It is likely that Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith had over 40 wives and that he used his authority - combined with threat of punishement - to "persuade" some of these "wives" to "marry" him. Joseph’s first wife Emma Hale (who left the Church of Latter Day Saints following her husband's death), was a strong, intelligent woman, painfully tested by polygamy. She fought so-called "plural marriage" from the start, and Joseph was affected by her the intensity of her objection. After she threw his written revelation (ordering her to cooperate) into the fire, Smith took no new plural wife in the last eight months of his life.
***
Mormon "Prophet" Joseph Smith's Last Social Act Was To Fire Blindly Into A Crowd http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/02/mormon-prophet-joseph-smiths-last-human.html
***
Polygamy (called plural marriage by Mormons in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of 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,[1] and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by a minority of families (between 20% and 30%).[2][3][4]
The church's practice of polygamy has been
highly controversial, both within Western society and the church itself.
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." [5] The private practice of polygamy, or more specifically, 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,[3] by the request of the church President at that time, Brigham Young.
For over 40 years, the church and the United
States were at odds over the issue: the church defended the practice as a
matter of religious freedom, while the federal government aggressively sought
to eradicate it, consistent with prevailing public opinion. Polygamy was
probably a significant factor in the Utah War of 1857 and 1858, given the Republican attempts to paint
Democratic President James Buchanan 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.[3] In spite of the law, Mormons continued to practice
polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1879, in Reynolds
v. United States,[6] 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."[3]
In 1890, church president Wilford
Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially terminated the practice of polygamy.[7] Although this Manifesto did not dissolve existing plural
marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such
that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state.
After the Manifesto, some Mormons continued to enter into polygamous marriages,
but these eventually stopped in 1904 when church president Joseph F.
Smith disavowed
polygamy before Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto"
calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Several small
"fundamentalist" groups seeking to continue the practice split from
the LDS Church, including the Apostolic
United Brethren and theFundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Meanwhile the church adopted a
policy of excommunicating members found practicing polygamy, and today seeks
actively to distance itself from fundamentalist groups that continue the
practice.[8] On its web site, the church says that “the standard
doctrine of the church is monogamy" and that polygamy was a temporary
exception to the rule.[1][9]
Contents
·
1 Origin
|
Origin
Main article: Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy
Many early converts, including Brigham Young,[10] Orson Pratt, and Lyman
Johnson, recorded that Joseph Smith was teaching plural marriage
privately as early as 1831 or 1832. Pratt reported that Smith told some early
members in 1831 and 1832 that plural marriage was a true principle, but that
the time to practice it had not yet come.[11] Lyman Johnson also claimed to have heard the doctrine
from Smith in 1831.[12] Mosiah Hancock reported that his father was taught about
plural marriage in the spring of 1832.[13]
The 1835 and 1844 versions of Doctrine
and Covenants (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.[14]
William
Clayton, Smith's scribe, recorded early polygamous marriages in
1843, including unions between Smith and Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann
Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora Woodworth. Clayton relates: "On the 1st
day of May, 1843, I officiated in the office of an Elder by marrying Lucy
Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, at his own residence. During this period
the Prophet Joseph took several other wives. Amongst the number I well remember
Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora
Woodworth. These all, he acknowledged to me, were his lawful, wedded wives,
according to the celestial order. His wife Emma was cognizant of the fact of
some, if not all, of these being his wives, and she generally treated them very
kindly."[15]
As early as 1832, Mormon missionaries worked
successfully to convert followers in Maine 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".[16]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.[17][18][19][20] Brigham Young, an apostle in the Twelve, got acquainted
with Cochran's followers as he made several missionary journeys through the
Cochranite territory from Boston to Saco,[21] and later married Augusta Adams Cobb, a former Cochranite.[22][23]
Joseph Smith publicly condemned the practice, denying his involvement
in it, and participants were excommunicated, as church records and publications
reflect.[24][25] But church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy
in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve.[26] Sidney Rigdon,
while 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:
It is
