In the first part of our overview on polygamy, I covered the origins of polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, looking at the 1831 revelation to take wives among the ‘Lamanites’ to make the posterity “white, delightsome, and just,” Joseph Smith’s relationship with Fanny Alger, issues with polyandrous marriages, the 1836 vision in the Kirtland temple, the 1841 teaching that ‘where there is no accuser there is no sin,’ and the production and problems with the text of D&C 132.

This overview is going to look at the ways that Joseph Smith implemented polygamy, with a focus on several of the women that Joseph Smith proposed to and the methods he used to convince them to enter into polygamous/polyandrous marriages with him.

Throughout these overviews I will continue to reference the text of D&C 132 to show how Joseph Smith violated his own revelation as well as referring to the church’s essay on polygamy to respond to the apologetic arguments the church uses for these problems.

I included this quote in the first overview, but I think it is incredibly important to read before we dive into the ways that Joseph Smith proposed to these women that revered him as a prophet of God. From a presentation by Jonathan Streeter at Sunstone regarding Joseph Smith and the Happiness Letter to Nancy Rigdon:
 

"Keep in mind that special divine permission is nothing new... Self proclaimed prophet David Koresh and the Branch Davidians claimed special divine permission to take child brides for the purpose of producing the 24 elders foretold in the Book of Revelations. Self proclaimed prophet Wayne Bent of the Lord Our Righteousness Church claimed special divine permission for having sexual relations with children, even his own daughter in law in order to avoid God's punishment. Self proclaimed prophet Julius Shacknow of the sect known as The Work, claimed special privilege to promise salvation in exchange for sexual intercourse with women and children, including his own stepdaughter. Self proclaimed prophet Tony Alamo of Alamo Christian Ministries claimed special biblical permission to illegally marry multiple women and children. Self proclaimed prophet David Berg of the Children of God claimed special divine permission to normalize sexual relation with children. Prophets, justifying their own predations as special, divine permission through the use of pious language and religious sentiment, is nothing new."
 

As we go through this second overview, you will see a lot of these same elements apply to how Joseph Smith proposes and applies pressure to these young women to accept what he claims is a direct commandment from God. I know that it is almost impossible to separate our lifetime of feelings for the church and Joseph Smith to read these accounts as objectively as we would for the other self-proclaimed prophets listed above, but in order to get to the truth we have to let go of those emotional feelings for just a while to look at what the historical record says about Joseph Smith and polygamy.

Before I begin, I want to highlight a few of the common threads between Joseph Smith’s wives and his proposals.
 

Marrying Girls who Lived in the Smith Home
 

One of the more common threads in Joseph Smith’s polygamous relationships is that he often married women who lived with him in his home. This is something that puts these women in a very awkward position – they are being housed by the man they believe is a prophet of God, and are then being asked to marry him secretly in a polygamous marriage, hiding it from his wife in the process.

Furthermore, Joseph Smith can use the time while they are living with him to feel out the situation and to slowly condition them to be ready for the proposal. I realize how devious that sounds, but that’s exactly what you would do if you’re seeking to take these young women as your polygamous brides knowing that they believe you are a prophet of God.

This practice began with Fanny Alger as we covered in the last overview. She was working at the Smith home when Joseph Smith had an affair with her, and Emma promptly had her kicked out of the house. It is a practice that would continue once Joseph Smith began developing and implanting polygamy, and we will highlight this again as we go through these accounts.

The apologetic argument I assume would be that they were free to reject his proposal and find another place to live, but the point is that Joseph Smith is putting them in a position where he is holding both his authority as a self-proclaimed prophet and his authority as the person housing these women when making these proposals. That really puts a dent in the idea of free agency, as it is severely diminished when a person you view as a prophet is asking you to do something that you know is completely immoral and dishonest.
 

