1835 August 17:

Article on Marriage. "According to the custom of all civilized nations, marriage is regulated by laws and ceremonies; therefore we believe that all marriages in this Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints should be solemnized in a public meeting or feast prepared for that purpose, and that the solemnization should be performed by a Presiding High Priest, High Priest, Bishop, Elder or Priest, not even prohibiting those persons who are desirous to get married, of being married by other authority. We believe that it is not right to prohibit members of this Church from marrying out of the Church, ... The clerk of every church should keep a record of all marriages solemnized in his branch. All legal contracts of marriage made before a person is baptized into this Church should be held sacred and fulfilled. Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. (History of the Church, Vol.2, Ch.18, p.247. Plural marriages, "Spiritual Wives" and rumors of such, including accusation about adultery mixed with secrete marriages, are what prompted the statement on marriage, in an attempt to squash rumors and innuendo. Joseph Smith was conveniently out of town, thus he could be seen as supporting the inclusion of that statement from outsiders, while continuing to spread plural marriage privately to select people for many years to come. The issue of preaching conflicting revelations was avoided by his absence. The Article on Marriage was section 101 of the 1835 edition of the D&C. The RLDS church has maintained this section to this day. The LDS church kept it in the Nauvoo editions 1844, 1845 and 1846. It was not removed until SLC 1876 Edition, just before the Death of Brigham Young, when section 132 was inserted.) (The RLDS officially changed its name to Community of Christ Church on April 6, 2001 see at www.cofchrist.org)

They accuse me of polygamy, and of being a false Prophet, and many other things which I do not now remember; but I am no false Prophet; I am no imposter; I have had no dark revelations; I have no revelations from the devil; I made no revelations; I have got nothing up of myself, The same God that has thus far dictated me and directed me and strengthened me in this work, gave me this revelation and commandment on celestial and plural marriage and the same God commanded me to obey it. He said to me that unless I accepted it and introduced it, and practiced it, I, together with my people, would be damned and cut off from this time hence forth.

And they say if I do so, they will kill me, 0, what shall I do? If I do not practice it, I shall be damned with my people. If I do teach it, and practice it, and urge it, they say they will kill me, and I know they will. But we have got to observe it. It is an eternal principle and was given by way of commandment and not byway of instruction, (Joseph Smith, Contributor 5:259)

1849 Petition for the State of Deseret rejected by Congress, State boundaries were too large and most of that large area was unoccupied at that time. ("A Constitution for Utah", Stanley S. Ivins, Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 25 1957 p. 95.)

1850 Fall, A geographically smaller Territory of Utah was approved with Brigham Young as Territorial Governor. (Ivins, p. 95.)

[Recent data shows that some 27% of rural households are currently headed by widowed or single women. If we were to assume that in the 1850s an equivalent number of women could have been widows and were thus absorbed into the monogamous households of family members, thus making them polygamous, then it is seen that this form of union could have accounted for many of the polygamous marriages.]

1852 August 29, The revelation on celestial marriage was first made public. It was read in the conference held in Great Salt Lake City, and Apostle Orson Pratt delivered the first public discourse on that principle. (Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, August 29, 1852 ,Sunday, Journal of Discourses, Vol.1, p.53, Orson Pratt.)

1853, Orson Pratt published "The Seer" in Washington DC, it contained Joseph Smith's revelation on plural marriage. "It is hoped the president-elect, the honorable members of congress, the heads of the various departments of the national government, the high-minded governors and legislative assemblies of the several states and territories, the ministers of every religious denomination, and all the inhabitants of the great republic will patronize this periodical." ("The Seer", Orson Pratt, January 1852 issue, p.7, see also Doctrine & Covenants section 132. 1st published 1876 SLC.)

1856, The new Republican party selected for it's national platform a call to abolish the "Twin Relics of Barbarism, Slavery and Polygamy". ("The Mormons and the Law: The Polygamy Cases", Orma Lindord, Utah Law Review, p. 312.)

1856 March 17, The 2nd proposal for Statehood for the State of Deseret, rejected due to growing anti-Mormon sentiment and complaints that unbelievers were said to be mistreated and that the Territorial Government was a shadow or puppet government for the real power or theocratic dictatorship directed by leaders of the Mormon Church. President James Buchanan send a military escort to replace Brigham Young with Alfred Cummings. (Ivins, p.95.)

1862 Jan 20, In just 2 days the 3rd State of Deseret constitution was written as a bid for Statehood, in anticipation of the breaking up of the Union because of a possible civil war. (Ivins, p. 96.)

1862 March 3, An election in Utah ratified this 3rd bid for Statehood and elected Brigham Young as Territorial Governor even though congress had just 4 years earlier replaced Brigham Young, by dispatching the largest piece time military effort to ever be sent to squash a civil rebellion, and thus dangerously depleting Union troops, just prior to the nations most encompassing military conflict.

* This bid was rejected by congress, nonetheless, this "phantom" State of Deseret continued for 8 years to meet after the Territorial legislature adjourned. The Council of 50 directed, shadow government would meet and vote on and pass the same bills this time for the renegade Theocratic state of Deseret.

* Other Historian's have asserted that the shadow Government met first, followed by the territorial legislature where nonmembers sat in amazement as the territorial legislature quickly and efficiently proposed and made law with almost total unanimity. (Ivins, p. 96. "Quest for Empire and the Council of 50", Klaus J. Hansen,)

1862 July 8, Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law, signed by Abraham Lincoln.

* First basic federal legislation by the Congress of the United States that was designed "to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States".

* Bigamy punishable by a $500 fine and imprisonment not exceeding five years.

* All acts passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah "pertaining to polygamy and spiritual marriage" were annulled.

* A limit of $50,000 of real property that a religious or charitable organization could hold in a territory of the United States.

* Any amount exceeding the value of $50,000 was to be forfeited and escheated to the United States.

* No officers were appointed to enforce the law and no funds for enforcement were allotted.

* Although President Lincoln had signed the bill, he adopted the policy of leaving the Mormons alone. When T. B. H. Stenhouse, then a Mormon in good standing, asked the president what course he intended to pursue with reference to the Mormons, Lincoln replied, "Stenhouse, when I was a boy on the farm in Illinois there was a great deal of timber on the farms which we had to clear away. Occasionally we would come to a log which had fallen down. It was too hard to split, too wet to burn and too heavy to move, so we plowed around it. That's what I intend to do with the Mormons. You go back and tell Brigham Young that if he will let me alone, I will let him alone." (Quoted in Gustive 0. Larson, The "Americanization" of Utah for Statehood, San Marino, California: Huntington Library, 1971, p. 60.)

