Official Declaration 1

Official Declaration 1

Historical Context

From the 1840s to the 1880s, many Latter-day Saints participated in the practice of plural marriage. Recognizing how controversial the practice was, Joseph Smith introduced it privately to a few close associates during the Nauvoo period. Elder Orson Pratt then publicly announced it in an 1852 discourse. The practice began through revelation to the Prophet Joseph and ended with a revelation to another prophet, Wilford Woodruff. Official Declaration 1, also commonly known as the Manifesto, is not Woodruff’s revelation itself but an announcement of it. On several occasions, President Woodruff explained the spiritual communications that led him to issue the Manifesto. Excerpts from some of these addresses are found in the Doctrine and Covenants directly following Official Declaration 1. President Woodruff felt the need to explain his actions because the Manifesto constitutes such a dramatic turning point in the history of the Church and in the mindset of its members.

Most of the people who interacted with the Saints in the nineteenth century viewed the practice of plural marriage as controversial. In 1862, the United States Congress passed a series of laws intended to pressure the Saints into ending the practice of plural marriage. These laws, particularly the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, put great strain on Latter-day Saint leaders. By 1890, the federal government of the United States had disincorporated the Church, seized many of its assets, and placed many prominent Church leaders in prison. The wives and children of these leaders often suffered the indignity of being subpoenaed to testify in court against family members, at times even their own husbands and fathers, not to mention the other hardships associated with the absence of their husbands and fathers, often the family’s breadwinner.

Under these difficult circumstances, President Wilford Woodruff sought guidance from the Lord about continuing the practice of plural marriage. In May 1890, when the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, the Lord showed President Woodruff in a vision “exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice . . . all the temples [would] go out of our hands.” He later taught, “[God] has told me exactly what to do, and what the result would be if we did not do it.”1 This announcement evidenced that the temple ordinances were of more importance than the practice of plural marriage, something that perhaps some members of the Church did not understand.

On September 25, 1890, President Woodruff issued the Manifesto, which he later maintained was prompted by a revelation given to him from God. The Manifesto announced, “Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise” (Official Declaration 1). The Manifesto addressed the United States government when it explained, “We are not teaching polygamy, or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice.”2

Shortly after President Woodruff announced the Manifesto, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles voted to uphold his actions. A few weeks later, at the October 1890 general conference, the membership of the Church sustained the Manifesto and it became “authoritative and binding” upon the Saints.3 Although the members of the Church generally accepted the Manifesto, stopping the practice of plural marriage within the Church proved difficult. Part of the problem was a difference of opinion among Church leaders on how to implement the Manifesto. For instance, the Manifesto had no bearing on plural marriages that already existed. President Woodruff explained, “This Manifesto only refers to future marriages, and does not affect past conditions. I did not, I could not, and would not promise that you would desert your wives and children. This you cannot do in honor.”4 Even with this strong affirmation, some Latter-day Saints who had entered plural marriage began to live with just one wife. Although the Manifesto “officially ceased” the practice of solemnizing new plural marriages in countries where it was illegal, ending the practice happened more gradually.5 Since the Manifesto simply declared that Church members would obey the law in places where plural marriage was illegal, plural marriages continued to be performed and sanctioned for a time in Canada and Mexico, where polygamy was legal.

By 1908, the Manifesto had been canonized. Since its announcement, it has been included in every edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and is now titled “Official Declaration 1.” The end of plural marriage was nearly as difficult a trial for the Saints as its beginning. For nearly fifty years, the Saints defended and upheld the principle of plural marriage, accepting it as a revelation from God in harmony with His revealed word. But once again, the Lord provided guidance and direction to the Saints, and the practice came to an end in the Church.

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

To Whom It May Concern:

Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy—

I, therefore, as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory.

One case has been reported, in which the parties allege that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the Spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony; whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken down without delay.

Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.

There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.

