Significance: This ruling tested the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which states that Congress may not make laws that prohibit people from practicing their religions. The ruling established that religious activities that harm the public interest are not protected under the First Amendment.
Background: During the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, concerted efforts were made to stamp out the Mormon practice of polygamy, in which men had more than one wife. In response, a federal law was passed making bigamy illegal. A bigamist is someone who is married to two people at the same time. Mormon church leaders put together a case to test this federal law. George Reynolds, the secretary to Mormon leader Brigham Young, was convicted of bigamy in a Utah Territory district court. He appealed the decision on the grounds that having several wives was part of his religious practice, which was protected under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
Decision: This case was argued November 14­15, 1878, and decided on May 5, 1879, by a vote of 9 to 0. Chief Justice Morrison Waite spoke for the unanimous Court, which concluded that the free exercise clause applied only to belief, not to actions. Therefore, George Reynolds was free to believe in bigamy and polygamy, but not to act on that belief. This decision was necessary, the Court argued, to prevent anything and everything, even crimes, from becoming excusable and legal under the right of free religious practice.