1866 Wade bill had provisions to diminish the power of local Government. (Essentials in Church History, by Joseph Fielding Smith, 22nd Editions enlarged, 25th Edition, 1972 Published by the Deseret book Company for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 442.)

1869 May 10, Promontory Utah, the completion of the Transcontinental railroad made Utah less isolated. (Smith, p. 441.)

1869 Proposed Cragin bill constructed to give the appointed Territorial Governor authority to select all local officials.

* All juries to be selected by the appointed US Marshall in the Territory.

* Church to be denied from making rules and regulations respecting fellowship of its members.

* Governor was to be appointed trustee-in-trust of or the financial head of the Church, and make a full annual report of all the Churche's moneys. (Smith, p. 442.)

1869 Proposed Cullom bill drafted by Robert N. Baskin of SLC, was just as radical as was the Cragin bill. (Smith, p. 443.)

1870 Utah's women were given the right to vote, following the lead of their sister State Wyoming. Due to timing of election dates women in Utah were the first in the nation to exercise this new power.

* "The Church gave to its women the first exclusively women's organization in all the world; and it was representatives of this organization in mass-meeting assembled to enter their vigorous protest against the pending federal legislation which was intended to affect them seriously in their lives. [Note that the Relief Society President, used to be a life long office. Women can only vote to support the person selected by a group of men, rather than the senior members of the relief society, picking their replacement. Not all Mormon women were members of the relief society, you had to be voted on to be admitted.]

* Easterners concerned with breaking up the Mormon political control, wrongly thought by giving women the right to vote, they would throw off the tyrannical shackles of patriarchal polygamy and join with local nonmembers in removing Church influence in politics. (Smith, p. 445.)

1870 January, a group of intelligent Mormons, called the "Godbeites", lead by prominent Mormons such as Amasa Lyman, whom had difficulties with Brigham Young's strong control over too many aspects of life in Utah, created a newspaper which became the organ of the Liberal (non-Mormon) Party, for 20 years. (Smith, p. 446.)

* On the 3rd name change, it became the Salt Lake Tribune, of which it was said that "the Nauvoo Expositor was holy writ compared [to (sp.)] the Salt Lake Tribune." (History of Utah, Vol. 2:380-1.)

1872 Territorial legislature call for the 4th convention to draft a new constitution. They elected one non-Mormon Senator and one non-Mormon Congressman, whom made an ardent plea for statehood, still it failed. The document contained a concession that years later was denied as an attempt to "swap polygamy for statehood". (Ivins, p. 97, Deseret Evening News, January 16th 1879.)

1874 Poland Law repealed certain Utah statues, transferred duties of Territorial Marshal and Attorney General to Federal offices. These were key positions that had buffered attempts to prosecute polygamists. (Smith, p. 456.)

1874 Brigham Young's secretary, George Reynolds, an acknowledged polygamist with two wives, became a voluntary defendant in a test case to determine the constitutionality of the Anti-Bigamy Law of 1862, in which case he was found guilty in a lower court.

* Reynolds was sentenced to pay a $500 fine and spend two years in prison.

* This case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. (Larson, pp. 78-79.)

1877 August 29, One time Territorial Governor, Brigham Young dies in his home in SLC, without learning if the unique marriage institution that he had worked so hard build and protect as well as live, was untimely ruled to be against the law of the land. (Smith, p. 459.)

1878 July 7, "I understand the law of celestial marriage to mean that every man in this Church, who has the ability to obey and practice it in righteousness and will not, shall be damned, I say I understand it to mean this and nothing less, and I testify in the name of Jesus that it does mean that." (Journal of Discourses, Vol.20, p.31, Joseph F. Smith)

1879 January 6, in the first constitutional challenge to interpret the First Amendment to the Constitution, the United States Supreme Court upheld the decision of the territorial court and declared that every civil government had the right to determine whether monogamy or polygamy should be the law of social life under its jurisdiction.

* Thus the Morrill act of 1862 was declared valid, any additional plural marriages were clearly breaking the law of the land. (Larson, pp. 78-79.)

* George Q. Cannon, Utah's delegate to Congress, spoke out for the Mormons in a published review of the Supreme Court decision in which he appealed for a rehearing of the Reynolds case. Comparing Reynolds' polygamous relations, including acceptance of family responsibility, with the prevalence of unpunished sex debauchery, he concluded:

* Our crime has been: We married women instead of seducing them; we reared children instead of destroying them; we desired to exclude from the land prostitution, bastardy and infanticide. If George Reynolds is to be punished, let the world know the facts . . . . Let it be published to the four corners of the earth that in this land of liberty, the most blessed and glorious upon which the sun shines, the law is swiftly invoked to punish religion, but justice goes limping and blindfolded in pursuit of crime. (Larson, p. 79.)

1880 Jan 26, A Revelation given to Wilford Woodruff in the Wilderness of San Francisco Mountain in Arizona. "Thus saith the Lord unto my servant Wilford Woodruff. ... My Purpose shall be fulfilled upon this Nation, and No power shall stay my hand. ... And I say again wo unto that Nation or House or people, who seek to hinder my People from obeying the Patriarchal Law of Abraham which leadeth to Celestial Glory which has been revealed unto my Saints through the Mouth of my servant Joseph for whosoever doeth these things shall be damned Saith the Lord of Hosts and shall be broaken up & washed away ... No power can stay my hand. ... Thus Saith the Lord unto you my servants the Apostles who dwell in the flesh fear ye not your Enemies. ... your Enemies shall not prevail over you. ..." (Staker, pp. 140--146 and Scott Kenney, "Wilford Wood ruff's Journal 7 {28 Dec 18880} : 615-21)

1881 Jan 19, Wilford Woodruff submitted a revelation promising the Apocalypse and God's interventions into the affairs of the saints, to church president John Taylor and the Twelve. Wilford was asked to draw up the list of enemies and to write the prayer of damnation , which he did, which contained 400 names of the enemies of the church. The First Presidency and Twelve met together for this reverse prayer in the temple and "we all performed the ordinance of washing our feet against Our Enemies And the Enemies of the Kingdom of God according to the Commandment of God unto us." (Susan Staker, "Waiting for World's End" p. XVII.)

1882 Edmunds act was an amendment to strengthen the Anti-Bigamy Law of 1862.

* It declared polygamy a felony, with penalty on conviction of not more than five years imprisonment and / or a $500 fine.

* Defined polygamous living, which it termed "unlawful cohabitation", as a misdemeanor punishable by six months imprisonment and/or a $300 fine.

* The law disfranchised polygamists and declared them ineligible for public office.

* Polygamists, whether in practice or merely in belief, were disqualified for jury service.