Using Older Wives to Recruit Younger Wives
 

One of the apologetics that Joseph Smith was not marrying women just for sex is that he did marry some older wives that we do not have record of him having sex with. I want to state right up front that I do not believe every polygamous marriage was for sex. Remember that Joseph Smith is implementing a new system of marriage, and this will lead him to marrying women for differing reasons.

That being said, the idea that the older marriages played no role is really hard to defend once you realize that Joseph Smith was using some of the older wives to recruit younger wives for him. This again allows for Joseph Smith to have plausible deniability if the proposal is not received well, and it also allows Joseph Smith to use someone already in polygamy to sell these young women on how righteous the principle is once you accept it.

In the accounts below we will highlight how Joseph Smith used his older plural wives to help recruit younger women to accept his proposals, and this is another way to apply a high level of pressure to these young women who know that polygamy goes directly against their sense of morality.
 

Angel with a Drawn Sword
 

One of the more common examples from critics of how Joseph Smith used pressure to coerce these young women to accept his proposals is Joseph Smith’s use of the “angel with a drawn sword” story.

While the church teaches that Joseph Smith’s polygamous wives got spiritual confirmation and utilized their free agency while entering these marriages, the historical record is much messier and less compelling than the church’s essay wants it to be. From the church’s essay:
 

“When God commands a difficult task, He sometimes sends additional messengers to encourage His people to obey. Consistent with this pattern, Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.”
 

The first thing I want to point out is that once again Joseph Smith is using the magical “power of three” in this story, which we saw throughout his treasure digging, gold plates story, and even in the Lost 116 Pages. It is a very magical/occult practice that there is power in threes, which is why we see the three visitations in a Christmas Carol and so many other stories.

This also paints Joseph Smith as a reluctant victim, someone who was fighting polygamy so much that God had to send an angel with a drawn sword that would take his life if he did not obey the “commandment fully.” Remember that the commandment is to raise up seed, which means sexual relations. Joseph Smith certainly engaged in sexual relations with his polygamous wives, but he never raised up seed through any that we have confirmation for.

It’s also just an outrageous story when you think about it, and I will point it out as we go. But Joseph Smith is telling these young women, who revere him as a prophet of God, that if they do not marry and have sex with him that an angel will destroy him. Joseph Smith could find another young girl to marry, but instead he continues to insist to these young women that if they don’t do it, *he* will be destroyed for their refusal to accept the commandment of God that was given to Joseph Smith on their behalf.

This story puts a colossal amount of pressure on these young girls, and as we will see below he uses this story on girls who are vulnerable beyond just believing that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Again, if this was any other religion, we would all call them out as predators coercing young women into sexual relationships. There is no difference between Joseph Smith and the self-proclaimed prophets highlighted above with the one exception that we were raised to believe this is the one true church.

We will cover this more as we highlight some of the accounts below, but as this is a famous story within the church I wanted to highlight it early so you’re familiar with it when it arrives.
 

Nancy Rigdon, Nancy Marinda Hyde, and the Happiness Letter
 

I want to start off with what I consider to be the most damning proposal that Joseph Smith made, which was to 19 year old Nancy Rigdon in April 1842. This will be a summary of the proposal and “letter on happiness” that Joseph Smith would dictate to her, but if you want to read a more in-depth account please check out our post on Joseph Smith’s Happiness Letter on Polygamy.

Nancy Rigdon was the daughter of Sidney Rigdon, a leader of the church and extremely close to Joseph Smith. Around April 9, 1842 Joseph Smith proposed to Nancy Rigdon. This proposal was set up by Nancy Marinda Hyde (some records go by Marinda Nancy, but we'll go with the revelation name here which is Nancy Marinda), who was living in the printing office and was sealed to Joseph Smith either in April 1842 or May 1843 (Joseph Smith's journal says April 1842). In fact, Joseph Smith produces a revelation for Nancy Marinda Hyde in December 1841, which includes the following:
 

"Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have called upon me to know my will concerning my handmaid Nancy Marinda Hyde—behold it is my will that she should have a better place prepared for her, than that in which she now lives, in order that her life may be spared unto her; therefore go and say unto my servant, Ebenezer Robinson, and to my handmaid his wife—Let them open their doors and take her and her children into their house and take care of them faithfully and kindly unto my servant Orson Hyde returns from his mission, or until some other provision can be made for her welfare and safety. Let them to these things and spare not, and I the Lord will bless them and heal them if they do it not grudgingly, saith the Lord God; and she shall be a blessing unto them; and let my handmaid Nancy Marinda Hyde hearken to the counsel of my servant Joseph in all things whatsoever he shall teach unto her, and it shall be a blessing upon her and upon her children after her, unto her justification, saith the Lord." (December 1841 Revelation)
 

This revelation is interesting, because Nancy's husband Orson Hyde had been sent on a mission to Jerusalem in April 1841, and in December of that year Joseph Smith gives Nancy a revelation to "hearken to the counsel of my servant Joseph in all things whatsoever he shall teach unto her, and it shall be a blessing upon her and upon her children after her, unto her justification, saith the Lord." Beyond Nancy Hyde's role in the Nancy Rigdon proposal, she would also become one of Joseph Smith's polyandrous wives while her legal husband, Apostle Orson Hyde, was away on a mission. In other words, Nancy Marinda Hyde took this revelation seriously as she would not only agree to a polyandrous marriage with Joseph Smith, but become a willing recruiter to help Joseph Smith obtain more wives.

There is a lot of backstory to the events that lead up to the Happiness Letter and I would recommend listening to the Mormon Discussions podcast on the Happiness Letter as it really details the role that Nancy Hyde plays in it and how Joseph Smith used revelation not just to get sealed to her, but to put her in a position to do whatever he asked of her.

About a month after Joseph Smith’s revelation to Nancy Hyde, he claims another revelation to take control of the printing office. Once they do that, the printing office becomes a private place where Joseph Smith can meet with prospective wives without Emma knowing, and does just that with Nancy Rigdon. Interestingly enough, this revelation clears the way for Willard Richards to cohabitate with Nancy Hyde, which is scandalous enough as it is. This leads to rumors of sexual relations between Nancy Hyde and Willard Richards, and then a few months later she would be sealed to Joseph Smith. This relationship alone would make for a great Netflix series as it has all of the elements of a great drama: love triangles, sex, ‘sealings,’ revelations from God, and a husband who was sent on a mission before it all began.

Nancy Rigdon rejects Joseph Smith’s initial proposal quite forcefully, and Joseph Smith then requested Nancy Hyde to explain the principle to Nancy Rigdon, and Nancy Hyde explains that “that these things looked strange to her at first, but she would become more reconciled on mature reflection.”

As I mentioned above, this was a common tactic by Joseph Smith to use another wife to try and recruit new, younger wives. Unfortunately in this case Nancy Rigdon was not entertaining Joseph Smith’s commandment to marry him, so Joseph Smith agreed to write her a letter to explain the principle in more detail. And that is where this becomes the most damning account of polygamy, because the letter provides so much insight into the methods Joseph Smith used to pressure young women to marry him.

Keep in mind this letter was written a year before D&C 132, but it contains many of the same ideas within it. As I’ve stated already, our longer write-up goes into this letter in much more detail, but I want to cover a few highlights here to illustrate what Joseph Smith was telling these women. From the letter:
 

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God;”
 

This is the part of the letter that has been cited by many church leaders and prophets throughout the years, and is, without context, a very uplifting idea. However, as I will point out, in the context of the letter it’s quite manipulative kanguage. Back to the letter:
 

“but we cannot keep ALL the commandments without first knowing them, and we cannot expect to know all, or more than we now know, unless we comply with or keep those we have already received! That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, Thou shalt not kill; at another time he said, Thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of Heaven is conducted, by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire."
 

