Fighting the Principle: Part the third

When the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 went into effect it was aimed at two things, one of which was the ability of women in polygamous marriages to escape punishment.  The second one was to target the ability of the Church to maintain its financial position.  The act took on the perceived monopoly of the Church by taking away its right to hold property, fund emigration of Mormons from abroad, and took away the last piece of its political power by revoking the rights of Utah women to vote.  It was the harsh hammer, which people like the Utah anti-polygamists, and Edmunds wanted, to finally defeat the Church.[1]

Fighting the Principle: Part the Second

Those who shaped the battle with the polygamists, generally, were those who saw the government and their Christian lifestyle as one and the same.  They perceived Mormons as trying to upset the social order with their form of marriage.  Many of the anti-polygamists saw themselves as crusaders fighting a religious battle against heathen, Mormons.  In the 1880s they would take this religious language farther by calling the pursuit and arrests of Mormon Polygamist a Crusade.[1]

Fighting the Principle: Part the First

In the summer of 1886, Charles Ora Card was in trouble.  Riding the train with the U.S. Marshall headed to prison after being caught in the company of his wife, he was facing some months in the Utah Penitentiary at the very least.  With this in mind he sought the only thing he could, escape.  Card jumped from the train and escaped.  A short while later, ahead of the law he fled to Canada.  What was Card’s great crime?  He had been living with more than one woman as his wife, his polygamy was against the law and he was forced to flee, hide, or serve prison time.[1]

Fighting the Principle: Introduction

Ok the actual name is a bit long so I cut it down.

Fighting the Principle: George F. Edmunds and the battle against polygamy
is the proper name for the essay.