
In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker ActEdmunds-Tucker Act
The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding polygamy. The act is found in US Code Title 48 & 1461, full text as 24 Stat. 635, with this annotation to be interpreted as Volume...
allowed the seizure of the church and its property and further extended the punishments of the Edmunds Act of 1882. In July of the same year, the U.S. Attorney General filed suit to seize the church and all of its assets.
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. Teaching new marriage and family arrangements where the principles that could not be openly discussed, compounded the problems. Those authorized to teach the doctrine had always stressed the strict covenants, obligations and responsibilities associated with it—the antithesis of license. But those who heard only rumors, or who chose to distort and abuse the teaching, often envisioned and sometimes practiced something quite different. One such person was John C. Bennett
John C. Bennett
John Cook Bennett was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second-in-command to Joseph Smith, Jr., for a brief period in the early 1840s....
, an earlier mayor of Nauvoo and adviser to Joseph Smith, who twisted the teaching to his own advantage. Capitalizing on rumors and lack of understanding among general church membership, he taught a doctrine of "spiritual wifery". He and associates sought to have illicit sexual relationships with women by telling them that they were married "spiritually", even if they had never been married formally, and that the Prophet approved the arrangement. These statements were false. The Bennett scandal resulted in his excommunication and the disaffection of several others. Bennett then toured the country speaking against the Latter-day Saints and published a bitter anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
exposé charging the Saints with licentiousness. Those that twisted teachings of polygamy over the years often caused serious problems and acted as a fuel for distress over the issue, associated rumors, and misunderstandings.
Following the aforementioned passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887, the church found it difficult to operate as a viable institution. Among other things, this legislation disincorporated the church, confiscated its properties, and even threatened seizure of its temples. After visiting priesthood leaders in many settlements, President 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 plural marriage and thereby losing the temples, "stopping all the ordinances therein," and, on the other, ceasing plural marriage in order to continue performing the essential ordinances for the living and the dead. President Woodruff hastened to add that he had acted only as the Lord directed:
I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me.
1890 Manifesto banning plural marriage
The final element in President 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 plural marriages. The document was later edited by George Q. Cannon of the 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 and approved.Plural marriages after 1890
While many church leaders in 1890 regarded the Manifesto1890 Manifesto
The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
as inspired, there were differences among them about its scope and permanence. Some leaders were reluctant to terminate a long-standing practice that was regarded as divinely mandated. As a result, over 200 plural marriages were performed between 1890 and 1904.
1904 second manifesto banning plural marriage
It was not until 1904, under the leadership of President Joseph F. SmithJoseph F. Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. was the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, that the church completely banned new plural marriages worldwide. Not surprisingly, rumors persisted of marriages performed after the 1890 manifesto, and beginning in January 1904, testimony given in the Smoot hearings made it clear that plural marriage had not been completely extinguished.
The ambiguity was ended in the General Conference of April 1904, when President Joseph F. Smith issued the "Second Manifesto
Second Manifesto
The "Second Manifesto" was a 1904 declaration made by Joseph F. Smith, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , in which Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of the land and set down the principle that those entering into or...
", an emphatic declaration that prohibited plural marriage and proclaimed that offenders would be subject to church discipline
Disciplinary council
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a disciplinary council is an ecclesiastical trial during which a member of the church is tried for alleged violations of church standards. If a member of the LDS Church is found guilty of an offence by a disciplinary council, he or she may be...
. They 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
Matthias F. Cowley
Matthias Foss Cowley , born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1897 until 1905. The town of Cowley in Wyoming is named after him. He was the father of Apostle Matthew Cowley by Abbie Hyde. ...
and John W. Taylor
John Whittaker Taylor
John Whittaker Taylor was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was the son of John Taylor, the third president of the church...
who both resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve
Quorum of the Twelve
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve was one of the governing bodies of the church hierarchy organized by the movement's founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and patterned after the twelve apostles of Christ In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve (also known as the...
. Cowley retained his membership in the church, but Taylor was later excommunicated.
Although the 1904 Manifesto ended the official practice of new plural marriages, existing plural marriages were not automatically dissolved. Many Mormons, including prominent church leaders, maintained existing plural marriages well into the 20th century.
