Purpose of plural marriage

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Plural marriage
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Joseph Smith era:

Post-Joseph Smith:

Post-Manifesto–present

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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Contents

Question

Why would the Lord have commanded the 19th century Saints to implement plural marriage? What purpose(s) did polygamy accomplish?

Note: Some critics provide their own reason—they claim Joseph Smith and the Mormons implemented plural marriage because of lustful motives. That charge is addressed elsewhere. See: Polygamy because of lustful motives

Response

The only scriptural explanation given from the Lord for approved plural marriage is found in Jac. 2:30:

"For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things."

Here, the Lord gives only one reason for plural marriage, to raise up his people. It is often not His pattern to give reasons for His commandments. Any other "reasons" which we attach, in retrospect, to plural marriage can only be based on supposition and intellectual deduction.

It seems clear, however, in retrospect that plural marriage accomplished several things. Any or all of these things could have been intended by the Lord for the benefit of the Church and the Saints. Other benefits which we do not yet see or understand could also have been intended. We should remember the caution of Elder Dallin H. Oaks:

...It's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people [have] put reasons to [commandments] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong.[1]

Any such list as this is tentative. But, it reminds us plural marriage may have accomplished more than we sometimes appreciate. Some benefits which have been suggested include:

  1. It was to try (prove) His people. Polygamy stood as an Abrahamic test for the saints. The willingness to obey a commandment that was inherently distasteful to the vast majority of the members of the Church allowed members to draw close to the Lord.
  2. It was to "raise up" righteous seed. Specifically it allowed a relatively few righteous men to become very prolific in a time when the West was very wild and there were many unrighteous men. Children were raised in more households with a strong gospel commitment.
  3. It served to "set apart" his people as a peculiar people to the world. This social isolation that gave the church space to solidify itself into an identity independent of the many denominations from which the membership was derived. Sociologists have discovered that in order for a religion to successfully grow it has to be demanding and it has to experience a moderate amount of tension with its host society. The RLDS Church rejected plural marriage, and perhaps not coincidentally are now small in number and virtually indistinguishable from Protestants.
  4. Polygamy was part of the "restoration of all things," and a way for Mormons to feel connected with prophets like Abraham and Jacob. 19th century Mormons gained a greater appreciation for covenants that these forefathers made with God.
  5. Numerous family ties that were created, building a network of associations that strengthened the Church.
  6. Arguably polygamy affected higher natural growth rates. Ironically plural wives had fewer children than their monogamous Mormon counterparts. [2]
  7. Polygamy created a system where a higher percentage of women and men got married compared to the national average at the time. [3]
  8. Plural marriages increased competition in the marriage market, so the "spiritual slackers" and lower quality men had to work to improve their standing to compete. They had to clean up, try to get good jobs and treat the women with respect. It gave the women more options as to whom to marry.
  9. Out on the frontier in 19th century life expectancy was low and women were not as economically independent as they are today. Therefore there were many widows (and orphans coming of age) that needed to be taken care of. Some women who joined the Church abroad immigrated without their husbands, leaving them without male financial support. Furthermore, Brigham Young instituted the most liberal divorce policy in the country so women (but not men!) could get out of unhappy marriages. Kathryn Daynes estimated that 30% of plural marriages came from married-before women. [4]
  10. Church Historian Elder Jensen observed how Mormon polygamy enabled women more freedom to earn college degrees and join national women's rights organizations at the time. [5]
  11. Polygamy helped integrate foreign immigrants into Mormon society. With the marriage market operating so efficiently, women were highly sought after, and so Utah men had to sometimes marry outside their preferred cultural boundaries. This provided a great way to redistribute the wealth to the immigrants families coming. [6]
  12. Plural marriages provided a social support network while the husbands were off on missions.

Conclusion

Plural marriage can be a difficult historical fact for people to understand, both members and nonmembers alike. Trying to fully understand the purposes behind such a commandment in today's mindset can also make this subject difficult. It is important to note that we do not have all the historical information surrounding the inception and implementation of the practice. Rather than trying to understand the Lord's purposes in retrospect on a limited scope, one should remember the above scripture in Jacob. Other benefits, although potentially advantageous, are not given as reasons by the Lord.

