Polygamy in the United States
Encyclopedia
Polygamy, in particular polygyny
where one man takes several wives, is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. However, in the United States polygamy has never been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution. In Canada, polygamy laws are written in a slightly different way than in the USA. However, all provinces adhere to the federal Criminal Code of Canada which makes polygamy an offense and punishable by up to five years in prison.
Polygamy became a significant social and political issue in the United States in 1852, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) made it known that a form of the practice, called plural marriage
, was part of its doctrine. Opposition to the practice by the United States
government resulted in an intense legal conflict, and culminated in LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff
announcing the church's official abandonment
of the practice on September 25, 1890. However, breakaway Mormon fundamentalist groups living mostly in the western United States
, Canada
, and Mexico
still practice plural marriage. A very small minority of American Muslims also practice polygamy.
, where two or more spouses are usually unaware of each other.
According to the Model Penal Code
(section 230.1) bigamy is a misdemeanor, but having more than one spouse at the same time is a felony if it is done "in purported exercise of a plural marriage..." According to Joel Feinberg
in Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, "Righteously flaunting one's illicit relationships, according to the Code, is apparently a morally aggravating circumstance, more punishable than its clandestine and deceptive counterpart."
The Model Penal Code allows people to use an honest belief that they are only married to one person as a defense against a charge of bigamy. However, many US courts (e.g., Turner v. S., 212 Miss. 590, 55 So.2d 228) treat bigamy as a strict liability crime: in some jurisdictions a person can be convicted of a felony even if reasonably certain there was only one legal spouse. For example, if a person has the mistaken belief that their previous spouse is dead or that their divorce is final, they can still be convicted of bigamy if they marry a new person.
) and European mountain men often took native wives and adopted the practice. Some tribes seem to have continued the practice into the 20th century.
Scots-Irish settlers, and some Welsh emigrants, carried long-standing multiple partner traditions to the Americas from Europe. Utopian and communal groups established during the mid-19th century had varying marriage systems, including group marriage and polygyny. (Loue, pp. 27–30) There is also some evidence in the American South for multiple marriage partners, particularly after the Civil War.
Polygamy has also been practiced, discreetly, by some Muslims living in America.
Christian polygamy
is a more modern development of a polygamist culture. They assert that the movement has no connection with Joseph Smith.
Because polygamy has been illegal throughout the United States since the mid-19th century, and in many individual states before that, sources on alternative marriage practices are limited. Consequently, it is difficult to get a clear picture of the extent of the practice in the past and at the present time.
, on July 12, 1843. As polygamy was illegal in the state of Illinois
, it was practiced privately. Though during the 1839–44 Nauvoo
era several Mormon leaders including Smith, Brigham Young
and Heber C. Kimball
took plural wives, Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to discipline; for example, the February 1, 1844 excommunication
of Hyram Brown. In May 1844 Smith declared, "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one."
After the death of Joseph Smith, the practice of polygamy was carried to the West by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then led by Brigham Young
. In what is today Utah and some surrounding areas, the principle of plural marriage was openly practiced. In 1852, Young felt the Church in Utah was secure enough to announce the practice of polygamy to the world. However the opposition by the U.S. government threatened the legal standing of the church. President Wilford Woodruff
announced the church's official abandonment
of the practice on September 25, 1890. Woodruff's declaration was formally accepted
in a church general conference on October 6, 1890. The Church's stand on the practice of polygamy was reinforced by a second formal statement in 1904, renouncing the practice in all areas of the world. Although the largest part of the Mormon population accepted the prohibition on plural marriage, various splinter groups
left the mainline LDS Church to continue the open practice of plural marriage.
, the Latter-day Church of Christ
and the Apostolic United Brethren
. Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah
, Arizona
, Colorado
, Canada
, and other neighboring states, and the spin-off colonies, as well as up to 15,000 isolated individuals with no organized church affiliation. Polygamist churches of Latter Day Saint origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist" even though, because they are practicing polygamy, they are not a part of the LDS Church and therefore are not accurately considered "Mormon". They often use an ambiguous September 27, 1886 revelation to John Taylor
as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.
The Salt Lake Tribune estimates there are as many as 37,000 fundamentalists, with less than half of them living in polygamous households. Most of the polygamy is believed to be restricted to about a dozen extended groups of polygamous fundamentalists. The LDS Church asserts that it is improper to call any of these splinter polygamous groups "Mormon."
