1890 Manifesto

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The 1890 Manifesto, sometimes simply called The Manifesto, is a statement which officially renounced the practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see also "Mormon"). Signed by President Wilford Woodruff in September of 1890, the Manifesto was a dramatic turning point in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Manifesto prohibited church members from entering into plural marriages, but did not require dissolution of existing marriages.

The Manifesto was written in response to the anti-polygamy policies of the US Federal Government, and most especially the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. This law disincorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and allowed the federal government to freeze all of the church's assets. The US Supreme Court upheld property seizure in The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. United States, 136 U.S. 1 (1890). By September, federal officials were preparing to seize the church's temples and the US Congress had debated whether to extend the 1882 Edmunds Act so that all Mormons would be disenfranchised, not just the polygamists. The Supreme Court had already ruled a law constitutional which banned all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from voting in Idaho Territory in Davis v. Beason, 133 U.S. 333 (1890).

President Woodruff reported that on the night of September 23 he received revelation that the church should cease the practice of plural marriage. Woodruff announced the Manifesto on September 25 and acted quickly to publish it in the Deseret News. On October 6, 1890, during the 60th Semi-Annual General Conference of the church, the Manifesto was formally sustained by church membership.

Within six years of the announcement, Utah became a state and anti-Mormon federal persecution subsided. However, Congress still refused to seat later polygamist representatives-elect, including B.H. Roberts.

Critical historians, such as D. Michael Quinn, have interpreted the Manifesto's timing as politically expedient. Quinn and fellow Mormon Historian Kenneth Lynn Cannon II have also documented that some Apostles covertly sanctioned additional plural marriages. This practice was especially prevalent in Mexico and Canada because of an erroneous belief that such marriages were legal in those places. Rumors of post-Manifesto marriages surfaced, causing church President Joseph F. Smith to issue a "Second Manifesto" in 1904. This Manifesto threatened excommunication for Latter-day Saints who continued to enter into plural marriages. Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley each resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles due to disagreement with the church's position on plural marriage. Plural marriage continues to be grounds for excommunication from the church.

The cessation of plural marriage within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave rise to polygamous groups that do not regard the 1890 Manifesto as true revelation.

The Manifesto is currently published as Official Declaration 1 in the Doctrine & Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the church's books of scripture.