It seems that Utahns, beginning with Utahs first Mormon pioneer settlers in 1847, were married ONLY under common law, rather than civil law, for forty years. But some of those marriages were polygynous, and therefore werent well tolerated by some Americans, especially by some Republicans, whose original party platform identified polygamy, along with slavery, as twin relics of barbarism to eradicate from America. In 1887, Americas federal Congress, as one of many steps in its unconstitutional post-Civil-War efforts to forcibly assimilate Latter-day Saints into mainstream American culture, enacted its oppressive Edmunds-Tucker Act to abolish polygamy in all U.S. territories, including Utah. This horrid act, among other things, disincorporated the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, confiscated most of its properties, disenfranchised Utahs women, restricted Utahn political participation to those citizens who swore an anti-polygamy oath, replaced locally-elected Utahn judges with federally-appointed ones, and mandated that Utahs territorial government license all Utahn marriages---all as part of a concerted effort to compel Latter-day Saints to abandon polygyny. Congress did not finally repeal this egregious act until 1978. And, as a result of it, Utahs government, whether as a territory or as a state, has been licensing Utahn marriages ever since. This act is arguably a good example of how power to control an institution implies power to alter and/or abolish it, as well as a good reason why we should deny our politicians such power.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:58:35 +0000
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