Plural marriage
From Academic Kids
Plural marriage is a sort of polygamy (more specifically a form of polygyny) formerly practiced by some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the Church's 19th century founding days and currently practiced by some of the smaller mormon sects.
Its practice among church members substantially subsided after the Church issued a "Manifesto" against the practice in 1890 [1] (http://scriptures.lds.org/od/1). However, a few members continued to practice plural marriage privately with the approval of a few Church leaders until a second proclamation was issued by the Church in the early 1900s. Under that proclamation, those who authorized or contracted new plural marriages became subject to excommunication from the Church.
The mainstream church continues to forbid the practice under the penalty of excommunication, and Church leaders have asked that groups who do practice it should not be referred to as "Mormons" or "Mormon fundamentalists." (Application of the term Mormon is itself controversial for some.) The smaller Mormon sects that continue to practice plural marriage often consider it to be an essential principle of mormonism.
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Origin
In the process of re-translating the Bible, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Church, prayed about the polygynous practices of biblical figures such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He claimed to have received a revelation from God regarding plural marriage (see Doctrine and Covenants 132 (http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/132)), and a new commandment from God to take more wives. According to some accounts Smith was reluctant to practice polygyny, and did so only because an angel appeared with a drawn sword and told Smith that he would "slay" him if he continued to disobey the Lord's commandment. In 1842, at Nauvoo, a small pamphlet named The Peace Maker with Joseph Smith as printer expounded Bible verses in support of polygyny. This pamphlet was not well accepted, and Smith spoke against it, but many believe its real purpose was to open the way for church acceptance of polygyny.
The practice of polygyny
Polygyny was practiced by Mormons as early as 1833 although the practice was not publicly taught until 1852, some five years after the Mormons came to Utah, and eight years after Smith's death. Smith introduced the doctrine to select individuals, some of whom (such as Brigham Young) were told to take more wives. Some Mormon leaders at the time voiced their objection to the practice and left the Church. Others struggled with their consciences and agreed to the practice only after much prayer. Brigham Young famously said that after the doctrine was communicated to him, he would gladly have traded places with the body in a hearse he saw passing down the street, than embrace this new doctrine. In one instance the first mayor of Nauvoo, John C. Bennett, was excommunicated for the adulterous practice of "spiritual wifery."
Some of those who left or were driven from the Church set out to expose Smith and his alleged corruption. Eventually this antagonism led to Smith surrendering himself to jail for charges of riot and treason. While imprisoned, a mob rushed the jail and murdered Smith.
Census studies of various Utah counties show that the percentage of the community practicing plural marriage in 1880 varied from community to community: for example, only 5 percent in South Weber, but 67 percent in Orderville. Studies suggest that the majority of Utah polygamists in the 19th century only had two wives, the man often being a local church leader and the second wife typically being significantly younger.
Joseph Smith's wives
Although there is some disagreement as to the precise figure, many estimates state that Joseph Smith was married to about 33 wives during his life. Under the doctrine of plural marriage, the first wife's consent should be sought before a man marry another wife. A revelation given to Joseph Smith says, "then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed...and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt" from having her permission (Doctrine and Covenants 132:64-65). Smith's first wife, Emma Hale Smith, was publicly opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand.
Some of Joseph's wives were older women and some of them young, the youngest being Helen Mar Kimball who was 14. Although such a marriage would be viewed as unacceptable in current western culture and is illegal in most United States jurisdictions, girls often wed at the age of 14 in the 19th century. Although no evidence exists that Smith had or did not have sexual relations with Helen Mar, it is a practice of some modern Polygamist groups to defer sexual relations when the girl is so young. Accounts of the marriage strongly suggest that one of the primary reasons for this marriage was to join the Smith and Kimball families into the eternities through the sealing of marriage. Initially believing the marriage applied to eternity and not this life, Helen Mar stated she was surprised that she was not allowed by family to attend a youth dance. If there had been sexual relations at that point in the marriage, it seems unlikely she would have had this confusion. Heber C. Kimball, Helen Mar's father, was a devout Church member, Church leader, and close friend of Smith. Heber C. Kimball later married thirty-nine wives.
Polyandry, sexual relations and fathering children
About eleven of Smith's wives were also married to other men (usually other Mormon men in good standing and in a few cases acted as a witness in Smith's marriage to his wife) at the time they married Smith. Typically these women continued to live with their first husband, not Smith. Some accounts point to evidence that Joseph may have had sexual relations with some of his other wives and one wife later in her life stated that he fathered at least one child by one or two of them.
The seeming polyandry of the Prophet Joseph can be understood as a means of being financially responsible in this world for these women who were given to Joseph in Eternal Marriage sealings. For some he did marry for eternity remained with the men they had married for time, and some were married for time to others at a later date, that none would be left destitute. For a woman can be sealed by revelation to a man for all eternity, yet she can be married to another for time; nevertheless, the children she bears shall belong to the man she is sealed to for eternity.