Here Joseph Smith is quickly setting the foundation for polygamy, as he explains to Nancy that things might seem wrong, but are often right. Joseph then uses the example of “thou shalt not kill” to convey that if God could condone murder, then polygamy is quite insignificant by comparison. Again, remember that Nancy Rigdon has believed Joseph Smith to be a prophet of God since being a young girl, so when Joseph Smith says “Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire,” he is effectively saying that whatever Joseph Smith says is right, even if it seems completely abhorrent to her senses.

Back to the letter:
 

"If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon; first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart; even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of Heaven only in part, but which, in reality, were right, because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation."

This part of the letter is an early version of D&C 132, where Joseph Smith is seeking to normalize the 700 wives and 300 concubines of Solomon to make polygamy more acceptable to Nancy Rigdon. But just as we pointed out, when Joseph Smith evolves his theology it often contradicts his older writings.

The language in this section is truly remarkable: When he says that Solomon desired "even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of Heaven only in part," he is undercutting the authority of the Book of Mormon, because the Book of Mormon says that the Lord himself declared that Solomon "had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord."

In other words, when Joseph says those that consider Solomon's polygamy and concubinage to be "abominable" "understand the order of Heaven only in part," he is directly contradicting the Lord himself in the Book of Mormon. Again, in the Book of Mormon we are told that Solomon's wives and concubines were "abominable before me, saith the Lord," and Joseph Smith is unquestionably stating here that the Lord knows Heaven "only in part" because he considered Solomon's practice "abominable." I know I'm repeating myself here, but I find it fascinating that Joseph Smith uses language in this letter which throws both the Book of Mormon and God under the bus in order to justify polygamy to Nancy Rigdon.

This contradiction also puts 19 year old Nancy Rigdon in a most uncomfortable spot. If she believes that a relationship with the Prophet Joseph Smith is not from God, then she is being told by Joseph Smith, a man she has trusted since a child, that she knows "the order of heaven only in part." Lucy Walker (who we will discuss further below) stated that Joseph Smith first asked her "if I believed him to be a Prophet of God" during his proposal for a polygamous marriage, and this follows that pattern of using these young women's longstanding belief in Joseph Smith over their head to gain their consent for what would otherwise be repulsive to their very core.

Last, this section is implying (just as D&C 132 does) that it is Joseph Smith himself who inquired of the Lord for polygamy. Many apologists argue that prophets are only given revelation to questions that ask about (which is the reason we are told the ban on blacks was not lifted for 140 years, harmful LGBT policies, etc), and D&C 132 itself is clear that Joseph Smith is the one who asks about polygamy when it says "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines"

Back to the letter:
 

"But in obedience there is joy and peace unspotted, unalloyed; and as God has designed our happiness, the happiness of all his creatures, he never has, he never will, institute an ordinance or give a commandment to his people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which he has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of his law and ordinances."
 

This is Joseph Smith using the language of scripture to convince Nancy Rigdon that it is a commandment to be obedient to God's servant, and Joseph Smith knows that Nancy has believed him to be God's servant since the age of 11. These are the very same tactics used by powerful men who have led many other religious movements with sexual exploitation such as the leaders like David Koresh, Wayne Bent, Julius Shacknow, Tony Alamo, David Berg, or Warren Jeffs.

The irony is that by Nancy Rigdon rejecting Joseph Smith’s proposal, she is explicitly stating that the idea of marrying and having sex with 37 year old Joseph Smith would not make her happy, and that clearly someone miscalculated in thinking that was what would provide her the most amount of joy.

I can't overstate how manipulative this letter is given how Joseph Smith is saying that God himself calculated this proposal to state that Nancy Rigdon will not only receive happiness, but the "greatest amount of good and glory" if she enters into this relationship with Joseph Smith whether it be as a polygamous wife or a concubine.

