Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, was a fervent believer in polygamy: so much so, that he took on, by some estimates, as many as fifty wives. The Book of Mormon defends the practice citing the bible passage about “raising seed up to [God],” and the earliest Church members resisted government crackdowns on the issue. Still, this battle between Church and State was won by the latter, as the U.S. government systematically persecuted Mormons to the fullest extent of the law, forcing a decision by the elders.

On this day, September 24, in 1890 the Mormon Church President Wilford Woodruff gave a terse “manifesto” to the assembled General Authorities to the effect the Lord had given him guidance to abandon polygamy.

Whatever the divine message to Woodruff said, in practice he had little choice: If Mormons would not disavow polygamy, they would face federal confiscation of their land, seizure of their sacred temples and prosecution of practitioners as federal fugitives. The mainstream LDS wound down the practice (however slowly), but the anti-polygamy statute is still rejected by hardline Mormons.