D&C 132:66 promised more revelation concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage, and clearly such is needed.
Abandoning the Practice
As The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settled in the Utah Territory, they began to participate in national politics. 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 Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law which forbids the practice on a national level. 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. After the Civil War, immigrants to Utah who were not members of the church began contesting 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 that state. In September of 1871, President Brigham Young was indicted for adultery due to his plural marriages. On January 6, 1879, the Supreme Court upheld the Morrill Act. The decision was not well-received by the members and leadership of the church.
In February of 1882, George Q. Cannon, a prominent leader in the church, was denied a 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, amending the Morrill Act by revoking the right of polygamists to vote or hold office, and allowing 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, Rudge Clawson was imprisoned for having entered into polygamous marriage before the 1862 Morrill Act, which imprisonment was in clear violation of the constitutional ban on ex post facto laws. In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker act seized control of the church and further extended the punishments of the Edmunds Act of 1882. In July of the same year, the U.S. Attorney General filed a suit to seize the church and all of its assets.
The church had clearly lost control of the territory government, and the members and leaders of the church were being actively pursued as fugitives. Without being able to appear publically, the leadership was left to navigate underground. President Wilford Woodruff and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a manifesto in 1890 banning the practice of plural marriage. Although it is still considered correct doctrine, it is no longer sanctioned by the church. This set in motion the restitution of all the rights of the members of the church and the eventual statehood of Utah in 1896.
The aftermath of the issue was exacerbated by rumors that leaders of the church were continuing the practice by sealing more polygamous marriages. Some leaders interpreted the manifesto as allowing polygamy anywhere but in the United States. Others thought it merely pushed the practice underground and out of the eyes of the world. This led to problems in seating B. H. Roberts in the House of Representatives due to his polygamous relations. New accusations of plural marriage and insincerity on the part of the church were made. It also led to the Smoot Hearings wherein Apostle Reed Smoot was challenged upon election to the Senate. During the hearings, President Joseph F. Smith issued the second manifesto in 1904, declaring that any who participated in additional plural marriages, and those officiating, would be excommunicated from the church. Disagreeing with the second manifesto, two apostles (John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley) left the quorum. They were both later excommunicated for violating the second manifesto.
The last person to participate in plural marriage with the sanction of the church passed away in 1974. Since the second manifesto, the church has never sanctioned plural marriages. Those who are caught trying to perform such are excommunicated without question. Today, the church does not teach about plural marriage except to say that it is banned and will be punished with excommunication.
Critical views
According to sympathizers, Smith, Young and other prominent Church leaders were reluctant to embrace the practice of plural marriage especially given their strict Victorian morals. Some critics contend that Smith at first committed adultery with Fanny Alger, a young maid in the Smith household, and later invented the doctrine of plural marriage to legitimize his immorality.
Some critics argue the LDS Church's current policy against the practice of plural marriage is disingenuous, for several reasons: Plural marriage is still a seminal doctrine to Mormons even if it is not practiced, accepted or discussed at Church meetings (Church leaders are discouraged from teaching or discussing polygamy); and in the case of death, and sometimes in cases of civil divorce or excommunication, men may be sealed in LDS temples to more than one woman simultaneously, while living women cannot be "sealed" to more than one man—devout Latter-day Saints consider such sealings to be eternal, outlasting mortal life and civil marriages. Except under unusual circumstances, men cannot be "sealed" to a second wife while the first is still living. Typically a "cancellation of sealing" (unofficially, but commonly called a "temple divorce") must be granted from the First Presidency of the Church. It is unclear what the presumed status of widowers who are re-sealed is after death, if it is not an effective plural marriage.
Some critics of the LDS church believe that it is inappropriate for the church to ask that the term Mormon not be applied to believers in the Book of Mormon who practice plural marriage.
See Also
External links
- The Wives of Joseph Smith web site (http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org)
- Book of the Prophet John Taylor (http://www.2bc.info/JTaylor.pdf)
- Book of the Prophet Wilford Woodruff (http://www.2bc.info/WWoodruff.pdf)
References
- Richard S. Van Wagoner; Mormon Polygamy: A History; Signature Books; ISBN 0941214796 (Paperback, 2nd edition, 1992)
- Jessie L. Embry; Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle; University of Utah Press; ISBN 0874802776 (Hardcover 1987)
- Todd Compton; In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith; Signature Books; ISBN 156085085X (Hardcover, 1997)
- Anne Eliza Young; Wife No. 19 (1876); Ayer Co Publishing ISBN 0405044887 (Hardcover, 1978); Kessinger Publishing, LLC ISBN 0766140482 (Paperback, 2003)