Back to the letter:
 

"Blessings offered, but rejected, are no longer blessings, but become like the talent hid in the earth by the wicked and slothful servant; the proffered good returns to the giver; the blessing is bestowed on those who will receive, and occupy; for unto him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundantly, but unto him that hath not, or will not receive, shall be taken away that which he hath, or might have had."
 

Just as in D&C 132, Joseph Smith in this letter alternatives between, as the church’s essay states, “glorious promises and stern warnings.” If Nancy does not accept his proposal, not only will she lose the blessings she would receive from accepting this polygamous relationship with Joseph Smith, but she will lose all blessings that she has already received.

This is similar to the threats Joseph Smith dictates in D&C 132 against Emma Smith, where not only will you miss out on the blessings that you could otherwise receive by accepting and practicing polygamy under Joseph Smith, but that you will also be destroyed and lose whatever other blessings you might have previously enjoyed.

When Joseph Smith uses the word "offered" it is not by accident. Given the context of why the letter written, Joseph Smith is making it clear that rejecting his offer, which he terms as a blessing, would end up costing Nancy Rigdon all blessings that she "hath, or might have had."

This is not just a manipulative tactic to gain Nancy's consent, but is spiritual extortion. Joseph Smith is telling Nancy Rigdon that if she does not enter into the proposed relationship with him that she will lose every blessing she has already felt, which chips away at the pretense of free agency for a 19 year old girl who is being pursued by a man she was raised to revere as a prophet of God.

I will highlight one more section of the letter:
 

“Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in his views, and boundless in his mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive, and, at the same time, is more terrible to the workers of iniquity, more awful in the executions of his punishments, and more ready to detect every false way than we are apt to suppose him to be; he will be inquired of by his children;”
 

Joseph Smith here is attempting to assure Nancy Rigdon that a polygamous/concubine relationship is not as immoral as it might sound because God is "more liberal" than we are ready to believe or receive.

This again is the problem that comes from having one man who claims to speak for God - they can use that authority to claim what God wants for those who believe in the self-proclaimed prophet. When a commandment from the self-proclaimed prophet seems immoral and wrong, the prophet can then claim that God is actually much more liberal than "we are ready to believe" in order to circumvent the sense of morality that the target has been taught since birth.
 
On the other hand, as we see from different prophets in church history, that "liberal" view tends to change based on the worldview of each prophet. Early prophets all believed that black members were not allowed to hold the priesthood, Russell Nelson today believes the word Mormon should not be used after past prophets publicly called Nelson out for suggesting so, and, of course, God's views on LGBT members changed in just 3.5 years after public outcry caused a 2015 revelation to be reversed in 2019.

At the same time that Joseph works to convince Nancy that polygamy is approved by God because of his liberalness, he also switches to make sure that Nancy is aware that God is "more awful in the execution of his punishments" to let her know what awaits those who reject his proposals.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but it is necessary to detail just how manipulative and abusive this letter is for a young, 19 year old woman who knows how immoral and abhorrent Joseph Smith's proposal is. The only reason we have the text of this letter is because Nancy Rigdon’s boyfriend, Francis M. Higbee, gave the letter to John C. Bennett who later published it, but the themes of the letter are not just in D&C 132 but in the other proposals we will highlight below.

I have spent way too much time on just Nancy Rigdon here, but it is so important because we have the letter that Joseph Smith wrote which really outlines how he was able to not just write in the voice of God at any moment, but to use the voice of God to put enormous pressure on these young women who viewed him as the mouthpiece for God on Earth. Look at how quickly Joseph Smith switches to the voice of God in final part of the Happiness Letter:
 

“he [God] says, Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find; but, if ye will take that which is not your own, or which I have not given you, you shall be rewarded according to your deeds; but no good thing will I withhold from them who walk uprightly before me, and do my will in all things; who will listen to my voice and to the voice of my servant whom I have sent; for I delight in those who seek diligently to know my precepts, and abide by the laws of my kingdom; for all things shall be made known unto them in mine own due time, and in the end they shall have joy."
 

