The 14 year olds had no choice. The 50 year olds faced old age being cast out in the wild if they didn’t submit. I’ve read some of their statements. He really was a cruel, calculating brute.
Don’t forget that polygamy ultimately means that a few men will have several wives and many men will have no wife and are fit only to be expelled or to serve as cannon fodder.
Send the singletons into battle to die to maintain the social order for the fortunate few: the ancient prescription for polygamous societies.
It’s a current prescription in Islamic societies that follow Shariah. Powerful Muslims send superfluous Muslim males who are poor & womanless to die for Allah with the promise of the ultimate polygamous reward, the fabled 72 virgins.
Marriage in Christianity as noted in the Gospel of Mark is about one man and one woman. In other words, one to a customer.
Joseph Smith saw it differently. He could have given Bill Clinton lessons in horndoggery.
“The 14 year olds had no choice. The 50 year olds faced old age being cast out in the wild if they didn’t submit. I’ve read some of their statements. He really was a cruel, calculating brute.”
There was always a choice. This was America, even back then. Don’t join his religion. They fell for his scam. Where where the parents of those 14 year old?