Doing the Works of Abraham, Mormon Polygamy: Its Origin, Practice, and Demise

450 Pages·2007·50.22 MB·English

by  B. Carmon Hardy

Copyright © 2007 by B. Carmon Hardy
All rights reserved including the rights
to translate or reproduce this work or parts
thereof in any form or by any media.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2006027640
ISBN 978-0-87062-344-8 (trade edition)
isbn 978-0-87062-352-3 (collectors edition)
isbn 978-0-87062-274-8 (entire series)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The works of Abraham : Mormon polygamy : its origin, practice, and demise /
edited by B. Carmon Hardy.
p. cm. — (Kingdom in the west: the Mormons and the American fron­
tier ; v. 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-87062-344-3 (trade hardcover : alk. paper) — isbn 0-87062-352-4 (limit­
ed ed. hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Polygamy— Religious aspects— Mormon Church. 2. Book of Abraham. 3.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints— Doctrines. 4. Mormon
Church— Doctrines. I. Hardy, B. Carmon. II. Title. III. Series.
BX8641.W77 2006
261.8*3584230882893----DC22
2006027640
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 00
For Kamillia M. Hardy, my wife; and our children—Melody, Cristine,
David' Amelia, and Robin. Their interest in the subject arises from
roots that, like my own, run deeply into the Mormon past. I am enor­
mously gratfulfor the support, love, and patience they displayed while
enduring the seemingly endless labor required by “Dad’s book ”

Go ye, therefore, and do the works of Abraham; enter ye into
my law and ye shall be saved.
But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the promise of
my Father, which he made unto Abraham.
God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to
wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar
sprang many people.
D&C 132:32—34.
Then if we are his children will we not do the works of faith­
ful Abraham?. . . Are we Abrahams seed, or are we bastards and not
sons. That is the question.
"Lecture. By Elder Orson Hyde,” 6 Oct. 1854,”
Des. News [Weekly], 19 Oct. 1854, 4:32 [1/2].
Salt Lake is on the high road between San Francisco and
Chicago, neither of which cities is celebrated for the purity of its morals.
Whether this facility of intercourse will result in the Mormons . . .
taking only one wife at a time, or in the San Franciscans and Chica-
gans becoming saints and polygamists, who shall say?
Therese Yelverton, Teresina in America (1875), 2:48—49.
)
)
C
ontents
Illustrations ...................................................................................................... 12
Forew ord..............................................................................................................
13
Editorial Procedures .....................................................................................
*9
Abbreviations......................................................................................................
23
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................
25
In trodu ction ...................................................................................................... 27
1. "Go Ye, Therefore, and D o the Works of Abraham”:
M ormon Polygamous Beginnings ....................................... 33
“Take Unto You Wives of the Lamanites and Nephites": An Early Revelation on Polygamy? —
“Eternal Union of the Sexes": Marital Joy in Heaven — “And You Are the Woman":The Prophets
Polygamous Alliances — “So As To Keep It Hid": Polygamy and Secrecy— “Bennett Made Me
Do Iti": Scandal Erupts — “Great Hail Stones of Truth": Defending the Principle — “A New
and An Everlasting Covenant": The 1843 Revelation — “An Endless Exaltation”: Response to
the 1843 Revelation — “Their Unholy Designs": Opposition Outside the Church — “To Explode
the Vicious Principles": Dissent Mounts — “The Thing Which Put Them into the Power of
Their Enemies”: The Death of the Prophet and His Brother — The Principle Established
2. "Let the M onogamic Law Sink to Rise N o More”:
M ormons Tell the World about Polygamy . . . . 73
“This Great, Sublime, Beautiful, and Glorious Doctrine": The 1852 Announcement — “Dar­
ing Them to Do Their Worst": Mormon Stalwarts Take the Field — “Practiced It Himself":
Jesus Was a Pluralist— “The Biggest Whoremasters on Earth": Apostate, Hypocritical Chris­
tianity — “Stalwart Sons and Fair and Robust Daughters”: The Regenerative Powers of Mor­
