This Official Declaration, fashioned after the LDS 1890 Manifesto, signed by Ross W. LeBaron and Robert Eaby, presented a unique response in Mormondom to the new civil rights legislation. They found in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by president Lyndon B. Johnson, the basis to nullify the Mormon Official Declaration 1.
Transcription
OFFICIAL DECLARATION
Manifesto
To Whom It May Concern: The following was sustained….
Inasmuch as a Civil Right’s Law has been enacted by Congress, forbidding discrimination against race, creed or color: which Law has been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort: I hereby declare, that the Mormon Manifesto of Oct. 6, 1890, has been made null and void by said Civil Right’s Act of Congress, signed July 2, 1964.
And that the worthy Saints, by said Act of Congress, have had restored to them their former right’s and privileges, in relation to the Church and Kingdom of God, that were practiced by them before the various discriminatory laws were enacted against them and their religion.
I also declare, that the said Civil Right’s Act of July 2, 1964 was signed at the end of the 120 year period from the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, June 27, 1844.
I also declare, that 1260 days will have passed since the signing of the said Civil Right’s Law, by December 14, 1967; and that the said Law shall be regarded as in force, according to the time period allowed by the law of God to test or prove a legality.
I also declare, that on said date (Dec. 14 1967), that Zion shall be delivered from the bondage of those said discriminatory laws that were enacted against her, which lead to the confiscation of property, and the signing of the said Manifesto of October 6, 1890.
I also declare, that it is the natural right of man to have more than one wife at a time if the parties involved are agreed, as the marriage and divorce laws are primarily based upon religious and moral ethics, which the Civil Law does not comprehend.
I also declare, that if the said Civil Right’s Law of July 2, 1964 is in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, wherein he stated, “Your covenant with death shall be disa[n]nulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand (the L.D.S. Manifesto); when the overflowing scourge (integration) shall pass through then shall ye be trodden down by it, (the Manifesto).
Ross W. LeBaron
President of the Holy Order of God.
President Robert W. Eaby offered the following:
“I move that, recognizing Ross W. LeBaron as the President of the Holy Order of God, and the only man on earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his authority to issue this declaration;
Which has been read in our hearing, and which is dated, December 9, 1967, and as a Holy Order in in [sic] general assembly, we accept his declaration pertaining to Zion’s delivery, December 14, 1967, by the Civil Right’s Act of Congress and dissanullment [sic] of the Mormon Manifesto as authoritative and binding.”
Editor’s Notes | Further Readings
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bill can be found here.
An article on the role of Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Act into law can be found here.
How the 1890 Manifesto has changed in LDS scriptures is summarized here.
The obituary of Robert Eaby can be found here.
Ross LeBaron, the Holy Order and the Church of the Firstborn 