D&C Official Declaration 1

In the 101st Section the Lord stated that He -

"...established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 101:80)

It was with this understanding that President Wilford Woodruff wrote -

"Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise." (Doctrine and Covenants Official Declaration 1:4)

Some may have thought by that statement that President Woodruff was bending to policital pressure. But he later stated -

"...I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write. I laid it before my brethren—such strong men as Brother George Q. Cannon, Brother Joseph F. Smith, and the Twelve Apostles. I might as well undertake to turn an army with banners out of its course as to turn them out of a course that they considered to be right. These men agreed with me, and ten thousand Latter-day Saints also agreed with me. . . . Why? Because they were moved upon by the Spirit of God and by the revelations of Jesus Christ to do it." (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 214–16.)