, and Colorado City, Arizona
, about 350 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, with other communities in Canada, Texas and other areas of the North American west. The head of this church is currently Warren Jeffs
.
Overall in Utah today, those living in polygamist families number about 40,000 people, or about 2 percent of the population. Polygamists are difficult to prosecute because many only seek marriage licenses for their first marriage, while the other marriages are secretly conducted in private ceremonies. Thereafter, secondary wives attempt to be seen in public as single women with children.
in order to avoid committing a criminal act. In such cases the husband marries the first wife, she takes his last name, he divorces her and then marries the next wife, who takes his name. This is repeated until he has married and divorced all his wives, except possibly the last one. This way the wives feel justified in calling themselves Mrs. [husband's last name] and, while legally they're divorced from the husband, they still act as if married to him and expect those around them to acknowledge and respect this.
Since only one wife is officially married to the husband at any one time, no law is being broken and so this type of polygamous family unit can be overt about their relationship.
The conviction of Thomas Arthur Green
in 2001 may have made the legal status of such relationships more precarious in Utah, although Green's bigamy convictions were made possible only by his own public statements.
, though part of this comes from the difficulty of keeping track of the complex net of familial relations.
Those who are geographically separated from other polygamists in their culture use other means to find additional spouses.
These fundamentalist sects tend to aggregate in communities where they all commonly share their own specific religion and thus basis for polygamy. These small groups ranging from a few hundred to about 10,000 are reported to be located in various communities of the Western United States, Canada, and Mexico including:
, in large part because they are rarely formally married under state laws. Without evidence that suspected offenders have multiple formal or common-law marriage
s, these groups are merely subject to the laws against adultery
or unlawful cohabitation
— laws which are not commonly enforced because they also criminalize other behavior that is otherwise socially sanctioned. However, some "Fundamentalist" polygamists marry women prior to the age of consent
, or commit fraud to obtain welfare and other public assistance.
In 1953, the state of Arizona investigated and raided
a group of 385 people in the polygamist-practicing colony of Hildale and Colorado City, straddling the Utah-Arizona border. All the men were arrested and the children were placed with foster families. A judge eventually ruled this action illegal, and everyone returned to their community, which now numbers about 10,000.
In 2001, in the state of Utah
in the United States
, Juab County Attorney David O. Leavitt
successfully prosecuted Thomas Green
who was convicted of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having five serially monogamous marriages, while living with previous legally divorced wives. His cohabitation was considered evidence of a common-law marriage to the wives he had divorced while still living with them. That premise was subsequently affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Green, as applicable only in the State of Utah. Green was also convicted of child rape and criminal non-support.
In 2005, the state attorneys-general of Utah
and Arizona
issued a primer on helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse in polygamous communities. Enforcement of crimes such as child abuse
, domestic violence
, and fraud
were emphasized over the enforcement of anti-polygamy and bigamy laws. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement.
In 2008, starting on April 4, Texas State officials took 436 women and children into temporary legal custody after Rozita Swinton, a 33 year old woman living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, called both Texas Social Services and a local shelter claiming to be a 16-year-old girl. She made a series of phone calls to authorities in late March, claiming she had been beaten and forced to become a "spiritual" wife to an adult man. Acting on her calls, authorities raided the ranch in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo. The YFZ Ranch
is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(FLDS), a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. Two men were arrested for obstructing the raid but were later released. All of the families/children taken were released and many lawsuits are still pending against the state.
Edith Barlow, a mother of five in the polygamous community of Bountiful
, B.C., was denied permanent residence and has been asked to leave the country after ten years in Canada.
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
where one man takes several wives, is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. However, in the United States polygamy has never been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution. In Canada, polygamy laws are written in a slightly different way than in the USA. However, all provinces adhere to the federal Criminal Code of Canada which makes polygamy an offense and punishable by up to five years in prison.
Polygamy became a significant social and political issue in the United States in 1852, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) made it known that a form of the practice, called 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...
, was part of its doctrine. Opposition to the practice by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government resulted in an intense legal conflict, and culminated in LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
announcing the church's official abandonment
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...
of the practice on September 25, 1890. However, breakaway Mormon fundamentalist groups living mostly in the western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
still practice plural marriage. A very small minority of American Muslims also practice polygamy.
