Polygamy Under Joseph Smith w/ Lindsay Hansen Park & Bryan Buchanan | Ep. 1815

Joseph Smith and Polygamy: What the Historical Record Actually Shows

When members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attend seminary or study church history in official curricula, they typically encounter a narrative in which polygamy appears suddenly during Brigham Young's leadership in Utah, a distant, regrettable chapter that has little to do with the church's founding. This framing has become so embedded in mainstream LDS discourse that many members are genuinely shocked to discover documented evidence that Joseph Smith himself practiced and promoted polygamy during his lifetime. Understanding what historians have actually uncovered about polygamy under Joseph Smith is essential for anyone seeking an honest accounting of early Mormon history, whether they remain believers or have moved away from the faith.

The question isn't whether Joseph Smith engaged in polygamy, that's been established by both LDS and secular historians. The real historical question centers on when it began, how extensive it was, what justifications he offered, and why the official church narrative minimized or concealed these facts for over a century.

Background: The Hidden Practice Under Joseph Smith

According to recent scholarship discussed on the Mormon Stories Podcast episode featuring historian Lindsay Hansen Park and documentary filmmaker Bryan Buchanan, the evidence for Joseph Smith's polygamy is far more substantial than older apologetic frameworks acknowledged. While the LDS Church now officially recognizes that Smith practiced polygamy, the manner in which this history was suppressed raises important questions about institutional transparency.

Joseph Smith first mentioned polygamy in written form through the controversial 1831 revelation on marriage, though the practice appears to have begun earlier. By the Kirtland, Ohio period in the mid-1830s, contemporary accounts describe Smith approaching women in his community with marriage proposals while already married to Emma Hale Smith. These weren't theoretical discussions, they resulted in plural marriages, some of which produced children.