Wilford Woodruff

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Joseph Smith received a revelation on July 12, 1843 (D&C 132) explaining the reasons for establishing the practice of plural marriage. From a reading of the entire scriptural canon, it appears that plural marriage is an exception  and not the general rule concerning marriage relationships on earth and in the eternities. When the question of plural marriage was raised among the Nephites, Jacob condemned the practice but also noted the Lord’s word to him that “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” (Jacob 2:30). This verse allows for righteous men, such as the biblical patriarch Jacob (Israel), Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others to practice plural marriage when it is commanded, but for most of the history of the Church, monogamous marriages have been the common practice among the Saints.

Many Church members struggled to accept the revelation to end plural marriage. Church leaders worked to help the Saints understand the change and were gentle in their treatment of those who struggled with the Manifesto. Official Declaration 1 proclaimed that President Woodruff’s “advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land” (Official Declaration 1). It left open the question of whether the practice might continue in countries, such as Mexico, where no laws existed that prohibited plural marriage.

Because of the confusion over this lack of clarity and other factors, in 1904 President Joseph F. Smith issued a statement widely referred to as the “Second Manifesto.” It reads:

Inasmuch as there are numerous reports in circulation that plural marriages have been entered into, contrary to the official declaration of President Woodruff of September 24, 1890, commonly called the manifesto, which was issued by President Woodruff, and adopted by the Church at its general conference, October 6, 1890, which forbade any marriages violative of the law of the land, I, Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereby affirm and declare that no such marriages have been solemnized with the sanction, consent, or knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And I hereby announce that all such marriages are prohibited, and if any officer or member of the Church shall assume to solemnize or enter into any such marriage, he will be deemed in transgression against the Church, and will be liable to be dealt with according to the rules and regulations thereof and excommunicated therefrom.

Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.6

The Second Manifesto clarified that “all such marriages are prohibited,” adding that any Church officer or member who performed such marriages would be subject to Church discipline. This sent a clear message. The Church was no longer performing plural marriages among the living, regardless of whether or not the laws of a country prohibited it.

The Second Manifesto reinforced the message of Official Declaration 1 and accelerated the end of the plural marriage in the Church. After issuing the Second Manifesto, President Smith felt strongly about enforcing it. Two members of the Quorum of the Twelve, John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley, told President Smith they were unwilling to submit to the direction of the Second Manifesto. In response, both were removed from the Quorum of the Twelve. John W. Taylor was later excommunicated and never rejoined the Church. Mathias Cowley was restricted from using his priesthood, but he later repented, saying he was “wholly in error.”7 While some excommunicated members broke off from the Church and formed fundamentalist groups who practiced plural marriage after the Second Manifesto, the Church has not sanctioned any living plural marriages since this time the second manifesto.

Over a century later, President Gordon B. Hinckley upheld the teachings of Official Declaration 1, declaring, “If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.” President Hinckley also added, “More than a century ago God clearly revealed unto His prophet Wilford Woodruff that the practice of plural marriage should be discontinued, which means that it is now against the law of God. Even in countries where civil or religious law allows polygamy, the Church teaches that marriage must be monogamous and does not accept into its membership those practicing plural marriage.”8

Plural marriage is an important part of the history of the Church. It played the role it was intended to play and then God instructed the President of the Church to end the practice. An official statement of the Church on the subject declares, “Marriage between one man and one woman is God’s standard for marriage, unless He declares otherwise, which He did through His prophet, Joseph Smith. The Manifesto marked the beginning of the return to monogamy, which is the standard of the Church today.”9

Footnotes

• 1. “Remarks Made by President Wilford Woodruff,” Deseret Evening News, November 7, 1891. See Official Declaration 1.
• 2. “Official Declaration,” Deseret Evening News, September 25, 1890.
• 3. President Woodruff’s Manifesto, 1–3; “Third Day,” Deseret Evening News, October 6, 1890, as cited in “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 4. Marriner W. Merrill quote, in B. Cameron Hardy, Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage, 1992, 141.
• 5. “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 6. Joseph F. Smith, in Conference Report, April 1904, 75.
• 7. “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 8. Gordon B. Hinckley, “What Are People Asking about Us?” October 1998 General Conference.
• 9. “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.