The church leaders at first tried to meet this influence in two ways, by open rebuke of all Saints who showed a disposition to obey the new laws, and by special honors to those who took their punishment. Thus, the Deseret News told the brethren that they could not promise to obey the anti-polygamy laws without violating obligations that bound them to time and eternity; and when John Sharp, a leading member of the church in Salt Lake City, went before the court and announced his intention to obey these laws, he was instantly removed from the office of Bishop of his ward.
The restlessness of the flock showed itself in the breaking down of the business barriers set up by the church between Mormons and Gentiles. This subject received a good deal of attention in the minority report signed by two of the commissioners in 1888. They noted the sale of real estate by Mormons to Gentiles against the remonstrances of the church, the organization of a Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake City in which Mormons and Gentiles worked together, and the union of both elements in the last Fourth of July celebration.
In the spring of 1890, at the General Conference held in Salt Lake City, the office of "Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President" of the church, that had remained vacant since the death of John Taylor in 1887, was filled by the election of Wilford Woodruff, a polygamist who had refused to take the test oath, while G. Q. Cannon and Lorenzo Snow, who were disfranchised for the same cause, were made respectively counsellor and president of the Twelve.* Woodruff was born in Connecticut in 1807, became a Mormon in 1832, was several times sent on missions to England, and had gained so much prominence while the church was at Nauvoo that he was the chief dedicator of the Temple there. While there, he signed a certificate stating that he knew of no other system of marriage in the church but the one-wife system then prescribed in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants." Before the date of his promotion, Woodruff had declared that plural marriages were no longer permitted, and, when he was confronted with evidence to the contrary brought out in court, he denied all knowledge of it, and afterward declared that, in consequence of the evidence presented, he had ordered the Endowment House to be taken down.
* Lorenzo Snow was elected president of the church on September
13, 1898, eleven days after the death of President Woodruff, and he held
that position until his death which occurred on October 10, 1901.
Governor Thomas, in his report for 1890, expressed the opinion that the church, under its system, could in only one way define its position regarding polygamy, and that was by a public declaration by the head of the church, or by action by a conference, and he added, "There is no reason to believe that any earthly power can extort from the church any such declaration." The governor was mistaken, not in measuring the purpose of the church, but in foreseeing all the influences that were now making themselves felt.
The revised statutes of Idaho at this time contained a provision (Sec. 509) disfranchising all polygamists and debarring from office all polygamists, and all persons who counselled or encouraged any one to commit polygamy. The constitutionality of this section was argued before the United States Supreme Court, which, on February 3, 1890, decided that it was constitutional. The antipolygamists in Utah saw in this decision a means of attacking the Mormon belief even more aggressively than had been done by means of the Edmunds Bill. An act was drawn (Governor Thomas and ex-Governor West taking it to Washington) providing that no person living in plural or celestial marriage, or teaching the same, or being a member of, or a contributor to, any organization teaching it, or assisting in such a marriage, should be entitled to vote, to serve as a juror, or to hold office, a test oath forming a part of the act. Senator Cullom introduced this bill in the upper House and Mr. Struble of Iowa in the House of Representatives. The House Committee on Territories (the Democrats in the negative) voted to report the bill, amended so as to make it applicable to all the territories. This proposed legislation caused great excitement in Mormondom, and petitions against its passage were hurried to Washington, some of these containing non-Mormon signatures.
As a further menace to the position of the church, the United States Supreme Court, on May 19, affirmed the decision of the lower court confiscating the property of the Mormon church, and declaring that church organization to be an organized rebellion; and on June 21, the Senate passed Senator Edmunds's bill disposing of the real estate of the church for the benefit of the school fund.*
* After the admission of Utah as a state, Congress passed an act
restoring the property to the church.
The Mormon authorities now realized that the public sentiment of the country, as expressed in the federal law, had them in its grasp. They must make some concession to this public sentiment, or surrender all their privileges as citizens and the wealth of their church organization. Agents were hurried to Washington to implore the aid of Mr. Blaine in checking the progress of the Cullom Bill, and at home the head of the church made the concession in regard to polygamy which secured the admission of the territory as a state.
On September 25, 1890, Woodruff, as President of the church, issued a proclamation addressed "to whom it may concern," which struck out of the NECESSARY beliefs and practices of the Mormon church, the practice of polygamy.