Polygamy defined
Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of having more than one spouse at the same time, conventionally referring to a situation where all spouses know about each other, in contrast to bigamyBigamy
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...
, where two or more spouses are usually unaware of each other.
Polygamy and bigamy laws in the US
Bigamy is the act or condition of a person marrying another person while still being lawfully married to a second person and it is illegal in the United States. The crime is punishable either by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense.According to the Model Penal Code
Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code is a statutory text which was developed by the American Law Institute in 1962. The Chief Reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler. The current form of the MPC was last updated in 1981. The purpose of the MPC was to stimulate and assist legislatures in making an effort to...
(section 230.1) bigamy is a misdemeanor, but having more than one spouse at the same time is a felony if it is done "in purported exercise of a plural marriage..." According to Joel Feinberg
Joel Feinberg
Joel Feinberg was an American political and social philosopher. He is known for his work in the fields of ethics, action theory, philosophy of law, and political philosophy as well as individual rights and the authority of the state...
in Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, "Righteously flaunting one's illicit relationships, according to the Code, is apparently a morally aggravating circumstance, more punishable than its clandestine and deceptive counterpart."
The Model Penal Code allows people to use an honest belief that they are only married to one person as a defense against a charge of bigamy. However, many US courts (e.g., Turner v. S., 212 Miss. 590, 55 So.2d 228) treat bigamy as a strict liability crime: in some jurisdictions a person can be convicted of a felony even if reasonably certain there was only one legal spouse. For example, if a person has the mistaken belief that their previous spouse is dead or that their divorce is final, they can still be convicted of bigamy if they marry a new person.
History of polygamy
Polygamy in the United States has a long history. Many Native American tribes practiced polygamy (generally polygynyPolygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
) and European mountain men often took native wives and adopted the practice. Some tribes seem to have continued the practice into the 20th century.
Scots-Irish settlers, and some Welsh emigrants, carried long-standing multiple partner traditions to the Americas from Europe. Utopian and communal groups established during the mid-19th century had varying marriage systems, including group marriage and polygyny. (Loue, pp. 27–30) There is also some evidence in the American South for multiple marriage partners, particularly after the Civil War.
Polygamy has also been practiced, discreetly, by some Muslims living in America.
Christian polygamy
Christian Plural Marriage
Polygamy in Christianity is a not a form of marriage that is generally accepted within Christianity. There are numerous examples of polygamy in Old Testament...
is a more modern development of a polygamist culture. They assert that the movement has no connection with Joseph Smith.
Because polygamy has been illegal throughout the United States since the mid-19th century, and in many individual states before that, sources on alternative marriage practices are limited. Consequently, it is difficult to get a clear picture of the extent of the practice in the past and at the present time.
Early Latter Day Saint practice
The Mormon practice of plural marriage was officially introduced by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, on July 12, 1843. As polygamy was illegal in the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, it was practiced privately. Though during the 1839–44 Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
era several Mormon leaders including Smith, 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...
and Heber C. Kimball
Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...
took plural wives, Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to discipline; for example, the February 1, 1844 excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of Hyram Brown. In May 1844 Smith declared, "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one."
After the death of Joseph Smith, the practice of polygamy was carried to the West by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then led by 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...
. In what is today Utah and some surrounding areas, the principle of plural marriage was openly practiced. In 1852, Young felt the Church in Utah was secure enough to announce the practice of polygamy to the world. However the opposition by the U.S. government threatened the legal standing of the church. President Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
announced the church's official abandonment
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...
of the practice on September 25, 1890. Woodruff's declaration was formally accepted
Common consent
Common consent is a democratic principle established by the Latter Day Saint movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., who taught in 1830 that "all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith." As it is most frequently used by the Church of Jesus Christ of...
in a church general conference on October 6, 1890. The Church's stand on the practice of polygamy was reinforced by a second formal statement in 1904, renouncing the practice in all areas of the world. Although the largest part of the Mormon population accepted the prohibition on plural marriage, various splinter groups
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
left the mainline LDS Church to continue the open practice of plural marriage.
