Why did the Mormons decide to practice polygamy and when?

Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, asked God how it was that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon had multiple wives and concubines. read more

Cults like the FLDS, which call themselves Mormons but are disavowed by the mainstream church, believe that the LDS church was forced to renounce polygamy as a condition of Utah's becoming a state, and that the cults which still practice polygamy are the only true Mormons. read more

The experience of plural marriage toward the end of the 19th century was substantially different from that of earlier decades. Beginning in 1862, the U.S. government passed laws against the practice of plural marriage. Outside opponents mounted a campaign against the practice, stating that they hoped to protect Mormon women and American civilization. read more

Mormons saw their practice of polygamy as similar to that of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They believe that their latter-day church includes, as predicted in the Bible, the “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). read more