View source for Question: Was the practice of polygamy general knowledge among Latter-day Saints in 1835 when the "Article on Marriage" was published?

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|L2=Knowledge of the practice of polygamy among the Saints was limited prior to the 1840s
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==Question: Was the practice of polygamy general knowledge among Latter-day Saints in 1835 when the "Article on Marriage" was published?==
===Knowledge of the practice of polygamy among the Saints was limited prior to the 1840s===
Some have argued that rumors of "polygamy" may already have been circulating as a result of the Prophet teaching the concept to some of his close associates. However, Brian Hales has argued that there are few if any extant attacks on Joseph or the Saints about polygamy prior to the 1840s:

<blockquote>
...if the article was designed to neutralize reports about Joseph Smith and his alleged "crimes," polygamy would not have been included because that allegation was not made then nor at any other time during the Kirtland period according to any documentation currently available. In other words, assuming that the denial of polygamy in the "Marriage" article [of D&C 101] was specifically tied to rumors of Joseph Smith's behavior is problematic, unless other corroborating evidence can be located. <ref>{{Book:Hales:JS Polygamy 1|pages=161&ndash;162}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Charges of polygamy or "free love" or having wives in common were often made against new or little-known religious or social groups===

On the other hand, charges of polygamy or "free love" or having wives in common were often made against new or little-known religious or social groups. As Hales reports:

<blockquote>
Some [nineteenth-century utopian societies] experimented with novel marital and sexual practices, which focused suspicion on all the groups....Accordingly, early Latter-day Saint efforts to live the law of consecration, even though it sustained traditional monogamy, were instantly misunderstood....

John L. Brooke...wrote: "Among the non-Mormons in Ohio there were suspicions that the community of property dictated in the 'Law of Consecration' included wives."...

It seems plausible, even likely, that beginning in 1831, some uninformed individuals assumed that the law of consecration included a community of wives as one of its tenets, even publishing such claims, although there is no indication that this is how the Mormons themselves interpreted the law of consecration. Understandably, Church leaders would actively seek to deny such untrue allegations in a document on marriage to be included in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. <ref>{{Book:Hales:JS Polygamy 1|pages=166, 168}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Gilbert Scharffs notes:

<blockquote>
The original Section 101 (never claimed as a revelation but approved as a statement of belief) did state that monogamy was the practice of the Church at that time. The section was not written by Joseph Smith and was voted upon by members in his absence. Perhaps the section was intended to prevent members from getting involved with plural marriage until such a time as the practice would be authorized by the Lord Church-wide. When that became the fact, the current Section 132 replaced the old Section 101. <ref>Gilbert Scharffs, "Marriage Is Ordained of God", ''The Truth About "The God Makers"'' {{link|url=http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/the-truth-about-the-god-makers/c12}}</ref>
</blockquote>


{{endnotes sources}}
[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:Mormonism 101]]
[[Category:Mormon America: The Power and the Promise]]
[[Category:MormonThink]]
[[Category:No Man Knows My History]]
[[Category:The Changing World of Mormonism]]

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[[es:Pregunta: ¿Era la práctica de los conocimientos generales poligamia entre los Santos de los Últimos Días en 1835 cuando se publicó el "Artículo Sobre el Matrimonio"?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Era a prática da poligamia de conhecimento geral entre Santos dos Últimos Dias em 1835 quando o "Article on Marriage" foi publicado?]]
[[Category:Questions]]