AHC and WI: Mormons Keep Polygamy

Zioneer

Banned
Due to a lack of men. Polygamy probably would've become the reserve of the upper earners.

It already was in OTL; only about 10-20% practiced polygamy, and a good portion of that was the leadership. Oddly enough, though it was mainly a practice of the leaders, it doesn't seem to have been resented by the poorer Mormons.

The only ones I can recall hating it were a few male leaders who were losing their influence anyway, and the first wives of a few dozen leaders. A lot of the still-loyal male leaders had problems with polygamy at first, but went along with it fairly quickly. Heck, Brigham Young said that Joseph Smith asking him to take a second wife was the worst thing in his life, and 30 years later, Young had more wives than years he was prophet.
 
The surplus men could always bolster the ranks of the US army, with their contribution such that the Federal Government doesn't want to antagonise the Church and lose that man power.

Alternately, many of them may join the private armies of the filibusters, looking for adventure and brides abroad...
 
^^I am by no means an expert on mormon history, but was polygamy ever a requirement for male members? If not, couldn't this issue be resolved more or less just as most polygamous societies have resolved the issue throughout history? Another thought by an ignorant outsider -- is is possible that missionary work -- that is, requiring of men of the community to go on missions -- could alleviate this?

No, polygamy wasn't required of male members. And during the time it was practiced there was a surplus of women. One reason for this was the fact that more women seemed to convert then men. The second reason was that several young Mormon men went out into the world seeking fortune before they planned on settling down and having a family. Because of the second reason Brigham Young gave a speech where he called an unmarried man a menace to society.

So polygamy did exist because their was a surplus of women. The second reason for the surplus was eventually corrected as Utah's infrastructure developed and it was easier to find a decent paying job in Utah. However, women are still more likely to convert then men. So if it was still legal their is a good chance polygamy would still be practiced, but it would be practiced on a fairly small scale.

It's practice would probably move away from Salt Lake and not as commonly practiced by the main leadership, as the current surpluses of unmarried women are now further away from the center of Mormon culture (Due to economic growth solving one of the reasons for the surplus), and I don't see why this wouldn't happen if the church remains as successful as it has in our timeline.
 
There were more committed Mormon women then committed Mormon men during the territorial days, due to differential conversion rates and differential death rates. Mormon polygamy de facto functioned as a way of keeping pure Mormon women out of the clutches of dirty gentile miners. ;)

The ratios only started normalizing around the time polygamy was phased out, so part of this POD would be predicting a doctrinal and practical Mormon response to the surplus man problem. I don't think converting les femmes works as the church gets bigger: it won't work and its too inflammatory.

I honestly think the most likely evolution would be more or less as OTL, except with a few prominent persons, such as the prophet, being polygamous for symbolic reasons. Socially I just don't see how it could be sustained otherwise.
 
Let's see if we can get back to the actual PoD; so far, I see two, and either could use more detail:

1) Utah gets earlier statehood (if so, how?)
2) the LDS to move to Mexico -- and then, somehow, makes a comeback in the US later somehow leading to roughly equivalent US population as OTL.
 
And during the time it was practiced there was a surplus of women. One reason for this was the fact that more women seemed to convert then men.
The period between the civil war and the statehood of Utah was somewhat unique in that the population imbalance was fueled by casualties of the war, particularly in Tennessee and along the lower Mississippi River. Mormon missionaries couldn't have had an easier job, offering some women their only viable chance to raise families, with the bonus of men who were not to get drunk.

Eventually, as a generation moves along, Utah boys become men and the practicality of polygamy becomes less. But did it really go away? The FLDS church is still alive. These splinter-group Mormons still believe in polygamy and until they run afoul of the law, their arrangements constitute cohabitation agreements in which only one wife is legally married. While polygamy is illegal throughout the United States, cohabitation is regulated strictly by the states and locales (if effectively at all after Lawrence v. Texas in 2003).

They do get busted, when someone claims sexual abuse, embezzlement of funds, attempt to get multiple marriage licenses, underage partners, cousin relationships, etc. But many who know the limitations don't get into trouble. Raids based solely on living arrangements are not a big issue today (are they?).
 
Top