* All registration and elective offices in Utah Territory were declared vacant and a board of five members, known as the Utah Commission, was to be appointed by the president to assume temporarily all duties pertaining to elections.

* The board would issue certificates of election to those eligible for that office and those lawfully elected.

* The Edmunds Act gave to the Utah Commission power to deprive citizens of their civil rights without a trial, which is not found in any other such federal legislation of this country or in its jurisprudence, according to Larson in "The Americanization of Utah for Statehood". (Larson, pp. 95-96.)

1882 April 10, Just 19 days after the Edmunds act was approved, the territorial legislature called for the 5th bid for statehood, which also failed, due in part to a new political party in Utah, called the Liberal Party. This predominantly non-Mormon party opposed statehood, as they felt that the shackles of the local theocracy had not yet been removed from all the people of Utah. (Ivins, p. 98.)

1882 Bigamy / Polygamy "Test Oath" for qualification to vote, only restricted immorality, if it was within the "marriage relations", thus applying only to Mormon polygamists and not disenfranchising a common paramour or "Gentile libertine" as Smith puts it. (Smith, p. 484.)

1882 August 23, Rudger Clawson, first polygamist to be submitted to a trial by jury under the Edmunds Law.

* Jury of twelve Gentiles. (According to the census of 1880 there were in Utah 120,283 Mormons, 14,136 Gentiles, and 6,988 apostates.)

* Lydia Spencer, Clawson's polygamous wife, refused to be sworn as a witness and was committed to the penitentiary.

* There was also an ex post facto application of the law to his marriage performed before 1862 (which was unconstitutional).

* The severity of the sentence was irregular. Rudger Clawson was sentenced to three years and six months in the penitentiary and was fined $500 on the first count, polygamy.

* And six months & $300 on the second count of unlawful cohabitation. (Larson, p. 109-110.)

1882 September 16, Hoar amendment to the Edmonds law, Governor of the Territory of Utah was authorized to appoint any vacancies of office that were not filled by the election of August 1882 in consequence of the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, and filled the vacancies with his own appointees.

1882 October 13 First Presidency and the Twelve met to receive the revelation of God to President Taylor, in which the duties of the Priesthood and of the Saints were set forth. In that same revelation appears the call of President George Teasdale of the Juab Stake, and President Heber J. Grant of the Tooele Stake to the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Seymour B. Young was called to fill the vacancy in the First Council of Seventies and requested to keep the whole law of God as a preparation for his new calling and labors.

* This revelation required all priesthood officers to start living plural marriage if they were not yet doing so, that is to "conform to my law" of polygamy. -This new section of the Doctrine and Covenants was not printed in any English edition, as none were printed in English until after the Manifesto, but this 1882 revelation was canonized in the mission field, away from Utah politics, in five editions (Swedish, German, and Danish) of the Doctrine and Covenants printed in Salt Lake City and Europe. (Salt Lake City, 1882 Revelation Given Through President John Taylor At Salt Lake City, Utah Territory ... Salt Slake City, 1882, Abraham H. Cannon, Journal 5 Apr. 1884; A. C. Lambert, The published editions of the Book of DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, In All Languages, 1833-1950 N.p.:By the author 1950, D. Michael Quinn, "The Mormon Hierarchy, Extensions of Power 1997, p. 181.)

* Concerning the Patriarchal Order of Marriage, President Taylor said: "If we do not embrace that principle soon, the keys will be turned against us. If we do not keep the same law that our Heavenly Father has kept, we cannot go with Him. A man obeying a lower law is not qualified to preside over those who keep a higher law." In harmony with the remarks of President Taylor Elder Woodruff observed: "The reason why the Church and Kingdom of God cannot advance without the Patriarchal Order of Marriage is that it belongs to this dispensation just as baptism for the dead does, or any law or ordinance that belongs to a dispensation. Without it the Church cannot progress. The leading men of Israel who are presiding over stakes will have to obey the law of Abraham, or they will have to resign." (Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff His Life and Labors, p.542.)

1884 - 1887 Segregation strategy allowed each day that a polygamist spent with this wife or support there of, was considered a separate offense and liable for individual punishment. (Smith, p. 488.)

1885 Idaho's Test Oath Law "practically disfranchised all Mormons simply because of membership in the Church" and was "sustained by the supreme court of the territory four years later." Approximately 2,000 eligible Idaho voters were denied the opportunity of voting and holding office. (Larson, pp. 112-113.)

1885 February 1, John Taylor went into the "underground..," and for a number of years Church leaders directed the affairs of the Church from "hiding places known only to a few trusted individuals.," (Smith. p. 470.)

1886 January 1, Wilford Woodruff records in his diary "But we still maintain that God Reigns & will until He puts all Enemies under his feet, and He will fight the battles of his saints and He will bring Judgment upon our Enemies & destroy them in our own due time." One year later, Wilford Woodruff writes in his journal, from inside the St. George temple, where he was hiding from U.S. marshals pursuing his arrest on polygamy charges, "This New years Day [1887] find scores of the Leading Men of the Church in prison and the Presidency and Twelve & many others in Exile for obeying the Law of God ... But the God of Israel Still reigns and He will protect the Righteous and Defend his kingdom and fulfill his promises." (Staker, p. XV.)

1886 September 26, In the Centerville, Utah, home of Lorein E. Woolley with others present, Joseph Smith appeared during a revelation to John Taylor, in which the keys to sanctioning of Plural marriages, was extended to this select group, rather than held exclusively under the direction of the President of the Church. This disputed revelation is the basis of authority claimed by many fundamentalists groups. (Samuel Woolley Taylor, "Family Kingdom", 1974, pp. 174-178.)

1887 June 3, The 6th constitutional convention was called to head off the effects of the recently passed, Edmunds-Tucker act. The proposed State constitution contained an article which declared that: "Bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a republican form of government, each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor." Another article provided that the anti-polygamy section could not be amended without the approval of Congress and the President of the United States. The new Constitution was ratified by a vote of 12,887 to 485. It was not viewed as a sincere move toward the suppression of Polygamy, thus Congress also rejected this bid. (Ivins, pp. 98-99.)

1887 July 22 The Mormon people were not publicly notified that they should accept this latest constitution, but they were privately given to understand that they could vote for its ratification without compromising their religious principles. In response to inquiries from his family, Apostle Erastus Snow, then in Mexico where settlements were being established as cities of refuge for polygamists, wrote:

* Yes, I accept the self imposed conditions of Statehood. We can live under the prohibition clauses, same as we can in Mexico. Our celestial or spiritual unions will be purely religious and not civil contracts under State or national laws--and the Constitution has no cohabitation clause, and any who, living in the State of Utah, desire to marry other wives can bring them for me to marry in Mexico cheaper than to pay the fine imposed by the new Constitution. Please convey to E. G. W. and R. C. L. my congratulations on the happy wording of the prohibition and I hope all my Sons will vote for the Constitution. And I shall be happy to minister to Gordon and Robert when they get ready to come over here with their sweethearts. (Letter from Erastus Snow to his wife, Elizabeth. Edwin Gordon Wolley and Robert C. Lund, convention delegates from Washington County. Ivins, p. 99)

1887 July 25, President John Taylor died in hiding in Kaysville Utah.

1887 July 30, United States Attorney General files suit and confiscates the property of the church as well as that of the Perpetual Immigration Fund Corporation.

