History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

MONOGAMY AND POLYGAMY. 373
whether it is good or bad; and here, the result being
bad, the act is wrong, immoral.
The result is bad because by reason of the act civilization
takes a step backward, woman is degraded,
and the progress of the race hampered. The monogamic
is the highest type of family, and the highest
type of society, yet evolved. Polygamy is better than
promiscuity or polyandry, but it is not equal to monogamy.
Polygamy springs from the desire to extend
the sexual gratification at the expense of the better
sense of the better part of the world's inhabitants.
It is but a few removes from the old way among savages,
where women were property, and bought by husbands
to be used as slaves. To monogamy is due the
fullest development of the emotions, of the higher
sentiments, motherly tenderness, fatherly care, and
the dutiful respect and obedience on the part of chil-
dren. It is here that the passion of love assumes its
most refined form ; it is here that we find in family,
social, and political relations, the greatest good to the
greatest number.
For if we degrade woman, we degrade her children,
her husband, and the whole community. Throughout
all ages the position of woman has fixed the advancement
of the nation in the scale of refinement and
intelligence. Polygamy makes of woman, not the
equal and companion of man, but his subordinate, if
not indeed his serf or slave. The charm of her influence
is gone; the family circle becomes incongruous
and less cohesive; and there is an absence of those
firm relations, filial and paternal, which, continued
through successive generations, engender the highest
type of society yet known. Make of American women
Circassian slaves, and you will make of American
men Turks.'
The nations having the highest and best literature,
laws, commerce, and religion, the nations that are
enlightening the world with their books, telegraphs,
steamboats, and railroads, are monogamic. Polygamy