Social And Political Reactions To Mormon Polygamy Essay

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).”

Smith was sent to jail and was later killed by a mob of Non Mormons.

Joseph Smith dictated a revelation concerning plural marriage. He bought the act forward as a requirement from God (Jacobson 2015). In the present day Mormon religion they have in fact denounced their support of “plural marriage” after the congressional act to ban the practice, but there are still subgroups of the religion that still practice it. In addition to the religious backing of polygamy, there are reasons that individuals chose to practice it. It increased the profitability of children, especially when a wife is barren of gives birth to female children. An increase in the labor supply within a kinship network. You can deal with the problem of surplus women. It expanded the range of a man’s alliances so he is able to maintain or acquire a position of leadership. Lastly, it can also provide sexual satisfaction to men (Bailey 2015). Religions to date that practice polygamy are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormons, Muslims, and Apostolic Untied Brethren. Polygamy was tied to religion many years ago because many of the early founders believed that it was very much related to God, and that it would be of his will and liking to have more than

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

The Sand Creek Massacre was one of the most defenseless and uncivilized massacres. The author of John Smith’s testimony prepared this document to shine light on the truth of the Sand Creek massacre. The massacre occurred on November 29th, 1864. Although there is no known number of casualties, it is estimated that around two hundred Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians were killed during this event. There are many different stories told about the events that took place. It is with reason to believe that John Smith’s testimony proves to be the most accurate.

The problem lies in that being a Mormon woman is the complete and total opposite of being an independent woman. When a Mormon man looks for a wife he wants a woman who needs him to provide for their family and care for her. An independent woman needs none of the providing a Mormon man gives and so they are not compatible. The same goes for an independent Mormon woman seeking love outside her religion. Men outside of her religion will want her to open up to them and allow them to have sex, but the Mormon religion forbids it so they become dissatisfied and are thus

Lee was killed because they found out that he was part of the Massacre. If you wonder how he was the part of it well I’m about to tell you. Major John Higbee that was in command of the force at Mountain Meadow persuaded John D. Lee to be and William Bateman to act as a decoy to draw the emigrants out from the protection of their wagons. John D. Lee and William Bateman were waving a white flag, marched across the field and talked to the emigrants to leave their weapons, wagons, and cattle for there could be no harm from the Mormons. That was a lie. The emigrants listened to Lee and they were walking with a mormon by their side. Every emigrant men and women had a Mormon by their side with a gun. Then after a quarter mile Major John Higbee yelled ‘’ Halt! Do your duty!’’. Then that's when the massacre happened. Right when he said that, all the Mormons shot the emigrants that were beside them. Only seventeen kids survived and they were maybe at least 7 years old or younger. There was one kid that was only 4 years old and saw his mother get killed by a mormon. He said it was the most horriblest thing he ever saw because he was right beside his mother when he saw her get shot in the head. The mormons let those 17 kids leave on their own.The next day after the massacre Colonel Dame and Lt. Colonel Haight visited the site of the massacre with John Lee. He described how it looked that when the massacre happened. John Lee, Colonel Dame, and Lt. Colonel Haight went back home and told about the massacre to everyone. Some blamed Brigham Young but he never knew about the massacre. Everyone were wondering who was responsible about the massacre. When Young’s official Mormons heard about that, they were worked on blaming the Indians or the emigrants themselves. By November John D. Lee completed a fictionalized account of the massacre, attributing all the killing to the Indians and send it to Young. When Young received it he began on his report about the Indians doing

Following the massacre, the perpetrators hastily buried the victims, leaving the bodies vulnerable to wild animals the climate. Local families ook in the surviving children, and man of the victims' possessions were auctioned off. Investigations, after interruption by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments during 1874. Of the men indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, lee was convicted by a jury sentenced to death, and executed by a Utah firing squad on March 23,

Men and women from other religions, did many things to harm as many of the mormons they could. There were mass murders, rages, attacks on homes, and massacres that were set against the mormons. One common thing done to them,was tarring and feathering them. This is where boiling tar was poured over their head, to run down their body then they were covered in feathers. Thousands were killed, or at least hurt, year after year. Many of the righteous and steadfast followers were put in jail for no reason, then starved to death, or shot. Others were killed on the spot. The Prophet, Joseph Smith, was taken from his home, and put in jail with four other mormon leaders, then him and two others were shot by a mob just days later.

