The Edmunds-Tucker Act: How the Federal Government Crushed Polygamy
An 1887 law that dismantled polygamy in the American West by targeting property, voting rights, and religious institutions.
- The Edmunds-Tucker Act (1887) was federal legislation designed to eliminate polygamy by stripping polygamists of property, voting rights, and political power.
- It dissolved the LDS Church's corporate structure, seized its assets, and made polygamy a felony with harsher penalties than earlier laws.
- The act worked—within a decade, the LDS Church officially banned polygamy, and the practice largely disappeared from American society.
The Edmunds-Tucker Act, passed by Congress in 1887, was the most aggressive federal assault on polygamy ever written into law. It went far beyond criminalizing the practice itself; it attacked the economic and political infrastructure that sustained it. The law dissolved the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a legal corporation, seized its property, disenfranchised polygamists and anyone who believed in polygamy, annulled polygamous marriages, and made polygamy a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. In effect, it was designed to make polygamy impossible to practice and unprofitable to defend.
What the Act Actually Did
The Edmunds-Tucker Act had five main teeth. First, it made polygamy a felony (not just a misdemeanor as under the earlier Edmunds Act of 1882), raising the penalty to five years hard labor and a $500 fine. Second, it dissolved the LDS Church as a legal corporation and ordered the seizure of all church property exceeding $50,000 in value—a direct assault on the institution's wealth and independence. Third, it stripped voting rights from anyone convicted of polygamy and anyone who believed in or promoted the practice, effectively disenfranchising a large portion of Utah Territory's population. Fourth, it annulled all polygamous marriages entered into after January 1, 1883, and declared children of those marriages illegitimate. Fifth, it gave federal appointees (not locally elected officials) control over school systems in the territory, reducing Mormon institutional power over education.
Why Congress Passed It—The Political Context
By the 1880s, polygamy had become a national scandal and a political football. The LDS Church had openly practiced and defended polygamy for decades in Utah Territory, and the federal government's earlier anti-polygamy laws (Morrill Act of 1862, Edmunds Act of 1882) had failed to stop it. Congress grew impatient. Republicans and Democrats alike saw Mormon polygamy as un-American, un-Christian, and a challenge to federal authority. The LDS Church's political and economic dominance in Utah—it owned vast tracts of land, controlled the territorial legislature, and ran schools and courts—made it seem like a theocratic threat. Edmunds-Tucker was Congress's way of saying: we will break your power, take your property, and force compliance.
How the Act Worked in Practice
Federal marshals and prosecutors went to work immediately. Polygamists were hunted down, tried, and imprisoned. The church's property was seized and sold. Polygamists and their supporters lost voting rights, which meant they lost political representation. The church, unable to operate as a legal entity and hemorrhaging assets, faced existential pressure. Many polygamists fled to Canada or Mexico to avoid prosecution. Others went underground, hiding their plural wives and children. The combination of legal prosecution, property loss, and political disenfranchisement created an environment in which polygamy became too costly and dangerous to continue openly.
The Outcome: The Church Surrenders
By 1890, the LDS Church was financially crippled and politically isolated. Church President Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto, officially discontinuing the practice of polygamy. This was not a moral awakening; it was capitulation. The church needed statehood for Utah (which required federal approval), and continuing polygamy made that impossible. Within a decade, polygamy had essentially vanished from mainstream Mormon society. The act had achieved its goal: federal power had overridden religious practice and institutional autonomy.
- Made polygamy a felony (5 years, $500 fine)
- Dissolved the LDS Church as a legal corporation
- Seized church property over $50,000
- Stripped voting rights from polygamists and polygamy believers
- Annulled polygamous marriages after January 1, 1883
- Placed federal appointees in control of territorial schools
Why It Matters
Edmunds-Tucker is a crucial turning point in American religious and constitutional history. It shows how far the federal government was willing to go to enforce a majority moral standard against a religious minority. It also reveals the limits of religious freedom in America: the courts upheld the law even though it targeted a specific religion's core practice. For the LDS Church, it was humbling—it forced the institution to choose between survival and doctrine, and survival won. Today, the act is studied as an example of religious persecution, religious compromise, and the power of federal legislation to reshape society. It also established a precedent: when a religious practice is deemed sufficiently harmful or un-American, the federal government can override it, even if it requires attacking an institution's legal status and property rights.
Sources
- The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ v. United States, 136 U.S. 296 (1890)—Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Edmunds-Tucker Act.
- Edmunds-Tucker Act, 24 Stat. 635 (1887)—Full text of the statute.
- Wilford Woodruff, 'Official Declaration 1' (1890)—The Manifesto discontinuing polygamy.