As Joseph Smith finishes the letter to Nancy, he switches seamlessly into the voice of God to really hammer home that this marrying Joseph is a direct commandment from God and that Nancy needs to “listen to my voice and to the voice of my servant whom I have sent,” which in Joseph Smith’s mind are one and the same. This is how self-proclaimed prophets throughout history use their claimed authority to manipulate and exploit their followers, and this is not different than any of the other prophets I outlined at the beginning of this overview.

When I first heard the podcast that covers this letter along with the events that surrounded it, my stomach turned. I was working alone that day, and I remember gasping out loud as I heard the details. This is a horrific story, and it doesn’t end with the letter.

After Nancy rejected Joseph Smith’s proposal and letter, she committed the unforgivable sin of talking about it. Nancy’s brother John Rigdon stated the following in a 1904 letter to Arthur Welling:
 

Joseph Smith had said that “he had made a proposal to Nancy Rigdon to become his wife and she like a fool had to go and blab it.” (John Rigdon letter to Arthur Welling)
 

The church attacked her viciously as we cover in our longer post on the Happiness Letter, and even in 1845 Nancy Hyde’s legal, but not eternal, husband Orson Hyde had this to say about the incident:
 

"During my absence to Palestine, the conduct of his daughter, Nancy, became so notorious in this city, according to common rumor, she was regarded generally, little if any better than a public prostitute. Joseph Smith knowing the conduct she was guilty of, felt anxious to reprove and reclaim her if possible. He, accordingly, requested my wife to invite her down to her house. He wished to speak with her and show her the impropriety of being gallented shoot by so many different men, many of whom were comparatively strangets to her... Nancy, I presume, considered her dignity highly insulted at the plain and sharp reproofs she received front this servant of God. She ran home and told her father that Mr. Smith wanted her for a spiritual wife, and that he employed my wife to assist him in obtaining her." (Orson Hyde to Nauvoo High Priests Quurom, April 1845)
 

What’s even crazier is that this is written by the person who lost his wife for eternity to Joseph Smith on that very mission he is referencing. Nonetheless, Orson Hyde confirms that the event took place in this quote, which is very important to establish that a proposal was made. If Joseph Smith really needed to call a meeting with Nancy to tell her to stop being a prostitute, he wouldn’t have needed another wife to recruit her in such a way.

After the church slandered Nancy Rigdon publicly including accusations that Nancy Rigdon was involved in a sexual affair with John C. Bennett, even with a false account by Stephen Markham that had to be later rejected by Joseph Smith, many publicly disputed the lies being spread about Nancy Rigdon.

Among those who rushed to dispute Markham's account including George W. Robinson, Oliver Olney, Joseph H. Jackson, and John Olney. Joseph Jackson added the following:

"When, as happens in the cases of Miss Martha Brotherton and Miss Nancy Rigdon, [the prophet's] overtures were rejected, with disdain and exposure [he] threatened he would set a hundred hell hounds on them, to destroy their reputations." That is a pattern that occurs beyond just this example; Any time Joseph Smith is attacked he flips those accusations against the accuser. (Richard S. Van Wagoner, "Mormon Polygamy: A History")
 

This is why the Happiness Letter is so damning. It contains almost every element of what is so horrible about polygamy. There’s Joseph Smith marrying another man’s wife while he’s away on a mission, Joseph Smith using that new wife to recruit a younger woman to be a polygamous wife, a letter full of manipulative language – including some directly in the voice of God - to pressure her into marriage, and then an orchestrated attack once this young woman rejects the prophet and the letter gets out to the public eye.

Before I move on to a few Joseph Smith’s other proposals, I just want to again recommend reading our longer write-up on the Happiness Letter, and if you really want to get the full scoop on this event, please listen to the Mormon Discussions podcast with Jonathan Streeter and Christopher C. Smith. Their podcast and presentation is one of the most eye opening podcasts I have listened to on Mormon history, and they discuss all of these elements in much more detail.