Mormons, Polygamy, and the Edmonds-Tucker Act of 1882 (Political Cartoon)

Uncle Sam (The United States Federal Government) attempts to enforce the Edmonds-Tucker Act, which effectively abolished polygamy, made it a felony, and revoked polygamists’ rights. The Mormons up to this point have disobeyed the new law (thus the broken arm on Uncle Sam, which represents the law having been broken.) In this image, an officer (Uncle Sam), approaches a Mormon stronghold to appropriate justice, namely, in the Utah Territory as it was called then (Now it is called Utah). The plural wives look distressed, while their polygamous husband rolls up his sleeves, ready to defy the United States federal government, a scene indicative of the Mormon attitude toward the United states federal government in those days and also in the present time. ;—From The Daily Graphic Newspaper – Volume 32 – From the Monday, October 22, 1883 Edition (NYC)