Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

===1904 Second Manifesto===
{{Main|Second Manifesto}}
It was not until 1904, under the leadership of church president [[Joseph F. Smith]], that the church completely banned new polygamous marriages worldwide.<ref>Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Sunday Schools, Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union, 1968, p. 159.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Appears to be a denominational Sunday School manual|date=February 2024}} Not surprisingly, rumors persisted of marriages performed after the 1890 Manifesto, and beginning in January 1904, testimony given in the [[Reed Smoot hearings|Smoot hearings]] made it clear that polygamy had not been completely extinguished.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The ambiguity was ended in the General Conference of April 1904, when Smith issued the "[[Second Manifesto]]", an emphatic declaration that prohibited new polygamous marriages and proclaimed that offenders would be subject to [[Disciplinary council|church discipline]].{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} It declared that any who participated in additional plural marriages, and those officiating, would be excommunicated from the church. Those disagreeing with the Second Manifesto included apostles [[Matthias F. Cowley]] and [[John W. Taylor (Mormon)|John W. Taylor]], who both resigned from the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve]]. Cowley retained his membership in the church, but Taylor was later excommunicated.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Although the Second Manifesto ended the official practice of new polygamous marriages, existing ones were not automatically dissolved. Many Mormons, including prominent church leaders, maintained their polygamy into the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name=1950s>{{Cite web |last=Embry |first=Jessie L. |year=1994 |title=The History of Polygamy |url=https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107044102/https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |archive-date=2018-11-07 |access-date=2018-12-31 |website=heritage.utah.gov |publisher=Utah State Historical Society |quote=Those involved in plural marriages after 1904 were excommunicated; and those married between 1890 and 1904 were not to have church callings where other members would have to sustain them. Although the Mormon church officially prohibited new plural marriages after 1904, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.}}</ref>

In 1943, the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] learned that apostle [[Richard R. Lyman]] was cohabitating with a woman other than his legal wife. As it turned out, in 1925 Lyman had begun a relationship which he defined as a polygamous marriage. Unable to trust anyone else to officiate, Lyman and the woman exchanged vows secretly. By 1943, both were in their seventies. Lyman was excommunicated on November 12, 1943. The Quorum of the Twelve provided the newspapers with a one-sentence announcement, stating that the ground for excommunication was violation of the [[law of chastity]].{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}