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View Full Version : US tyranny? What is old is new again?




LibForestPaul
05-07-2010, 06:27 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmunds-Tucker_Act

The act disincorporated both the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they fostered polygamy. The act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. The act was enforced by the U.S. marshal and a host of deputies.

The act:

* Dissolved the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, with assets to be used for public schools in the Territory.[1]
* Required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials.
* Annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit.
* Required civil marriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy).
* Abrogated the common law spousal privilege for polygamists, thus requiring wives to testify against their husbands[2]
* Disfranchised women (who had been enfranchised by the Territorial legislature in 1870).
* Replaced local judges (including the previously powerful Probate Court judges) with federally appointed judges.
* Removed local control in school textbook choice.[citation needed]