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* [[John Sharp (Mormon)|John Sharp]] — 1885 — a [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|Bishop]], member of the [[Council of Fifty]], territorial chairman of the [[People's Party of Utah|People's Party]], director for the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], [[Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution]], [[Deseret Telegraph Company|Deseret Telegraph]], and Deseret National Bank. Sharp initially pleaded not guilty, but withdrew his plea and pleaded guilty to the charge.<ref name = nyt>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/09/25/103636292.pdf "Mormon Bishop Sharp.; He Tells About His Plural Marriages, Pleads Guilty, and is Fined"], ''The New York Times'', 1885-09-25, p. 5.</ref> He was fined $300 and court costs.<ref name = nyt/> As a result of pleading guilty, rather than plead not guilty as other LDS Church leaders had done, Sharp was asked by the [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake]] [[High council (Latter Day Saints)|high council]] and the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] to resign as bishop of the Salt Lake Twentieth Ward, which he did on 3 November 1885.<ref>J. Max Anderson (1979). ''The Polygamy Story: Fiction and Fact'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press) ch. 2.</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' criticised the church's removal of Sharp and suggested that it "reveals again the stubborn character of the Mormons' opposition to the law".<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/09/05/103977443.pdf "A Mormon Bishop Deposed"], ''The New York Times'', 1886-09-05, p. 6.</ref> |
* [[John Sharp (Mormon)|John Sharp]] — 1885 — a [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|Bishop]], member of the [[Council of Fifty]], territorial chairman of the [[People's Party of Utah|People's Party]], director for the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], [[Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution]], [[Deseret Telegraph Company|Deseret Telegraph]], and Deseret National Bank. Sharp initially pleaded not guilty, but withdrew his plea and pleaded guilty to the charge.<ref name = nyt>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/09/25/103636292.pdf "Mormon Bishop Sharp.; He Tells About His Plural Marriages, Pleads Guilty, and is Fined"], ''The New York Times'', 1885-09-25, p. 5.</ref> He was fined $300 and court costs.<ref name = nyt/> As a result of pleading guilty, rather than plead not guilty as other LDS Church leaders had done, Sharp was asked by the [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake]] [[High council (Latter Day Saints)|high council]] and the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] to resign as bishop of the Salt Lake Twentieth Ward, which he did on 3 November 1885.<ref>J. Max Anderson (1979). ''The Polygamy Story: Fiction and Fact'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press) ch. 2.</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' criticised the church's removal of Sharp and suggested that it "reveals again the stubborn character of the Mormons' opposition to the law".<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/09/05/103977443.pdf "A Mormon Bishop Deposed"], ''The New York Times'', 1886-09-05, p. 6.</ref> |
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* [[Lorenzo Snow]] — 1885 — an [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] of the church at the time. In late 1885, Snow was indicted by a federal grand jury for three counts of unlawful cohabitation. According to his indictments, Snow had lived with more than one woman for three years. The jury delivered one indictment for each of these years, and Snow was convicted on each count. After conviction he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court which convicted him. The petition was denied, but federal law guaranteed him an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. In ''[[Ex Parte Snow]]''<ref>{{ussc|120|274|1887}}</ref> the Supreme Court invalidated Snow's second and third convictions for unlawful cohabitation. It found that unlawful cohabitation was a "continuing offense," and thus that Snow was at most guilty of one such offense for cohabiting continuously with more than one woman for three years. Snow became President of the LDS Church in 1898. |
* [[Lorenzo Snow]] — 1885 — an [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] of the church at the time. In late 1885, Snow was indicted by a federal grand jury for three counts of unlawful cohabitation. According to his indictments, Snow had lived with more than one woman for three years. The jury delivered one indictment for each of these years, and Snow was convicted on each count. After conviction he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court which convicted him. The petition was denied, but federal law guaranteed him an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. In ''[[Ex Parte Snow]]''<ref>{{ussc|120|274|1887}}</ref> the Supreme Court invalidated Snow's second and third convictions for unlawful cohabitation. It found that unlawful cohabitation was a "continuing offense," and thus that Snow was at most guilty of one such offense for cohabiting continuously with more than one woman for three years. Snow became President of the LDS Church in 1898. |
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* [[Abraham H. Cannon]] — 1886 — a member of the [[First Council of the Seventy]] of the Church and son of [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[George Q. Cannon]]. Cannon was convicted of unlawful cohabitation in 1886 and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, which he served in full. In 1889 he became an Apostle of |
* [[Abraham H. Cannon]] — 1886 — a member of the [[First Council of the Seventy]] of the Church and son of [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[George Q. Cannon]]. Cannon was convicted of unlawful cohabitation in 1886 and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, which he served in full. In 1889 he became an Apostle of the LDS Church. {{citation needed|date=November 2016}} |
