1886 Revelation

Mormonism and polygamy
Portrait of five caucasian Latter-day Saints, married to each other in nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint polygamy, against the backdrop of what may be a hedge. All seem to be posing; none face the camera. Leftmost is a woman, seated, her hair done in a high, braided bun, wearing a dress with buttons down the middle; in her hands are an open book. Center-left, standing furthest to the back (though still very much with the portraited group) is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, in a polka-dotted top and a scarf or ascot around her neck and a skirt. She carries a hat, held to her waist. Center is a woman, sort of kneeling or seated (perhaps there is an unseen stool she's sitting on?). She wears a white dress, her hair is done up in a high and large bun and she wears a headband. In her right arm she holds a hat, over her knees; her left arm rests on the lap of the man sitting center right. She may be leaning against his legs. Center-right is a man, wearing a suit jacket of some kind and a high-collared shirt. He is balded and bearded. His left hand is placed over the left arm of the center woman. Rightmost is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, sitting in a visibly wooden (likely handcrafted) chair. She wears a dress with buttons going down the middle. She holds a hat, which looks very like center's hat, over her knees.
A Mormon "Saint" and Wives by Charles Weitfle (c. 1878–1885)
Early Mormonism
Joseph Smith • Wives of Joseph Smith • Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy • Spiritual wifery
Latter-day Saints
Brigham Young • Wives of Brigham Young • Late-19th century Mormon polygamy • Mormon colonies in Mexico • 1890 Manifesto • Reed Smoot hearings • 1904 Manifesto
Mormon fundamentalism
AUB • Centennial Park group • Council of Friends • Current state of polygamy • FLDS Church • Kingston Group • List of leaders • Lost boys • Short Creek raid • YFZ Ranch
Antipolygamy laws
Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act • Poland Act • Edmunds Act • Edmunds–Tucker Act
Case law
Reynolds v. US • Cannon v. US • Clawson v. US • Davis v. Beason • Late Corp. of the LDS Church v. US • Cleveland v. US • Brown v. Buhman • List of polygamy court cases
Related articles
Celestial marriage • Freedom of religion in the US • Legal status of polygamy • List of practitioners  • Polygamy czar • Polygamy in Christianity • Polygamy in North America • Timeline of civil marriage in the United States
Latter Day Saints portal

In the Mormon fundamentalist movement, the 1886 Revelation is the text of a revelation said to have been received by John Taylor, third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), on 27 September 1886,[1] which restated the permanence of the principle of plural marriage. Along with Joseph Smith's 1843 revelation on plural marriage,[2] the 1886 revelation is one of the primary documents used by Mormon fundamentalists to justify their continued practice of polygamy. The LDS Church, which issued a "manifesto" in 1890 to end offical church sanction of new plural marriages, and in 1904 to more forcefully terminate the practice of new plural marriages, does not accept the 1886 revelation as authentic.[3]

  1. ^ Quinn, D. Michael (1985). "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890–1904". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 18 (1): 9–105. ISSN 0012-2157. JSTOR 45225323. Presently available documents of 1885-86 are silent about this revelation, but much later documentation and commentary identified this revelation as having been received by John Taylor on 27 September 1886.
  2. ^ Doctrine and Covenants section 132.
  3. ^ In an "Official Statement" from the First Presidency of the LDS Church, signed by Heber J. Grant, A.W. Ivins and J. Reuben Clark, Jr., it states: "It is alleged that on September 26–27, 1886, President John Taylor received a revelation from the Lord, the purported text is given in publications circulated apparently by or at the instance of this organization (Fundamentalists). As to this pretended revelation it should be said that the archives of the Church contain no such a revelation; the archives contain no record of any such a revelation, nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such a revelation was ever given. From the personal knowledge of some of us, from the uniform and common recollection of the presiding quorums of the Church, from the absence in the Church archives of any evidence whatsoever justifying any belief that such a revelation was given, we are justified in affirming that no such a revelation exists."