The Practice Of Polygamy In The United States (Essay Sample)

THE PRACTICE OF POLYGAMY IN THE UNITED STATES
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Polygamy has been defined as the practice in which a man marries more than one woman. It has been practiced by many communities around the world for centuries in Asia and many parts of the African Continent. The practice caught up in America owing to religious practices among the members of the Mormon Church, some members the African-American and the Muslim population. Those who practice polygamy do so on the basis of their religious practices. Although there are many polygamous families living and practicing polygamy in the United States, the practice is done secretly. This discourse will find out the position of polygamy and whether the practice has a place in the modern American society.
The history of polygamy in the United States goes back many years when the practice was introduced among people who practiced it on the basis of the practice in the Old Testament. In the 1830s and 1840s, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, encouraged his followers to embrace the practice of polygamy, emulating the Old Testament patriarchs; and in 1852 an announcement of plural marriage as an article of faith was made by Brigham Young (Swisher, P.N. “I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU HUSBAND AND WIVES”: THE CASE FOR POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGE AFTER UNITED STATES V. WINDSOR AND BURWELL V. HOBBY LOBBY STORES). Although this went on for a long time, the practice was made illegal by legislation after the famous case of Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879) that observed that polygamy was illegal in the United States. Today, polygamy is still practiced by few members of the Mormon fraternity, members of the Muslim community and the Africa- American community, but secretly due to the penal sanctions placed on it.
One of the problems that affect polygamous families in the United States of America is the refusal to recognize the marriages as valid under the law. This in effect denies the women in polygamous families’ protection under the law as wives. The law criminalizes polygamy and is therefore practiced secretly by people who observe it for religious reasons. Up to 150,000 polygamists live in the United States as outlaws on the margins of society. Although every state prohibits and criminalizes polygamy, the practice thrives in religious communities throughout the country. Most familiar are fundamentalist offshoots of the Mormon Church that practice polygamy in the West and Southwest, often in insular communities located on remote and secluded compounds. Less familiar are the polygamous African‐ American Muslims who live in Philadelphia and other cities along the East Coast. While the latter groups live in plain sight in mainstream society, they are not visible as polygamists because, like fundamentalist Mormons, they must avoid the potential repercussions of their criminalized behavior (Faucon, C. Marriage Outlaws: Regulating Polygamy in America).
Due to the penal sanctions and the stigma involved, the most affected are the women and children. Most suffer in the marriages and are unable to come out and report abuse because of the fear that they may be prosecuted for being in such unions. It leaves the women vulnerable and without much recourse owing to the fear of reporting. Further, the women are not recognized in the society as wives of the man despite the fact that there is cohabitation. The failure to recognize them as wives deprives them some benefits that a wife would be entitled to in a valid marriage.
Another glaring and unfortunate problem that women in polygamous families face in the United States is the issue of child custody. There is an assumption that women in polygamous unions subject the children to conditions that are not suitable for their growth and this oftenly leads to women losing custody of the children because of the practice. It is believed that women in polygamous families are physically and emotionally abused by the spouse and the negative effect trickles down to the children in the families. Some scholars have argued that this goes against the principle of the best interest of the child and end up losing custody of their children.
Having looked at the primary problems that families in polygamous families go through in the United States, it is necessary that the law offers protection to people in such families. First this can be done by recognition of polygamous families to end the stigma and suffering in silence. Secondly, the law ought to promote the enjoyment of religious rights for Americans in so far as they do not affect the rights of other people. The courts across the United States have affirmed the exercise of the First Amendmen...