On This Day in History: September 24

The end of Mormon polygamy

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Just because you refer to polygamy as “plural marriage” doesn’t make it any more palatable. Especially when you consider how one-sided it was/is among Mormons. Men could have lots of wives, but women were forbidden from having more than one husband. When it came time to officially end the sister-wife shit, it was done with great reluctance, and some didn’t get the memo.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: September 24, 1890--

Joseph Smith talked to an angel and golden plates blah blah was founder of the Cult of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; he took over 50 wives. Talk about a glutton for punishment, amirite? That was sarcasm. It’s the women who suffer under polygyny, which is when it’s only about multiple wives, not multiple husbands. A 2015 study of 171 countries found higher rates of violence toward women and children in polygynous societies. The authors stated it “clearly documents polygyny as a practice that constitutes a fundamental abuse of basic human rights and dignity.”

By the late 19th century, the U.S. government had enough of the Mormons’ shit and in 1887 passed an anti-polygamy law that disincorporated the LDS church and ordered the seizure of its assets. The church was all, “Not the assets!” and fought back, but the law was upheld by the Supreme Court and in 1890, on September 24, the Mormons reluctantly issued the “Woodruff Manifesto” that officially advised against all future plural marriage. But if you and granddad already had a bunch of wives, you were “grandfathered” in. If you had five you could keep them but needed to cancel plans for turning that 13-year-old girl down the lane into #6. Speaking of the term “grandfather clause,” it has a racist history; it’s related to preventing Black people from voting in southern states for many decades following the Civil War and the passage of the 15th Amendment.

And it’s important to note that at the time, polygyny was not uncommon, being practiced by approximately a quarter of Mormon families. Many were not pleased. You know how the South went to war over slavery? The Mormons once went to war over polygyny, with it being a major factor in the Utah War of 1857-58.

Many were pissed by the manifesto, proclaiming it would destroy their (misogynistic) way of life. And they continued taking multiple wives. The phasing out of polygyny was a gradual process, but the U.S. decided they were doing a good enough job of it to allow Utah to become a part of the Union in 1896.

In 1904, with Mormons sneaking off to Canada and Mexico to add more wives, there was a second LDS manifesto banning new plural marriages worldwide. Nevertheless, there remain fundamentalist Mormon sects that believe polygyny is a requirement for “exaltation”—the highest level of salvation—and still practice it today.

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