A Brief History of Mormon Polygamy

When many people hear about Mormonism, their first thought is polygamy. The mainstream LDS church continues to try to downplay their polygamist roots. But polygamy in LDS offshoots keeps cropping up in the news. How did polygamy get started? Why did they do it? When did it end? Are Mormons polygamists today?

Joseph Smith and the Origins of Polygamy

• Some of early LDS scripture is in response to questions asked JS
• One such question: why many OT leaders had more than one wife (as early as 1831)
• Smith was interested in restoring ancient biblical religion
• But without context or hermeneutical discernment
• How many wives? 40 - 49.
• Some dispute bc documents do not always exist
• Fanny Alger (1833) - 16 yr old housemaid living with Smiths
• People closest to Smith (Emma, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris) believed it was simply adultery
• Apparently there was a marriage ceremony; although this may be dubious - based on very late accounts
• Plural marriage in Nauvoo (1841-1844)
• Practiced entirely in secrecy
• Smith’s wives
• Two under 14
• Eight were already married to other men
• Some pairs of sisters / in some cases, mother and daughter
• Many of these were consummated
• Key leaders initiated into the practice → loyalty test / initiation into higher level
• About 100 people initiated into it before Smith’s death
• Smith’s denials of polygamy - 1835 even became part of LDS scripture for a time
• Smith’s justification for plural marriage
• Claims that David’s multiple wive and concubines were given to him by God
• Lots of problems with this claim (see below)
• But → biblical prophets / kings did not take multiple wives then lie about it
• Backlash reaction - Nauvoo Expositor
• Leaders in Nauvoo began to hear rumors / opposed Smith for this reason
• William Law started an opposition newspaper devoted to “exposing” plural marriage
• Only one edition → Smith had it destroyed = the reason for his arrest, which led to his death

See the LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay on Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo

Brigham Young and Utah Polygamy

• BY was already initiated in plural marriage when took over
• J Smith dies - 1844
• B Young leads exodus to Utah - 1846-47
• Public announcement of polygamy - 1852
• Published the written revelation → Section 132 of D&C
• Brigham Young’s polygamy practice
• 51-56 wives / 56 children
• Some lived with him as wives; others were sealed only for eternity; others were married to him as “welfare” cases (older widows)
• Other prominent practitioners → basically every top leader; Young’s successors
• Plural marriage as a Utah institution
• Those in leadership positions were encouraged / expected to take multiple wives
• Never a majority practice: St George: 1870 - 30%; 1880 - 40%
• South Weber 1880 - 5%
• Most polygamists had 2 wives

See the LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay on Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah

The End of Polygamy in the LDS Church

• Popular opposition in the US
• 1856 (just after public revelation) = Republican party platform opposed polygamy
• Pressure from the US government
• Series of US laws from 1862-1874 seeking to undermine / prohibit polygamy
• 1882: Edmunds Act - disenfranchised convicted polygamists
• 1887: Edmunds-Tucker Act - threatened to shut the church down financially
• Polygamy goes underground
• Church leaders / members went into hiding to avoid arrest
• The Manifesto - 1890
• New LDS President Wilford Woodruff - changed church’s policy
• Advised LDS to “refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land.”
• Merely created ambiguity
• Continued practice of plural marriages - including all polygamous general authorities
• Many polygamists moved to Canada and Mexico to continuing in plural marriages
• Second Manifesto - 1904
• The LDS Church finally actually stopped authorizing new plural marriages
• Began excommunicating those who did not comply
• Even then, most LDS men with plural wives continued in those relationships
• The 1st LDS President who was not a polygamist: George Albert Smith (1945)

See the LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay on The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage

The Survival of Polygamy in the Fundamentalist Movement

• Many believed the LDS Church discontinued polygamy only due to government pressure
• Continued the practice in secret or in isolation
• Excommunicated by LDS church
• The John Taylor conspiracy
• 3rd LDS prophet: died while in hiding from polygamy prosecution
• Modern fundamentals claim he set apart some men to continue with polygamy, sensing that the church would cave
• In 1930s, 7 leading polygamists formed a loose confederation to keep polygamy going
• Included various groups led over time by a changing cast of “prophets”
• Many internal splits / splinter groups
• Current status of polygamy
• Main groups: Kingstons, FLDS, United Apostolic Brethren
• Many smaller groups, independents
• How many? No one knows. 40,000 throughout the West?
• Mainstream LDS Church and polygamy
• Didn’t really end it, only suspended it → still authorized in D&C 132 as a “everlasting covenant”
• No divine revelation ending the practice
• Still acknowledged as an eternal principle → multiple sealings
• As marriage practices & laws change in US, could it be reinstated?
• Not as long as the public views it as weird / marginal
• LDS Church is most interested in its image

Biblical Response to Polygamy

• Never commanded by God
• Contrary to order of creation in Gen 2
• One man, one woman → united / joined
• Note how this becomes the basis for NT teaching on marriage
• Every instance leads to tragic results
• Abraham - conflict between wives
• Solomon - “his wives turned his heart away” (1 Kings 11:3)
• Strictly forbidden for Israel’s kings - Deut 17:17
• Contrary to the biblical image of God’s relationship w/Israel
• God as Israel’s spouse (Hosea) → one chosen nation only, not many
• NT: Christ has one bride; cf Eph 5