Includes bibliographical references and index.

"That these things might come forth" : early Mormonism and the American Republic -- "We shall then live together as one great family" : Mormonism and the public/private divide -- "More the companion and much less the subordinate" : polygamy and Mormon woman's citizenship -- "The utter destruction of the home circle" : polygamy and the perversion of the private sphere -- "They can not exist in contact with republican institutions" : consent, contract, and citizenship under "polygamic theocracy" -- "The foulest ulcer on the body of our nation" : race, class, and contagion in anti-Mormon literature -- "Suffer a surrender --? no, never!" : the end of plural marriage.

Explores "the Mormon question," the division between public/private spheres, and the ways that plural marriage was received by the American public. The author argues that the conflict over plural marriage was as much about conceptions of "Americanness" as it was about the practice of plural marriage itself.

Description based on print version record.