(Rood & Thatcher, 1)
Even here, the Mormons would be met with considerable challenges. The 'gentile' influence of American military force would ultimately push to confrontation the Mormons and various governmental groups set on obstructing effective settlement of the polygamist groups. Ultimately though, its brief history of reluctant nomadic behavior had prepared it better than such groups to shape the future of the Utah territory. Vying for American statehood in the face of much institutional and practical obstruction, the Mormons would nonetheless be able to out-wait other interested parties. As Rood & Thatcher report, "although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort." (Rood & Thatcher, 1)
These characteristics would precipitate considerable opportunities for success in the broad, harsh desert terrain that covers much of the territory. The participation of the Mormons in the Mexican-American war, in fact, would be fundamental in delivering the territory to American ownership, earning the population some degree of esteem with a government that nonetheless opposed its fast growing prominence in the preservation of settlement in the frontier. Quite to the point, well before its achievement of statehood in 1899, the Mormons had succeeded in situating themselves...
Stenhouse demonstrates remarkable insight into the gender roles and norms that plural marriage entails. The marriage is qualitatively different than a monogamous one. As Stenhouse notes, the husband "aims to be looked upon more as a ruler than as the head of a family," (149). Flowers confirms Stenhouse's observations, "the practice of polygamy tended to instill in people the attitude of despotism or authoritarianism" (22). Polygamy also reveals a
The church stresses a well-balanced family life that is characterized by a mother and father at home, as well as the knowledge that the family unit will remain together in the afterlife. According to the church's official Web site, "The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared
How could they take out an element that was supposed to aid in a person's salvation? A lot of church leaders continued a "sub rosa" promotion of polygamy, starting what is now called the post-Manifesto era (2011). President Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, sent Mormons to church colonies in Mexico to take part in plural marriages (2011). (Some of those people included Brigham Young Jr.)
Smith claimed that polygamy was practiced by the "pre-Judaic" tribes (Harris). Polygamy was called "celestial marriage," and Joseph Smith claimed that he received his orders to practice polygamy in a religious vision ("The Mormons"). Polygamy was and still is illegal even though it was still a part of the Mormon traditions. According to the BBC, there are "substantial differences" between the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the Catholic, Protestant, and
plural marriages from the standpoint of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, commonly referred to as Mormons. The writer uses several published works to examine the history and beliefs regarding plural marriages as doctrine through the church. There were four sources used to complete this paper. Ask most people one fact that defines the Church of Latter Day Saints, (Mormons) and they will answer, plural marriages. The belief that
In 1846, Young led the church to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, where they established Salt Lake City, yet tensions continued between the settlers and the Federal Government (Church Pp). The Edmunds Act of 1882 countered the Mormon's practice of polygamy, a practice that had prevented Utah being recognized as a state (Church Pp). In 1890 a revelation from God changed church beliefs and practices when the fourth
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