Polygamy’s Long Durée
April 17, 2017 | Arizona State University
Professor Flake presented at the Sandra Day O’Connor Law School. Her paper was entitled, “Polygamy’s Long Durée,” and began:
“Latter-day Saint history of plural marriage is a long one by whatever measure. My own measure begins as early as 1829 with the production of the Book of Mormon. . . . It ends between 1904 and 1911 when Joseph F. Smith first proclaims the legitimacy of Wilford Woodruff’s 1890 ‘Manifesto’ and seven years later begins to excommunicate those who will not cease creating new plural marriages. Seldom is this history considered in its totality. I’d like to try today by dividing this 80 year whole into three parts and present two vignettes in each.”