Mormon Polygamy: The Most Controversial Doctrine Explained

For many, the most controversial doctrine in the Church is polygamy.

What anti-Mormons and those estranged from the Church try to make us assume is that Joseph Smith was a sex-crazed pervert and pedophile who tried to use his power to manipulate women and justify immoral relations with them.

And because of this lust crazed motive, then he couldn’t be a prophet—and therefore his entire work, everything in his movement, including the Book of Mormon and the doctrines of salvation that he revealed, must also be wrong.

But let’s look at what the history actually says. Let’s see what those who were asked to practice polygamy thought about the practice and the commandment—not just the detractors, not those driven by hatred and evil intent with a desire to destroy the Church and the credibility of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Remember, any time you are studying history, it is important to use reliable sources.

This is what historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat says about the manipulation of the practice of polygamy used by anti mormons.

Leaders of modern apostate movements who know that because people so passionately feel about plural marriage that they can use that negative revolution to undermine faith that John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were prophets.

I don’t think we know or will know exactly the reasons why God commanded it, but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t command it.

We could read affidavit after affidavit of men and women having similar experiences saying no way, I am not going to do that, and then they have a miraculous experience of which they say, this is right, and they bear testimony of it.

You can only criticize the practice of plural marriage so far before you actually start criticizing the very women that you claim you are trying to defend, because they are the ones who testified that they received a witness from God that they were to practice it.

Lack of Reliable Sources

Because the very earliest teachings of polygamy were secretive and not shared with the general public, the sources about early plural marriage are very limited. Historians believe that Joseph Smith’s first plural wife was likely Fanny Alger during the Kirtland era, likely after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. However, there are no first hand or second hand records of this marrage, and the historical sources are spotty long after the marriage supposedly took place, and many by anti-mormons so it’s hard to verify and determine the accuracy. This lack of early sources led to much speculation, especially among anti-Mormons who have speculated the details of this likely relationship in the most nefarious ways.

As the early anti-Mormon writers’ primary objective to take down Joseph Smith, there was no better way to do so than to attack his integrity. Many of these sources were perfectly comfortable telling half-truths and outright lies to make their point. There were plenty of discgruntled x-mormons at the time who were willing to embilish facts in their state of rage and anger. The reality is that much of what has been claimed about these early events is speculative and not historically reliable.

It wasn’t until the Nauvoo period that records and teachings about plural marriage became public, and not until 1852—when the Saints were safely in the Rocky Mountains—that they publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage. This long delay left plenty of room for misinformation and uncertainty to grow.

With the Joseph Smith Papers Project, we now have far more documentation and firsthand sources from those who were actually there when polygamy was introduced. This has given us a much clearer understanding of what really happened, rather than just relying on secondhand accounts written decades later by those opposed to the Church. Many of these authentic records have refuted old anti-Mormon claims and misquotes, showing them to be deliberate falsehoods meant to smear both the Prophet and the Church.

God’s Work Is to Bring to Pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of Man

We don’t know exactly why, but many key figures in the Old Testament were commanded to take more than one wife.

Abraham, the prophet who received the covenant promise, was commanded to marry multiple women—a challenge similar to being asked to sacrifice his only son.

Jacob, who became Israel, the father of many nations and the covenant people whose gathering is our mission today, had multiple wives, from whom the different tribes were formed.

Moses, David, Solomon, and others also had more than one wife and this was acceptable by Got to help fulfill His purpose. I believe that plural marriage is higher law that only those fully consecrated to the Lord, with complete faith and closeness to the Spirit, were asked to live.

Fortunately, we are not asked to live this law today. You and I have enough trials and challenges with just the two of us—adding more opinions and personalities would take things to a level we likely would struggle to endure.

As you know, most of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants came as answers to Joseph Smith’s questions, many of which arose as he translated the Bible. Through that process, he asked about the polygamy of Old Testament prophets. In answer, he learned about eternal marriage and that, in certain dispensations, the Lord commands the practice of plural marriage to fulfill His purposes.

Why Would God Command Polygamy?

