Second manifesto

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The Second Manifesto was a statement by Joseph F. Smith , President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , declaring that the Church would no longer condone polygamous marriages and establishing the principle of excommunication for members who enter into such marriages or help with the wedding ceremony.

background

In 1890, the President of the Church , Wilford Woodruff , announced the 1890 Manifesto . However, some church members, even those of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , continued to have polygamous marriages. Smith announced the Second Manifesto shortly before the Senator Reed Smoot hearings . He was an Apostle of the LDS Church and a Senator for Utah . Smoot's opponents wanted to deny him a seat in the United States Senate because the LDS Church continued to tolerate polygamous marriages.

Announcement

The Second Manifesto was announced in general conference of the Church on April 6, 1904. At a public meeting, Smith announced that he would read an "official proclamation" so that no one could misunderstand or misquot his words. The text is as follows:

“As there are some reports circulating that polygamous marriages continued to be contracted against the official proclamation of President Woodruff dated September 24, 1890, known as the Manifesto, drawn up and published by President Woodruff General Conference on October 6, 1890, which forbade all marriages contrary to the law of the land. I, Joseph F. Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereby certify and announce that none of these marriages have been concluded with the support, consent, or knowledge of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and: I hereby announce that all such marriages are prohibited and that every church official or member who conducts such a marriage or enters into a marriage has broken the rules of the church and is held liable for them, according to the rules and regulations of the church and is excommunicated by them. "

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The President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , Francis M. Lyman , presented the following resolution in support, which was signed by BH Roberts and which received general approval:

“It is specified that we, members of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ who have gathered in this general conference, hereby consent and support the announcement by President Joseph F. Smith that he gave to this conference on multiple marriage. We will support the ecclesiastical courts in their implementation of this announcement. "

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Smith's official statement was later published in the Improvement Era , an official Church magazine.

Effects

Some church leaders opposed the implementation of the Second Manifesto. Among them were the Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley . Both resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906 . Taylor was even excommunicated in 1911 for his continued opposition. Francis M. Lyman became the chairman of a church committee that examined multiple marriages and expelled the members involved.

As the Church began to excommunicate the polygamists, Mormon fundamentalism developed. Fundamentalists argue that neither the 1890 Manifesto nor the Second Manifesto was proclaimed as a revelation from God.

In contrast to the Manifesto of 1890 , the Second Manifesto was not included in the canon of scriptures . However, it is a correct description of the Church's attitude towards polygamy.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Official Statement by President Joseph F. Smith , Improvement Era 7/7 : 545-546 (May 1904).
  2. ↑ Kenneth Cannon II, After the Manifesto: Mormon Polygamy, 1890-1906 ; Sunstone , Jan. – Apr. 1983, p. 27.
  3. ^ D. Michael Quinn, LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904 , Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought , Spring 1985, 9-105.
  4. ↑ B. Carmon Hardy (1992). Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
  5. ^ Conference Report , Apr.1904, p. 75 .
  6. ^ Conference Report , Apr 1904, p. 76 .
  7. ↑ Victor W. Jorgensen and B. Carmon Hardy, The Taylor – Cowley Affair and the Watershed of Mormon History , Utah Historical Quarterly 48 : 4 (1980).
  8. ^ Thomas G. Alexander , Second Manifesto , Arnold K. Garr, et. al, ed., The Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), p. 702
  9. ↑ Kraut, Ogden. The Holy Priesthood . Genola, Utah: Pioneer Press, 2005.
  10. ↑ Melvyn Hammarberg: The Mormon Quest for Glory: The Religious World of the Latter-Day Saints . Oxford University Press USA, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-973762-8 , pp. 135 .
  11. ↑ David E. Campbell, John C. Green, and J. Quin Monson (2014), Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics , New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 58–59, ISBN 978-1107662674 .
  12. ^ Jan Shipps: Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition . University of Illinois Press, Urbana 1985, ISBN 0-252-01159-7 , pp. 114 .