Endnotes

  1. [back] Dallin H. Oaks, Interview with Associated Press, in Daily Herald, Provo, Utah, 5 June 1988.
  2. [back] David R. Keller, "And We Multiplied Exceedingly," FAIR Blog (last accessed 9 May 2008) off-site
  3. [back] David R. Keller, "Where the Lost Boys Go," FAIR Blog (last accessed 9 May 2008) off-site
  4. [back] Kathryn Daynes, "Single Men in a Polygamous Society: Male Marriage Patterns in Manti, Utah," Journal of Mormon History 24/1 (Spring 1998): 110. off-site
  5. [back]  Marlin K. Jensen, "Polygamy Then and Now," in LDS Newsroom, 5 May 2008 off-site
  6. [back] Kathryn Daynes, "Single Men in a Polygamous Society: Male Marriage Patterns in Manti, Utah," Journal of Mormon History 24/1 (Spring 1998): 97. off-site

Further Reading

FAIR wiki articles

Plural marriage wiki links

FAIR web site

Plural marriage FAIR links
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Polyandry FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Polygamy FAIR link
  • Suzanne Armitage, "O that my voice could reach the ears of those uninformed and misinformed." FAIR link
  • Claudia Bushman, "Lives of Mormon Women," FAIR presentation transcript, 2006. FAIR link
  • Michael W. Fordham, 'Ask the Apologist'—Plural Marriage in the Book of Mormon and D&C" FAIR link
  • Gregory Smith, "Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." FAIR link PDF link (Key source)
  • Allan Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital State of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young," FAIR presentation transcript, 2006. FAIR link (Key source)

External links

Plural marriage on-line articles
  • James B. Allen, "Line upon Line," Ensign (July 1979): 32–40. off-site
  • Edwin B. Firmage, "The Judicial Campaign against Polygamy and the Enduring Legal Questions," Brigham Young University Studies 27:3 (Summer 1987): 91–113. PDF link
  • Danel Bachman, Ronald K. Esplin, "Plural Marriage," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 3:1091–1095. ISBN 002904040X. off-site off-site off-site
  • Stephen R. Gibson, "Does the Book of Mormon Forbid Polygamy," lightplanet.com. off-site
  • Gordon Irving, "The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830–1900," Brigham Young University Studies 14:3 (Spring 1974): 291–314. off-site
  • Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993), 90–96. off-site FAIR link GospeLink
  • Gilbert W. Scharfs, The Truth About “The Godmakers”: A Response to an Inaccurate Portrayal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1986). FAIR link
  • W. John Walsh, "Is Plural Marriage Necessary for Exaltation?" off-site
  • Mormon-polygamy.org off-site

Printed material

Plural marriage printed references
  • Danel W. Bachman, “A Study of the Mormon Practice of Polygamy Before the Death of Joseph Smith,” (1975) (unpublished M.A. thesis, Purdue University).
  • Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997). ISBN 156085085X. The introduction and prologue are available online at the Signature Books web site.
  • Reviews of In Sacred Loneliness:
    • Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring, "The Prophet Joseph Smith and His Plural Wives (Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 67–104. off-site PDF link
    • Alma G. Allred, “Variations on a Theme,” Presentation to Mormon History Association, 1999, updated on-line version of 6 December 1999. PDF link
    • Danel W. Bachman, “’Let No One…Set On My Servant Joseph’: Religious Historians Missing the Lessons of Religious History,” Presentation to Mormon History Association, 22 May 1999.
    • Danel W. Bachman, "Prologue to the Study of Joseph Smith's Marital Theology (Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 105–137. off-site PDF link
    • Kathryn Daynes, “Review of In Sacred Loneliness,” Pacific Historical Review 68 (August 1999): 466–468.
    • Todd Compton's response to Anderson and Faulring off-site
    • Todd Compton's response to Jerald and Sandra Tanners' Review of In Sacred Loneliness off-site
  • Stephen R. Gibson, One-Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1995).
  • Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, eds., A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo: Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1997). ISBN 1570083576. ISBN 978-1570083570. GospeLink
  • Joseph Fielding McConkie, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1998), 27–28. GospeLink
  • John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, arranged by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960), 340–344. ISBN 088494073 GospeLink GL direct link
  • John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, arranged by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960), 390–393. ISBN 088494073 GospeLink GL direct link
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