To understand polygamy, we must first understand the sealing power. We must believe that there is an eternal connection that exists when we are sealed to a spouse, to family, and to ancestors. For me, two of the most spiritual experiences of my life were when I was sealed to you in the Reno Temple and when our daughter was sealed to us.

I don’t fully understand all that the sealing means, but I have faith that it is real and filled with blessings. Will sealing give us greater ability to communicate and understand those we are eternally connected to? Will it allow us to enjoy eternal companionship and unity in the next life? I don’t know—but I believe that Joseph Smith and the early Saints, who experienced visions and spiritual manifestations, understood that power far better than I do. The blessing was so great that they wanted to share it with others.

These Saints believed deeply in the real power, strength, and purpose of eternal sealing. They were willing to accept the trial and the added complexity of plural marriage because they trusted in the promised blessings of eternity would surprass their earthly sacrifices.

D&C 132 Polygamy – Emma’s Struggle

This was a very hard commandment for Joseph to accept and later share with other faithful members of the Church, as polygamy was not part of his culture or time—and Emma certainly was not on board. Doctrine & Covenants Section 132 came about as a revelation to Emma about Polygamy. Joseph Smith had clearly talked with her prior to this 1843 revelation, but Emma would not accept this practice, at least not for her husband—even though she believed he was a prophet.

Yet Joseph was told multiple times that he was supposed to live this law. To help with Joseph’s personal struggle and trail with his wife, Hyrum tried to help by recommending that Joseph should seek revelation regarding the matter. Hyrum was convinced that the doctrine was sound, and that if it came in the form of revelation, he could convince Emma.

Joseph said, “you do not know Emma as I do.”

Thus the revelation we now know as D&C 132 came into being. This was meant to be a personal, individual revelation for Emma, and at the time wasn’t actually meant to be a public revelation for canonized scripture. Hyrum took a copy of this record to Emma where she did not accept it and threw it in the fire place.

Joseph’s Motivation to Practice Plural Marriage

From the actual historic records, obeying the commandment of God, is the only apparent motivation Joseph had for embracing polygamy. With all the spiritual manifestations he had received—with his sure knowledge of God and his personal acquaintance with Him—Joseph knew he had to obey. According to several historic accounts, an angel appeared to Joseph three times, the third time with a drawn sword, warning him that his life would be taken if he did not fulfill the commandment.

This doctrine was so hard for Emma that she threatened divorce. She had her ups and downs, sometimes agreeing to live the law and even selecting some of the wives herself before later sending them away. Scarred, torn, and deeply conflicted, she still loved her husband, knowing he was a good man, a prophet, and true to the work of God.

If the work wasn’t true, if it wasn’t from God, wouldn’t this have been the point where Emma exposed it all? Wouldn’t she have left him and revealed the fraud, and not continued trying to live the gospel he preached the remainder of her life? Though she could not fully accept plural marriage, she always remained true to the fact that Joseph was a prophet who translated the Book of Mormon and restored priesthood authority and the power of eternal sealings.

Need to Be Tried to Create Enduring Faith

Perhaps, in order to fulfill God’s work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, these early Saints needed to be tried even further.

Joseph Smith said:

“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”

Didn’t the early Saints have enough trials? Wasn’t being driven from Missouri, losing homes and property, the collapse of the Kirtland Safety Society, and being forced to leave everything they owned in Nauvoo enough?

Apparently not.

I believe the Saints were commanded to live polygamy because they needed to be spiritually refined and strengthened through additional tests—tests that required them to seek personal revelation for themselves and to turn directly to God in regards to the most sensitive aspects of life. They needed to develop personal testimonies beyond witnessing miracles or relying on Joseph Smith’s experiences.

Joseph himself struggled deeply with the commandment. He delayed it for years. The claim that he invented polygamy for lust or control ignores the overwhelming evidence that he was reluctant, resistant, and only acted after receiving divine instruction.

According the Helen Mar Kimball, Joseph Smith said,

The practice of this principle would be the hardest trial the Saints would ever have to test their faith.