1887 March, Edmunds-Tucker Act passed as a supplement the Edmunds Law, which became law without the signature of President Cleveland. This new law included the following provisions:

* A wife or wives were forced to testify against their husbands.

* Witnesses did not have to be subpoenaed to appear in court.

* Definite laws and punishments regarding immoralities (in the eyes of the law) were set forth.

* All marriages performed were to be recorded with a probate court.

* Probate judges were to be appointed by the President of the United States.

* Woman suffrage was abolished (to restrict the Mormon elective franchise).

* A test oath was reintroduced into Utah's elective process: voting, serving on juries, or holding public office were conditional upon signing the oath pledging obedience to and support of all anti-polygamy laws.

* Utah Commission was to continue in charge of elections and was empowered to administer the qualifying oath.

* The Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company was dissolved (in an effort to curtail the influx of foreign converts who added to Mormon voting strength.)

* The Nauvoo Legion was abolished and all local military laws repealed.

* To establish a "free public school education," the office of territorial superintendent of schools was replaced by a commissioner to be appointed by the Utah Supreme Court.

* "To accomplish the destruction of Mormon political and economic power in Utah, the Church was disincorporated and its property escheated to the United States." The escheated Church property was to be used for the benefit of the common schools of the territory.

* By June, 1888, the government had escheated from the Church property valued in excess of $800,000. The government had seized by this date most of the real property of the Church and then rented back to the Church part of this property.

* The Church rented the Historian's office and the General Tithing office for $300 per month and the Gardo House for $70. These rentals were raised to $500 per month for the Tithing and Historian's offices and $450 for the Gardo House.

* The Church farm was also leased to the Church. The President's office was placed in the charge of two marshals and Temple block was leased to the Church for $1.00 per month.

* Most of the Church property had been transferred into the hands of trusted individuals and local organizations and it was estimated that the Church had about three million dollars worth of property when the Edmunds-Tucker Act was being discussed in Congress.

* Prior to the issuance of the Manifesto, there were approximately 1.300 men who had been convicted in Utah for violating the anti-polygamy laws and a few others had been imprisoned in Idaho and Arizona. (There were 327 convictions before the end of 1887, 334 in 1888, and 346 in 1889.)

* It is as difficult to measure the real magnitude of the effect of the anti polygamy acts upon the Mormons, as it is to measure the effects of a minority that "lived" the law of plural marriage on the majority that only supported it. (Larson, p. 216.)

1887 Dec 12, Rudger Clawson pardoned by Grover Cleveland, cutting only 4 months and 20 days off his 3 1/2 year sentence. (Smith, p. 488.)

1888 May 21, Dedication of the Manti Temple. (Smith, p. 492.)

1888 Dec 20 A document worded to relieve political pressure, similar to the later to be released manifesto, is presented to the interim leadership of the Church. It was eventually rejected, because it was thought that it should be worded as a revelation from the President of the church, for it to be credible. Wilford Woodruff, who was in the midst of a 3 year struggle with the Quorum of the Twelve, to get his choice of George Q. Cannon, approved as a member of the 1st Presidency, rejected any statement and affirmed his belief that "The Lord never will give a revelation to abandon plural marriage," noting that "we cannot deny principle." (Edward Leo Lyman, "Political Deliverance. p. 106. and Quinn, "Extensions", p. 48.)

1889 October 20, The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Woodruff as saying, "I have refused to give any recommendations for the performance of plural marriages since I have been President ... and have instructed that they should not be solemnized." (Woodruff had only been sustained President for 6 months before making this statement. "Mormon Polygamy a History", Richard S. Van Wagoner, 1986, p. 138.)

1889 October 27, Woodruff's attitude toward the law prohibiting polygamy, printed in the Salt Lake Herald, "We mean to obey it. We have not thought of evading or ignoring it. We recognize the laws as binding upon us." He repeated that he had not sanctioned any marriages since becoming president. (Van Wagoner, p. 138.)

1889 Nov 24, Wilford Woodruff, as president, receives revelation which continued the defiant discourse of the church's enemies. Jesus Christ himself promised protection for the church's practice of polygamy: "I, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, am in your midst ... Awake, O. Israel, and have faith in God and His promises, and he will not forsake you. I the Lord will deliver my Saints from the domination of the wicked, in my own due time and way." (Stacker, p. XVII.)

1889 December 23, Mormons Observed a church-wide day of fasting and prayer, seeking God's intervention on their behalf. Church leaders issued an appeal to the nation for greater understanding and tolerance. President Woodruff was "viewed by some of his colleagues as a better fisherman than administrator ..." (Van Wagoner, 1986, pp. 138-139.)

1890 February 3, United States Supreme Court Sustains the Idaho Voting "Test Oath", denying Idaho Mormons the right to vote or hold office it they admitted to merely believing in plural marriage.

1890 Strubble Bill proposed that followed along the lines of the Idaho Test Oath. Robert N. Baskin declared that the object of the bill was "to wrest from the hands of the Priesthood the political power which it has wrongfully usurped and shamefully abused."

* Secretary of State James G. Blain used his influence to defeat the bill, but insisted that the church do something to relieve the situations (Smith, p. 493.)

1890 April The United States Supreme Court sustained Edmunds-Tucker Bill, increasing the threat of total disfranchisement, wherein the Church would be dissolved and its property escheated. The Court held that "Congress may not only abrogate laws of the Territorial Legislature but it may itself legislate directly for the local government. Congress had a full and perfect right to repeal its [LDS] charter and abrogate its corporate existence." ( United States Reports, Vol. 136, pp. 1-68. The late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vs. United States, Nos. 1030, 1054.)

