Don Wildman

Yeah.

The screws had been tightened, 1887.

Oh, so much.

Yeah.

By 1890, the LDS church is president.

Now understand, three years later is the Edmunds-Tucker Act, 1887, which prior to this I'd never heard of.

That really does the legal job of disincorporating this church, seizing church assets, imposing federal control over territorial institutions, including schools and elections.

I mean, big time.

They come down with a hammer.

It's in 1890 that the LDS church kind of relents, and their president, Wilford Woodruff—

issues a manifesto that officially ended plural marriages.

So if you ever wondered, well, what happened to that polygamy that was such a big deal in the 1800s for the Mormons?

This is what happened.

The federal government came down hard.

Yes.

In the course of the 1890s.

I'm going to ask you a last question here about legacy.

But before we answer this, I just want to emphasize what is such an interesting piece of learning for myself, I hope for listeners as well, that the real unique aspect of the story, the theme of this is that the Mormons really related to Native American tribes so much because, of course, their history, that which is written in the golden plates, puts them here as essentially Native tribes.

They're just coming back to where their previous civilization was in their history.

mythology would be the word for me, but I guess their Book of Mormon states it.