ABSTRACT
Polygamy was a part of the church's nineteenth-century beliefs and practices, and it engendered constitutional conflicts over freedom of religion and federal regulatory powers when its practice conflicted with federal laws. Polygamy also caused trouble in the form of religious persecution. The Latter-day Saints had been driven from New York, Ohio, and Missouri and rumors of polygamy served to intensify persecution in Nauvoo, Illinois, as well. Polygamy was openly practiced once the Latter-day Saints left Nauvoo, but the doctrine was not publicly announced and explained until 1852, sometime after the church had settled in the Salt Lake valley in Utah. In the United States, polygamy is historically identified with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called the Mormon Church. Plural marriage was introduced as a church doctrine privately to church leaders during the Nauvoo period beginning in 1841, though a few became aware of it at an earlier date.
