220 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (POLYGAMY IN UTAH.) 



be the doty of the Attorney-General of the 

 United States to institute and prosecute pro- 

 ceedings to forfeit and escheat to the United 

 States the property of corporations obtained 

 or hold in violation of section 3 of the act of 

 Congress approved the 1st day of July, 1862, 

 entitled " An act to punish and prevent the 

 practice of polygamy in the Territories of the 

 United States and other places, and disapprov- 

 ing and annulling certain acts of the Legislative 

 Assembly of the Territory of Utah," or in vio- 

 lation of section 1890 of the Revised Statutes 

 of the United States ; that in proceeding for 

 this purpose courts shall have the power to 

 compel the production of books, records, and 

 papers ; that the incorporation of the Perpet- 

 ual Emigration Company shall be annulled; 

 that existing election districts shall be abol- 

 ished ; that adultery shall be punished by im- 

 prisonment not exceeding three years and for- 

 nication by imprisonment not exceeding six 

 months ; that United States Commissioners in 

 Utah shall have the common powers of justices 

 of the peace and the marshals the ordinary 

 powers of a sheriff; that the Supreme Court of 

 the Territory shall have power to appoint a su- 

 perintendent of schools, and that the use of sec- 

 tarian books therein shall be prohibited ; and 

 that a widow shall be endowed of the third 

 part of all the lands wherein her husband was 

 seized of an estate by inheritance at any time 

 during marriage. 



The arguments in favor of such legislation 

 are familiar ; but, as the grounds of opposition 

 to it are not so generally understood, we pre- 

 sent them as put forward by Mr. Brown, of 

 Georgia : 



" Mr. President, the Constitution of the Unit- 

 ed States expressly declares that Congress shall 

 make no law respecting an establishment of 

 religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. 

 Webster, in his dictionary, defines religion as 

 follows : 



First, the recognition of God as an object of wor- 

 ship, love, and obedience ; right feelings toward God 

 as rightly apprehended; piety. Second, anv system 

 of liiith and worship, as the religion of the 'Turks, of 

 Hindoos, of Christians ; true and false religion. 



'I Then, Mr. President, the Constitution of the 

 United States guarantees to every citizen of 

 the United States the free exercise of his re- 

 ligion, whether he be Christian, Turk, Hindoo, 

 or Mormon, and the Congress of the United 

 States not only has no right by any act to re- 

 strict the free exercise of religion, or of reli- 

 gious opinion, but such restriction is absolutely 

 forbidden. But this free exercise of religion 

 which is guaranteed by the Constitution of the 

 United States does not authorize the practice 

 of gross immorality under the cloak or in the 

 name of religion. 



"According to the general opinion of the 

 Christian world, and according to the statutes 

 of the Congress of the United States, the prac- 

 tice of polygamy is grossly immoral, and is not 

 only prohibited by statute, but its practice is 



to be punished by penitentiary imprisonment. 

 The Supreme Court of the United States has 

 sustained this construction of the constitution- 

 al provision under consideration. It follows, 

 therefore, that no Mormon or other person in a 

 Territory of the United States can shield him- 

 self in any court when arraigned for the prac- 

 tice of polygamy by pleading his religious free- 

 dom as a justification. Then, what follows ? 

 Those who commit polygamy in the Territories 

 are subject to indictment, trial, and punishment 

 in the courts of the United States. "When 

 convicted after a fair trial, it is the duty of the 

 court to sentence the defendant to penitentiary 

 imprisonment, just as it is the duty of the court, 

 upon trial and conviction, to sentence any one 

 found guilty of murder or any other felony. 



u The same rule which applies to the class of 

 offenders known as polygamists applies, in like 

 manner, to every other class of violators of the 

 penal statutes of the United States; and the 

 criminals of this class should be arraigned, 

 tried, and convicted as are the criminals of 

 other classes of violators of the penal code. 

 I have repeatedly denounced polygamy on this 

 floor. I consider it grossly immoral in viola- 

 tion of the laws of God and man. Our law 

 consigns polygamists to the same punishment, 

 when convicted, to which it consigns any other 

 like class of criminals. I admit, in the broad- 

 est sense of the term, that no Mormon or other 

 citizen of a Territory can defend himself under 

 an indictment for polygamy by pleading his 

 right to the free exercise of religion. 



" But, while this is true, I utterly deny that 

 the Congress of the United States, or any de- 

 partment or officer of the Government of the 

 United States, has any power to punish a Mor- 

 mon or any other citizen of the Territory by 

 imprisoning his person or confiscating his prop- 

 erty, or depriving him of his right to vote or 

 hold office, or of any other civil right, for big- 

 amy or polygamy or any other crime, without 

 presentment or indictment of a grand jury and 

 trial and conviction by due course of law. And 

 I utterly repudiate the right of the Government 

 of the United States, or any department or 

 officer thereof, to ascertain the guilt of any 

 such offender by the application of a test-oath, 

 or to deny to any one the exercise of any right 

 of a citizen on account of his or her refusal to 

 take such oath, or to be interrogated under oath, 

 as to his or her guilt or innocence. 



" And, while it is true that the Mormon who 

 commits polygamy is subject to indictment, 

 conviction, and punishment, as any other crim- 

 inal, it is equally true that the 100,000 Mor- 

 mons, who, as the report of the Utah Commis- 

 sioners appointed by the President shows, do 

 not practice polygamy are protected by the 

 provisions of the Constitution already referred 

 to in the free exercise of their religious opin- 

 ions. And no Mormon can be convicted or 

 punished, or his goods seized, or his property 

 confiscated, or his right to vote or hold office 

 abridged, on account of any opinion he may 