Latter Day Saint Fundamentalism
Some sects that practice or at least sanction polygamy are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
, the Latter-day Church of Christ
Latter-day Church of Christ
The Latter Day Church of Christ is a Mormon fundamentalist denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, and is also known as the Kingston Clan, the Kingston Group, The Order, the Davis County Cooperative, and The Co-op Society...
and the Apostolic United Brethren
Apostolic United Brethren
The Apostolic United Brethren is a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church within the Latter Day Saint movement. The sect is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
. Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and other neighboring states, and the spin-off colonies, as well as up to 15,000 isolated individuals with no organized church affiliation. Polygamist churches of Latter Day Saint origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist" even though, because they are practicing polygamy, they are not a part of the LDS Church and therefore are not accurately considered "Mormon". They often use an ambiguous September 27, 1886 revelation to John Taylor
John Taylor (1808-1887)
John Taylor was the third president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1880 to 1887. He is the only president of the LDS Church to have been born outside of the United States....
as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.
The Salt Lake Tribune estimates there are as many as 37,000 fundamentalists, with less than half of them living in polygamous households. Most of the polygamy is believed to be restricted to about a dozen extended groups of polygamous fundamentalists. The LDS Church asserts that it is improper to call any of these splinter polygamous groups "Mormon."
Current Polygamist Groups
Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) practice polygamy in arranged marriages that often, but not always, involved placing young girls with older men. FLDS members live in the twin communities of Hildale, UtahHildale, Utah
Hildale is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,726 at the 2010 census.Hildale is a twin city to the more well-known Colorado City, Arizona, both of which straddle the border between Utah and Arizona. Hildale is the headquarters of the Fundamentalist Church of...
, and Colorado City, Arizona
Colorado City, Arizona
Colorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town was 4,607...
, about 350 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, with other communities in Canada, Texas and other areas of the North American west. The head of this church is currently Warren Jeffs
Warren Jeffs
Warren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
.
Overall in Utah today, those living in polygamist families number about 40,000 people, or about 2 percent of the population. Polygamists are difficult to prosecute because many only seek marriage licenses for their first marriage, while the other marriages are secretly conducted in private ceremonies. Thereafter, secondary wives attempt to be seen in public as single women with children.
Multiple divorce and marriage for polygamy
Some polygamous families use a system of multiple divorce and legal marriage as a loopholeLoophole
A loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented.Loophole may also refer to:*Arrowslit, a slit in a castle wall*Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...
in order to avoid committing a criminal act. In such cases the husband marries the first wife, she takes his last name, he divorces her and then marries the next wife, who takes his name. This is repeated until he has married and divorced all his wives, except possibly the last one. This way the wives feel justified in calling themselves Mrs. [husband's last name] and, while legally they're divorced from the husband, they still act as if married to him and expect those around them to acknowledge and respect this.
Since only one wife is officially married to the husband at any one time, no law is being broken and so this type of polygamous family unit can be overt about their relationship.
The conviction of Thomas Arthur Green
Thomas Arthur Green
Thomas Arthur Green is a Mormon fundamentalist in Utah who is a practitioner of plural marriage. After a high profile trial, Green was convicted by the state of Utah on May 18, 2001 of four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support...
in 2001 may have made the legal status of such relationships more precarious in Utah, although Green's bigamy convictions were made possible only by his own public statements.
Polygamy today
Those who live in their own communities tend to find their additional spouses from within their own communities or networks of like communities. This can involve daughters of polygamous families entering into arranged marriages with older men who already have a number of wives. This is commonly called daughter swapping. Marriage age can be young and sometimes below the legal minimum. Young men are often forced to leave the communities so that the women they would otherwise marry will be left to provide wives for older polygamous males. It is also not uncommon for fairly close relatives to marry, leading to inbreedingInbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
, though part of this comes from the difficulty of keeping track of the complex net of familial relations.
Those who are geographically separated from other polygamists in their culture use other means to find additional spouses.
These fundamentalist sects tend to aggregate in communities where they all commonly share their own specific religion and thus basis for polygamy. These small groups ranging from a few hundred to about 10,000 are reported to be located in various communities of the Western United States, Canada, and Mexico including:
- Bountiful, British ColumbiaBountiful, British ColumbiaBountiful is a settlement located in the Creston Valley of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, near Cranbrook and Creston. The closest community is Lister, British Columbia....
- Pringle, South DakotaPringle, South DakotaPringle is a town in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 112 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Pringle is located at ....