And she said this about the trial of living plural marriage,

I did not try to conceal the fact of it having been a trial, but confessed that it was one of the severest of my life, but that it had also proven one of the greatest of blessings. I could truly say it had done the most towards making me a saint and a free woman in every sense of the word. And I knew many others who could say the same and to whom it had proven one of the greatest boons, a blessing in disguise.

Cordelia Morley Cox, initially rejected polygamy when Joseph Smith asked her to be sealed to him in 1844. She said,

“I knew nothing of such religion and could not except it neither did I”

Two years later she had a change of heart and married my great, great, great grandfather Frederick Walter Cox as his third wife. After six years of plural marriage, she had a faith crisis and needed to confront her testimony of the principle. She wrote,

“I began to worry and to wonder if I had in these years been so decived. I longed for a testimony from my Father in Heaven to know for myself whether I was right or wrong. I was called a fallen woman -the finger of scorn was pointed at me. I felt that it was more than I could endure. In the humility of my soul I prayed that I might have a testimony from Him who knows the hearts of all. The spirit came to me and whispered in my ear these words, ‘Don’t ever change your condition or wish it otherwise,’ for I was better off than thousands and thousands of others. This brought peace to my mind and I have felt satisfied ever since.”

The trials of these early saints from the difficulties and mental anxiety of a complex family life caused by plural marriage led them to rely on God. These experiences strengthen their personal testimonies and brought them eternal peace. We ought to learn from them and turn to rather than away from God when we face our own struggles.

Confirmation of the Truth of the Principle

With plural marriage being so contrary to cultural norms, every person who entered it needed a personal spiritual witness from God.

These were not uneducated or naïve people. They were intelligent, faithful, and prayerful men and women who sought revelation before acting. Read some of the testimony and response when they were introduced to this practice.

Eliza R. Snow

“When first plural marriage was suggested to me, … I would not listen to the matter. The idea was repugnant, abhorrent. I was like any other young woman who had beaux and suitors for her hand. I wanted to share a husband with no woman. But I was told it was God’s command, and I went to God and asked God to enlighten me, and he did. I saw and felt that plural marriage was not only right, but that it was the only true manner of living up to the gospels, and I quenched my womanly emotions and entered the order”

Zina Huntington

“When I heard that God had revealed the law of celestial marriag that we would have the privilige of associating in family relationship in the/ worlds to come I searched the scripture & buy [by] humble prayer to my Heavenly Father I obtained a testimony for himself [sic.] that God had required that order to be established in his church. I mad[e] a greater sacrifise than to give my life for I never anticipated a gain to be look uppon as an honerable woman by those I dearly loved [How] could I compremise conscience [and] lay aside the sure testimony of the spiret of God for the Glory of this world[?]”

Lucy Walker Kimball

“I was a plural wife of the prophet Joseph Smith and was married for time and eternity in Nauvoo… The prophet was then living with his first wife Emma Smith, and I know that she gave her consent to the marriages of at least four women to her husband as plural lives. And that she was well aware that he associated and cohabited with them as wives. The names of these women are Eliza and Emily Partridge and Maria and Sarah Lawrence, all of who new that I too was his wife.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith first mentioned the principle of plural marriage to me I felt indignant and so expressed myself to him, because my feelings and education were averse to anything [of that] nature. But he assured me that this doctrine had been revealed to him of the Lord, and that I was entitled to receive a testimony of its divine origin for myself. He counselled me to pray to the Lord, which I did, and thereupon received from him a powerful and irresistible testimony of the truthfulness and divinity of plural marriage, which testimony has abided with me ever since.

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner

“I would not have been sealed to Joseph had I not had a witness for myself.

A few nights after that an angel of the Lord came to me and if ever a thrill went through a mortal, it went through me. I gazed upon the clothes and figure but the eyes were like lightning. They pierced me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.”

Brigham Young struggled mightily when he first heard the doctrine of plural marriage. He described it as follows:

“When the revelation was first made known to me, it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave. I had to pray unceasingly, and exercise faith, and the Lord revealed to me the truth of it, and that I should have to obey.”

