Edmunds–Tucker Act

Mormonism and polygamy
The wives and children of Joseph F. Smith, circa 1900.
Background Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy Late 19th century Mormon polygamy Modern Latter Day Saint polygamy 1890 Manifesto Second Manifesto (1904) Mormon fundamentalism
Prominent practitioners Joseph Smith, Jr. Brigham Young Joseph Smith's wives List of Mormon polygamists FLDS Church
Related legislation Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act Poland Act Edmunds Act Edmunds-Tucker Act
Related case law Reynolds v. United States Mormon Church v. United States
Related articles Spiritual wifery Celestial Marriage Polygamy in the United States History of civil marriage in the U.S.
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The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) regarding polygamy. The act is found in US Code Title 48 & 1461, full text as 24 Stat. 635, with this annotation to be interpreted as Volume 24, page 635 of United States Statutes at Large. The act is named after its congressional sponsors, Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont and Congressman John Randolph Tucker of Virginia. The act was repealed in 1978.

History

The act disincorporated both the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they fostered polygamy. The act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. The act was enforced by the U.S. marshal and a host of deputies.

The act:

• Dissolved the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, with assets to be used for public schools in the Territory.^[1]
• Required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials.
• Annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit.
• Required civil marriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy).
• Abrogated the common law spousal privilege for polygamists, thus requiring wives to testify against their husbands^[2]
• Disfranchised women (who had been enfranchised by the Territorial legislature in 1870).
• Replaced local judges (including the previously powerful Probate Court judges) with federally appointed judges.
• Removed local control in school textbook choice.^{[citation needed]}

In 1890 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the seizure of Church property under the Edmunds–Tucker Act in Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States.

This act was repealed in 1978.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

See also

References