- OzumbaOzumbaOzumba is a town and municipality located in the southeast portion of the Valley of Mexico, 70km southeast of Mexico City near the Mexico City-Cuautla highway. The main feature of this area is the Parish of the Immaculate Conception which began as a Franciscan monastery in the 16th century...
, State of Mexico - Centennial Park, Arizona
- Colorado City, ArizonaColorado City, ArizonaColorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town was 4,607...
- Bonners Ferry, IdahoBonners Ferry, IdahoBonners Ferry is a city in and the county seat of Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,543 at the 2010 census.-History:...
- Rexburg, IdahoRexburg, Idaho-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,257 people, 4,274 households, and 2,393 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,534.4 people per square mile . There were 4,533 housing units at an average density of 928.4 per square mile...
- Lovell, WyomingLovell, WyomingLovell is a town in Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,281 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lovell is located at ....
- Pinesdale, MontanaPinesdale, MontanaPinesdale is a town in Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 742 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Pinesdale is located at ....
- Mancos, ColoradoMancos, ColoradoThe town of Mancos is a Statutory Town located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,119 at the 2000 census.The town of Mancos is located in southwestern Colorado, near the Four Corners, at the base of Mesa Verde National Park, and holds the trademark for "Gateway to...
- Davis County, UtahDavis County, UtahDavis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2010 the population was 306,479, a 28.2% increase over the 2000 figure of 238,994. It was named for Daniel C. Davis, captain in the Mormon Battalion. The county is part of the Ogden–Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area as...
- Salt Lake County, UtahSalt Lake County, UtahSalt Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. It had a population of 1,029,655 at the 2010 census. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. It occupies Salt Lake Valley, as well as parts of the surrounding mountains, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west...
- Tooele County, UtahTooele County, UtahTooele County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000, the population was 40,735 and by 2005 was estimated at 51,311. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele....
- Utah County, UtahUtah County, UtahUtah County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000, the population was 368,536 and by 2008 was estimated at 530,837. It was named for the Spanish name for the Ute Indians. The county seat and largest city is Provo...
- Motaqua, Utah
- Cedar City, UtahCedar City, UtahAs of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...
- Hanna, UtahHanna, UtahHanna is an unincorporated community in western Duchesne County, Utah, United States, on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. It lies along State Route 35 northwest of the city of Duchesne, the county seat of Duchesne County. Its elevation is 6,765 feet . Although Hanna is...
- Hildale, UtahHildale, UtahHildale is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,726 at the 2010 census.Hildale is a twin city to the more well-known Colorado City, Arizona, both of which straddle the border between Utah and Arizona. Hildale is the headquarters of the Fundamentalist Church of...
- Manti, UtahManti, Utah-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,040 people, 930 households, and 742 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,560.2 people per square mile . There were 1,010 housing units at an average density of 518.3 per square mile...
- Rocky Ridge, UtahRocky Ridge, UtahRocky Ridge is a town in Juab County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 403 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rocky Ridge is located at ....
- Sanpete Valley, Utah
- Modena, Nevada
- Eldorado, TexasEldorado, TexasEldorado is a city in and the county seat of Schleicher County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,951 at the 2000 census, but dropped to 1,800 according to a July 2009 estimate.Eldorado is located on U.S...
- Preston, NevadaPreston, NevadaPreston is a census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Its elevation is , and it is located at . It had a population in 2010 of 78.-References:...
- Lund, NevadaLund, NevadaLund is a small town and census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada. Lund was named for Anthon H. Lund. Lund was settled in 1898. It was settled on land that the United States government had given The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in lieu of land that had been confiscated...
Recent polygamy cases
The practice of informal polygamy among fundamentalist groups presents interesting legal issues. It has been considered difficult to prosecute polygamists for bigamyBigamy
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...
, in large part because they are rarely formally married under state laws. Without evidence that suspected offenders have multiple formal or common-law marriage
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
s, these groups are merely subject to the laws against adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
or unlawful cohabitation
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
— laws which are not commonly enforced because they also criminalize other behavior that is otherwise socially sanctioned. However, some "Fundamentalist" polygamists marry women prior to the age of consent
Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
, or commit fraud to obtain welfare and other public assistance.