* Desperately the Church officials contacted Washington sources of the Cullom-Strubble Bill. George Q. Cannon, counselor in the Church Presidency, Utah's delegate to Congress in the 1870's and a declared Republican, directed the Saints' defense as delegate John T. Caine and others strove to hold up the impending blow. Cannon appealed through his son Frank J. to his Republican friend, Secretary James G. Blaine. Assuring the Secretary that Utah was not hopelessly Democratic, young Cannon suggested that Blaine's support now would greatly strengthen the Republican position in the Mormon community. As the Secretary rose to terminate the interview, he said "We may succeed this time in preventing your disfranchisement; but nothing permanent can be done until you get into line." The senior Cannon upon receiving the report said, "President Woodruff has been praying . . . he thinks he sees some light. You are authorized to say that something will be done." (Gustive O. Larson Federal Government efforts to 'Americanize' Utah", Utah Law Review, 19?? pp. 228-229 and "Under the Prophet in Utah", Frank J, Cannon and Harvey J. O' Higgins, Boston 1911, pp. 87-91)

1890 June 12, Apostle Abraham H. Cannon noted in his diary that Wilford "showed me a paper which Secretary of State Blaine had prepared for the leading authorities of the Church to sign in which they make a virtual renunciation of plural marriage." Cannon found that his "feelings revolt[ed] at signing such a document." Others apparently felt the same way and the document was not endorsed by church leaders. (Van Wagoner, p. 140.)

1890 August 3 President Woodruff and several others began a 2,400 mile trip to visit the Saints in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The eighty-three year old leader was able to see firsthand the terrible circumstances of polygamist Saints. Shortly after returning, Woodruff and George Q. Cannon left SLC for to meet with Republican Party power brokers, which had recently come to power with the Election of Benjamin Harrison. They conferred with Judge Morris M Estee, Republican National Chairman, occasional church agent Isaac Trumbo, U.S. Senator Leland Stanford, and Henry Biglow of the San Francisco Examiner and several others. (Van Wagoner, p. 141.)

1890 August Report of the Utah Commission to the Secretary of Interior expressed regret that an expected Church declaration "in favor of abandonment of polygamy had not been forthcoming. It added, in support of the Cullom-Strubble Bill, "it is believed that 41 persons have entered into polygamous relations in 1889." (Annual Report of the Utah Comm., Aug. 22, 1890.)

1890 September 12, George Q. Cannon, to Republican Party National Chairman Judge Morris M. Estee's promise of support for statehood if the church would make a statement to set polygamy aside, wrote back his concern about the "difficulty there was in writing such a document - the danger there would be that we would either say too much or too little." (Van Wagoner, p. 141, and "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904." Dialogue 18, Spring 1985 p. 43.)

1890 September 24, Wilford Woodruff met with councilor Joseph F. Smith and three member of the Council of the Twelve, presenting papers containing what Woodruff felt were the solution to the Churches current problems. The only account of this meeting is an emotional portrayal by Frank J. Cannon, a non-Apostle, left the only account of Woodruff presenting the Manifesto to some of the brethren. He paints an emotional meeting where Woodruff presents "his" Manifesto, but the brethren present, strongly protested, saying they were willing to suffer 'persecution unto death', rather than to violate the covenants which they had made 'in holy places' with the women whom had trusted them. Cannon goes on to say that finally his father George Q. Cannon, was in agreement with Woodruff and "ready for the sacrifice". His account was part of a 400 page book entitled, "Under the Prophet in Utah" subtitled "Polygamy after the Manifesto & Church Interference in Politics", By Frank J. Cannon, formerly a United States Senator from Utah, 1911, co-authored by Harvey J. O'Higgins. Frank Cannon was excommunicated 14 March 1905, for "unchristian like conduct and apostasy." As Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune Cannon unleashed a barrage of critical editorial against Church leaders, particularly Joseph F. Smith. Abraham H. Cannon Journal entry of 30 September 1890 and October 1st indicated that some of the Apostles were unconvinced of the inspiration of the press release, Apostle John Henry Smith during a quorum meeting said "I cannot feel to say that the Manifesto is quite right or wrong." (Van Wagoner, pp. 142-143, Cannon may have been trying to clear his name and his father's before Washington political types. Ironically it was George Q. Cannon that took the lead in drafting sanction letters for Woodruff, that would be taken by members to the colonies to get additional wives after the Manifesto of 1890.)

"To Whom it may concern:"
"Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy--"

"I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory."

"One case has been reported, in which the parties allege that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the Spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony; whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken down without delay."

"Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intentions to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise."

"There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land."

"Wilford Woodruff"
"President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

1890 September 25, (1/3 of this material came from an unidentified handout from a religion class in the late 1970's. This is the last paragraph of the handout, was one of only 3 paragraphs, without any reference.

* Manifesto : By revelation, Latter-day Saints learned that they should engage in plural marriage; and by revelation, the Latter-day Saints learned that this practice should be discontinued. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff instructed the Latter-day Saints that no more plural marriages were to be performed and gradually the number of saints who had more then one wife declined and then disappeared.

* Whom ever constructed this handout crafted the conclusion as they would like History to be remembered in the mind of the students, not as the events themselves transpired. One of the last surviving, sanctioned Mormon polygamist died circa 1974. Many children of these sanctioned marriages are alive today.

* Eran Call, sustained one of the new 70's in the October Conference of 1997 is the son of a post 1890 Manifesto polygamist, Anson Bowen Call, whom was the Bishop of the Colonial Dublan ward for 30 years and a Patriarch for 10 more years. Eran Call is NOT the son of what Utahan's refer to as "Colorado City Az, Hildale Ut, Bluffdale Ut, Pinesdale Montana, LeBaron brothers, Manti Ut, or TLC type Fundamentalist". Anson Bowen Call's 1st plural marriage was authorized by Wilford Woodruff only months after the manifesto, his life story states that Anson B. Call had in his possession throughout his life a written note from Wilford Woodruff sanctioning his 1st plural marriage.

* In further discussions among the general authorities there was some question as to what additional action was needed regarding the Manifesto. During general conference the first week of October, 1890, this question was resolved by a telegram from Caine, who reported that the secretary of interior had informed him he could not recognize the official declaration unless it was formally accepted by the conference. Consequently the church leaders decided to present it immediately." (Lyman, p. 138. [If not for political pressure from back East, the Manifesto my not have been put to a vote in General Conference.])

* The week before the press release, Woodruff, flees attempts to have him testify in court, and meets with Republican party members in San Francisco, to attempt to influence Republican party members not to dissolve the corporation of the church in exchange for Mormon support of Republicans in the upcoming election. On his return, Woodruff only consults 4 Apostles about his proposed repudiation of plural marriage. Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, whom were very loyal to Woodruff, and his recent appointee, Marriner W. Merrill. Woodruff did consult an Apostle that was NOT an ally in his attempts to organize the first presidency, Moses Thacher. Thacher was not expected to oppose the 1890 Manifesto since Thacher had preached for four years that the Millennium would occur within the year. (Quinn, "Extensions", p. 48.)

