An Institution Splits Under Pressure#

Week 6 — the fourth move: response#

Recap: three moves so far#

• vacuum — Carthage, 1844
• claim — the Twelve, Rigdon, Strang, the Reorganization
• pivot — lineal succession, polygamy denial

This week is the fourth: institutional response.

The Morrill Act, 1862#

• outlawed bigamy in U.S. territories
• barely enforced for two decades
• the Utah church treats it as background noise

The Edmunds–Tucker Act, 1887#

• disincorporated the church as a legal entity
• seized most of its property
• disenfranchised anyone practising or believing in plural marriage

Not a doctrinal argument. A legal one, applied directly to the institution’s ability to function.

What changed, what didn’t#

• the church’s public position: changed
• some members’ private practice: didn’t, for decades
• that gap is exactly where next week’s fundamentalist split comes from