Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century

Possibly as early as the 1830s, followers of the Latter Day Saint movement (also known as Mormonism), were practicing the doctrine of polygamy or "plural marriage". After the death of church founder Joseph Smith, the doctrine was officially announced in Utah by Mormon leader Brigham Young in 1852, attributed posthumously to Smith, and the practice of polygamy began among Mormons at large, principally in Utah where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had relocated after the Illinois Mormon War. In the years after the LDS Church began practicing polygamy, it drew intense scrutiny and criticism from the United States government. This criticism led to the Utah Mormon War, and eventually the abandonment of the practice under the leadership of Wilford Woodruff, who issued the 1890 Manifesto. Official sanction by the LDS Church: The Mormon doctrine of plural wives was officially announced by one of the Twelve Apostles, Orson Pratt, and church president Brigham Young in a special conference of the elders of the LDS Church assembled in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on 28 August 1852, and reprinted in the Deseret News Extra the following day. The announcement came nine years after the purported original revelation by Joseph Smith, and five years after the Mormon exodus to the Salt Lake Valley following Smith's death in Carthage, Illinois. Young was unable to produce the original document and declared that Smith's widow Emma Smith had burned it. To this, Emma Smith replied that she had never seen such a document, and concerning the story that she had destroyed the original: "It is false in all its parts, made out of whole cloth, without any foundation in truth." Controversy and opposition by the United States government Early tension and the Utah War (1852–58): Polygamy was roundly condemned by virtually all sections of the American public. During the presidential election of 1856 a key plank of the newly formed Republican Party's platform was a pledge "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery". Further tension grew due to the relationship between "Gentile" federal appointees and the Utah territorial leadership. The territory's Organic Act held that the governor, federal judges, and other important territorial positions were to be filled by appointees chosen by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, but without any reference to the will of Utah's population. Many of these federally appointed officers were appalled by the practice of polygamy and the Mormon belief system in general, and would harangue the Mormons for their "lack of morality" in public addresses. This already tense situation was further exacerbated by a period of intense religious revival starting in late 1856 dubbed the "Mormon Reformation." The issue of polygamy among the Latter-day Saints in Utah was one of the contributing factors that lead to the Utah War, in which the President of the United States dispatched an army to Utah to quell a perceived rebellion. In the midst of the American Civil War, Republican majorities in Congress were able to pass legislation meant to curb the Mormon practice of polygamy. One such act was the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which was signed into law on July 8, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. The act banned plural marriage and limited church and non-profit ownership in any territory of the United States to $50,000. The act targeted the LDS Church's control of Utah Territory. The measure had no funds allocated for enforcement, and thus it was not rigorously enforced. The Mormons, believing that the law unconstitutionally deprived them of their First Amendment right to freely practice their religion, chose to ignore the law. Aftermath and further legislation (1858–90): In the following years, several bills aimed at strengthening the anti-bigamy laws failed to pass the United States Congress. These included the Wade, Cragin, and Cullom bills which had their origin in the territory of Utah and were initiated by men who were bitterly opposed to the Mormon establishment. The Wade Bill initiated in 1866 would have destroyed local government if it had passed. Three years later, the Cragin Bill was proposed, but within a few days it was substituted by the Cullom Bill, which was more radical than the Wade or Cragin bills. Members of the church worked for the defeat of the bill, including women of the church, who held mass meetings throughout the territory in January 1870 in opposition to the bill. Finally, the Poland Act (18 Stat. 253) of 1874 was passed which sought to facilitate prosecutions under the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act by eliminating the control members of the LDS Church exerted over the justice system of Utah Territory. Sponsored by Senator Luke P. Poland of Vermont, the Act redefined the jurisdiction of Utah courts by giving the United States district courts exclusive jurisdiction in Utah Territory over all civil and criminal cases. The Act also eliminated the territorial marshal and attorney, giving their duties to a U.S. Marshal and a U.S. Attorney. The Act also altered petit and grand jury empaneling rules to keep polygamists off juries. By removing Latter-day Saints from positions of authority in the Utah justice system, the Act was intended to allow for successful prosecutions of Mormon polygamists. Immediately, under the act, the United States Attorney tried to bring leading church officials to trial. These efforts culminated in the sentencing of George Reynolds to two years hard labor in prison and a fine of five hundred dollars for his practice of polygamy. In 1876, the Utah Territorial Supreme Court upheld the sentence. His 1878 Reynolds v. United States appeal reached the United States Supreme Court, and in January 1879 that body ruled the anti-polygamy legislation constitutional and upheld Reynolds's prison sentence (it struck down the fine and hard labor portions). Reynolds was released from prison in January 1881, having served eighteen months of his original sentence. 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 multiple marriages. This revived the issue in national politics. One month later, the Edmunds Act was passed, amending the Morrill Act by declaring polygamy a felony, revoking a polygamist's right to vote, making them ineligible for jury service, and prohibiting them from holding political office. These restrictions were enforced regardless of whether an individual was actually practicing polygamy, or merely believed in the Mormon doctrine of plural marriage without actually participating in it. All elected offices in the Utah Territory were vacated, an election board was formed to issue certificates to those who both denied polygamy and did not practice it, and new elections were held territory-wide. Electoral obstacles to prosecution were now removed, and the new territorial officials began criminal prosecutions in ernest. Judge Charles S. Zane, the Republican appointee of Chester A. Arthur, handed down harsh sentences to church leaders, beginning with apostle Rudger Clawson. Finally, the Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 touched all the issues at dispute between the United States Congress and the LDS Church. The act disincorporated both the church and its Perpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they fostered polygamy. The act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. In July of the same year, the U.S. Attorney General filed suit to seize the church and all of its assets. The act was enforced by the U.S. marshal and a host of deputies. The act: -Dissolved the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, with assets to be used for public schools in the territory. -Required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials. -Annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit. -Required civil marriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy). -Abrogated the common law spousal privilege to require wives to testify against their husbands -Disfranchised women (who had been enfranchised by the territorial legislature in 1870). -Replaced local judges (including the previously powerful Probate Court judges) with federally appointed judges. -Removed local control in school textbook choice. In 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the seizure of church property under the Edmunds–Tucker Act in Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States. 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, in the 1880s the leadership was left to navigate "underground". Following the Edmunds-Tucker Act, the LDS Church found it difficult to operate as a viable institution.