There is no credible, contemporary evidence that Joseph ever coerced or manipulated anyone. The claims that he did came decades later from hostile or secondhand sources.

While Joseph was sealed to around thirty women, there is evidence that only a few of these relationships were ever consummated. Many were sealings for eternity only. No verified descendants exist through any of his other wives, and DNA testing has disproved all claims to the contrary. If his motive for plural marriage was sex, wouldn’t there have been some evidence of Children from his wives? Emma was pregnant nine times. Wouldn’t there be an easier way to satisfy that lust?

Should we look at these people and assume they were wicked and deceived, or should we ask ourselves what kind of faith it would take to live a principle so hard, so contrary to everything they knew—simply because they believed it was what God required?

Temporal Advantages of Polygamy

Could there have also been temporal blessings in plural marriage?

If your husband were gone half the time serving in the Church, wouldn’t it help to have another adult covenant partner to share the home and children? Imagine not being able to buy bread or milk, but having to make them yourself, milk the cow, churn butter, make soap, candles, care for children and do dishes and laundry without plumbing. Would having a sister wife be a blessing?

Would it not have been helpful emotionally and spiritually to have another woman there to lift you, encourage you, and share your burdens? In that time, women often lived far apart and had few opportunities for connection. Sister wives could share that bond, strengthening each other.

Culturally, marriage was also a social and economic necessity. A woman’s moral worth was tied to being a wife and mother. Jobs were rare, and women could barely support themselves, let alone own a home. Could being part of a plural marriage be better than facing life entirely alone in that culture?

Martha Spense, a spinster, who married for the first time as a plural wife at age 38 wrote,

“The joy of having a husband care and watch over me that I feel to reverence love and esteem and connected with a family that I am proud to be a member of and realize that I am much happier now than I was a year ago”

Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball who had more wives than anyone married many widows and older women, acting as a provider when it was nearly impossible for women to survive alone. Early church leaders considered polygamy as a way to care for the fatherless, widows, and women in troubled marriages.

Sarah Peake Noone married Heber C. Kimball as his first plural wife and cared for her two daughters after she escaped an abusive alcoholic husband.

Once polygamy became a cultural norm in Utah, many women actually longed to enter plural marriages. Some even chose their own sister wives and found great strength, unity, and support within these large family households. Elizabeth Graham Macdonald testified,

“I bear testimony that the revelation on Celestial marriage given through the prophet Joseph is from God. In my experience I do know that the blessings and promises contained in that revelation are realized when lived for”

Righteous Women Deserve Eternal Blessings

From my experience, women are often more spiritually inclined to the gospel than men. On my mission, I taught and baptized far more women than men, and in most less active and part-member families, the husband was the one who was the less active or non member.

In the church today, about 54% of the members on record are women compared with just 46% of men. According to pew research in 2014, 77% of women were likely to attend church weekly compared to only 67% of men. The reality is that, in general, women are more faithful.

If a woman is faithful and keeps her covenants but never has the chance for a temple marriage, or if her husband is unfaithful, shouldn’t she still have the right to receive all the blessings of the Celestial Kingdom that come through eternal sealing?

Would it also make sense that plural marriage provided a way for more faithful women to receive the eternal blessings of the sealing power—blessings that could not otherwise be obtained without an eternal spouse?

Liberation and Women’s Rights Because of Polygamy

As you know from studying your great-grandmother Martha Hughes Cannon, polygamy also opened doors for women in Utah. It allowed them to pursue education, professional opportunities, and political rights long before women elsewhere in the country.

In 1870, women in Utah were granted the right to vote, decades before any other state. Emmeline B. Wells was one of the major leaders in the woman suffrage movement, but she is rarely recognized today because she was a Latter day Saint and a plural wife.

Valiant Children From Plural Households

Perhaps raising children in homes where parents were tested, refined, and guided by revelation was God’s way of ensuring a generation of strong, faithful Saints prepared to build His kingdom in the last days.

Once the Saints were in Utah, most accepted plural marriage as a divine blessing. Of course there were trials, but there was also tremendous faith. When the Manifesto was issued to end the practice, many Saints struggled deeply because they believed the principle was divine and eternal.

