Doing The Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy : Its Origin, Practice, and Demise (Kingdom in the West : the Mormons and the American Frontier, Volume 9)

Winner: Best Documentary Book Award from the Utah State Historical Society. Celestial Marriage—the “doctrine of the plurality of wives”—polygamy. No issue in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (popularly known as the Mormon Church) has attracted more attention. From its contentious and secretive beginnings in the 1830s to its public proclamation in 1852, and through almost four decades of bitter conflict with the federal government to Church renunciation of the practice in 1890, this belief helped define a new religious identity and unify the Mormon people, just as it scandalized their neighbors and handed their enemies the most effective weapon they wielded in their battle against Mormon theocracy. This newest addition to the Kingdom in the West Series provides the basic documents supporting and challenging Mormon polygamy, supported by the concise commentary and documentation of editor B. Carmon Hardy. Plural marriage is everywhere at hand in Mormon history. However, despite its omnipresence, including a broad and continuing stream of publications devoted to it, few attempts have been made to assemble a documentary history of the topic. Hardy has drawn on years of research and writing on the controversial and complex subject to make this narrative collection of documents illuminating and myth-shattering. The second “relic of barbarism,” as the Republican Party platform of 1856 characterized polygamy, was believed by the Saints to be God’s law, trumping the laws of a mere republic. The long struggle for what was, and for some fundamentalists remains, religious freedom still resonates in American religious law. Throughout the West, thousands of families continue the practice, even In the face of LDS Church opposition. The book includes a bibliography and an index. It is bound in rich blue linen cloth, two-color foil stamped spine and front cover. Illustrations -- Foreword -- Editorial Procedures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Abbreviations -- 1. Go Ye, Therefore, And Do The Works Of Abraham: Mormon Polygamous Beginnings -- Take Unto You Wives Of The Lamanites And Nephites: An Early Revelation On Polygamy?: Eternal Union Of The Sexes: Marital Joy In Heaven: And You Are The Woman: The Prophet's Polygamous Alliances: So As To Keep It Hid: Polygamy And Secrecy: Bennett Made Me Do It!: Scandal Erupts: Great Hail Stones Of Truth: Defending The Principle: A New And An Everlasting Covenant: The 1843 Revelation: An Endless Exaltation: Response To The 1843 Revelation: Their Unholy Designs: Opposition Outside The Church: To Explode The Vicious Principles: Dissent Mounts: The Thing Which Put Them Into The Power Of Their Enemies: The Death Of The Prophet And His Brother: The Principle Established. 2. Let The Monogamic Law Sink To Rise No More: Mormons Tell The World About Polygamy -- This Great, Sublime, Beautiful, And Glorious Doctrine: The 1852 Announcement: Daring Them To Do Their Worst: Mormon Stalwarts Take The Field: Practiced It Himself: Jesus Was A Pluralist: The Biggest Whoremasters On Earth: Apostate, Hypocritical Christianity: Stalwart Sons And Fair And Robust Daughters: The Regenerative Powers Of Mormon Polygamy: Reform Must Begin In The Marriage Bed: Plurality As A Socio-political Imperative: Builders Of A New Civilization -- 3. The Root Of The Matter: Mormons Talk To Themselves About Polygamy -- No Exaltation Without It: Importance Of The Doctrine: Like So Much Honey: Polygamy In Song And Story: Go To Work And Reckon It Up: Family Empire: Copy His Mind And Spirit: Patriarchal Dominion: They Have Not Sense Enough: The Inferiority Of Women: When The Proper Intercourse Takes Place: Restoration Of The Strength And Longevity Of The Ancients: Wash & Dress Them Up : Intermarriage With Native Americans: The Millennium In View. 4. Her Comfort Must Be Wholly In Her Children: Polygamy At Home -- Not Half As Much A Slave: Public Comment By Women: Spooning Aunt Nellie: Courting Plural Wives: The Grandest Step Of My Whole Life: Male Courtship Of Plural Wives: I Wrestled With My Heavenly Father: Accepting The Principle: The Agony And The Exaltation: Repression Of Romantic Love: Not In Want Of Me: Patriarchy And Polygamy: With Fortitude And Faith: Triumph In The Principle: Never A Cross Word: Support And Community Among Women In Polygamy: It Was Their Duty: Male Life In The Principle: Enough Of Polygamy: Failure In The Principle: Keep Your House As Becomes A Saint: Variation Within The Principle: The Martyr's Crown: Judging Mormon Polygamy. 