The same day the manifesto was published as follows:
“OFFICIAL DECLARATION.”
“To Whom it May Concern:
“Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the secretary of the interior, alleged that plural marriages are still being solemnized, and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year: also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged, and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy;
“I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our temples or in any other place in the territory.
“One case has been reported in which the parties alleged that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony. Whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence, the Endowment House was, by my instruction, taken down without delay.
“Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress, forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of the Last Resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.
“There is nothing in my teachings to the Church, or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy, and when any elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.
“Wilford Woodruff.”
“President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
The Manifesto Sustained
At the conference of the Church held in October following, the manifesto was presented to the congregation and on motion by President Lorenzo Snow of the council of the apostles, was accepted by the Latter-day Saints by unanimous vote. Thus it became binding upon the members of the Church.
Following this action President George Q. Cannon delivered a discourse, reviewing the history of the anti-polygamy legislation and justified the action of President Woodruff on the following grounds: First, when a commandment is given to the children of men, and they are hindered by their enemies, the Lord accepts their offering. Second, the authority which gave the commandment had the right to revoke. In the course of his remarks he quoted verses 49 and 50 of section 124 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
President Woodruff followed the remarks of President Cannon and in part said:
“I want to say to all Israel that the step which I have taken in issuing this manifesto has not been done without earnest prayer before the Lord. . . . I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course I have pursued. But I have done my duty, and the nation of which we form a part must be responsible for that which has been done in relation to this principle.
“The Lord has required at our hands many things that we have not done, many things that we were prevented from doing. The Lord required us to build a temple in Jackson County. We were prevented by violence from doing it. . . . It is not wisdom for us to go forth and carry out this principle against the laws of the nation. . . . The Lord has given us commandments concerning many things, and we have carried them out as far as we could; but when we cannot do it, we are justified. . . . The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as the President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would move me out of my place.”
Result of the Manifesto
Following the issuance of the manifesto the sentiment grew that those who had entered into plural marriages before that date should not be interfered with, and men were not to be compelled to desert their wives and children. In time the two political parties, the “People’s Party” composed mostly of members of the Church, and the “Liberal Party” composed of the enemies of the Church, disbanded, and the people joined the two great national parties, the Democrats and Republicans, without regard to religious affiliation. However, the more rabid anti-“Mormons” held on to their animosities and organization until the opposition to them among non-“Mormons” was so great that they could resist no longer.