Essentials in Church History / A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"

by Joseph Fielding Smith

The Crusade Continues

The crusade against those who had entered plural marriage continued after the death of President Taylor, but in some respects with less severity. President Grover Cleveland pardoned a number of the imprisoned men against whom the courts had been extremely severe. These included Joseph H. Evans, a man of seventy, Charles Livingston and Rudger Clawson. From this time on there was a more tolerant attitude manifested by some of the officers. Nevertheless the government continued with unyielding determination to suppress plural marriage, and more drastic legislation was proposed by Congress.

The Crusade in Idaho

In Idaho the anti-“Mormon” feeling was intense. One officer—who afterwards was honored with the position of United States senator from Idaho—declared that he had selected “a jury that would convict Jesus Christ.” Nor was this blasphemous expression the only one uttered in that campaign. Men were hounded and treated in an inhuman manner, and the boast was that “Mormons” would be convicted with or without evidence before the courts.

The Idaho territorial legislature passed a law in 1885, containing the “Idaho test oath,” which disfranchised all members of the Church. It provided that electors should swear that they were neither polygamists nor members of an organization which taught, advised or encouraged the practice of polygamy. The supreme court of the United States sustained this law in a decision given February 3, 1890. It was enough to deprive a person of the franchise simply to declare that he was a member of the Church.

The Strubble Bill

The enemies of the Church in Utah were greatly elated over this decision of the supreme court in the “Idaho test oath” law. They knew that no legislature in Utah would pass such a measure, but they had hopes that Congress would, and thus the great majority of the people of Utah would be disfranchised and their enemies be placed in control. A bill called the Strubble Bill, following the lines of the Idaho law was presented in Congress in 1890. Robert N. Baskin, who was as bitter against the Saints as it was possible for him to be, brazenly declared that the object was “to wrest from the hands of the Priesthood the political power which it had wrongfully usurped and shamefully abused.” General John A. McClernand, of the Utah Commission, refused to be a party to such wickedness, and made a separate report condemning the proposed high-handed legislation. This bill never became a law for several reasons. Many of the conservative non-“Mormons” of Utah opposed the measure as being detrimental to the interests of the territory, and petitioned Congress not to pass it. Secretary of State James G. Blaine, used his influence to defeat the measure for political reasons, but insisted that the Church do something to relieve the situation.

President Woodruff’s Manifesto

While the Saints were in the midst of all these difficulties and afflictions, President Wilford Woodruff sought the Lord for relief. In answer to his earnest pleadings and constant petitions, the word of the Lord came to him in a revelation suspending the practice of plural marriage. The Latter-day Saints, with the feeling that the anti-polygamy legislation was a restriction of their religious rights, contested every move made by the government. When the supreme court sustained these laws, there was nothing left for the Church to do but submit or stand as violators of the law. They have never felt that the action of the courts were just, nor did they feel that it was within their power to suspend a commandment given to them by revelation from the Lord. The “manifesto” of President Woodruff brought relief. The people had done their duty. The Lord gave them the commandment and only he could authorize its suspension. President Woodruff, writing in his journal September 25, 1890 said:

“I have arrived at a point in the history of my life as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where I am under the necessity of acting for the temporal salvation of the Church. The United States government has taken a stand and passed laws to destroy the Latter-day Saints on the subject of polygamy or patriarchal marriage, and after praying to the Lord and feeling inspired, I have issued the following proclamation which is sustained by my counselors and the twelve apostles.”