There are issues with regard to the age of consent and the minimum age at which marriage is allowed. There are issues of alleged brainwashing and coercion involved as well. The role of government, however, is not to say that so-and-so is brainwashed and must be protected, but to prosecute individuals charged with crimes. The mobility of the women and children is a problem, and a reason why it has been difficult for the authorities in Utah and the surrounding states to suppress polygamy. However, it is better to restrain the government in such matters rather than expand its authority.
Thomas More, the English jurist and Catholic martyr, warned an eager young man who would chop down all the trees in England if necessary to eliminate hiding places for outlaws that once the forests were gone, there would be no place for him to hide.
Ah, first off, we’ve all read the ‘History of Mormonism’ at least 235 times on the other threads. We know.
The damage done to those living in these settings is slavery, and something that goes against the basic tenants of this country. And don’t use the ‘polygamy is moral or ancient’ argument. Now all it (Polygamy-child brides) is is an old man’s wet dream. It wouldn’t happen naturally, it only can happen via manipulation and isolation.
No woman from the outside enters into this, only those bred into it are involved, and only because their rights to free will have been stripped away. Again, we’re talking humans, not cattle.
The same arguments were used during the times predating the civil war (right down to slaves being biblical) Same here, use all the history etc you want. Some things are wrong and should not be allowed to stand. This is such a case.
Marriage at 14 when Smith was 38, which would make it 1844 was probably no big deal. But polygamy was.
(hmm, my grandfather's name was Kimbell, might be a spelling change.. probably not. His stepfather, from whom he got the last name, did have 3 wives, but in series, not in parallel. The first two died on him, including my great-grandmother, his second wife.
My wife's great-great grandparents came out from St. Louis in a wagon train that was mostly Mormons. Of course, they being fairly recent Danish immigrants, did not know what Mormons were or did. Until the winter over near Omaha, when they figured it out. They decided to go their own way, and ended up not all that far off the Mormon Trail, around 40 miles, but also not that far from Omaha, and a long ways from Salt Lake City. The place they settled, in 1868, is still in the family, half now owned by my mother-in-law, the other half, which may not have been part of the original home place, owned by my father-in-law's two first cousins. Both places are farmed by the same sharecropper though.
Polygamy is an ancient practice. The practice was forbidden in Western nations since the latter days of the Roman Empire, based on Christian teaching on the matter
Note, however, St. Augustine of Hippo's points on polygamy. For example: "The only reason of its being a crime now to do this, is because custom and the laws forbid it."
There are issues with regard to the age of consent and the minimum age at which marriage is allowed.
The Church forbade marrying a child who was "still in the cradle." When the church decided to make marriage an official sacrament A.D. 1215, it set 7 years old as the limit.
During Medieval times, marriages were generally not under the age of 12 for girls, 17 for boys. Even during the Renaissance, the age remained 12 for girls, but dropped to 14 for boys. And have you ever read Le Mesnagier de Paris, which is a book of practical advice from an elderly husband to his 15-year-old wife?
Also, it should be noted that in general, historically, concubines had to be at least 12.
(I write of European history; I'm unfamiliar with other cultural views.)