How accurate are William Marks’ claims about Joseph Smith renouncing plural marriage?

While Marks acknowledged that the doctrine of plural marriage was introduced during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, he uniquely portrays the Prophet as regretting the practice and planning to denounce it.

No other contemporary witness supports this version. Marks’s account, which reflects his own strong anti-polygamy stance, appears carefully framed for a sympathetic audience.

Still, if Marks’s story contains a kernel of truth, it may reflect a strategic move by Smith, who was concerned about the growing backlash against polygamy and wanted to protect the church from external threats.

In this reading, Smith may not have intended to abandon the doctrine entirely but rather to manage its fallout by publicly condemning it while privately controlling it.

According to Marks, Smith proposed that Marks publicly repudiate the principle. If Smith planned to later forgive the offenders, it would allow the church to distance itself from the controversy without fully relinquishing the doctrine.

Even so, Marks stands alone in claiming such a plan, and the lack of corroboration makes his account more a reflection of his personal perspective than a reliable record of Smith’s intentions.