LDS polygamy: plural marriage practice, the Manifesto, 1890

Origins of Plural Marriage

The practice of plural marriage (polygamy) in the early Latter-day Saint church remains one of the most discussed and sensitive topics in LDS history. From the 1840s through 1890, some Latter-day Saints engaged in plural marriage—men taking multiple wives—under what they understood to be divine authorization. The practice was introduced secretly by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, publicly acknowledged under Brigham Young's leadership, and eventually formally discontinued through the Manifesto of 1890.

Joseph Smith is believed by LDS historians, the church itself, and many secular scholars to have introduced plural marriage in the early 1840s during his leadership in Nauvoo. The revelation authorizing the practice was recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 132, revealed according to the text on July 12, 1843. The revelation presents plural marriage as an eternal principle, taught by biblical prophets (Abraham, Moses, David), and restored for the latter days. The revelation emphasizes that plural marriage is meant to facilitate the increase and expansion of God's kingdom and that women who are sealed (married for eternity) to husbands will be exalted in heaven. The revelation also contains severe warnings against those who criticize the practice.

The Practice Under Brigham Young

Joseph Smith's own plural marriages are a matter of historical debate. Modern church historians acknowledge that Joseph married approximately 30-35 women between 1841 and 1844. Some of these marriages were to young women, including at least one who was 14 years old. Some wives were previously married women whose living husbands also belonged to the church. Some marriages were spiritual ceremonies without sexual consummation; others appear to have been full marriages. The secrecy surrounding Joseph's polygamy was absolute within the church, and virtually no public knowledge of his practices emerged until after his death.

After Joseph Smith's martyrdom, Brigham Young emerged as the church leader and oversaw the migration of the Saints to the Great Basin. Brigham Young also practiced plural marriage, and under his leadership the practice was expanded among church leadership. Young had approximately 55 wives and fathered approximately 57 children with various wives. The practice gradually became more systematized and institutionalized under Young's administration, though it remained technically secret from the American public.

In 1852, the church publicly acknowledged plural marriage for the first time. Apostle Orson Pratt, speaking in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on August 29, 1852, announced that plural marriage was an authorized doctrine of the church and that many church leaders practiced it. This public acknowledgment shocked the American public and galvanized opposition. The U.S. government viewed polygamy as immoral, un-American, and contrary to Christian values. Polygamy had been illegal in U.S. territories since the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862, but the law was difficult to enforce in Utah where church members dominated local government and juries were reluctant to convict.

Government Opposition and the Manifesto

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, the federal government escalated pressure against the LDS church regarding polygamy. The Edmunds Act of 1882 provided harsher penalties for polygamy and disfranchised polygamists (taking away their voting rights). The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 further threatened church property and authority. Federal marshals arrested numerous church members and leaders for polygamy. Some, like John D. Lee (involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre), were executed. Others spent years in prison. The church and its members faced economic sanctions, legal harassment, and social condemnation.

By the late 1880s, the conflict between the federal government and the LDS church over polygamy had reached a crisis. Church property was being confiscated, members were being imprisoned, and Utah could not achieve statehood as long as polygamy was practiced. The church faced an existential decision: continue the practice and face potential dissolution, or discontinue it and seek accommodation with American society.

On October 6, 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff announced the Manifesto (officially titled Official Declaration 1), officially ending the practice of plural marriage. Woodruff declared that the church would "cease the solemnization of any new polygamous marriages" and would discourage the practice among members. The Manifesto presented the decision as a revelation from God and as a pragmatic necessity for the church's survival and Utah's statehood. The announcement was dramatic and devastating for some members who had practiced polygamy, but it was accepted as binding church doctrine by the overwhelming majority.

Modern Church Position on Polygamy

The Manifesto did not immediately eliminate plural marriage entirely. Some church leaders and members continued to perform plural marriages secretly for years after 1890, a practice officially halted by a second manifesto in 1904. Individuals who had entered into plural marriage before 1890 were permitted to remain in those relationships without ecclesiastical penalty, and some such families survived into the twentieth century. But the official stance of the church was absolute: no new plural marriages, and any members who practiced polygamy after 1904 were subject to excommunication.

In the modern era, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has completely separated itself from fundamentalist groups that continue to practice polygamy. The FLDS church (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and other smaller fundamentalist groups broke away or remained separate from the main LDS church specifically over the Manifesto issue, rejecting Woodruff's decision as apostasy. These groups are entirely separate organizations and have no official relationship with the mainstream LDS church. Any Latter-day Saint member who practices polygamy today is subject to immediate excommunication. The church's official position is that plural marriage was a divinely authorized practice for a specific historical era, but it is not authorized in the modern church.

The church has addressed the historical reality of polygamy forthrightly in recent decades. The Gospel Topics Essays, published on the official church website, include comprehensive essays on plural marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo and polygamy in the early Utah church. These essays acknowledge the practice, explain the doctrinal basis as understood by the church, discuss Joseph Smith's plural marriages, and address difficult questions about age differences and spousal relationships. The essays represent the church's effort to provide honest historical information while affirming that the practice was divinely authorized for the early church.

The polygamy era remains culturally significant in LDS history. Many members have polygamist ancestors, and family histories often include plural wives and half-siblings from different mothers. The practice is no longer part of LDS theology or practice, but it remains an inescapable part of the church's historical narrative. Understanding this era is essential to understanding the church's development, its conflicts with the federal government, and the factors that shaped it into the modern institution it has become.