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- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
Reynolds v. United States 1879
Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
Pages | 97-102 |
Page 97
Petitioner: George Reynolds
Respondent: United States
Petitioner's Claim: The Morrill Act, which made practice of polygamy a crime, violated his First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
Chief Lawyers for Petitioner: George W. Biddle and Ben Sheeks
Chief Lawyers for Respondent: Charles Devens, U.S. Attorney General, and Samuel F. Phillips, U.S. Solicitor General
Justices for the Court: Joseph P. Bradley, Nathan Clifford, Stephen Johnson Field, John Marshall Harlan I, Ward Hunt, Samuel Freeman Miller, William Strong, Noah Haynes Swayne, Morrison Remick Waite
Justices Dissenting: None
Date of Decision: May 5, 1879
Decision: Polygamy was not protected by freedom of religion.
Significance: The Mormons, a religious group who settled Utah, permitted its men to practice polygamy. In Reynolds v. U.S., the Supreme Court found that laws banning polygamy were constitutional. They did not violate the Mormons' right to free exercise of their religion. This still remains the most important legal case to address the issue of polygamy.
Page 98
In the middle of the nineteenth century, after a long trek westward, the Mormons settled the land that became the state of Utah. The Mormons were followers of a religious prophet named Joseph Smith. Their religion was called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They held a variety of beliefs. The most controversial belief was that a man could have two or more wives, a practice known as polygamy.
Many people in the United States had known about the Mormon practice of polygamy since 1852. Most Americans were traditional Christians who believed in monogamy—having only one spouse. Until the Mormons arrived, however, there were no federal laws against bigamy or polygamy. The government left the Mormons alone for many years, but in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act into law. The Morrill Act outlawed polygamy throughout the United States in general and in Utah in particular. The government did not do much to enforce the law at that time because it was concerned with the Civil War.
Congress again took up the issue of Mormon polygamy after the Civil War ended. The Morrill Act was strengthened when the Poland Law was
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- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
- Reynolds v. United States 1879
- Cantwell v. Connecticut 1940
- Minersville School District v. Gobitis 1940
- Everson v. Board of Education 1947
- Engel v. Vitale 1962
- Epperson v. Arkansas 1968
- Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971
- Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972
- County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union 1989
- Lee v. Weisman 1992
- Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah 1993
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