In September 1890, Wilford Woodruff, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

met with his counselors with a vexing problem.

How could they, as prophets and the first presidency of the church, prevent their religion

from being squashed by the federal government over the practice of plural marriage?

They ultimately decided that the Lord had confirmed them that, quote,

the time had come to meet the requirements of the country, to meet the demands that have been

made upon us and to save the people, unquote. When his counselors and apostles vowed to support him,

Woodruff called for more than a thousand copies of his manifesto to be sent to the present,

cabinet, Senate, House of Representatives,

and other leading men, in order to end the arrest of polygamous.

The declaration was accepted and sustained by common consent at the next week's General Conference

of the Church. Most Latter-day Saints seem to have approved of the decision. At least one Latter-day

saint, though, remained silent, his arm remaining at his side, like lead, he remembered, unable to approve the decision. At least one Latter-day Saint, though, remained silent, his arm remaining at his

side, like lead, he remembered, unable to approve the revelation. Another Mormon man wrote,

many of the saints seemed stunned and confused and hardly knew how to vote, feeling that if they

endorsed it, they would be voting against one of the most sacred and important principles of their

religion. And yet, as it had been promulgated by the

prophet, Sierra and the earthly mouthpiece of the Almighty, they felt it must be proper for some

reason or other. A great many of the sisters wept silently and seemed to feel worse than the

brethren. In this episode of Abide, a Maxwell Institute podcast, we discussed the origins and

implications of the Revelation

canonizes official declaration one, also known popularly as the Woodruff Manifesto.

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