View source for Question: Was the practice of polygamy against the law in Illinois in the 1840s?

{{FairMormon}}
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{{H2
|L=Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Illegal in Nauvoo
|H2=Was the practice of polygamy against the law in Illinois in the 1840s?
|S=Under Illinois law, Joseph Smith and the Saints were not guilty of a crime due to their private practice of plural marriage. In fact, the Illinois legislature would later alter their laws precisely because they feared that their current law would allow Mormon polygamy.
|L1=M. Scott Bradshaw: "Joseph Smith could not have been properly convicted of adultery under the law of Illinois in 1844"
|L2=Question: Was Joseph Smith ever charged with adultery under Illinois law?
|L3=Question: Were there any similar cases under Illinois adultery statute which demonstrate that Joseph was not breaking the law?
|L4=Question: Why did Joseph Smith say "I had not been married scarcely five minutes...before it was reported that I had seven wives"?
|L5=Question: Was there ever a consummation of the sealing between Maria Lawrence and Joseph Smith?
}}
</onlyinclude>
{{Epigraph|Joseph Smith could not have been properly convicted of adultery under the law of Illinois in 1844. Illinois law only criminalized adultery or fornication if it was "open". Had Joseph lived to face trial on this charge, he would have had good reason to expect acquittal because his relationships with his plural wives were not open, but were kept confidential and known by a relative few. Given a fair trial on this indictment, Joseph could have relied on several legal defenses.<br>
:::::&mdash; M. Scott Bradshaw<ref name="defining">{{Article:Bradshaw:Defining Adultery/Full title|pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|402}}}}
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{{:Source:Madsen:Defining Adultery:Joseph Smith could not have been properly convicted of adultery under the law of Illinois in 1844}}
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith ever charged with adultery under Illinois law?}}
{{:Question: Were there any similar cases under Illinois adultery statute which demonstrate that Joseph was not breaking the law?}}
{{:Question: Why did Joseph Smith say "I had not been married scarcely five minutes...before it was reported that I had seven wives"?}}
{{:Question: Was there ever a consummation of the sealing between Maria Lawrence and Joseph Smith?}}

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