From what I understand, some people feel that leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have kept hidden that Joseph Smith had more than one wife. They claim that the Church did not want to "tarnish" Joseph Smith's reprutation by openly admitting that he was a law breaker and a polygamist.
Let's take a look at these claims. First of all, the United States did not even have a law against polygamy until the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was passed in on July 8, 1862. I think most of us just assume that polygamy was always illegal in the United States, but it wasn't. Therefore, since Joseph Smith died on June 27, 1844, he could not have been breaking the law, because this law didn't even exist until eighteen years later.
Some people may retort that polygamy has always been morally wrong. Many of these people are firm believers in the Bible. Are they ignoring that the great patriarch, Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, had his twelve sons by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and their two handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah? Yes, God generally requires strict and faithful monogamy, but there are a few instances when, to raise a righteous posterity, the Lord has commanded his people to practice plural marriage.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in following the commandments of God. We believe that the prophet, Joseph Smith, was commanded to institute the practice of plural marriage among Church members in the early 1840's (see Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 revelation on plural marriage). We also believe that the Lord revealed to President Wilford Woodruff, the prophet of God in the late 1800's, that the practice of plural marriage was to be discontinued. This Manifesto became the law of the Church on September 24, 1890. See Official Declaration 1 .
Since these revelations on plural marriage are printed in our book of scripture, The Doctrine and Covenants, it certainly was not "hidden". Why would people who accept revelation from God, including God's revelations on plural marriage, be shocked or ashamed that the prophet Joseph Smith had more than one wife? I am not ashamed that the patriarch, Jacob, had more than one wife. Actually, I feel a bit sorry for him since he was in the middle of a competition between his two wives, Rachel and Leah, to see who could have the most sons. I think most men would agree with my husband who says that having one wife is plenty for him.
What does puzzle me is why a society that allows people to live together and not marry at all, exploits women and children for pornography, and condones and even admires men's promiscuity, would care about the practice of plural marriage. These men took responsibility for the children they fathered. They were real husbands and fathers. Today many men, absorbed in their careers, neglect their wife and their children. When, at last, their wife has had enough and divorces them, they even refuse to pay child support. This present "tarnishing" of fatherhood is far more of a concern to me than the fact that, at times, God has commanded his people to practice plural marriage.
for more information on see: https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints?lang=eng
also see the new history of the Church: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/09/volume-1-of-saints-now-online-and-in-print?lang=eng
I have written several posts on Polygamy. https://meditationsofalatterdaysaintwoman.blogspot.com/search/label/Polygamy
photo - https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/joseph-smith-speaking-shaw-409916?lang=eng
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