Andersonville Prison, officially named Camp Sumter, was among the largest of the prison camps during the civil war (Holst). Events that took place there and the actions of Captain Henry Wirz, the man in charge of the camp, are of the most speculated incidents that occurred during the war. However, Henry Wirz should not have been found guilty of the war crimes at Andersonville.

With all that happening the Paiutes indians murdered the women. The shooting stopped and there was 120 men and women dead. The mormons and paiutes indians just spared 17children. The children who survived to the massacre were Mary Elizabeth who was five years old, Sara Frances Baker Mitchell who was three years old, William Twitty who was 9 months old, Rebecca J. who was six years old, Louisa who was four years old, Sarah E. who was one year old, Prudence Angeline who was five years old, Georgia Ann who was eighteen months old, Christopher Carson who was five years old, Triphenia D. who was 22 months old, Nancy Sophronia Huff Cates who was four years old, Felix Marion who was 18 months old, John Calvin who was six years old, Mary who was four years old, William Tillman who was one year old, Emberson Milum Tackitt who was four years old, and William Henry Tackitt who was 19 months old. All The children who survived were adopted by families who lived nearby, but then two years later they were reunited with their extended families. They let those children live because they wouldn’t know what had happened that day.

Tension had been building between the settlers and the Dakota for quite some time over treaty violations, late annuity payments by the government, and general encroachment by white settlers on Dakota lands, which led to increasing hardship among the Dakota. Local skirmishes and battles of the Dakota against the settlers and later the U.S. Army continued for several months, ending with the surrendering and incarceration of more than a thousand Dakota men. Three hundred and three of these men were convicted in early December of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced to death. Some trials lasted less than five minutes, and the Dakota were not represented by defense attorneys nor were the proceedings explained to them. President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the trial records and was advised by some to have them all hanged to gain more votes in the next election while others encouraged him to show leniency. Eventually, he sentenced thirty-nine of the men to death, and one was later pardoned. Despite his legal training, Lincoln was willing to let the obstruction of justice and triumph of bias over facts continue. Due to the hasty and overexcited process, some innocents were condemned while the guilty got prison sentences. The Army executed the prisoners by hanging in Mankato, Minnesota. It

“During the fall of 1877 Joseph led his 500 followers into Montana. In the fighting, he showed rare military genius and great humanity; he refused to make war on women and children, bought his supplies when possible, and allowed no mutilation of bodies (Joseph, Chief).” He made an enormous impact on public opinion of Indians because of his humanitarian retreat. He outmaneuvered and beat the US army in a few skirmish of actual combat during a 1600-1700 mile journey through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana (Chief

Polygamy is a practice of having more than one wife. George Reynolds already had a wife but he married again in order to have a second spouse. With polygamy being banned in all fifty states, Reynolds was convicted of bigamy. However, Reynold stated that the law was unconstitutional on First Amendment basis. He told the court that he was a member of the Mormon Church. The Mormon church had a doctrine that practiced polygamy. He argued that because he was a member of the church, he was expected to marry twice. He told the court he was fulfilling a religious duty. Because he convicted

Some religion allowing polygamy could be seen on the surface in the prophets. But some religion had to be looked deeper into the content to see which side does is support. For example, the religion that we are most familiar with in the western society, Christianity, had embedded polygamous relationships into the Bible. Characters in the Bible such as Jacob and Abraham had multiple wives. One of the common known stories in the bible, Noah’s Ark, had polygamy embedded into the background. Lamech, the father of Noah, had two wives who he was married to. In Genesis 4:19-25, the bible stated: “Then Lamech said to his wives: ‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!...If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’” (Patterson). In Lamech’s case, the Flood was actually brought to penalized the sins Lamech committed and along with the full punishment for sinful men (Patterson).