a fact so well known that the Twelve and their adherents have endeavored to
carry on this spiritual wife business … and have gone to the most shameful and desperate
lengths to keep from the public. First, insulting innocent females, and when
they resented the insult, these monsters in human shape would assail their
characters by lying, and perjuries, with a multitude of desperate men to help
them effect the ruin of those whom they insulted, and all this to enable them
to keep these corrupt practices from the world.[27]
At the time, the practice was kept secret
from non-members, and many church members at large. Throughout his life, Smith
publicly denied having multiple wives.[28]
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.[29] 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
we
cannot but express our surprise that any elder or priest who has been in
Nauvoo, and has had an opportunity of hearing the principles of truth advanced,
should for one moment give credence to the idea that any thing like iniquity is
practised, much less taught or sanctioned, by the authorities of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[30]
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.[31]
Plural marriages of early church leaders
Joseph Smith
See also: List of the wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The 1843
polygamy revelation, published posthumously, counseled Smith's wife Emma to accept all of Smith's plural wives, and warns of
destruction if the new covenant is not observed.[32] Smith's wife Emma was publicly and privately opposed to the practice and
Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand.[33] Emma publicly denied that her husband had ever preached
or practiced polygamy,[34] 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.[35]
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,[36] D.
Michael Quinn 46,[37][clarification
needed] and George D. Smith 42.[38][clarification
needed] 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.[39] One historian, Todd M. Compton,
documented at least 33 plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime.[40][clarification
needed] Richard lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring came up with a list of 29 wives of Joseph Smith.[41]
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.[42][43] As of 2007, 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 Foundation 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).[44] 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.[44]
Other early
church leaders
See also: List of Brigham Young's wives
Church president Brigham Young had 51 wives,
and 56 children by 16 of those wives.
U.S. federal government actions against polygamy
1857–1858
Utah War
Main article: 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 War).
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.[45]
1862 Morrill
Anti-Bigamy Act
Main article: Morrill
Anti-Bigamy Act
Further information: Poland Act
The rest of the United States for the most
part considered plural marriage offensive. On July 8, 1862, President Abraham
Lincoln signed the Morrill
Anti-Bigamy Act into law, which forbade the practice in US
territories. 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. But rhetoric continued, and polygamy became an impediment to Utah being
admitted to the United States. This was not a concern to Brigham Young, who
preached in 1866 that if Utah will not be admitted to the Union until it
abandons polygamy, "we shall never be admitted."[46]
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.
1882 Edmunds
Act
Main article: Edmunds Act
In February 1882, George Q.
Cannon, 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, theEdmunds 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.[3] 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.
1887
Edmunds-Tucker Act
Main article: Edmunds-Tucker
Act
Portrait of polygamists in prison, at the Utah Penitentiary, including George Q. Cannon in 1889, arrested under the
Edmunds-Tucker Act.
In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker
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:
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.[47]
1890 Manifesto banning plural marriage
Main article: 1890 Manifesto
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.
While many church leaders in 1890 regarded
the Manifesto 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.[48]
1904 second
manifesto banning plural marriage
Main article: Second Manifesto
It was not until 1904, under the leadership
of President Joseph F. Smith,
that the church completely banned new plural marriages worldwide.[49] 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.
In 1943, the First Presidency discovered
apostle Richard
R. Lyman 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.
Remnants within sects
Teens from polygamous families along with over 200 supporters demonstrate
at a pro-plural marriage rally in Salt Lake City in 2006[50]
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. [4]
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.[51] 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.[52] Although the LDS Church has requested that journalists
not refer to Mormon fundamentalists using the term Mormon,[53] 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.
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. It is the practice of Mormons to seal themselves to their wives.
Inasmuch as a man, unlike a woman, may be sealed to multiple, sequential wives
on earth, it is possible for a man to have multiple wives in the Celestial
Kingdom.[citation
needed] A deceased woman may, however, be vicariously
sealed to each of her past husbands[54].