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* [[David John (Mormon)|David John]] — 1887 — Provo stakeholder and Vice President of BYU Board of Trustees. John married a second wife, Jane Cree, in 1865. He had nine children with Mary and 11 children with Jane. In 1887 he spent time in prison for violating the Edmunds Act. |
* [[David John (Mormon)|David John]] — 1887 — Provo stakeholder and Vice President of BYU Board of Trustees. John married a second wife, Jane Cree, in 1865. He had nine children with Mary and 11 children with Jane. In 1887 he spent time in prison for violating the Edmunds Act. |
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* [[George Q. Cannon]] — 1888 — an [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] of the church and former non-voting delegate for the [[Utah Territory]] in the United States Congress, prior to passage of the Edmunds Act. Cannon surrendered himself to authorities and pleaded guilty at trial to a charges of unlawful cohabitation. As a result, Cannon served nearly six months in Utah's [[Sugar House Prison (Utah)|federal penitentiary]].<ref>{{citation |last= Cannon |first= Joseph A. |last2= Fish |first2= Rick |contribution-url= http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/c/CANNON_GEORGE.html |contribution= Cannon, George Q. |editor-last= Powell |editor-first= Allan Kent |year= 1994 |title= Utah History Encyclopedia |location= Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher= [[University of Utah Press]] |isbn= 0874804256 |oclc= 30473917 }}</ref> |
* [[George Q. Cannon]] — 1888 — an [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] of the church and former non-voting delegate for the [[Utah Territory]] in the United States Congress, prior to passage of the Edmunds Act. Cannon surrendered himself to authorities and pleaded guilty at trial to a charges of unlawful cohabitation. As a result, Cannon served nearly six months in Utah's [[Sugar House Prison (Utah)|federal penitentiary]].<ref>{{citation |last= Cannon |first= Joseph A. |last2= Fish |first2= Rick |contribution-url= http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/c/CANNON_GEORGE.html |contribution= Cannon, George Q. |editor-last= Powell |editor-first= Allan Kent |year= 1994 |title= Utah History Encyclopedia |location= Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher= [[University of Utah Press]] |isbn= 0874804256 |oclc= 30473917 }}</ref> |
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Other short titles | Anti-Plural Marriage Act of 1882 |
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Long title | 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. |
Nicknames | Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 |
Enacted by | the 47th United States Congress |
Effective | March 22, 1882 |
Citations | |
Public law | 47-47 |
Statutes at Large | 22 Stat. 30b |
Legislative history | |
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Mormonism and polygamy |
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A Mormon "Saint" and Wives by Charles Weitfle (ca.1878–1885)
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Early Mormonism |
Antipolygamy laws |
Case law |
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The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882,[1] is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by president Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamyafelony. The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. The Edmunds Act also prohibited "bigamous" or "unlawful cohabitation" (a misdemeanor),[2] thus removing the need to prove that actual marriages had occurred.[1] The act not only reinforced the 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act but it also made the offense of unlawful cohabitation much easier to prove than polygamy misdemeanor and made it illegal for polygamists or cohabitants to vote, hold public office, or serve on juries.[3]
A claim was made that the law violated the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws; that is, polygamists were charged for polygamist marriages solemnized before passage of the statute. A challenge to the statute was framed on these and other grounds. The Supreme Court ruled, in Murphy v. Ramsey, 114 U.S. 15 (1885), that the statute was not ex post facto because convicts were charged for their continued cohabitation, not for the prior illegal marriage.[4] Some modern scholars suggest the law may be unconstitutional for being in violation of the Free Exercise Clause.[5]
The Edmunds Act restrictions were enforced regardless of whether an individual was actually practicing polygamy, or merely stated a belief in the Mormon doctrine of plural marriage without actually participating. It also provided for a five-man Utah Commission appointed by the president to supervise all aspects of the electoral process in Utah Territory.[3] All elected offices throughout the territory were vacated, the election board issued certificates to those who both denied a belief in polygamy and did not practice it, and new elections were held.
Enforcement of the acts start in July 1887. The issue went to the Supreme Court in the case Late Corp. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States that upheld the Edmunds–Tucker Act on May 19, 1890. Among other things, the act disincorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Within five months, the LDS Church officially discontinued the practice of plural marriage with the 1890 Manifesto. On October 25, 1893, a congressional resolution authorized the release of assets seized from the LDS Church because, "said church has discontinued the practice of polygamy and no longer encourages or gives countenance to any manner of practices in violation of law, or contrary to good morals or public policy."[6]
More than 1,300 men were imprisoned under the terms of the Edmunds Act.[1] It appears that women were not prosecuted, being seen as victims of the practice and not willing participants, although a number refused to testify against their husbands and some were jailed for their refusal.[2]
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