Instance of plural marriage in 1943
In 1943, the First Presidency discovered apostle Richard R. LymanRichard R. Lyman
Richard Roswell Lyman was an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1918 to 1943. He was excommunicated in 1943 for unlawful cohabitation, a result of a polygamous relationship. In 1954 Lyman was rebaptized. His full priesthood blessings were restored posthumously in 1970...
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, Elder Lyman and the woman exchanged vows secretly. By 1943, both were in their seventies. Lyman was excommunicated on November 12, 1943 at age 73. 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
Law of Chastity
The law of chastity is a moral code defined by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . According to the church, chastity means abstinence from sexual relations before marriage, and complete fidelity to one's husband or wife during marriage...
, which any practice of post-Manifesto polygamy constituted.
Remnants of plural marriage within polygamist sects
Members of these polygamist sects believe that plural marriage is a requirement for exaltation and entry into the highest "degree" of the Celestial kingdom (the highest of three Mormon heavens). This belief stems from statements by 19th century Mormon authorities including Brigham Young, although some of these leaders gave possibly conflicting statements that a monogamist may obtain at least a lower degree of "exaltation" through mere belief in polygamy. Thus, plural marriage is viewed as an essential and fundamental part of the religion.
For public relations reasons, the LDS Church has sought vigorously to disassociate itself from Mormon fundamentalists and the practice of plural marriage. Although the LDS Church has requested that journalists not refer to Mormon fundamentalists using the term Mormon, journalists generally have not complied, and Mormon fundamentalist has become standard terminology. Mormon fundamentalists themselves embrace the term Mormon, and share a common religious heritage with the LDS Church including canonization of the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
.
Modern plural marriage theory within the LDS Church
Although the LDS Church has abandoned the practice of plural marriage, it has not abandoned the underlying doctrines of polygamy in an eternal sense. According to the church's sacred texts and pronouncements by its leaders and theologians, the church leaves open the possibility that it may one day re-institute the practice. The church also holds that plural marriage will exist in the afterlife.LDS reasons for allowing polygamy
As early as the publication of the Book of MormonBook of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
in 1830, LDS doctrine maintained that polygamy was allowable so long as it was commanded by God. The Book of Jacob
Book of Jacob
The Book of Jacob is the third book of the Book of Mormon. Its full title is The Book of Jacob: The Brother of Nephi. According to the text, it was written by the ancient prophet Jacob, brother of the prophet Nephi, believed to have lived during the 6th century BC.While this book contains some...
condemned polygamy as adultery, but left open the proviso that "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." Thus, the LDS Church today teaches that plural marriage can only be practiced when specifically authorized by God. According to this view, the 1890 Manifesto
1890 Manifesto
The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
and/or 1904 Manifesto rescinded God's prior authorization given to Joseph Smith.
However, LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death...
stated in his 1958 book, Mormon Doctrine, that God will "obviously" re-institute the practice of polygamy after the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
of Jesus Christ. This echoes earlier teachings by Brigham Young that the primary purpose of polygamy was to bring about the Millennium. Current official church teaching materials do not make any mention of the future re-institution of plural marriage.
Plural marriage in the afterlife
LDS scripture teaches that marital sealings between two spouses will continue in force in the afterlife. Thus, LDS doctrine teaches that plural marriages which were valid at the time of the sealing, whether biblical or 19th-century Mormon, will continue in force in the afterlife. In addition, there are circumstances where members of the modern LDS Church may be sealed to more than one spouse when their spouse dies. The predominant view within the LDS Church is that these plural sealings may continue in force in the afterlife, resulting in a polygamous relationship.Multiple sealings when a prior spouse has died
In the case where a man's first wife dies, and the man remarries, and both of the marriages involve a sealing, LDS authorities teach that in the afterlife, the man will enter a polygamous relationship with both wives.Under LDS Church policy, a man whose sealed wife has died does not have to request any permission to be married in the temple and sealed to another woman, unless the new wife's circumstance requires a cancellation of sealing. However, a woman whose sealed husband has died is still bound by the original sealing and used to have to request a cancellation of sealing to be sealed to another man. In some cases, women in this situation who wish to remarry choose to be married to subsequent husbands in the temple "for time only", and are not sealed to them, leaving them sealed to their first husband for eternity.