Trials of Faith Ending Plural Marriage

Historians estimate that polygamy peaked, as a percentage of members who practiced it, around 1857 and then gradually declined on its own. However, it saw brief increases whenever the federal government passed laws aimed at restricting the Saints’ ability to practice their religion.

In 1862, the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was passed, but because of the Civil War it was not actively enforced.

In 1874, the Poland Act removed local control from Utah’s judicial system, preventing Latter-day Saints from serving as judges.

In 1882, the Edmunds Act imposed harsh penalties, allowed federal seizure of Church property, and placed stronger federal control over Utah Territory.

In 1887, the Edmunds–Tucker Act revoked the right of women to vote in an attempt to weaken political support for the Church and for plural marriage. Women were among the strongest defenders of the practice, and far more women believed in and practiced plural marrage than did men.

Why Did LDS Polygamy End?

In short it ended because God needed to ensure that Temple work and the ordinances of eternal salvation could continue. The Manifesto came line upon line as a revelation to protect the covenants that carry the restoration.

With the increasing legal pressure and the threat of losing the right to worship and perform saving ordinances in their own temples, Wilford Woodruff sought revelation from the Lord on what should be done. He received revelation that it was time to end the practice of entering new plural marriages in the United States. Existing plural families continued to view their marriages as eternal commitments. Discountinuing the practice of plural marriage was the best way to ensure that familes could continue to be united for eternity.

Ending polygamy was highly controversial. Many members treated plural marriage as more central to their faith than the covenants made in the temple. Fundamentalist groups broke away because they believed the practice was still essential. Two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles resigned because they could not sustain President Woodruff in this decision.

A Trial of Faith for Us Today

It required faith for the early members of the church to start practicing plural marriage. They came to believe that it was true and then it required faith for them to discontinue practicing the law. But who are we to discredit there faith? What makes us think that we, through our modern worldview have a better understanding of God’s will than they did.

Lastly, perhaps one reason the Lord commanded plural marriage was because He knew it would be a test of faith for later generations. He knew the topic would be hard to understand, and that in order to overcome doubt, each of us would have to turn to Him for our own answers and spiritual confirmation.

I know that when I first learned that Joseph Smith had wives as young as fourteen, I was troubled. It brought doubt. But through that trial of faith, I sought truth and understanding. I prayed, studied, and gained a testimony that we can’t look at circumstances from our modern cultural lense. Joseph Smith was still a prophet of God and that the power of eternal sealing is real.

Fortunately, we are not asked to live polygamy today. But we are asked to have faith—faith strong enough to believe that Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff were all prophets of God, even when commanded to live a law that tested them to their core.

Flaws With Polygamy Claims Made By Letter For My Wife

I asked ChatGPT to tell me the flaws with the claims made in Letter For My Wife and this is what it came up with:

The polygamy section of Letter For My Wife looks persuasive at first glance, but the entire argument collapses once you examine how it was put together. Instead of relying on contemporary records or balanced historical method, it leans almost entirely on late, hostile, or secondhand sources—many written decades after the events by people who had clear financial or personal motives to discredit Joseph Smith. These accounts are presented as unquestionable fact while firsthand statements from the women involved, or contextual explanations from early Latter-day Saints, are either ignored or deliberately minimized. The result is a narrative built on selective evidence rather than a genuine attempt to understand what happened.

The document also repeatedly collapses essential distinctions to paint the darkest possible picture. Eternal-only sealings, dynastic relationships, non-cohabiting sealings, and actual marital relationships are all combined under a single loaded term—“wives”—to imply universal sexual involvement. It presents inflated numbers, anachronistic charts, and incorrect timelines as if they are established fact, while skipping over the scholarly nuance that makes Nauvoo plural marriage a complicated subject. Claims such as Joseph having 29 wives before 1843, or inserting the 1835 monogamy statement, are demonstrably inaccurate. These errors are not minor—they show that the author was more interested in building a case than giving readers a fair representation of the historical record.

