[Winona Online Democracy]
An additional comment on
polygamy:
At least one
respondent�Duane�seems to have invoked religious reasons for opposing
polygamy. It may be pointed out, however, that polygyny (the form of polygamy in which one man
has multiple wives) usually has the sanction of religion. In fact, according to Murdock�s
Ethnographic Atlas, 850 of the 1,170 societies known to exist in the
world permit polygyny. Almost always, at least in theory, a man should not
have more than one wife unless he has the financial resources to treat all
equitably. In this respect at least the practice could incur fewer social
costs than the informal forms of polygamy that now exists in the United
States. (Polyandry�a woman having more than one husband�is very rare.)
As Dean Lanz has pointed out,
the Supreme Court ruled polygamy illegal in 1878. The law was used to strip
Mormons of their rights as citizens and to seize church property. It was not
until after the Church ordered discontinuance of the practice that statehood
was granted (1896). As you know, pockets of resistance continued to
exist, even after Joseph Smith in 1904 promised excommunication for those
practicing.
The internet provides some
interesting overviews of polygamy. See the entry from Wikipedia. The economic
basis has received attention from Theodore Bergstrom of the University of
Michigan. His paper �On the Economics of Polygyny� can be accessed on the
internet.
Roy Nasstrom
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