Cannon practiced plural marriage and was married to six women.
Cannon frequently spoke in justification of the practice.


When the Supreme Court upheld the ban on plural marriage in the 1879 Reynolds v. United States decision, Cannon stated: 
Our crime has been: We married women instead of seducing them; we reared children instead of destroying them; we desired to exclude from the land prostitution, bastardy and infanticide.
If George Reynolds [the man who was convicted of committing bigamy] is to be punished, let the world know the facts. ...
Let it be published to the four corners of the earth that in this land of liberty, the most blessed and glorious upon which the sun shines, the law is swiftly invoked to punish religion, but justice goes limping and blindfolded in pursuit of crime.

Eventually, Cannon went "underground" with others in the church leadership as a fugitive from the federal authorities.
In September 1888, Cannon surrendered himself and pleaded guilty at trial to charges of unlawful cohabitation under the Edmunds Act.
As a result, Cannon served nearly six months in Utah's federal penitentiary.

Cannon was pardoned in 1894 by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
Cannon practiced plural marriage and was married to six women. Cannon frequently spoke in justification of the practice.

When the Supreme Court upheld the ban on plural marriage in the 1879 Reynolds v. United States decision, Cannon stated: 
Our crime has been: We married women instead of seducing them; we reared children instead of destroying them; we desired to exclude from the land prostitution, bastardy and infanticide. If George Reynolds [the man who was convicted of committing bigamy] is to be punished, let the world know the facts. ... Let it be published to the four corners of the earth that in this land of liberty, the most blessed and glorious upon which the sun shines, the law is swiftly invoked to punish religion, but justice goes limping and blindfolded in pursuit of crime.
Eventually, Cannon went "underground" with others in the church leadership as a fugitive from the federal authorities. In September 1888, Cannon surrendered himself and pleaded guilty at trial to charges of unlawful cohabitation under the Edmunds Act. As a result, Cannon served nearly six months in Utah's federal penitentiary.
Cannon was pardoned in 1894 by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
George Q. Cannon