mon Polygamy — “Reform Must Begin in the Marriage Bed”: Plurality as a Socio-Political
Imperative — Builders of a New Civilization
3. "The Root of the Matter77:
M ormons Talk to Themselves about Polygamy hi
“No Exaltation Without It”: Importance of the Doctrine — “Like So Much Honey”: Polygamy
in Song and Story — “Go to Work and Reckon It Up”: Family Empire — 'Copy His Mind
and Spirit": Patriarchal Dominion — “They Have Not Sense Enough”: The Inferiority of Women
— “When the Proper Intercourse Takes Place”: Restoration of the Strength and Longevity of
the Ancients — “Wash & Dress Them Up" : Intermarriage with Native Americans — The Mil­
lennium in View
4- “Her Comfort Must Be Wholly in Her Children":
Polygamy at Ho m e .....................................................................145
“Not Half as Much a Slave”: Public Comment By Women — “Spooning Aunt Nellie”: Court­
ing Plural Wives — “The Grandest Step of My Whole Life”: Male Courtship of Plural Wives
— “I Wrestled With My Heavenly Father”: Accepting the Principle — “The Agony and the
Exaltation”: Repression of Romantic Love — “Not in Want of Me”: Patriarchy and Polygamy
— “With Fortitude and Faith”: Triumph in the Principle — “Never a CrossWord”: Support
and Community Among Women in Polygamy — “It Was Their Duty”: Male Life in the Prin­
ciple — “Enough of Polygamy”: Failure in the Principle — “Keep Your House As Becomes a
Saint”: Variation Within the Principle — “The Martyrs Crown”: Judging Mormon Polygamy
5. “They Practise ... As a Virtue What Others Do
Secretly As a Sin": N on-Mormons Look at Polygamy . 185
“Not a Specially Sensual People”: Five Remarkable Observers of Mormon Polygamous Life —
“Pathetically ‘Homely’ Creatures”: Humorists, Cartoonists, and Novelists Take Aim — “The
Yellow, Sunken, Cadaverous Visage”: Polygamy and Physiology — “The Most Startling Drop­
ping Off from My Eyes”: Tolerance for the Mormons — “They Must Soon Give Way”: Warn­
ing Voices — “Cattle on Two Legs”: Gentiles andTabernacle Sermons — “An Oliver Cromwell
Kind of Man”: Call To Battle — Shaping the Mormon Image
6. “The Jentiles ar on the Track of the Saints”:
A National Crusade Be g in s ......................................................zz3
“Promiscuous as the Cattle in the Fields”: Attacks Commence — “This Creeping Leprosy”:
Polygamy and Public Lands — "Apply the Knife”: Polygamy and Popular Sovereignty — “To
Punish and Prevent the Practice of Polygamy”: The Federal Government Acts — “Incestuous
Connections and the Crime of Bigamy”: A Military Officer Complains — “Asiatic Effeminan-
cy”: Reconstruction and Utah — “Already in the Death-Gasp”: Pleas for Moderation — “Baby­
lon Was Polygamic”: New Attacks — “Silence and Smoke”: Pressures Mount — “A Feature
of the Life of Asiatic and of African People”: The Supreme Court Speaks — An “Irrepress­
ible” Conflict
7. “Unless We Destroy Mormonism, Mormonism
Will Destroy Us": The Crusade Full Tilt . . . . 269
“The ‘Let Alone’ Method Has Failed”: Clerics, Women, and Journalists Lead the Assault —
“If Any Male Person ... Cohabits”: Acts and Oaths — “That Terrible Persecution”: The Judi­
cial Crusade — “This Vile System Shall Be Blotted Out”: The Crusade Quickens — “Senator
Edmunds Has Solemnized More Polygamous Marriages Than Brigham Young”: Gentile Dis­
sent — The Crusade Nears Its Goal
8. “Measuring Arms With the Almighty":
Mormonism on the De f e n s e ......................................................307
“We Prefer to Row Against the Current of Corruption”: Continued Devotion to Plural Mar­
riage — “They Bossed the President”: Mormon Women Enter the Fray — “Officers, Speak­
ers, Singers, and the Martial Band”: Protest Meetings — “No Faithful Soul Dare Disobey”:
God and Prophets Speak — “Anything for Statehood”: A Divided Road — “Polygamists Got
Out of Sight”: Mormon Flight From the Law — “StripesThat Run Crosswise”: Mormon Polyg­
amists in Prison — A Decade of Change
9- “How Peculiar the Change”: The Manifesto . . . . 341
“Open Believers in the Doctrine”: The 1890 Utah Commission Report — “My Advice to the
Latter Day Saints”: President Woodruff s Proclamation — “To Hoodwink the Public”: Non-
Mormon Responses — “A Class Who Do Not Relish It”: Mormon Doubts — “An Uneasy
Feeling Among the People”: Master-In-Chancery Hearings — “Stop Murmuring and Com­
plaining”: President Woodruff Affirms the Manifesto Was Given By Revelation — “Final End
of the Work”: The Amnesty Petition — “The Mormon Is With Us”: Gentile Acceptance —