LDS reasons
for allowing polygamy
As early as the publication 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,[55] 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."[56] 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, Bruce R.
McConkie stated in his controversial 1958 book, Mormon
Doctrine, that God will "obviously"
re-institute the practice of polygamy after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.[57] This echoes earlier teachings by Brigham Young that the
primary purpose of polygamy was to bring about the Millennium.[58] Current official church teaching materials do not make
any mention of the future re-institution of plural marriage.
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.[59] Apostle Dallin Oaksis an
example of such a case.[60]
Under LDS Church policy, a man whose sealed
wife has died does not have to request any permission beyond having a current
temple recommend and an interview with his bishop to get final permission for a
living ordinance, 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 must request a cancellation of sealing to be sealed to another man (see
next paragraph for exception to this after she dies). 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 who have died 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.[61] 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.
Multiple
sealings when marriages end in divorce
This section needs
additional citations for verification. (June
2012)
|
A man who is sealed to a woman but later
divorced must apply for a "sealing clearance" from the First
Presidency 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.[61][62]
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:
1.
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.
2.
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.
Criticism of plural marriage
Instances of
unhappy plural marriage
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church
claim that plural marriages produced unhappiness in some wives.[63] LDS historian Todd Compton, in his book In Sacred
Loneliness, described
various instances where some wives in polygamous marriages were unhappy with
polygamy.[43]
As a means
for sexual gratification
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.[64] 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.[65] Critics also cite several first-person accounts of early
church leaders attempting to use the polygamy doctrine to enter into illicit
relationships with women.[66][67] Critics also assert that Joseph Smith instituted polygamy
in order to cover-up an 1835 adulterous affair with a neighbor's daughter, Fanny Alger, by
taking Alger as his second wife.[68] Compton dates this marriage to March or April 1833, well
before Joseph was accused of an affair.[69] However, historian Lawrence Foster dismisses the marriage
of Alger to Joseph Smith as "debatable supposition" rather than
"established fact".[70]
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."[71] 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.[72] 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..."[72] 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."[73] 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.[74] LDS historian George D. Smith studied 153 men who took
plural wives in the early years of the Latter
Day Saint movement, 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.[75] LDS historian Todd Compton documented that Joseph Smith
married girls of age 13 or 14.[43] Historian Stanly Hirshon documented cases of girls aged
10 and 11 being married to old men.[76]
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."[77]
Increase in
bachelorhood
As the type of polygamy practiced is
polygyny, critics of the early LDS Church argue that polygamy may have caused a
shortage of brides in the early LDS community,[78] citing quotes by church leader Heber C.
Kimball who is purported to have 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.[79]
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."[80]
Note that the first quote above is not
attested in any Mormon source, but first appeared in a derisive article in the New York Times on May 15, 1860. FairWiki suggests that it may be a
paraphrase of the second quoted statement, which is authentic. [81]
The paragraph immediately following the above
quote is also instructive. Kimball said:
The
principle of plurality of wives never will be done away. Some sisters have had
revelations that when this time passes away and they go through the veil every
woman will have a husband to herself. I
wish more of our young men would take to themselves wives of the daughters of
Zion and not wait for us old men to take them all; go-ahead upon the right
principle young gentlemen and God bless you forever and ever and make you
fruitful, that we may fill the mountains and then the earth with righteous
inhabitants.
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.[82]
[edit]Instances of coercion
Critics of polygamy in the early LDS Church
have documented several cases where deception and coercion were used to induce
marriage,[83] 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.[43] 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.[84] Ann Eliza
Young, nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, claimed that Young coerced
her to marry him by threatening financial ruin of her brother.[85][clarification
needed]
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.[78][86][clarification
needed] In 1843, Joseph Smith's diary records the
marriage of John Bernhisel to his sister, Maria.[87]
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