Apostle and U.S. senator
Reed Smoot
1862–1941
1 topic · 3 dated events · 1 source
Their part in each topic
Utah Polygamy and the Manifesto
Apostle and U.S. senator
Elected by the Utah legislature in January 1903 while serving as an apostle, Smoot was a monogamist whose seat became the occasion for a four-year Senate investigation of the church itself. The Senate finally voted in February 1907 to let him keep it. His diaries are the closest thing to an insider's running account of the hearings.
In the timeline
3 events across 1 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
Reed Smoot elected to the U.S. Senate
The Utah legislature chose Smoot, an apostle since 1900 and a monogamist, by 46 votes to 16. The Salt Lake Ministerial Association and Protestant and reform groups petitioned that he not be seated, alleging that the church's leaders still connived at plural marriage.
Joseph F. Smith testifies at the Smoot hearings
The church president was the first witness, testifying on six separate days. He acknowledged cohabiting with five wives and fathering eleven children since 1890, and said he had taken his chances rather than abandon his children and their mothers. Asked about new plural marriages, he distinguished acts sanctioned by the church from acts of individuals.
The Senate lets Smoot keep his seat
The Committee on Privileges and Elections had voted 7 to 5 in June 1906 that Smoot was not entitled to his seat. The full Senate rejected the resolution, 28 for expulsion and 42 against, short of the two-thirds required. Smoot served twenty-six more years.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
In the World: The Diaries of Reed Smoot
Reed Smoot, ed. Harvard S. Heath
How the hearings looked to the man on trial and to church leaders corresponding with him, including apostolic discussion of new polygamy cases as late as 1909.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Reed Smoot.
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