An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to amend section fifty-three hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," approved March twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.
Reported by the joint conference committee on February 16, 1887;agreed to by the House on February 17, 1887 (203-40) and by theSenate on February 18, 1887 (37-13)
Left unsigned by PresidentGrover Cleveland andbecame law on March 3, 1887
TheEdmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was anAct of Congress that restricted some practices ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) anddisincorporated the LDS Church. An amendment to the earlierEdmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute between theUnited States Congress and the LDS Church regardingpolygamy. The act was found at 48 U.S.C. § 1480, with the full text of the law published at 24 Stat. 635. In 1978, the act was repealed by Public Law 95-584, the full text of which was published at 92 Stat. 2483.[1][2]
In President Grover Cleveland's annual address to Congress in December 1885, he emotionally discussed the issue of polygamy in Utah:
The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love.
These are not the homes of polygamy. . . .
There is no feature of this practice or the system which sanctions it which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions.
There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame.
Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the country.[3][4]
The Act was passed by the Senate in January 1886 by a vote of 38–7. It was passed by the House via a voice vote in January 1887. President Cleveland refused to sign the bill but did not veto it, which meant that the Act became law on March 3, 1887.[5]
The act disincorporated both the LDS Church and thePerpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they fosteredpolygamy. The act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved thecorporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. The act was enforced by theU.S. Marshal and a host of deputies.
The act:
Disincorporated the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, with assets to be used for public schools in the Territory.[6]
Required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials.
Annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit.
Required civilmarriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy).
Abrogated the common lawspousal privilege for polygamists, thus requiring wives to testify against their husbands.[7]
Replaced local judges (including the previously powerfulProbate Court judges) with federally appointed judges.
Abolished the office of Territorial superintendent of district schools, granting the supreme court of the Territory of Utah the right to appoint a commissioner of schools. Also called for the prohibition of the use of sectarian books and for the collection of statistics of the number of so-calledgentiles and Mormons attending and teaching in the schools.[9]
(See text of the act scanned from the U.S. Statutes at large, linked elsewhere on this page.)
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