5. They Practise ... As A Virtue What Others Do -- Secretly As A Sin: Non-mormons Look At Polygamy -- Not A Specially Sensual People: Five Remarkable Observers Of Mormon Polygamous Life: Pathetically 'homely' Creatures: Humorists, Cartoonists, And Novelists Take Aim: The Yellow, Sunken, Cadaverous Visage: Polygamy And Physiology: The Most Startling Dropping Off From My Eyes: Tolerance For The Mormons: They Must Soon Give Way: Warning Voices: Cattle On Two Legs: Gentiles And Tabernacle Sermons: An Oliver Cromwell Kind Of Man: Call To Battle: Shaping The Mormon Image -- 6. The Jentiles Ar On The Track Of The Saints: A National Crusade Begins -- Promiscuous As The Cattle In The Fields: Attacks Commence: This Creeping Leprosy: Polygamy And Public Lands: Apply The Knife: Polygamy And Popular Sovereignty: To Punish And Prevent The Practice Of Polygamy: The Federal Government Acts: Incestuous Connections And The Crime Of Bigamy: A Military Officer Complains: Asiatic Effeminancy: Reconstruction And Utah: Already In The Death-gasp: Pleas For Moderation: Babylon Was Polygamic: New Attacks: Silence And Smoke: Pressures Mount: A Feature Of The Life Of Asiatic And Of African People: The Supreme Court Speaks: An Irrepressible Conflict. 7. Unless We Destroy Mormonism, Mormonism Will Destroy Us: The Crusade Full Tilt -- The 'let Alone' Method Has Failed: Clerics, Women, And Journalists Lead The Assault: If Any Male Person ... Cohabits: Acts And Oaths: That Terrible Persecution: The Judicial Crusade: This Vile System Shall Be Blotted Out: The Crusade Quickens: Senator Edmunds Has Solemnized More Polygamous Marriages Than Brigham Young: Gentile Dissent: The Crusade Nears Its Goal -- 8. Measuring Arms With The Almighty: Mormonism On The Defense -- We Prefer To Row Against The Current Of Corruption: Continued Devotion To Plural Marriage: They Bossed The President: Mormon Women Enter The Fray: Officers, Speakers, Singers, And The Martial Band: Protest Meetings: No Faithful Soul Dare Disobey: God And Prophets Speak: Anything For Statehood: A Divided Road: Polygamists Got Out Of Sight: Mormon Flight From The Law: Stripes That Run Crosswise: Mormon Polygamists In Prison: A Decade Of Change. 9. How Peculiar The Change: The Manifesto -- Open Believers In The Doctrine: The 1890 Utah Commission Report: My Advice To The Latter Day Saints: President Woodruff's Proclamation: To Hoodwink The Public: Non-mormon Responses: A Class Who Do Not Relish It: Mormon Doubts: An Uneasy Feeling Among The People: Master-in-chancery Hearings: Stop Murmuring And Complaining: President Woodruff Affirms The Manifesto Was Given By Revelation: Final End Of The Work: The Amnesty Petition: The Mormon Is With Us: Gentile Acceptance: Secret But Sacred: Continued Approval For Polygamous Marriages: Explicit And Offensive Violation: Criticism Revives: They Charge Us With Being Dishonest: Reed Smoot And A Second Manifesto: The Mormon Game: The Magazine Crusade: The Decline Of Mormon Polygamy -- 10. We Are Honor Bound: The Eclipse Of Officially Approved Polygamy -- A Solemn Covenant: The Rise Of Mormon Fundamentalism: Born Of The Evil One: The Lds Church Condemns Fundamentalist Polygamy -- Afterword: The Legacy Of Mormon Polygamy -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index. Edited By B. Carmon Hardy. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 393-435) And Index. For more than a century the history of the American Frontier, particularly the West, has been the speciality of the Arthur H. Clark Company. We publish new books, both interpretive and documentary, in small, high-quality editions for the collector, researcher, and library