So Why did Joseph Smith and others remove their garments before Carthage?

[GoodBoy]

This. I never thought about this until now. Wearing them day and night is not part of the covenant.

Actually we have not covenanted to even wear them at all....let alone day and night. There is no covenant in the temple regarding the wearing of garments.

Yet, here is the question we are asked in the temple recommend interview:

"Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?"
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Yep, what Allie said...

Those of us who were endowed agreed to all of the "covenants" in the temple by doing what? (Bow your head and say yes.)

At what point in the ceremony did we "bow our head and say yes" to wearing garments 24X7? IT DID NOT/DOESN'T HAPPEN.

In the (creepy) initiatory, an old person "places the garment" on the person, and gives the speech that tells them they must wear it throughout their life. At no point during the initiatory does anyone make any sort of covenant at all.

In the endowment, when the garment and the initiatory is mentioned, and the phrase "wear throughout your life" is mentioned again, but again, there is absolutely no "covenant" about polygamy panties. No head-bowing, no yes-ing.

The temple recommend question about the garment is a blatant contradiction/misrepresentation/lie about any covenant that is made in the temple.

So, to sum up: If you wear garments say, one day per year during the day and also during the night, then you are keeping the covenant that you made in the temple to "wear the garments both day and night throughout your life". This seems to be the model that Joseph Smith, the originator and therefore the person with the best understanding of this "revelation" followed himself anyway, so that supports this method of "keeping the covenant".

Good news is that you probably only need to keep one pair of Gs around to stay legal this way.