As of 1998, however, women may be sealed to more than one man. On page 72 of the 1998 edition of the Church Handbook of Instructions, the LDS Church created a new policy that a woman may also be sealed to more than one man. A woman, however, may not be sealed to more than one man while she is alive. She may only be sealed to subsequent partners after both she and her husband(s) have died. Thus, if a widow who was sealed to her first husband remarries, she may be sealed by proxy to all of her subsequent husband(s), but only after both she and the subsequent husbands have died. Church leaders have not clarified if women in such circumstances will live in a polyandrous relationship in the afterlife. However, proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely offered to the person in the afterlife, indicating that the purpose is to allow the woman to choose the right man to be sealed to, as LDS doctrine forbids polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
.
Multiple sealings when marriages end in divorce
A man who is sealed to a woman but later divorced must apply for a "sealing clearance" from the First PresidencyFirst Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
in order to be sealed to another woman. This does not void or invalidate the first sealing. A woman in the same circumstances would apply to the First Presidency for a "cancellation of sealing", (sometimes incorrectly called a "temple divorce") allowing her to be sealed to another man. This approval voids the original sealing as far as the woman is concerned. Divorced women who have not applied for a sealing cancellation are considered sealed to the original husband. However, the LDS Church teaches that even in the afterlife the marriage relationship is voluntary. So no man or woman can be forced into an eternal relationship through temple sealing that they do not wish to be in. On occasion, divorced women have been granted a cancellation of sealing, even though they do not intend to marry someone else. In this case, they are no longer considered as being sealed to anyone and are presumed to have the same eternal status as unwed women.
Proxy sealings where both spouses have died
According to church policy, after a man has died, he may be sealed by proxy to all of the women to whom he was legally married while he was alive. The same is true for women; however, if a woman was sealed to a man while she was alive, all of her husbands must be deceased before she can be sealed by proxy to them.Church doctrine is not entirely specific on the status of men or women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. There are at least two possibilities:
- Regardless of how many people a man or woman is sealed to by proxy, they will only remain with one of them in the afterlife, and that the remaining spouses, who might still merit the full benefits of exaltation that come from being sealed, would then be given to another person in order to ensure each has an eternal marriage.
- These sealings create effective plural marriages that will continue after death. There are no church teachings clarifying whether polyandrous relationships can exist in the afterlife, so some church members doubt whether this possibility would apply to women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. The possibility for women to be sealed to multiple men is a recent policy change enacted in 1998. Church leaders have neither explained this change, nor its doctrinal implications.
The LDS Church teaches that free agency is given to all and that those in the afterlife would have a choice whether to accept the marriage sealing performed on their behalf.
Instances of unhappy plural marriage
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church claim that plural marriages produced unhappiness in some wives. LDS historian Todd Compton, in his book In Sacred Loneliness, described various instances where some wives in polygamous marriages were unhappy with polygamy.Plural marriage as a means to have multiple sexual partners
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church claim that church leaders established the practice of polygamy in order to further their immoral desires for sexual gratification with multiple sexual partners. Critics point to the fact that church leaders practiced polygamy in secret from 1833 to 1852, despite a written church doctrine (Doctrine and Covenants 101, 1835 edition) renouncing polygamy and stating that only monogamous marriages were permitted. Critics also cite several first-person accounts of early church leaders attempting to use the polygamy doctrine to enter into illicit relationships with women. Critics also assert that Joseph Smith instituted polygamy in order to cover-up an 1835 adulterous affair with a neighbor's daughter, Fanny AlgerFanny Alger
Fanny Alger has been alleged to have been the first plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint Movement. Scholars have disagreed as to whether Smith's union with Alger was an early plural marriage or simply a sexual indiscretion.-Biography:Frances W...
, by taking Alger as his second wife. Compton dates this marriage to March or April 1833, well before Joseph was accused of an affair. However, historian Lawrence Foster dismisses the marriage of Alger to Joseph Smith as "debatable supposition" rather than "established fact".
