Abe's famous response was to compare the polygamous Mormons to a large tree that had fallen in a field. Too tough to chop and too large to move, you would plow around it for a while and let it rot.
After the Civil War, the US government put an end to the illegal LDS theocracy in Utah.
About 40 years passed after the end of the Civil War before the Feds were able to convince the LDS Church (through brute force) to officially end polygamy.
LOL. (How Appropo...and insightful on Abe's part. He always was forthright honest Abe). Thanks for sharing.
But... but...
. . . I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But 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. . . .