* The rest of the Twelve read the Manifesto in the newspapers as they returned to SLC from assignments. If Woodruff wanted to take the matter to vote before going to press, he only would have had to wait a few days. (Quinn, "Extensions", p. 48,)

* An administrative irony involved in Wilford Woodruff's publishing the 1890 Manifesto was that he asked three non-apostles (including one non-general authority, a councilor in a local stake presidency, whom was a news paper editor) to do pre-publication revision of this crucial document about which the majority of the Twelve knew noting. (Quinn, "Extensions", p. 48.)

* Woodruff Journal entry justifies the creation of the Manifesto to be for the "temporal salvation of the Church". It laments the efforts of the United States to stop this religious practice of the Church, but does not mention the more important goal that the government had of removing political control from the church.

* The manifesto claims that Wilford Woodruff intended to use all his influence to persuade the members to obey the law of the land. [The laws forbidding plural marriage had been confirmed constitutional by the United States Supreme court some 11 1/2 years previous, why the sudden interest in being law abiding? The church had defiantly broken the law for more than a decade, forcing the hand of the government to make stronger laws to do all they could to get the Mormons to obey the law and break up their political control of the Territory.]

* Those that taught or encouraged polygamy have been reprimanded. [I have not seen any evidence that his happened, but I would like to confirm this.] plporter@pobox.com (E-Mail)

* Continuing plural marriages claimed by the Utah Commission and denied by the text of the Manifesto, have since been documented to show that the charges by the Utah Commission were true. (Van Wagoner, p. 146.)

* Willford Woodruff Journal entry, included in Essentials in church history, contain factual errors, such as only 4 of the 12 had shown the manifesto by Woodruff. A vote to accept the Manifesto in Conference was not decided until October 2nd and then not until after 3 days of lengthy debate.

* It was over a year before Woodruff makes strong claims that the Manifesto was received by revelation, such as his address in Cash Valley on November 1st 1891. The inspiration to release the Manifesto verses, that the Manifesto it's self was THE revelation, is problematic. The fact that Woodruff was not able, just days after a revelation, to convince quorum members that it was a good idea, and that it was not presented to them as THE revelation, indicates that the Logan talks of inspiration to release "a" Manifesto. The fact that Woodruff was unable to convert all of the Twelve that the Manifesto was THE revelation, hardly makes it a stronger case if member in Cash Valley in 1890 or 1980 are easily convinced that the Manifesto was THE revelation, verses reveled as a inspired short term solution to a political problem.

* The manifesto is offered as "advice" to "refrain" from any marriage forbidden by the "law of the land". It was quickly noted by non-Mormons, that the manifesto, did not void the command or law of god concerning plural marriage.

* God is not mention inside the document as being the source of the advice.

* It defiantly leaves open the possibility of contracting marriages in places where it is either NOT against the law of the land, or as history played out, such infractions of the law were ignored, in return for the economic benefit that the industrious Mormons provided, such as in the colonies in Mexico and Canada.

* The press release does not address if the Manifesto voided the restoration of all things, or the restoration of the "law of Abraham" and it's associated penalty of being cut off from the Celestial kingdom, meaning those that have the law revealed to them, but do not obey it, as in D&C section 132 and other Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor revelations.

* It clearly leaves open the prospect of public resumption of sanctioning of plural marriages, if Utah can become a State and some how enact laws that would protect a unique marriage system.

* Most importantly, it does NOT address cohabitation with existing plural wives, which was just as much against the law as was the performance of marriages, and plus carried the reality of ongoing prosecution. Unlawful Cohabitation, was the most recent significant law to be up held ad constitutional, and therefore against the law of the land for the last 11 ½ years.

* Woodruff had a strong belief that the world would end in 1890. Joseph Smith said; "I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written--the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old.", therefore, giving up any new marriages for a few months here or there was not a significant sacrifice, if one had the belief in the impending end of the world, within the coming year. (History of the Church, Vol.5, Ch.17, p.336)

* Vote on the manifesto was NOT unanimous as reported in the Deseret News and in certain church histories. The number of negative votes were not counted and have been ignored by most books on Church History.

* Those that the Manifesto effected most would neither be in attendance nor wish to be of public notice as they were still being searched out by Marshals as conference time. In the past, conference had been a favorite time for bounty hunters to locate polygamous law breakers, all gathered in one place.

* The Manifesto was received by the government with caution, lest it be a trick to secure statehood after which the practice of polygamy could be resumed. The Republican majority of the Utah Commission and President Harrison warned against hasty steps towards Utah's admission to the Union. (Larson. "Federal" pp. 228-229)

* The absence of the signatures of the First Presidency counselors George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith on the Manifesto also concerned some Saints. Others wondered why the document began with the unusual "to Whom It May Concern" rather than the authoritative "Thus Saith the Lord" usually associated with revelatory pronouncements. (Van Wagoner, p. 145.)

* As result of the manifesto, 3 years later the Salt Lake Tribune, which had been the organ of the Liberal party, came out in favor of statehood, thus ending any opposition to statehood from inside the state. Utah was a state 3 years after that.

* More important than implications of the wording of the Manifesto, is it's application. Such as sanctioned plural marriages from the beginning of June 1890, until the revelations during the Smoot trial that exposed the contrast between words and deeds. Marriages after the Manifesto and children born of plural wives after the Manifesto not exempted by the amnesty, for marriages before November 1st 1890. President Benjamin Harrison, proclaimed an amnesty to polygamists for past offenses, and the Utah Commission removed the restrictions against the voters of the territory. To understanding the Manifesto, one must examine the walk verses the talk. (Smith, p. 496.)

* The precedence and practice of living polygamy privately or secretly while denying it publicly had been the only modus operandi under which Joseph Smith introduced and lived polygamy for 12 years. Brigham Young directed the church in following Joseph's example of duplicity, as far as private practice verses puzblic denial for 8 years. It would be an easy move for Wilford Woodruff to return to the secret sanctioning of plural marriages as it had been done with his own initial plural wives and a 20 years of practice by the church.

1890 September 27, The Tribune declared that the "manifesto was not intended to be accepted as a command by the President of the Church, but as a little bit of harmless dodging to deceive the people of the East." (Van Wagoner, p. 145.)

1890 June 10, Brigham Young Jr. married 6th wife, Helen E. Armstrong, 1901 Aug., married his 7th wife, who's name has been made unavailable. (Apostle, son of President Brigham Young, bore 1 child in 1902, note that 6th wife was married less then 4 full months before the manifesto, in which Woodruff, makes the false claim that no new marriages were being allowed by the church, Brigham Young Jr., was President of the quorum of the 12 for 3 years and in line to become the next president, when Young died in 1903.)

