And what of the question of polygamy, which, during the years that _The Mormon_ was published, was the slogan of the enemies of the people of Utah--the head and front of Mormon offending? To understand the amount of bitterness infused into the remarks of the press--discussion would be too dignified a term for the denunciation and invectives found in it--the reader must remember that besides being a religious controversy, Mormon plural marriage was also dragged into the politics of the country. The Democratic party at that period took the ground that the territories were to be free to regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States. This was the celebrated "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine, which grew up out of the slavery controversy; and was the manner in which certain sections of the pro-slavery party proposed to settle the question of the existence of slavery in the territories--that is by leaving it to the inhabitants of the Territory to establish or reject it on becoming states. The Abolition Party promptly took advantage of their opponents who accepted the "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine, by saying that if the Territories were to be free to regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, then Utah had a right to establish polygamy as well as slavery if she so elected, and thus threw the odium of sustaining polygamy as well as slavery--which they denominated the "Twin relics of barbarism"--upon the popular sovereignty division of the pro-slavery party. To escape this odium of sustaining a Territory in the right to establish polygamy, if the inhabitants thereof should so desired, the pro-slavery party was more vindictive in its denunciations of Mormon plural marriage than the abolitionists themselves--and thus all parties, with all the bitterness which characterized political discussions in those days were arrayed against Mormonism--especially against plural marriage: and finally, when the Republican Party was organized, in 1856, and adopted the doctrines of the abolitionists, it incorporated in its platform the following: "_Resolved_, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism, slavery and polygamy." In the midst of the agitation and bitterness which led up to such a conclusion as this, though unaided and alone--sustained only by his own conviction of the truth of the system of marriage that God had revealed, and conscious of the support and approval of Almighty God--Elder Taylor stood unmoved and fearlessly sustained the rightfulness of Mormon plural marriage against all who opposed it. In the very first issue of the _Mormon_, under the caption "Polygamy," he said: