Edmunds-Tucker Act
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title: | An Act to amend an act entitled “An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,” approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two. | |||
| Short title: | Edmunds-Tucker Act | |||
| Abbreviation: | Anti-Polygamy Act of 1887 | |||
| Type: | Federal law | |||
| Scope: | United States | |||
| Legal matter: | Polygamy was forbidden for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | |||
| Session period: | 49th Congress | |||
| Process: | 49-397 | |||
| Date of law: | February 18, 1887 | |||
| Signed: | President Grover Cleveland ; no signature, but also no veto. | |||
| Entry into force on: | March 3, 1887 | |||
| Expiry: | 1978 | |||
|
Please note the information on the applicable legal version ! |
||||
.svg)
.svg)
The Edmunds-Tucker Act ( Edmunds-Tucker Act ) was a federal law of the United States from 1887. The law was because of a disagreement between the United States Congress and the Latter-day Saints Church of Jesus Christ on the polygamy decided. It can be found on US Code Title 48 & 1461 . The entire text is at 24 Stat. 635 . This is an abbreviated version of Act 24, page 635 of the United States Statutes at Large . The bill is named for its two sponsors, Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont and House member John Randolph Tucker of Virginia.
The law was repealed in 1978.
Legal history
The President of the United States, Grover Cleveland , passionately discussed the subject of polygamy in Utah in a speech to Congress in December 1885:
“The strength, the eternity and the fate of our nation reside in our home. This is established with the law of God, protected with the security of the parents, regulated with the authority of the parents, and made holy with the love of the parents. These are not homes of polygamy ... There is no quality of this practice or the system that promotes it that does not violate all of the values of our institutions. No weakness is to be shown in the just execution of the present laws. I am happy to be able to sign more laws that will free this country from the stain on its reputation. Since the people who practice polygamy in our country are reinforced by immigration from other countries, I recommend the introduction of a law that prevents the immigration of Mormons into our country. "
The bill was approved by the Senate in January 1886 with a 38-7 majority. The House of Representatives accepted the bill in January 1887. President Cleveland refused to sign the bill; however, he did not vote against it with a veto. As a result, the bill became federal law on March 3, 1887 .
activities
The law dissolved Latter-day Saints' Church of Jesus Christ and the Perpetual Emigration Fund because they promoted polygamy. The law banned polygamy and imposed fines ranging from $ 500 to $ 800 and imprisonment for up to five years for people who practiced it. The law also required the federal government to confiscate Church property. It was carried out by the United States Marshals Service .
The law
- dissolved the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigration Fund ; their property should be used for the public schools in the territory
- demanded an anti-polygamy oath for voters, lawyers and public officials
- put down local laws that allowed illegitimate children to inherit
- Required civil law marriage licenses (to help persecute polygamists)
- abolished the spouse privilege law for polygamists to induce women to testify against their husbands
- banned women's suffrage in Utah
- replaced local judges with judges appointed by the federal government
- abolished the post of local head of schools in order to bring the schools back under federal government control.
The US Supreme Court declared the law compatible with the Constitution in 1890. The case was called Late Corp. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States .
The law was abolished in 1978.
literature
- Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley: Grover Cleveland: “First Annual Message (first term),” December 8, 1885 . In: The American Presidency Project . University of California - Santa Barbara.
- Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley: Benjamin Harrison: “Proclamation 346 - Granting Amnesty and Pardon for the Offense of Engaging in Polygamous or Plural Marriage to Members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints,” January 4, 1893 . In: The American Presidency Project . University of California - Santa Barbara.
- Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley: Grover Cleveland: “Proclamation 369 - Granting Amnesty and Pardon for the Offenses of Polygamy, Bigamy, Adultery, or Unlawful Cohabitation to Members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints,” September 25, 1894 . In: The American Presidency Project . University of California - Santa Barbara.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Repeal of Law Establishing Limits on Land which Certain Religious Corporations hold in any United States Territory - PL 95-584 . In: 92 Stat. 2483 . US Government Printing Office. November 2nd 1978.
- ^ Repeal of Law Establishing Limits on Land which Certain Religious Corporations hold in any United States Territory - Senate Bill 3371 . In: Congress.Gov . Library of Congress. 2nd August 1978.
- ↑ Grover Cleveland: First Annual Message to Congress (first term), December 8, 1885, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/204032
- ^ M. Paul Holsinger: Henry M. Teller and the Edmunds-Tucker Act. The Colorado Magazine, Volume 48, No. 1, Winter 1971, p. 3 ( online ( memento of the original from October 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).
- ↑ “The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy ... There is no feature of this practice or the system which sanctions it which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions. There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame. Since the people upholding polygamy in our territories are reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the country. ”
- ^ M. Paul Holsinger: Henry M. Teller and the Edmunds-Tucker Act. The Colorado Magazine, Volume 48, No. 1, Winter 1971, pp. 12-13 ( Archived copy ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original - and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ).
- ^ L. Rex Sears: Punishing the Saints for Their "Peculiar Institution": Congress on the Constitutional Dilemmas. Utah L. Rev. 581, 2001.
- ↑ Jessie L. Embry: Utah History Encyclopedia . University of Utah Press . 1994. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ Women's Suffrage in Utah Jean Bickmore White, Utah History Encyclopedia
- ^ Edmunds – Tucker Act: Section 25
- ↑ The practice of polygamy: legitimate free exercise of religion or legitimate public menace? Revisiting Reynolds in light of modern constitutional jurisprudence. Richard A. Vazquez, Journal of Legislation & Public Policy (New York University School of Law), Volume 5, No. 1, Fall 2001.
- ^ Past and Present Proposed Amendments to the United States Constitution Regarding Marriage. ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Edward Stein, Washington University Law Quarterly, Volume 82, No. 3, 2004.
