Morrill Anti-Polygamy Case Study

If you have never heard of polygamy you will and if you had in the past it was most likely due to the hit reality series “Sister Wives” about a polygamist family in the state of Utah. Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of having more than one spouse at a time. Polygamy is nothing new and has been practice for hundreds of years but it is now seen as an immoral act, and a criminal act in a large majority of the of the world. Now even though polygamy is wide known in certain areas like Africa (South Africa, Kenya), Asia (middle east), etc. Still there are rules that they must abide by and it frowned on in an obese manner in areas like the United States, Australia, and China, because as a society we see it as an unjust act that can not be upheld by any justification but it is permitted in the bible. I support polygamy because I see no fault in the act of a family with multiple spouses.

In “Mormon Masculinity Changing Gender Expectations in the Era of Transition from Polygamy to Monogamy, 1890–1920,” Amy Hoyt and Sara M. Patterson argue that during the era of transition from polygamy to monogamy, there was a perceived crisis in the lives of Mormon boys. These events together resulted in a change in the notion of masculinity in the LDS church. Their thesis was “..during the period from 1890 to 1920, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) perceived a crisis in the lives of their boys. That sense of crisis lay at the surface of an even deeper cultural upheaval taking place within Mormondom....With the transition from polygamy to monogamy, church members had to construct a new model for understanding marriage, family and sexuality...they were also forced to reconstruct their notions of masculinity (Hoyt and Patterson 72-73).”

Polygamy is the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time. Polyandry is a form of polygamy where a woman can marry more than one man at the same time, and polygyny is another form of polygamy where a man is allowed to have more than one wife. Polygamy is more known than polyandry. Polygamy is permitted in countries like Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Africa, and in other countries like the United States, England, Spain, and Mexico it is not permitted. Many view Polygamy as a sexual desire and satisfaction to be with more than just one man or woman, but for many cultural reasons, man and woman may have more than one wife or husband. As discussed in the video, the meaning of love & polygamy, the positive outcomes of having more than one wife or husband is so they can be provided each other with help.

Marriage is a social institution that is practiced globally. Traditionally marriages are known to occur between one man and one woman. However, cultural values and time have reshaped and birthed new types of marriages. Polygamy is a type of marriage that is often practiced around the world specifically in Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Polyamorous marriages have been in existence for centuries. Polygamy is classified into two categories, polygyny, and polyandry. Polygyny is the most popular type of polygamy, in this type of polygamous marriage, a man is married to multiple women. On the other hand, polyandry which is the least familiar type of polygamy is where a woman is married to multiple husbands. The intolerance of Mormons in the United States has led to the outlawing of polyamorous marriages. The Morrill Anti Bigamy law of 1862 outlawed the practice of polygamy in the United States. Like many other laws, this law can be overturned. In fact, it should be reversed because illegalizing polygamy is unethical. Polygamy should be legalized because it is unconstitutional for it to be illegal, same-sex marriages and interracial marriages are legal, therefore so should polyamorous marriages. In addition, legalizing polygamy would prevent immigrant families who practice polygamy from being separated and it would also strengthen the feminist movement.

Most would equate their struggle and first for equality to gay marriage. This is mostly due to so much acceptance of those individuals that do not fit the mold of the typical monogamous man and women marriage. We are far from a city that is accepting of this union or are we? Recently families who practice polygamy have been in the public increasingly. Modern day television series such as the Sister Wives follows a family in a polygamous union who documents their day to day life and the struggle that we mentioned in the previous paragraph. This family lives their life in peace which reverts back to my stance on the issue in which the laws that currently exist around polygamy unions are good as they are. Reporter Amy Robek of the 20/20 news show reported on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints Polygamy Compound in a documentary titled “Secrets of the Mormon Cult: Breaking Polygamy”. This documentary was filmed after the prosecution of the cult leader of the FLDS compound Warren Jeff’s. They got a rare inside look on what life is like within compounds, shedding light to outsiders the daily operations and schedules the sheltered people. What they discovered was these families are hold a lower standard of education, health care, and nutritional values. From

The main reason as to why the polygamist would be arrested is because although that person is practicing their religion under the free exercise clause, that person is committing a crime and is therefore punished. The free exercise clause within the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that the U.S. government is unable to interfere with a citizen's right to exercise their religion. However, as a citizen of the United States of America, that person has to abide by the laws of the country meaning that officials are able to arrest a person even if they are just practicing their religion.

