Polygamous Marriage: Law, Structure, and Social Debate
This paper examines polygamous marriage from historical, legal, and sociological perspectives, with a focus on contemporary American society. It traces polygamy's biblical roots and its prohibition under U.S. law, reviews landmark cases involving Mormon splinter sects, and critically evaluates the constitutional arguments surrounding the Free Exercise Clause. The paper also describes the internal structure of polygamous families—including relationship dynamics, child-rearing arrangements, and sexuality—drawing on sociological and psychological literature. Finally, it objectively assesses common criticisms of polygamy, comparing them to historical objections once directed at interracial marriage, and concludes that consensual adult polygamy lacks a clear rational basis for criminal prohibition.
- Introduction to Polygamy: Definition, history, and U.S. legal status
- Polygamy in Contemporary American Society: Modern U.S. cases and surviving polygamous sects
- The Legal and Constitutional Controversy: First Amendment limits and constitutional arguments
- The Fundamental Structure of Polygamous Families: Relationship dynamics, roles, and family bonds
- Sexuality Within Polygamous Marriages: Sexual arrangements and the Coolidge Effect
- Objective Evaluation of Criticism of the Polygamous Lifestyle: Child welfare concerns and comparative critiques
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What makes this paper effective
- It moves systematically from legal and historical context to sociological description to evaluative critique, giving the argument a clear progressive structure.
- It uses concrete examples—Warren Jeffs's conviction, the Texas cult arrests, the Coolidge Effect anecdote—to ground abstract legal and sociological claims in recognizable events.
- The comparative strategy (polygamy vs. infidelity in traditional marriage; objections to polygamy vs. objections to interracial marriage) is rhetorically effective and avoids purely ideological framing.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates reframing through analogy: rather than defending polygamy directly, the author compares the criticism of polygamy to historical criticisms of interracial marriage and to the endemic infidelity found within monogamous marriages. This technique allows the author to challenge the rational basis of prohibition without requiring new empirical evidence, relying instead on accepted sociological and psychological sources.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief definitional and historical introduction, then narrows to U.S. law and recent criminal cases. A constitutional analysis follows, examining Free Exercise Clause precedents. The longest section describes the internal workings of polygamous families—relationship dynamics, sexual arrangements, and child-rearing—before a closing evaluative section addresses common objections and draws a parallel to the interracial marriage debate. References are formatted in APA style.
Introduction to Polygamy
Polygamy is the practice of maintaining family systems involving more than two marital partners. It was commonly practiced in ancient times and is referenced throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In modern human societies, polygamy is still practiced in numerous countries but is prohibited by state and federal law in the United States (Witte, 2008). Until the late 19th century, polygamy was officially condoned and practiced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; however, the mainstream Mormon church changed its position in 1890 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against them in several cases challenging the constitutionality—under the First Amendment—of state prohibitions on what they claimed was a religious practice (Dougherty & Johnson, 2007).
Polygamy in Contemporary American Society
In the United States, polygamy is a criminal offense in every state and is no longer the official practice of any recognized mainstream religion. However, various splinter groups—such as certain Mormon sects in Utah and Texas—still maintain polygamous societies, though without the consent or recognition of any mainstream Christian leaders or authorities (Witte, 2008). In 2007, the issue received national attention in connection with the arrest and conviction of Warren Jeffs and the marital practices of his Mormon sect in Utah. That case was followed by the subsequent arrest of religious cult leaders in Texas on child abuse charges related to another polygamous sect in which children were routinely married—generally against their will—to older male sect members who maintained multiple wives. While the legal issues in such cases involve child sexual abuse rather than polygamy per se, they both highlighted the fact that polygamy still exists in the United States despite laws strictly prohibiting it.
The Legal and Constitutional Controversy
In principle, it is less clear what the rational basis for objecting to polygamy is, outside of the issues of involuntary or coerced marriages and the involvement of minors in inappropriate sexual relationships and underage marriages. Polygamy has been routinely practiced in many human societies across the globe since antiquity. Even in the United States, where polygamy is illegal, there are no prohibitions whatsoever against consenting adults maintaining polygamous sexual relationships, provided the individuals involved do not seek to formalize those relationships in a state-recognized marriage (Henslin, 2002).
Certainly, the U.S. Supreme Court is the final arbiter of what rights and specific liberties are protected by the First Amendment, which is the original basis for the "free exercise" of religion as a fundamental constitutional right. In that regard, the Court has also rejected claims that the Free Exercise Clause provides religious freedom to consume hallucinogenic drugs or to withhold necessary medical treatment from children. Likewise, it is obvious why the free exercise of religion cannot permit human sacrifice under the claim of religious practice, even where such activities reflect genuine religious beliefs.
However, polygamy is different from those activities in principle, primarily because—unlike human sacrifice, child neglect, and the consumption of controlled substances for unauthorized non-medical purposes—plural relationships, plural cohabitation, and multiple simultaneous sexual relationships are not illegal in and of themselves. Even wholly apart from any issue or claim of religious freedom, it is much more difficult to justify the legal prohibition of plural marriages for two principal reasons. First, all of the underlying activities in polygamous marriage are perfectly legal as long as the individuals involved do not seek formal recognition through marriage. Second, it is not clear what the objective basis is for objecting to the practice, since it is not necessarily inherently harmful to anyone provided it involves only consenting adults of legal age.
References
Dougherty, J., & Johnson, K. (2007). "Sect leader is convicted as an accomplice to rape." New York Times, September 26, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/us/26jeffs.html?_r=1
Gerrig, R., & Zimbardo, P. (2007). Psychology and Life. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
Henslin, J. (2002). Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Macionis, J. (2003). Sociology (9th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Witte, J. (2008). "Can America still bar polygamy? Much has changed since the late 1800s, and many arguments for keeping the ban aren't very compelling." Christianity Today. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/mayweb-only/121-52.0.html
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