The most misleading aspect of the section is the way the Letter treats every ambiguous situation as proof of wrongdoing. Secrecy is interpreted as guilt, not as a response to legal and violent threats. Accusations from enemies are treated as facts, while conflicting evidence is simply omitted. Modern moral expectations are imposed onto a 19th-century frontier setting, and questionable assumptions are packaged as “hidden truths.” Taken together, the polygamy chapter does not give readers an honest or responsible account of early Latter-day Saint plural marriage. It gives them a pre-determined conclusion supported by selective quotations, exaggerated claims, and a lack of critical source analysis.

1. Relies on hostile, late, profit-driven sources as if they were reliable history

Uses Ann Eliza Webb Young (1875) repeatedly, even though she was openly hostile, divorced from Brigham, and writing a paid exposé decades after the events.
Treats William Law’s accusations as unquestionable despite his open conflict with Joseph.
No attempt to evaluate bias, motive, or memory reliability.
Flaw: Presents the angriest 19th-century voices as objective truth.

2. Treats second- and thirdhand retellings as if they are primary documents

The “Heber Kimball wife test” story is a late, uncorroborated narrative.
“Too intimate with Marinda Johnson” comes from mob gossip, not factual records.
Flaw: Rumors and recollections decades later are presented as verified events.

3. Collapses multiple categories of sealings to imply universal sexual relationships

Eternal-only sealings, dynastic sealings, non-cohabiting sealings, and actual marriages all lumped together as “wives.”
No distinction between romantic, religious, or dynastic practices.
Flaw: Uses one word — “marriage” — to create a misleading picture.

4. Claims Joseph married “29 women before the revelation” — completely inaccurate

States Joseph had 29 marriages before July 1843.
The actual number before 1843 is far lower and heavily debated.
Ignores evidence that plural marriage teachings existed years earlier.
Flaw: Inflates numbers to strengthen the narrative.

5. Misrepresents the 1835 monogamy statement

Claims Joseph inserted it to deny polygamy.
Fact: It was written and added by Oliver Cowdery, not Joseph.
Joseph wasn’t even present when it was added.
Flaw: Incorrect attribution creates a false accusation of deception.

6. Uses 1890 census data to judge 1840 marriage norms

Uses 1890 statistics to claim teen marriages were uncommon.
50-year gap, different culture, different geography.
Flaw: Massive anachronism meant to force modern standards onto 1840s Nauvoo.

7. Treats secrecy as proof of wrongdoing

Assumes secrecy around plural marriage automatically means guilt.
Ignores mob violence, legal danger, and the fact that early temple ordinances were also kept private.
Flaw: Mistakes protection and caution for cover-up.

8. Presents accusations from enemies as facts while ignoring contradictory evidence

Ignores women who said they weren’t coerced.
Ignores marriages that were religious or eternal-only.
Ignores the context and nuance of Nauvoo plural marriage.
Flaw: One-sided evidence selection that leaves out anything inconvenient.

9. Uses high-end estimates (29–65 wives) without admitting these numbers are speculative

“65 wives” comes from extreme fringe lists that include women never sealed to Joseph.
Historians generally place the number around 30–33.
Flaw: Inflates numbers for shock value.

10. Treats every sealing to a married woman as evidence of adultery

No distinction between eternal sealings and cohabiting marriages.
Assumes the most scandalous interpretation every time.
Flaw: Assumes guilt where nuance actually exists.

11. Cherry-picks and frames evidence exclusively for maximum outrage

Ambiguous events are always interpreted in the most damaging way.
Counter-evidence is simply not acknowledged.
Flaw: Advocacy writing disguised as history.

12. Logical fallacy: “Joseph married before 1843 revelation → revelation is fake”

Treats the written date of the revelation as the date the doctrine originated.
Ignores testimonies showing the principle was taught earlier.
Flaw: Circular reasoning that proves nothing.

Letter For My Wife is not a historical analysis. It is a selective argument built on hostile late sources, anachronisms, inflated claims, missing context, mistaken assumptions, and confirmation bias. It doesn’t give you real history—it gives you the conclusion the author needed you to reach.

Polygamy – The Most Controversial and Trying Doctrine