1887 RANDOLPH J. TUCKER. Polygamy: Anti-Mormon Bill to Ban Polygamy. Rare.

Rare speech of Virginia Representative, and namesake of the Act, J. Randolph Tucker in support of the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887.

The Act of Congress aimed to restrict polygamist practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

In President Grover Cleveland's annual address to Congress in December 1885, he emotionally discussed the issue of polygamy in Utah:

The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy. . . . There is no feature of this practice or the system which sanctions it which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions. There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame.

The Act was passed by the Senate in January 1886 by a vote of 38–7. It was passed by the House via a voice vote in January 1887.

The act disincorporated both the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they fostered polygamy. The act prohibited the practice of polygamy and punished it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. The act was enforced by the U.S. Marshal and a host of deputies.

The Act further required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials, annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit, required civil marriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy), etc.

Very rare. No copies traced at auction or private sale. 

Tucker, J. Randolph. Polygamy. Speech of Hon. J. Randolph Tucker, of Virginia. In the House of Representatives, Wednesday, January 12, 1887. Washington, D. C. The Franklin Printing House. 1887. 12pp.

A good + copy, bound in wraps, shaken, with light foxing, handled pages, small tears and folds.