1890 October 10, John Whitaker Taylor, married 3rd wife, Janet Maria Wooley, 1901, August 29, married 4th wife, Eliza Roxie Welling, on the same day, married 5th wife, Rhoda Welling (a half sister to Eliza), 1909 June 23 married 6th wife, Ellen G. Sandberg. (Apostle, son of President John Taylor, bore children of plural wives in 1893, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1916)

1890 Dec 11, Anson Bowen Call, married 2nd wife, Harriet Cazier, 1898 Mar 11, married 3rd wife, Dora Pratt, 1903 Jan 12, married 4th wife, Julia Sarah Abegg. (was Bishop of Colonial Dublan for 30 years and Patriarch for 10, son, Eran, is currently a new GA as of Oct 1997)

1891 October, Church authorities and lay members, familiar with the private sanctioning of plural marriages, were shocked when they read the testimony of their leaders before the Master in Chancery, as Woodruff, Cannon and Smith all testified that not only had polygamy ceased, but cohabitation had discontinued. Woodruff pointedly stated that the manifesto applied both within as outside of the United States, in an attempt to get the government to return the church's escheated property. (Van Wagoner, p. 154.)

1892 June 10, Franklin S. Bramwell, married 2nd wife, Martha A. Hinkley, 3rd wife, Mary Ann Martin, 1894 May or June, marriage performed by Brigham Young Jr.

1894 Brigham Henry Roberts, married 3rd wife, Margaret Shipp, child from second wife in 1902. (First 7 Presidents of the 70, Utah State Representative, bore child in 1902)

1894 Joseph Charles Bentley, married 2nd wife, Gladys E. Woodmansee, married 3rd wife, Maud Mary Taylor, marriage performed by Mathias F. Cowley. (stake president Mexico 10 years +)

1896 January 4, President Cleveland issues statehood proclamation at 10 A.M. Two days later formal inaugural ceremonies held in Salt Lake City, and Utah's 47 year struggle for statehood was at an end with the successful 7th attempt. (Ivins, p. 116 Note that 15 of the 25 pages of the article are dedicated to the final statehood convention, which lasted 66 days and was much longer then other conventions. The first 10 pages document failed statehood attempts and it's relationship to opposition to plural marriage, yet of the 15 pages on minutia of wrangling in setting up the constitution, the specific statute forever prohibiting plural marriage is not discussed.)

* Article 3 Section The following ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of this State: [Religious toleration -- Polygamy forbidden.] First: -- Perfect toleration of religious sentiment is guaranteed. No inhabitant of this State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; but polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited. (Utah Const. art. III sec. 1 and www.le.state.ut.us/~code/const/htm/co_04002.htm)

1896 June, Abraham H. Cannon, marries 4th wife, Lilian Hamlin. (Apostle, son of long time First Presidency member George Q. Cannon, who wrote authorization papers for Woodruff, Abraham bears children in 1894 1895 and 1897, dies in 1896, five Cannon men take additional plural wives after the 1st Manifesto)

1897 September, Wilford Woodruff, married 6th wife, Lydia Mountford. (President of the church, married Lydia a year before he died)

1898 Oct 25, George Teasdale, married 5th wife, Marion E. Scholes, 1900 May 17, married 6th wife, Letita Thomas, marriage to Marion, performed "upon the high seas" by Apostle Anthon Henrik Lund (Apostle, bore children in 1895 and 1898)

1898 April 13, Benjamin E. Rich, married, 2nd wife, Laura Bowring, married 3rd wife, Andrea Jensen, 1899 October 4, married 4th wife, Alice C. Mc Lachlan.

1899 Matthias Foss Cowley, married 3rd wife, Harriet Bennion, 1905 September 16, married 4th wife, Lenora Taylor, marriage performed by John A. Woolf. (Apostle, disfellowshiped, but never excommunicated, restored to full fellowship 1936, had children from plural wives in 1893, 1902 and 1916)

1900 Aug. 9, Benjamin Cluff Jr., married 3rd wife, Florence M. Reynolds, Seymore B. Young Officiating, first child in 1901, last child in 1904. (one time President of BYU)

1901 Jan , Abraham Owen Woodruff married 2nd wife, Eliza Avery Clark, (Apostle, son of President Wilford Woodruff, bore children in 1899, 1903 and 1904, died in 1904)

1901 Marriner Wood Merril, married 8th wife, Hilda M. Erickson, marriage performed by Matthias F. Cowley. (Apostle, died in 1906, had children of plural wives in 1892 and 1902)

1902 March 13, Joseph White Musser, married 2nd wife, Mary Caroline Hill, 1907 July 24, marred 3rd wife, Ellis R. Shipp, marriage performed by Matthias F. Cowley. (Both marriages performed in SLC Utah).

1904 August 4, Rudger Clawson, married, 3rd wife, Pearl Udal, bore no children.

* In 1890 There were 2451 Mormon plural families in the US, not counting those in Canada or Mexico. (B. Carmon Hardy, "Solemn Covenant, the Mormon Polygamous Passage" University of Illinois Press, 1992, p. 390)

* 262 Authorized Post 1890 Manifesto Mormon polygamist marriages have been documented up until 1910. "... they were in most instances stalwarts of the faith ... more than half served as church missionaries, or had been called as branch presidents, bishops, stake presidents or other high officers. This further evidenced not only the dearness of the principle but the permission of its continued practice emanated from the highest councils of the church. (Hardy, pp. 391 - 392.)

1885 to 1890 was marked by intensive "polyg hunts" for "cohabs." The Mormon community in the West was terrorized by harsh enforcement of these laws. "Hunting cohabs" became a lucrative employment. Men and women were paid to ferret out offenders of the act. Some assumed the role of peddlers or of tramps and wandered among the Mormons digging up information. Children going to or returning from school were stopped and asked about the relations of their mother and father. At night prowlers peeked into Mormon homes to determine if men were violating the law. Sometimes men broke into Mormon homes without search warrants, and if men did not surrender, they were fired upon.

* The complaints or accusations brought against the Mormons were invariably based on second hand information, but this was accepted in many courts.

* President John Taylor died in the Mormon underground. Both his counselors, President Joseph F. Smith and President George Q. Cannon also went into hiding. President Smith fled to Hawaii and did not return until 1889. Cannon spent nine months in the Utah penitentiary and many other Latter-day Saints lived in the underground or spent months in jail. (Larson, pp. 210 211.)

