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| Does polygamy violate basic rights? |
It was believed that Joseph Smith promoted and practiced polygamy, but due to the lack of public records, the exact number of Smith's wives continues to be debated. Smith denied the allegations that he either promoted polygamy or had more than one wife up until his assassination in 1844 during his campaign for President of the United States.
The Mormons settled in Utah when it was only a territory and it was this group who actually applied to Congress for statehood. Congress would never allow a territory to become a state as long as polygamy was practiced.
Congress passed several laws making polygamy a crime, including the Edmund-Tucker Act of 1887. This Act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. As a result of this new law, polygamists were hunted down and imprisoned, church properties were confiscated and even the right of Utah women to vote was revoked.
In many test cases, the U. S. Supreme Court declared these laws to be Constitutional. To avoid arrest, many polygamists took to the "underground" and formed their own groups in other areas of the country.
In 1896, Utah finally received its statehood, but only after the president of the Mormon church declared an end to the practice of polygamy.
Today, the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) feel that it is incorrect to use the term "Mormon" when speaking of their church, its members, or to other groups.
It is the Mormon fundamentalists who today feel that the original Mormon principles were wrongly changed or abandoned by the LDS church. These fundamentalists have no central authority for their practices and have formed many different communities in isolated areas of the United States where polygamy is taught and practiced.
Our founding fathers felt so strongly that polygamy was wrong that they went so far as to deny a U. S. territory the right to become a state. Even though some aspects of the early laws would be quite humorous to today's Supreme Court, in those early days, the Supreme Court was actually in agreement with the Congress.
Whether we view polygamy from a religious, moral, legal or even economic viewpoint, a little common sense would go a long way in teaching us that having more than one wife for the purpose of slavery, sexual gratification, or to maintain the existence of our particular group is in direct contradiction to the rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" so clearly stated in the Constitution of these United States.
Sources: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Utah State University-Department of History, U. S. Constitution
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