Reasons for Joseph Smith's Polygamy:

To Solve the World's Moral Problems?

From the very first defense of plural marriage offered by Orson Pratt in 1852, one reason asserted for the establishment of polygamy was to rid the world of the social ills of prostitution and licentiousness. Orson Pratt asserted that by adopting plural marriage, “whoredom, adultery, and fornication” would “be entirely done away.”[1] A writer in an 1853 article in the Millennial Star penned: “I have come to the conclusion… that the one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to a people.”[2]

By allowing men to have more wives than one, it was theorized that mistresses and brothels would no longer be patronized by libido-driven men. One Church member wrote in 1854: "In Deseret, there are no libertines, with their paramours, no houses of prostitution, no cases of seduction, or those which disturb the peace of the families in the States under your laws. Here every woman can have what God intended she should -- a husband -- and every man that wants to, may have a wife."[3]

In 1855, Nauvoo polygamist Franklin D. Richards dramatically expressed the common opinion held by many Latter-day Saints that plural marriage could solve far-reaching immoralities:

We cannot without sympathy behold man, who was created in the image of God, to stand at the head of creation, become a poor, effete, degraded being; and woman, chaste, beautiful, and lovely, -- deceived, crushed, bartered, betrayed, sunk in crime, a creature of and for lust; or view the powers given of God to man for the propagation of his species, perverted to debauchery and lasciviousness, with all its revolting, deadly, corrupt and damning effects, without some regard for fallen humanity...

No one can detest the loathsome, degraded, corrupt, and miserable state of the world, in relation to lewdness, lasciviousness, adultery, and debauchery, more than we do...

But we must stop; we have gone far enough; the picture would be too dark. It was necessary to lift the curtain a little; but prudence, propriety, and decency says, let it fall. We would just remark that philosophy, morality, law, and Christianity, as now taught, have signally failed to stop this monstrous social and moral evil. The present state of the world proves their incompetency. The Lord's way, as practised by ancient men of God, the "Restitution:" -- as lately revealed -- we think will stop it among us.[4]

While plural marriage might have assisted moral men to control their sex drives by allowing additional wives, it is questionable whether it would have had significant influence on men possessing lesser ethical values. The ability of polygamy to stem the evils of prostitution and other sexual abuses remains unproven.

[1] Orson Pratt, August 29, 1852, Journal of Discourses, 1:61-62. See also Belinda Marden Pratt, “Defense of Polygamy, by a Lady in Utah. In a Letter to Her Sister in New Hampshire,” Millennial Star, 16 (July 29, 1854) 30: 468-73.

[2] Anon., “Nelly and Abby,” Millennial Star, 15 (April 9, 1853) 15: 225-29.

[3] [Unidentified female Latter-day Saint], "Advantage of Having Many Wives," Millennial Star, 17 (Jan 20, 1855) 3:37.

[4] [Franklin D. Richards, ed.], "Polygamy," Millennial Star, 17 (Apr 7, 1855) 14:213-14.