1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy

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Question

The 1835 edition of the D&C contained a statement of marriage which denied the practice of polygamy. Since this was published during Joseph Smith's lifetime, why might the prophet have allowed it to be published if he was actually practicing polygamy at that time?

Answer

The portion of the Article on Marriage relevant to polygamy states:

Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. ^[1]

The Article on Marriage, printed in the 1835 D&C as section 101 and in the 1844 D&C as section 109, was written by Oliver Cowdery and introduced to a conference of the priesthood at Kirtland on 17 August 1835. Cowdery also wrote a statement of belief on government that has been retained in our current edition of the D&C as section 134. Both were sustained at the conference and included in the 1835 D&C, which was already at the press and ready to be published.

The article outlined the general practice of performing a Latter-day Saint wedding, explained LDS beliefs about the marriage relationship, and denied that the Saints were practicing polygamy (rumors of which were already circulating as a result of the Prophet teaching the concept to some of his close associates). The statement remained in the D&C until the 1876 edition, even though plural marriage had been taught since at least 1831, practiced in secret since 1836, and practiced openly since 1852. The matter of not removing it in 1852 was simply due to the fact that a new edition of the D&C was not published until 1876.

Joseph Smith was preaching in Michigan at the time Oliver introduced these two articles to the conference; it is not known if he approved of their addition to the D&C at the time, but he did retain them in the 1844 Nauvoo edition.

The statement itself was not changed between the 1835 and 1844 editions of the D&C.

Endnotes

1. [note] Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 edition, Section 101.