The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act (37th United States Congress

37th United States Congress

The Thirty-seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861 to March 4, 1863, during the first two...

, Sess. 2., ch. 126) was a federal enactment of the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 that was signed into law on July 8, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. Sponsored by Justin Smith Morrill

Justin Smith Morrill

Justin Smith Morrill was a Representative and a Senator from Vermont, most widely remembered today for the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act that established federal funding for establishing many of the United States' public colleges and universities...

 of Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, the act banned bigamy

Bigamy

In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...

 and limited church and non-profit ownership in any territory of the United States to $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

50,000.

The act was designed to target the Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 practice of plural marriage

Plural marriage

Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

 and the property dominance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

. The measure had no funds allocated for enforcement, and Lincoln chose not to enforce this law; instead Lincoln gave Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

 tacit permission to ignore the Morrill Act in exchange for not becoming involved with the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. General Patrick Edward Connor

Patrick Edward Connor

Patrick Edward Connor was a Union General during the American Civil War. He was most famous for his campaigns against Native Americans in the American Old West.-Early life and career:...

, commanding officer of the federal forces garrisoned at Fort Douglas, Utah

Fort Douglas, Utah

Camp Douglas was established in October 1862 as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, for the purpose of protecting the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. In 1878, the post was renamed Fort Douglas. The fort was officially...

 beginning in 1862 was explicitly instructed not to confront the Mormons over this or any other issue.

The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was amended in 1882 by the Edmunds Act

Edmunds Act

The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882, is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882, declaring polygamy a felony. The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont...

, and then again in 1887 by the Edmunds–Tucker Act.

See also

• Mormon War (1838) (1838 Missouri)
• Illinois Mormon War (1844–1845)
• Mormon Exodus (1846–1857)
• Utah War
  Utah War
  The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
  
   (1857–1858)
• Poland Act
  Poland Act
  The Poland Act of 1874 was an act of the United States Congress which sought to facilitate prosecutions under the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act by eliminating the control members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exerted over the justice system of Utah Territory. Sponsored by Senator...
  
   (1874)
• Reynolds v. United States
  Reynolds v. United States
  Reynolds v. United States, , was a Supreme Court of the United States case that held that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment...
  
  (1879)
• LDS Church v. United States
  The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. United States
  The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States, was a Supreme Court case that upheld the Edmunds-Tucker Act on May 19, 1890...
  
   (1890)
• 1890 Manifesto
  1890 Manifesto
  The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
  
  
• Smoot Hearings
  Smoot Hearings
  The Reed Smoot hearings were a series of Congressional hearings on whether the United States Senate should seat U.S. Senator Reed Smoot, who was elected by the Utah legislature in 1903...
  
   (1903–1907)
• Second Manifesto
  Second Manifesto
  The "Second Manifesto" was a 1904 declaration made by Joseph F. Smith, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , in which Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of the land and set down the principle that those entering into or...
  
   (1904)
• History of civil marriage in the U.S.
  History of civil marriage in the U.S.
  Many laws in the history of the United States have addressed marriage and the rights of married people. Common themes addressed by these laws include polygamy, interracial marriage, divorce, and same-sex marriage.-1800–1899:...
  
  
• Justin Smith Morrill
  Justin Smith Morrill
  Justin Smith Morrill was a Representative and a Senator from Vermont, most widely remembered today for the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act that established federal funding for establishing many of the United States' public colleges and universities...
  
  
• George Reynolds