By granting Utah statehood, the U.S. Government would be able to better enforce anti-polygamy laws of the United States, such as the “Morrill Anti-bigamy Act”, “Poland Act”, “Edmunds Act”, and the “Edmunds-Tucker Act”, and keep a closer eye on the Mormons. Being a territory without statehood, Utah was not subject to such laws of the United States. As later exposed by the Utah War, the U.S. government was misled towards the events occurring in the Utah Territory. The U.S. could not legally enforce the laws that outlawed polygamy and “unlawful cohabitation” because of the territory status of Utah. (Davis)

United States (1878) where he says, “Polygamy has always been odious among the northern and western nations of Europe, and, until the establishment of the Mormon Church, was almost exclusively a feature of the life of Asiatic and of African people. At common law, the second marriage was always void,” The court then agreed that this act of multiple marriages would not line up with the traditions our country was founded on. In other words, the court does not believe polygamy should be allowed because the United States was founded on certain principles and morals that polygamy would challenge and even go against.

United States in 1878, George Reynolds was fined $500 and sentenced to two years in prison for having two wives. This case introduced the defense of religious belief or duty as a possible reason the law may be broken. Although Reynolds married his second wife in accordance with his religious background and should have been found not guilty, the court argued that there was criminal intent when he deliberately married his second wife with evil intentions. The establishment of religious freedom was drafted as a result of this case and built the separation of church and state. The question arose whether the extent of polygamy should be considered under the ideals of freedom to practice religion. Arguments in opposition to polygamy include the comparison to human sacrifices in an attempt to introduce a limitation to that

During the 1870s and 1880s, the plural marriage created a crisis for Mormonism. Bigamy was recognized as an offense by the early English ecclesiastical courts, which considered it an affront to the marriage Sacrament. Parliament enacted a statute in 1604 that made bigamy a felony cognizable in the English common law courts.

A short term effect was active polygamists couldn’t vote. This affected the voting results since a chunk of Idaho’s population were polygamists. Davis vs Beason was considered a landmark case because, for the first time, a Supreme Court Justice verbally expressed what is known as the “belief-conduct distinction.” The belief-conduct distinction refers to the distinction that people may believe what they wish, but they must still obey state and federal laws that regulate their behavior. This statement laid the groundwork for many other religious cases to follow and highly impacted Supreme Court’s decisions in other cases.

In America we have certain freedoms and every so often someone challenges those freedoms and whether or not to limit them. Whichever the case seems to be we have to abide by the rules that are set by the government. In 1878 George Reynolds challenged his religious freedoms when he was tried for the crime of bigamy, the act of having multiple marriage licenses or being married more than once (Oyez Reynolds V. U.S).Reynolds felt that since his religion, Mormonism, condoned plural marriage that it violated his First Amendment rights. The First Amendment states that ?Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof? (U.S Const., Article 3, Amendment 1, and Section 5). Reynolds felt that this was directly effecting him, but the question is where did the government draw the line? This case helped to define that the law prohibiting bigamy was not in violation of the First Amendment, Justice Morrison Waite said that it is punishable by law because it is no different than someone who practices human sacrifice as part of their religion. How this all came about was when the Mormon Church condoned plural marriage in the mid to late 1800 's as long as it abides by U.S law. This was

The first option is restore the “rational basis test” or “the pre-Smith test.” In the court case Reynolds V U.S. in 1878 “the Court upheld a federal law banning polygamy over objections by Mormons who claimed that the practice was their religious duty” (Mullally, 2011). This decision marked the differences between religious beliefs and religious

Polygamy has been illegal in the United States since 1878, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that freedom to practice the Mormon religion did not extend to having multiple wives (Reynolds v United States 1878). Federal law does not allow prospective immigrants who practice polygamy into the United States. Although, there has been polygamy found in New York among some immigrants from countries in which

Polygamy is the condition of having more than one wife at the same time. Many African societies’ especially Muslim communities accept polygamy as part of their culture and religion. In the epistolary So Long a Letter translated by Moudupe Bode-Thomas appeared in 1979, Mariama Ba denounces the disadvantages of such practices in the independent Senegal. So long so a letter is a testimony of its protagonist, Ramatoulaye despair who shares her story as she passes from a child to a widow to her friend and sister Aissatou. However, both victims of polygamy, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou respond differently to their husbands taking a second wife as Aissatou opts for divorce while Ramatoulaye chooses to remain in her marriage. By creating these distinct