Laws Against Polygamy In The United States

Love For Another

A family of five, the mother is sick, the father has just lost his job, the kids are beginning to worry. The father has set his eyes on another woman. She is young, she is a single mother, she has a stable job, and she wants to become a wife. The man’s wife agrees with him on bringing the young woman and her child into their family. The man marries the young woman and introduces her and her child into the family soon after. The young woman and her child love the new family. The young woman provides for the family while her new husband looks for a new job, while her husband’s three children play with her child, and while her sister wife recovers from her illness. The beginning of the practice of polygamy is not well known, but

However, some laws and bans against polygamy may infringe with those rights. Laws against polygamy are discriminatory and “demonize religious and life choices” (Phillips). These laws are also unconstitutional for it conflicts with religious freedom and the right to privacy. In 1860, there was a ban on polygamy which deemed the practice as revolting and unpleasant by a committee of the House, and it was deemed as contrary to Christianity by the Supreme Court. The actions went against freedom of religion, a basic right mentioned in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States (Chapman). It is a basic right for consenting adults to have as many partners as desired. “Marrying someone is an ‘intimacy right’” and the government should only keep up with records of marriages instead of dictating the choices of others (Ho). Polygamist adults should be allowed to make decisions regarding religion and partners without laws conflicting against life choices made by grown adults. “Morality is better left to parents than politicians.”

Polygamy can be used to prevent infidelities in monogamous couples. In any typical monogamous relationship, the husband would be likely have an affair on his wife for whatever reason. In a polygamous relationship, if a husband develops feelings for another woman, he can simply speak with his wife about adding the new woman to the couple’s family. In a polygamous family, there would be additional parents to help with household chores and even with taking care of the children (Ho). The addition of a father or a mother in a family would give the children within it another role model to look up to. Women in plural marriages would also benefit from the increased independent time to do what they would like since there would not be a full-time husband around (Khan). With a polygamous family, orphaned children and widows could easily be accepted into plural families and guaranteed care and protection, and most importantly, love