Others conclude that many Latter-day Saints entered into plural marriage based on the belief that it was a religious commandment, rather than as an excuse for sexual license. For instance, many of the figures who came to be best associated with plural marriage, including Church President Brigham Young and his counselor Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
, expressed revulsion at the system when it was first introduced to them. Young famously stated that after receiving the commandment to practice plural marriage in Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
, he saw a funeral procession walking down the street and he wished he could exchange places with the corpse. He recalled that "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." When Kimball first heard of the principle, he believed that he would marry elderly women whom he would care for and who would not be a threat to his first wife Vilate. He was later shocked to learn that he was to marry a younger woman. His biographer writes that he "became sick in body, but his mental wretchedness was too great to allow of his retiring, and he would walk the floor till nearly morning, and sometimes the agony of his mind was so terrible that he would wring his hands and weep like a child..." While his wife Vilate had trials "grievous to bear" as a result of her acceptance of plural marriage, she supported her husband in his religious duties, and taught her children that "she could not doubt the plural order of marriage was of God, for the Lord had revealed it to her in answer to prayer." Apologists also note that, although the revelation permitting polygamy was not published until 1852, it was actually received by Joseph Smith sometime in the 1830s.
Underage plural marriages
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church claim that church leaders sometimes used polygamy to take advantage of young girls for immoral purposes. LDS historian George D. Smith studied 153 men who took plural wives in the early years of the Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, and found that two of the girls were thirteen years old, 13 girls were fourteen years old, 21 were fifteen years old, and 53 were sixteen years old. LDS historian Todd Compton documented that Joseph Smith married several girls of age 13 or 14. Historian Stanly Hirshon documented cases of girls aged 10 and 11 being married to old men.
However, it seems that Brigham Young attempted to stamp out the practice of men being sealed to excessively young girls. In 1857, he stated "I shall not seal the people as I have done. Old Father Alread brought three young girls 12 & 13 years old. I would not seal them to him. They would not be equally yoked together...Many get their endowments who are not worthy and this is the way that devils are made."
Increase in bachelorhood caused by reduction in eligible women
As the type of polygamy practiced is polygynyPolygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
, critics of the early LDS Church point out that polygamy may have caused a shortage of brides in the early LDS community, citing quotes by church leader Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
who said (addressing departing missionaries):
Brethren, I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been heretofore. The brother missionaries have been in the habit of picking out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here, and bringing on the ugly ones for us; hereafter you have to bring them all here before taking any of them, and let us all have a fair shake.On another occasion, he said "You are sent out as shepherds to gather sheep together; and remember that they are not your sheep ... do not make selections before they are brought home and put into the fold."
The precise number who participated in plural marriage is not known, but studies indicate a maximum of 20-25% of LDS adults were members of polygamist households. One third of the women of marriageable age and nearly all of the church leadership were involved in the practice.
Instances of coercion and deception related to plural marriage
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church have documented several cases where deception and coercion were used to induce marriage, for example citing the case of Joseph Smith who warned some potential spouses of eternal damnation if they did not consent to be his wife. In 1893, married LDS Church member John D. Miles traveled to England and proposed to Caroline Owens, assuring her that he was not polygamous. She returned to Utah and participated in a wedding, only to find out after the ceremony that Miles was already married. She ran away, but Miles hunted her down and raped her. She eventually escaped, and filed a lawsuit against Miles that reached the Supreme Court and became a significant case in polygamy case law. Ann Eliza YoungAnn Eliza Young
Ann Eliza Young also known as Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning was one of Brigham Young's fifty-five wives and later a critic of polygamy...
, nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, claimed that Young coerced her to marry him by threatening financial ruin of her brother.
Incestuous plural marriages
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church claim that polygamy was used to justify marriage of close relatives that would otherwise be considered immoral. In 1843, Joseph Smith's diary records the marriage of John Bernhisel to his sister, Maria. In 1886, Lorenzo Snow said that brothers and sisters should be able to get married. Former LDS Church member and prominent critic Fanny Stenhouse wrote in 1875:It would be quite impossible, with any regard to propriety, to relate all the horrible results of this disgraceful system.... Marriages have been contracted between the nearest of relatives; and old men tottering on the brink of the grave have been united to little girls scarcely in their teens; while unnatural alliances of every description, which in any other community would be regarded with disgust and abhorrence, are here entered into in the name of God.
See also
- Criticism of the Latter Day Saint movement
- List of Mormon family organizations
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