Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous PassageIn his famous Manifesto of 1890, Mormon church president Wilford Woodruff called for an end to the more than fifty-year practice of polygamy. Fifteen years later, two men were dramatically expelled from the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for having taken post-Manifesto plural wives and encouraged the step by others. Evidence reveals, however, that hundreds of Mormons (including several apostles) were given approval to enter such relationships after they supposedly were banned. Why would Mormon leaders endanger agreements allowing Utah to become a state and risk their church's reputation by engaging in such activities--all the while denying the fact to the world? This book seeks to find the answer through a review of the Mormon polygamous experience from its beginnings. In the course of national debate over polygamy, Americans generally were unbending in their allegiance to monogamy. Solemn Covenant provides the most careful examination ever undertaken of Mormon theological, social, and biological defenses of "the principle". Although polygamy was never a way of life for the majority of Latter-day Saints in the nineteenth century, Carmon Hardy contends that plural marriage enjoyed a more important place in the Saints' restorationist vision than most historians have allowed. Many Mormons considered polygamy a prescription for health, an antidote for immorality, and a key to better government. Despite intense pressure from the nation to end the experiment, because of their belief in its importance and gifts, polygamy endured as an approved arrangement among church members well into the twentieth century. Hardy demonstrates how Woodruff's Manifesto of 1890 evolved from a tactic to preservepolygamy into a revelation now used to prohibit it. Solemn Covenant examines the halting passage followed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it transformed itself into one of America's most vigilant champions of the monogamous way. |
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Page ix
... Leaders and Post - Manifesto Polygamy 206 7. The Leaders Divide : Roberts and Smoot , Taylor and Cowley 244 8. The Mormon - Progressive Encounter : A New Crusade 284 9. Late Efforts and Polygamy's Decline 310 10. Monogamous Triumph 336 ...
... Leaders and Post - Manifesto Polygamy 206 7. The Leaders Divide : Roberts and Smoot , Taylor and Cowley 244 8. The Mormon - Progressive Encounter : A New Crusade 284 9. Late Efforts and Polygamy's Decline 310 10. Monogamous Triumph 336 ...
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Contents
The Principle Commenced | 1 |
Mormon Polygamy | 39 |
Blessings of the Abrahamic Household | 84 |
The Manifesto of 1890 | 127 |
The Principle Continued Abroad and at Home | 167 |
Church Leaders and PostManifesto Polygamy | 206 |
Roberts and Smoot | 244 |
A New Crusade | 284 |
Late Efforts and Polygamys Decline | 310 |
Monogamous Triumph | 336 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham American anti-polygamy April authority Badger Brigham H Brigham Young Canada Cannon Celestial Marriage Christ of Latter-day Church Archives Church of Jesus cohabitation COLONIA JUAREZ Deseret doctrine Embry FGS SAYS MARRIAGE George Q George Teasdale History HUSBAND ibid interviewed by Jessie interviewed by Leonard John Henry Smith John Taylor Jorgensen Joseph F Joseph Smith July June Kimball Larson Latter-day Saints Lyman Manifesto March married MARY Matthias F Merrill Mexico monogamous Mormon Polygamy Mormonism's Nauvoo non-Mormon official Orson Pratt patriarchal Penrose plural marriage plural wives POHP polyg polygamists polygamous marriages polygamy post-Manifesto practice President Joseph President Smith President Woodruff Press principle Prophet Quinn quorum Reed Smoot revelation riage Richards Roberts Rudger Clawson Salt Lake City SARAH Senator Sept sexual Smoot hearings Snow Thomas tion told University of Utah Utah Library vols wife Wilford Woodruff's Journal William women York