If the numbers of men and women in a community are about even....
The mathematics of polygamy doesn’t work very well.
If the number of wives a man has is directly inked to entering Heaven and their status there, it is important to create opportunities to acquire more women.
I have found at least ten things that 19th Century Mormons did to offset the math.
1. Marry very young girls. 14, 15 and even younger.
2. Send men on extremely long missions. 3 years or more...So they aren’t marrying until about 24 or 25.
3. Allow some missionaries who were already married to date and find new wives on missions,
4. Marry other men’s wives.
5. Send men to war like the Mormon Battalion.
6. Specially target single women on missions.
7. Threaten men if they dated some girls and even kill and castrate.
8. Excommunicate men for small offenses to push them out of competition.
9. Allow wealth to accumulate in the hands of leaders.
10. Push young couples out of Salt Lake to other settlements so that leaders got first pick of immigrant women.
Other related posts:
Joseph Smith is a Sexual Predator
Brigham Young had a favorite wife
Who is keeping the law of chastity?
