He regards the conflict at Nauvoo as a conflict of differing ideologies about democracy on the frontier. By reminding the viewer of the relative novelty of democracy on the freshly forming frontier, Hallwas contextualizes the struggle between Mormon theologically-oriented democratic ideals and more traditional non-religious democracy. He defines the entire struggle not as an episode of persecution but as a conflict of ideas regarding the rights of the majority and minority under democratic rule.
The Kingdom of God in Illinois: This brief article by the author of Nauvoo: The Mormons and Politics in Illinois Society: In this article, Gayler thoroughly studies Mormon political movements and associations in Nauvoo. He argues that the violent reaction of non-Mormon Illinois citizens to the Mormons was a result of Mormon involvement and attitudes in politics, not of controversial religious or economic views.
This is a very thorough and well-written article about secular clashes of Mormons and non-Mormons.
Quest for Refuge and Exiles in a Land of Liberty
Kimball argues that the powers delineated in the charter isolated the Mormons from their neighbors by giving them possibly excessive powerful hegemony over their settlement as an entity separate from the state. The article also recognizes the role of the charter as an attempted realization of the Mormon political-theological kingdom. The Nauvoo Legion, This brief article studies the structure and potentially controversial powers of the Nauvoo Legion, the local militia of Nauvoo. This article provides a better understanding of the Legion itself and of its influence inside and outside the Nauvoo community.
It is a narrow topic that would best be used in conjunction with wider currents of conflict. The importance of the document itself is discussed below. The first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor. The Nauvoo Expositor is the first and only issue of a dissenting newspaper in Carthage, Illinois. The entire source can be viewed here. Hill provides important background information about the character and transformations of Mormon theology at Nauvoo. Revelation, Resistance, and Mormon Polygamy: The Introduction and Implementation of the Principle, She closely studies the theological principles underlying plural marriage in Mormonism and considers the controversial transformations it underwent in Nauvoo to turn it into a widely accepted and often vehemently defended practice in the late nineteenth century.
Smith recognizes that the amount of information regarding secret polygamy in Nauvoo is scarce, but she is able to analyze what material she does have coherently and professionally. Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, — George Smith also addresses polygamy as one of the more controversial and poorly understood tenets of Mormonism. He explores its true meaning and charts its early path within the Mormon community before discussing its possible ramifications for Joseph Smith and for Nauvoo itself. The author admits that the early implementation of polygamy is not well documented, but he makes a fair historical assessment of the information he does have.
Foster also studies the social problems associated with the implementation of plural marriage and the reasons for its internal and external controversies. Most valuable is Winn's analysis of the republican bases of anti-Mormonism. While other groups, most notably Roman Catholics, were the targets of violence in the s and s, the hostility directed at Mormons was unique in intensity and degree.
No other historian has explained so convincingly just why the Latter-Day Saints frightened so many people. On the other hand, by tying Mormon separatism and millenarianism to ideas taken from the American political tradition, Winn also complements the work of historians such as R. Laurence Moore and Nathan O.
- Animosity.
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Hatch, who have stressed the American-ness of the Latter-Day Saints. In short, this is an important work, of interest not only to students of Mormon history but to those interested in antebellum politics and culture as well. Although some Saints ignored these threats, other local Church leaders and members in Cedar City, Utah, advocated violence. Haight, a stake president and militia leader, sent John D.
Exiles in a Land of Liberty: Mormons in America, - Kenneth H. Winn - Google Книги
Lee, a militia major, to lead an attack on the emigrant company. When the president reported the plan to his council, other leaders objected and requested that he call off the attack and instead send an express rider to Brigham Young in Salt Lake City for guidance. But the men Haight had sent to attack the emigrants carried out their plans before they received the order not to attack. The emigrants fought back, and a siege ensued. Over the next few days, events escalated, and Mormon militiamen planned and carried out a deliberate massacre.