“Secret But Sacred”: Continued Approval for Polygamous Marriages — “Explicit and Offen­
sive Violation”: Criticism Revives — “They Charge Us With Being Dishonest”: Reed Smoot
and a Second Manifesto — “The Mormon Game”: The Magazine Crusade — The Decline of
Mormon Polygamy
10. “W e are Honor Bound”:
The Eclipse of Officially Approved Polygamy . . . 379
“A Solemn Covenant”:The Rise of Mormon Fundamentalism — “Born of the Evil One”:The
lds Church Condemns Fundamentalist Polygamy
Afterword: The Legacy of Mormon Polygam y..................................................389
B ibliograph y...............................................................................................................393
Index 437
I
llustrations
Annie Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . frontispiece
Joseph Smith Jr...........................................................................................................................^
Helen Mar Kimball W h itn e y .........................................................................................49
Brigham Y o u n g ...................................................................................................................74
Heber Chase Kim ball...........................................................................................................89
Emma Hale Smith B id a m o n .........................................................................................46
Parley Parker P r a t t ..........................................................................................................103
Orson H yde..........................................................................................................................124
Ira Eldredge, Nancy Black, Hannah Mariah Savage, and Helvig Marie Andersen 147
The family of Jonathan H eaton........................................................................................171
Joseph F. Smith and several of his s o n s ......................................................................176
Horace G reeley..................................................................................................................193
Sir Richard Francis Burton................................................................................................199
Samuel Bowles I I .................................................................................................................211
Cartoon of Mormon polygamous life ......................................................................222
Cartoon of bedroom of Brigham Y o u n g ......................................................................227
Justin Smith M o rrill.........................................................................................................238
Joseph Smith I I I ..................................................................................................................253
John Philip N ew m an.........................................................................................................254
Orson P ratt...........................................................................................................................255
The first official printing of the 1843 revelation approving plural marriage . 264
“Life among the Mormons— The New Wife” .............................................................268
Samuel and Mary Bunting Ashton and fam ily..............................................................273
George Franklin Edm unds................................................................................................280
“Hit ’Em Again'7 cartoon ................................................................................................284
Advertisements of “Mormon Elders Damiana W a fe rs"............................................298
George Quayle C a n n o n .................................................................................................293
Emmeline Blanche Woodward W e lls................................................................................313
John T aylor..........................................................................................................................320
Charles William P en ro se................................................................................................346
First Presidency of the Mormon church at the time of the 1890 Manifesto . 345
Heber Jeddy Grant, Anthony Woodward Ivins, and Joshua Reuben Clark Jr. . 382