Old News: No more Mormon polygamy (officially)
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Mormon prophet Wilford Woodruff published a manifesto 133 years ago today, ending polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- This is Old News, where we peek back in time to see where we came from.
Why it matters: The 1890 manifesto is certainly among the top five most significant events in Mormon and Utah history.
- It allowed Utah to obtain statehood after decades of fighting with the U.S. government over its practice of plural marriage.
Catch up quick: About a year earlier, Woodruff told the Salt Lake Herald-Republican that the church planned to obey laws forbidding polygamy.
- The deal was sealed by two Supreme Court decisions in 1890: one allowing Idaho to ban polygamous residents from voting, and another that permitted the federal government to disincorporate the church and seize its property.
Reality check: A number of polygamous marriages still occurred after Woodruff's manifesto.
The intrigue: Woodruff states the manifesto responds to "press dispatches having been sent for political purposes" that alleged the church was still sanctioning plural marriages.
- In his journal that day, Woodruff wrote he was "acting for the temporal salvation of the church."
- It wasn't until later that he began describing the process of divine revelation that he said inspired it. Initially, he said only that God would not allow a church leader to lead members astray.
- Disputes over the manifesto's divine origin led to the breakaway of the FLDS and other sects that still practice polygamy in Utah today.
Previously in Old News:
- ✊ Utah's labor movement caught in violence
- 🛶 John Wesley Powell's crappy night
- 😈 How Lucifer took over a Utah newspaper during the satanic panic
- 📸 A photo history of Utah's impressive and bizarre Pioneer Day floats
- ⛷️ The great Alta freak-out of 1873
- 🍸 A big step toward booze
- 🎉 Ogden: More fun than Salt Lake City for at least 143 years