Mormonism and polygamy
Polygamy was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families. Polygamy among Latter-day Saints has been controversial, both in Western society and within the LDS Church itself. Many U.S. politicians were strongly opposed to the practice; the Republican platform even referred to polygamy and slavery as "the twin relics of barbarism." Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement, first introduced polygamy privately in the 1830s. Later, in 1852, Orson Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, publicly announced and defended the practice at the request of then-church president Brigham Young.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the LDS Church and the United States remained at odds over the issue. The church defended polygamy as a matter of religious freedom, while the federal government, in line with prevailing public opinion, sought to eradicate it. Polygamy likely played a role in the Utah War of 1857–1858, as Republican critics portrayed Democratic President James Buchanan as weak in opposing both polygamy and slavery. In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, prohibiting polygamous marriage in the territories. Despite the law, many Latter-day Saints continued to practice polygamy, believing it was protected by the First Amendment. However, in 1879, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Morrill Act's constitutionality in Reynolds v. United States, asserting that while laws could not interfere with religious belief, they could regulate religious practices.
In 1890, when it became clear that Utah would not be admitted to the Union while polygamy was still practiced, church president Wilford Woodruff issued the 1890 Manifesto, officially banning the formation of new polygamous unions within the LDS Church. Although this manifesto did not dissolve existing polygamous marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state in 1896. After the manifesto, some church members 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 new polygamous marriages in the church to cease, and established excommunication as the consequence for those who disobeyed. Existing polygamous LDS couples continued to live together into the 1950s.
Several small Mormon fundamentalist groups, seeking to continue the practice, split from the LDS Church, including the Apostolic United Brethren and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Meanwhile, the LDS Church continues its policy of excommunicating members found practicing polygamy, and today actively seeks to distance itself from fundamentalist groups that continue the practice. Adherents of various churches and groups from the larger Latter Day Saint movement continue to practice polygamy.
Although the main branch of Mormonism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, prohibits any form of bigamy or legal marriage to more than one spouse, it still practices the sealing of multiple women to a single husband in its temple ceremonies. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also teaches and maintains that both polygamy and polyandry exist in the afterlife, and that a woman can be sealed to more than one husband and that a man can be sealed to multiple women.
Origin
Historian Richard van Wagoner reports that Smith developed an interest in polygamy after studying parts of the Old Testament in which prophets had more than one wife. In the 1830s or early 1840s, Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith secretly initiated a practice of religious polygamy among select members of the Church of Christ he founded. In Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith introduced ecclesiastical leaders to the practice of polygamy, and he married several plural wives. On July 12, 1843, Smith dictated and had recorded what he said was a revelation from God describing the theology and purpose of polygamy, relating it to biblical portrayals of polygamous marriage by Old Testament patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When he dictated the document, Smith said he already "knew the revelation perfectly from beginning to end".At the time, the practice was kept secret from most people, both adherents and not. The church publicly denounced polygamy, and only some membership knew about the teachings and practiced polygamy. The number of members aware of polygamy grew until the church started openly practicing polygamy in early 1852, eight years after Smith's death. According to some historians and then-contemporary accounts, by this time, polygamy was openly taught and practiced. The doctrine authorizing polygamy was canonized and first published in the 1876 version of the church's Doctrine and Covenants.
Types of polygamous marriages
There were two types of polygamous marriages in the LDS Church: eternity-only and time-and-eternity. Eternity-only polygamous marriages applied only in the afterlife and time-and-eternity marriages applied both in mortal life and in the afterlife. Smith had sexual relations with some of his wives; others, he had no sexual relations with.Polyandry
Other types of polygamous marriages in the early LDS Church were polyandrous in contrast to polygynous marriages. In polyandrous marriages one woman was married to more than one living husband at the same time. Examples of prominent Mormon women who at some point practiced polyandry included Zina D. H. Young, Patty Bartlett Sessions, Sarah M. Cleveland, and Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner. Prominent men who were in polyandrous marriages included presidents Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, as well as the apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde. Smith married 14 women who were currently married to their living husband.Teachings about polygamy
Theology
Salvation
Polygamy was taught as being essential for Exaltation. Polygamy was seen as "more important than baptism" and the practice of polygamy was required to participate fully in the "works of Abraham.". Brigham Young stated that:"if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned; and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given, and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned. But the Saints who live their religion will be exalted, for they never will deny any revelation which the Lord has given or may give."Other leaders of the church taught that men who refused to have multiple wives were not obeying God's commandments and that they should step down from their priesthood callings. Church president Joseph F. Smith also spoke about the necessity of practicing polygamy in order to receive Exaltation. Members of the church in St George, Utah report being taught in the late 1800s that there is no "exaltation" without polygamy. In a church-owned newspaper, an article speculates that men and women who refuse to practice polygamy will have a lesser station in the afterlife.
Polygamy explained as being a commandment of God that was received by divine revelation and that polygamy was a part of God's plan.