The Poland Act (18 Stat. 253) of 1874 was an act of the US Congress that sought to facilitate prosecutions under the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act by eliminating the control members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) exerted over the justice system of Utah Territory. Sponsored by US Representative Luke P. Poland of Vermont, the Act redefined the jurisdiction of Utah courts by giving the US district courts exclusive jurisdiction in Utah Territory over all civil and criminal cases. The Act also eliminated the territorial marshal and attorney and gave their duties to a US Marshal and a US Attorney. The Act also altered petit and grand jury empaneling rules to keep polygamists off juries. By removing Latter-day Saints from positions of authority in the Utah justice system, the Act was intended to allow for successful prosecutions of Mormon polygamists. Background In 1862, US President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the anti-bigamy bill known as the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, but it was not rigorously enforced against Mormons in Utah Territory. The "legislation struck at both polygamy and Church power by prohibiting plural marriage in the territories, disincorporating the [...] Church, and restricting the Church's ownership of property to fifty thousand dollars." The Mormons, believing that the law unconstitutionally deprived them of their First Amendment right to practice their religion freely, chose to ignore the law. In the following years, several bills aimed at strengthening the anti-bigamy laws failed to pass the US Congress. They included the Wade, Cragin, and Cullom Bills, which had their origin in the Utah Territory and were initiated by men who were bitterly opposed to the Mormon curia. The Wade Bill, initiated in 1866, would have destroyed local government if it had passed. Three years later the Cragin Bill was proposed, but within a few days, it was substituted by the Cullom Bill, which was more radical than the Wade and the Cragin Bills. Members of the church worked for the defeat of the bill, including women of the church, who held mass meetings throughout the territory in January 1870 in opposition to the bill. Frank J. Cannon stated: "Brigham had no trouble in organizing at home a resistance to the Cullom bill, in which Gentiles, Godbeites, and orthodox Mormons stood side by side. The women of Utah made a special and particular protest. The fact that women in the state of