1904 April 6, President Smith, "Now I am going to present a matter to you that is unusual and I do it because of a conviction which I feel that is the proper thing to do. I have taken the liberty of having written down which I would like to have conveyed to your ears, that I may not be misunderstood or misquoted. I present this to the conference for your action:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

"Inasmuch as there are numerous reports in circulation that plural marriages have been entered into contrary to the official declaration of President Woodruff, of September 26, 1890 commonly called the Manifesto, which was issued by President Woodruff and adopted by the Church at its general conference, October, 6, 1890, which forbade any marriages violative of the law of the land; I Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereby affirm and declare that no such marriages have been solemnized with the sanction, consent or knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and

"I hereby announce that all such marriages are prohibited, and if any officer or member of the Church shall assume to solemnize or enter into any such marriage he will be deemed in transgression against the Church and will be liable to be dealt with, according to the rules and regulations thereof and excommunicated therefrom.

"JOSEPH F. SMITH, "President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference Report, April 6, 1904 pp. 74, 75.)

* Very similar wording to the 1st Manifesto, which also did not stop the private sanctioning of plural marriages, but only gave the impression that it was doing so.

* It also was a response to accusations, rather than a change of policy.

* It contained the 'loop hole' language of "which forbade any marriages violative of the law of the land; ... no such marriages ... all such marriages are prohibited".

* Statement is stated as being from the President, rather than the Prophet.

* It did NOT address cohabitation which was and is still illegal in Utah.

* "such" marriages were not solemnized with the sanction, consent or knowledge of the Church, however, even though common church members may not all have had knowledge of such marriages, he does not state if Smith or Wilford Woodruff, or George Q. Cannon etc. had acknowledged, consented or sanctioned any of the 250 plus marriages published in the Salt Lake Tribune.

* The penalty for taking additional wives after the 1st Manifesto, applies to "all such marriages", i.e. those that were known to common members of the church.

* The Salt Lake Harold printed the Manifesto with the date of issuance of the Manifesto of the 24th, The Deseret Evening News, Charles W. Penrose Editor, gives the date as Thursday September 25th as does the AP report in the Canton Repository, Canton, Ohio, September 25, 1890, p.2., col.2., but the second Manifesto, places the 1st on the 26th

* 1st Manifesto was NOT unanimously sustained in general conference on a Monday.

* The 2nd Manifesto was voted on during conference on a Wednesday.

1907 April "Address to the World", given at General conference just after the Smoot case was settled. It attempted to clear up statements that were made under oath which sounded damaging to the church. It also declared that the Church stood for the "absolute separation of Church and State ... the absolute freedom of the individual from the domination of ecclesiastical authority in political affairs." (Smith, p. 514.)

To understand the significance of this story, you must know that at that time C. C. Goodwin win was the Presiding Bishop and also a delegate to the 7th and final Utah constitutional convention.

Andrew S. Anderson of Beaver County complained that a provision exempting Church property from taxation was unjust because the time might come when "probably half the citizens won't believe in any church." This brought a comment from Mr. Thurman that "there won't be any religious worship then," and Mr. Anderson's complaint was ignored.

With the delegates in general agreement on the importance of economy in government, there were no serious disputes over the article on public debt, which limited state indebtedness to $200,000.00 except in certain emergencies. When David Evans moved to strike out the emergency clause, C. C. Goodwin asked how, without it, money could be raised to meet an unexpected need. J. D. Holladay of Santaquin volunteered: "Get it out of the Tithing Office [laughter]." Mr. Goodwin could see nothing funny about the remark, and suggested that Holladay be put out. The Evans' motion was rejected. (Ivins, Page 111.)

Bibliography

Annual Report of the Utah Comm., Aug. 22, 1890.

Cannon, Frank J. "Under the Prophet in Utah" subtitled "Polygamy after the Manifesto & Church Interference in Politics", By Frank J. Cannon, formerly a United States Senator from Utah, 1911, co-authored by Harvey J. O'Higgins, Boston.

Canton Repository, Canton, Ohio, September 25, 1890, page 2, col. 2.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference Report, April 6, 1904 pp. 74 - 75. The second manifesto, places the 1st manifesto as on the 26th 1890

Cowley, Matthias F. "Wilford Woodruff His Life and Labors", p.542.

Deseret Evening News, January 16th 1879.

Deseret Evening News. Charles W. Penrose Editor, gives the date as Thursday, September 25, 1890.

Hansen, Klaus J. _Quest for Empire and the Council of 50_.

Hardy, B. Carmon. _Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage_. (Urban: University of Illinois Press, 1992). Page 390.

History of the Church, Vol. 5, Ch. 17, p.336

Ivins, Stanley S. "A Constitution for Utah", Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 25 1957 p. 95.

Jenson, Andrew. Church Chronology, Sunday, August 29, 1852; Journal of Discourses, Vol.1, p.53, Orson Pratt.

Kenney, Scott. "Wilford Woodruff's Journal 7 {28 Dec 1880} : 615-21 [1888 (sp.)]

Larson, Gustive O. "Federal Government efforts to 'Americanize' Utah", Utah Historical Quarterly 19?? pp. 228-229

Larson, Gustive O. _The 'Americanization' of Utah for Statehood_. (San Marino, California: Huntington Library, 1971). Page 60.

Lyman, Edward Leo. _Political Deliverance_. Page 106.

Pratt, Orson. "The Seer", January 1852, page 7; see also Doctrine & Covenants section 132, which was first included in the 1876 edition.

Quinn, D. Michael, "The Mormon Hierarchy, Extensions of Power 1997. p. 181.

Salt Lake City, 1882 Revelation Given Through President John Taylor At Salt Lake City, Utah Territory ... Salt Lake City, 1882, Abraham H.

Cannon, Journal 5 Apr. 1884; A. C. Lambert, _The Published Editions of the Book of DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, In All Languages, 1833-1950_. Published by the author 1950; D.

Michael Quinn, _The Mormon Hierarchy, Extensions of Power_. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997). Page 181.

Salt Lake Herald printed the Manifesto with the date of issuance of the manifesto being the 24th.

Smith, Joseph Fielding. _Essentials in Church History_. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 22nd Edition enlarged, 25th Edition, 1972). Page 442.

Smith, Joseph Fielding. Journal of Discourses, Vol. 20, page 31.

Smith, Joseph. Contributor 5:259

Snow, Erastus. Letter from Snow, to his wife, Elizabeth. Edwin Gordon Wolley and Robert C. Lund, convention delegates from Washington County. Ivins, p. 99

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Taylor, Samuel Woolley. "Family Kingdom", 1974, pp. 174-178.

United States Reports, Vol. 136, pp. 1-68. _The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vs. United States, Nos. 1030, 1054_.

Van Wagoner, Richard S. "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904." Dialogue 18, Spring 1985 p. 43.

Van Wagoner, Richard S. _Mormon Polygamy: A History_. (Salt Lake City: Sigmature Books, 1986). Page 138.  

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