In 1953, the state of Arizona investigated and raided
Short Creek raid
The Short Creek raid is the name given to Arizona state police and Arizona National Guard action against Mormon fundamentalists that took place on the morning of July 26, 1953, at Short Creek, Arizona. The Short Creek raid was the largest mass arrest of polygamists in American history...
a group of 385 people in the polygamist-practicing colony of Hildale and Colorado City, straddling the Utah-Arizona border. All the men were arrested and the children were placed with foster families. A judge eventually ruled this action illegal, and everyone returned to their community, which now numbers about 10,000.
In 2001, in the state of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Juab County Attorney David O. Leavitt
David O. Leavitt
David Okerlund Leavitt is a criminal justice attorney and businessman from Utah.- Early life :David Leavitt was born to Dixie and Anne Leavitt, the fifth of six brothers. He was raised in Cedar City, Utah and also spent time in Loa on the family farm. He was involved in public life from a young...
successfully prosecuted Thomas Green
Thomas Arthur Green
Thomas Arthur Green is a Mormon fundamentalist in Utah who is a practitioner of plural marriage. After a high profile trial, Green was convicted by the state of Utah on May 18, 2001 of four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support...
who was convicted of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having five serially monogamous marriages, while living with previous legally divorced wives. His cohabitation was considered evidence of a common-law marriage to the wives he had divorced while still living with them. That premise was subsequently affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Green, as applicable only in the State of Utah. Green was also convicted of child rape and criminal non-support.
In 2005, the state attorneys-general of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
issued a primer on helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse in polygamous communities. Enforcement of crimes such as child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, and fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
were emphasized over the enforcement of anti-polygamy and bigamy laws. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement.
In 2008, starting on April 4, Texas State officials took 436 women and children into temporary legal custody after Rozita Swinton, a 33 year old woman living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, called both Texas Social Services and a local shelter claiming to be a 16-year-old girl. She made a series of phone calls to authorities in late March, claiming she had been beaten and forced to become a "spiritual" wife to an adult man. Acting on her calls, authorities raided the ranch in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo. The YFZ Ranch
YFZ Ranch
The YFZ Ranch, also known as the Yearning for Zion Ranch, is a community which housed as many as 700 people just outside of Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. It is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . It is about southwest of San Angelo and ...
is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
(FLDS), a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. Two men were arrested for obstructing the raid but were later released. All of the families/children taken were released and many lawsuits are still pending against the state.
Canada
In Canada, polygamy is a criminal offense but prosecutions are rare. The Attorney General in British Columbia has expressed concerns over whether this prohibition is constitutional; an independent prosecutor in British Columbia recommended that Canadian courts be asked to rule on the constitutionality of the law against polygamy. A 2005 report by the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre recommended that Canada decriminalize polygamy, stating: "Criminalization is not the most effective way of dealing with gender inequality in polygamous and plural union relationships. Furthermore, it may violate the constitutional rights of the parties involved."Edith Barlow, a mother of five in the polygamous community of Bountiful
Bountiful, British Columbia
Bountiful is a settlement located in the Creston Valley of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, near Cranbrook and Creston. The closest community is Lister, British Columbia....
, B.C., was denied permanent residence and has been asked to leave the country after ten years in Canada.
See also
- Wendell Loy NielsenWendell Loy NielsenWendell Loy Nielsen is, according to documents filed with the Utah Department of Commerce, the President of the Corporation of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in southern Utah. The FLDS church, first incorporated in 1991, does not require the church president...
- Big LoveBig LoveBig Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
- Sister WivesSister WivesSister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC in 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes patriarch Kody Brown, his four wives and their 17 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, but has since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada...
- Sons of Perdition (film)
Further reading
- Kilbride, Philip. "Plural Marriage for Our Times: A Reinvented Option?" Bergin & Garvey; 1994.
- Lauman, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States: Chapter 13: Sex, Cohabitation, and Marriage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
- Loue, Sana. Sexual Partnering, Sexual Practices, and Health, Chapter Two: Multi-Bonding: Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyamory." Springer Publications, 2005. ISBN 0387259236
- Murdock, George Peter. Social Structure. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1949. ISBN 0-02-922290-7.
External links
- "Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation". Excerpt, 2005.
- Official Declaration—1: Full text of the Manifesto and other background statements from LDS Church Doctrine and Covenants
- The Manifesto of 1890 — article from the Encyclopedia of MormonismEncyclopedia of MormonismThe Encyclopedia of Mormonism is a semi-official encyclopedia for topics relevant to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
- Plural Marriages After The 1890 Manifesto — essay by Quinn