They lured the emigrants from their circled wagons with a false flag of truce and, aided by Paiute Indians they had recruited, slaughtered them. Between the first attack and the final slaughter, the massacre destroyed the lives of men, women, and children in a valley known as Mountain Meadows. Only small children—those believed to be too young to be able to tell what had happened—were spared. The express rider returned two days after the massacre.
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- Quest for Refuge and Exiles in a Land of Liberty.
Two Latter-day Saints were eventually excommunicated from the Church for their participation, and a grand jury that included Latter-day Saints indicted nine men. Only one participant, John D. Lee, was convicted and executed for the crime, which fueled false allegations that the massacre had been ordered by Brigham Young. In recent years, the Church has made diligent efforts to learn everything possible about the massacre. In the early s, historians in the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints scoured archives throughout the United States for historical records; every Church record on the massacre was also opened to scrutiny.
Smith, and other leaders contributed to a climate of hostility, President Young did not order the massacre. Rather, verbal confrontations between individuals in the wagon train and southern Utah settlers created great alarm, particularly within the context of the Utah War and other adversarial events. A series of tragic decisions by local Church leaders—who also held key civic and militia leadership roles in southern Utah—led to the massacre. Aside from the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a few Latter-day Saints committed other violent acts against a small number of dissenters and outsiders.
Some Latter-day Saints perpetrated acts of extralegal violence, especially in the s, when fear and tensions were prevalent in Utah Territory. The heated rhetoric of Church leaders directed toward dissenters may have led these Mormons to believe that such actions were justified. Even so, many allegations of such violence are unfounded, and anti-Mormon writers have blamed Church leaders for many unsolved crimes or suspicious deaths in early Utah. Many people in the 19th century unjustly characterized the Latter-day Saints as a violent people. Yet the vast majority of Latter-day Saints, in the 19th century as today, lived in peace with their neighbors and families, and sought peace in their communities.
Travelers in the 19th century often noted the peace and order that prevailed in Mormon communities in Utah and elsewhere. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints condemns violent words and actions and affirms its commitment to furthering peace throughout the world. Indeed, it advocates peace and forgiveness. What was done here long ago by members of our Church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct.
You are about to access: We provide the link to this third party's website solely as a convenience to you. The linked site has its own terms of use, privacy policies, and security practices that differ from those on our website. By referring or linking you to this website, we do not endorse or guarantee the content, products, or services offered. Originally published May Religious Persecution in the s and s In the first two decades after the Church was organized, Latter-day Saints were often the victims of violence.
Violence and Vigilantism in the 19th-Century United States In 19th-century American society, community violence was common and often condoned. The Mormon Missouri War and the Danites The isolated acts of violence committed by some Latter-day Saints can generally be seen as a subset of the broader phenomenon of frontier violence in 19th-century America.
Doctrine and Covenants Boggs letter to John B.
Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints
University of Missouri Press, ; and Alexander L. Baugh, A Call to Arms: Jensen, and David J. Assigned Historical Writings, —, vol. Joseph Young, Affidavit, Adams Co. Pratt, Testimony, July 1, , p. Latter-day Saints later wrote nearly a thousand petitions and affidavits detailing their suffering. In the mean time, men were abused, women insulted and abused by the troops. Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Joseph Smith Histories, —, vol. For a detailed account of the — expulsion from Missouri, see William G.
Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, — University of Oklahoma Press, , March 26, Philadelphia: His contemporary letters to his family, written from the main refugee camps in Iowa in July and August , reflect similar sentiments. Kane letter to John K. Kane and Jane D. Kane, July 20—23, , Thomas L. Kane Papers, American Philosophical Society.
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Hill, Quest for Refuge: Signature Books, , 41—44, —2; Kenneth H. Winn, Exiles in a Land of Liberty: Mormons in America, — Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, , 96—, , — On American extralegal vigilantism, see Paul A. Gilje, Rioting in America Bloomington: Toward the Civil War New York: Oxford University Press, The scholarly literature on violence inspired by religion or religious rhetoric is vast. For reflections on the topic in general, see R.