Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MORMONS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 848 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MORMONS , the See also:

common name given to the See also:Church of Jesus See also:Christ of Latter-See also:Day See also:Saints, a religious See also:sect founded by See also:Joseph See also:Smith, jun., at See also:Manchester, New See also:York, in 183o, and since 1848 largely concentrated about See also:Salt See also:Lake See also:City, See also:Utah. Smith was See also:born on the 23rd of See also:December 1805 at See also:Sharon, See also:Windsor See also:county, See also:Vermont, from which See also:place in 1815 or 1816 his parents, who like his grandparents were superstitious, neurotic, seers of visions, and believers in miraculous See also:cures and in heavenly voices and See also:direct See also:revelation, removed to New York, where they settled on a small See also:farm near See also:Palmyra, See also:Wayne county (then See also:Ontario). In 1819 they removed to Manchester, in what is still Ontario county, about 6 m. from Palmyra. In Manchester Joseph, a See also:good-natured, lazy boy, suffering from a See also:bad See also:heredity physically and psychically, began to have visions which seem to have accorepanied epileptoid seizures (his See also:mother's See also:father had falling fits), from which he recovered apparently before he became of See also:age. The boy's father was a digger for hidden treasure and used a See also:divining See also:rod to find proper places to dig See also:wells, and about this See also:time the son became a crystal gazer and by the use of a " peep-See also:stone " discovered the whereabouts of pretended hidden treasure. He said (in 1838) that on the See also:night of the 21st of See also:September 1823 the See also:angel See also:Moroni appeared to him three times, and told him that the See also:Bible of the western See also:continent, the supplement to the New Testament, was buried on a See also:hill called Cumorah, now commonly known as Mormon Hill. It seems almost certain that he told other and earlier stories of how he came to find the See also:gold plates, and it is possible that before this time there was a See also:story current in See also:Canada of the recovery of a " Gold Bible." It was not until the 22nd of September 1827 that (as he said) he dug up, on the hill near Manchester, a stone See also:box, in which was a See also:volume, 6 in. thick, made of thin gold plates 8 in. by 7 in., and fastened together by three gold rings. The plates were covered with small See also:writing in characters which, it was said, See also:Professor See also:Charles See also:Anthon' declared were in the " reformed See also:Egyptian See also:tongue "; with the See also:golden See also:book Smith claimed that he found a breastplate of gold and a pair of supernatural See also:spectacles, consisting of two crystals set in a See also:silver See also:bow, and called "Urim and Thummim "; by aid of these the mystic characters could be read. Being himself unable to read or write fluently, Smith employed as amanuenses: first See also:Martin See also:Harris (1793—1875); then his own wife, Emma; after the See also:middle of See also:April 1829, See also:Oliver Cowdery, a blacksmith and school teacher; and See also:David Whitmer (18o5—1888); to them, from behind a See also:curtain, he dictated a See also:translation, for the See also:printing and See also:publishing of which Martin Harris paid, in spite of the continued opposition of his wife to the See also:scheme. An edition of 5000 copies of The Book of Mormon' was printed See also:early in 1830 in the printing See also:office of the Wayne See also:Sentinel at Palmyra. It was accompanied by " The Testimony of the Three Witnesses," a sworn statement of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris that an angel of See also:God had shown them the plates of which the book was a translation, and by " The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses," four of them Whitmers and three of them Smiths (Joseph's father and his See also:brothers Hyrum and See also:Samuel). Soon afterwards, according to Smith, the plates disappeared, being taken away by the angel Moroni.

The Book of Mormon, in which Joseph Smith was declared to be God's See also:

prophet," with all See also:power and entitled to all obedience, ' Martin Harris took a copy in Smith's See also:hand of certain " caractors " (so Smith spelled it) to Dr Anthon, who at first thought it " a hoax upon the learned," but, after See also:hearing the story of the See also:diamond spectacles and that Harris had been asked to pay for the publication of the book, said that it was a See also:fraud on Harris. He recognized the See also:miscellaneous and haphazard nature of the " caractors," of which facsimiles are given by See also:Riley, p. 81, and Linn, p.4o. Riley thinks that the " caractors " were automatic writing, and that " unconscious cerebration played a large See also:part in the evolving of the gold See also:plate scheme." ' More than a dozen years afterwards Smith, when asked if " Mormon " was not connected with the See also:Greek word for " hobgoblin " (" Mormo" is thus used in 17th-See also:century See also:English), explained that it meant " more good," from the " Egyptian mon," " with the addition of more, or the contraction mor." professes to give the See also:history of See also:America from its first See also:settlement by a See also:colony of " Jaredites " from among the See also:crowd dispersed by the confusion of See also:tongues at the See also:Tower of See also:Babel down to the See also:year 5 A.D. These settlers in course of time destroyed one an-other. In 600 B.C. Lehi, his wife, and four sons, with ten See also:friends, all from See also:Jerusalem, landed on the See also:coast of See also:Chile. Upon the See also:death of Lehi, the divine See also:appointment to the leadership of Nephi, the youngest son, roused the resentment of his See also:elder brothers, who were in consequence condemned to have dark skins and to be an idle, mischievous See also:race, the " Lamanites " or See also:North-See also:American See also:Indians. Between the Nephites and the bad See also:Hebrews a fierce See also:war was maintained for centuries, until finally, in spite of divine intervention in the See also:person of the risen Christ, who here founded a Church with the same organization " as was enjoyed on the Eastern Continent," the Nephites See also:fell away from the true faith, and in 384 A.D. were nearly annihilated in a See also:battle at the hill of Cumorah, in Ontario county, New York. Among the handful that escaped were Mormon and his son Moroni, the former of whom collected the sixteen books of records, kept by successive See also:kings and priests, into one volume, which on his death was supplemented by his son with some See also:personal reminiscences and by him buried in the hill of Cumorah, where he was divinely assured that the book would one day be discovered by God's chosen prophet. This is Smith's See also:account of the book: it was a contention of the early See also:anti-Mormons, now however discredited, that The Book of Mormon as published by Smith was rewritten with few changes from an unpublished See also:romance, The See also:Manuscript Found, written before 1812 by See also:Solomon Spaulding' (1761–1816), a See also:minister and See also:iron-founder who had become greatly interested in the pre-historic mounds of See also:Ohio and wrote a romance to explain their origin and the See also:Hebrew origin of the North-American Indians. The See also:style of the book is poor; the speeches of See also:primitive See also:Indian chiefs are filled with the phraseology of the 19th-century See also:camp-See also:meeting; there are See also:long extracts from the See also:Westminster See also:Confession, and a speech of Nephi contains a statement of See also:doctrine which corresponds with heretical views held in Smith's own time in the See also:presbytery of See also:Geneva, in which his See also:home See also:lay.

The time was singularly favourable to the See also:

founding of a new sect: religious unrest and receptiveness were prevalent; and western New York was the See also:scene of the See also:foundation of various new communities between 1789, when Jemima See also:Wilkinson founded " Jerusalem " in See also:Yates county, New York, and 1848, when the See also:Fox sisters gave their first spiritualistic manifestations about ten See also:miles from Joseph Smith's home. His book and his claim to divine authority, upheld by frequent revelations, soon See also:drew many followers to Smith. A Church was formally organized on the 6th of April 1830 at Fayette, See also:Seneca county, New York; and in See also:June a See also:conference of about See also:thirty members met at Fayette. Smith and Cowdery had previously (May, 1829) baptized each other, in alleged accordance with the instruction of See also:John the Baptist,who had ordained them, conferring " the priesthood of See also:Aaron "; while See also:Peter, See also:James and John afterwards made them priests of " the See also:order of Melchisedec." ' It was supposed that See also:Sidney Rigdon had been a compositor in a See also:Pittsburg printing-office, that he had stolen Spaulding's manuscript from this office, or had made a surreptitious copy of it, and that he entered into a See also:plot with Smith to use this material for a new Bible. In support of this are vague stories of a mysterious visitor to Smith at the time he was making his translation; and the See also:argument that Smith did not, and Rigdon did, know enough to get the book in shape. But there is no actual See also:proof that Rigdon lived in Pittsburg or was employed in a printer's See also:shop there as early as when Spaulding's " copy " must have been See also:left with the printer; and there is no See also:evidence that Rigdon knew anything of Mormonism until after the publication of The Book of Mormon. The See also:discovery by Professor J. H. Fairchild, in 1884, in See also:Honolulu of a manuscript romance by Spaulding (now in the library of See also:Oberlin See also:College, Ohio), which did not agree at all in style or See also:matter with The Book of Mormon, does not entirely See also:settle the matter, as this romance is so different in See also:character from the story read by Spaulding to some of his friends in 1811-1812, that if it was really Spaulding's, it must have been a later See also:work than The Manuscript Found. Even, however, if it be true that Smith used Spaulding's story, his own additions to it must have been large, for parts of the Book seem autobiographic, and one incident seems to be based on the anti-Masonic excitement prevalent in New York See also:state after the disappearance of See also:William See also:Morgan in 1826—ten years after the death of Solomon Spaulding. In See also:October 183o Smith sent out Parley See also:Parker See also:Pratt (1807–1857), Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson, and Peter Whitmer, jun., as missionaries. One of their first converts, in See also:Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, was Sidney Rigdon (1793-'876), whom Pratt had formerly known, who had preached as a Baptist in 1819–1828—a part of this time in Pittsburg—who had then joined See also:Alexander See also:Campbell and See also:Walter See also:Scott in establishing the Disciples of Christ, and who was pastor of a church in Mentor.

Rigdon was baptized, became a Mormon See also:

leader, and, after a " revelation " of December 183o, made a new translation of the Bible, in which prophecies of the coming of Joseph Smith and the nature of The Book of Mormon are inserted in the 50th See also:chapter of See also:Genesis and the 29th chapter of See also:Isaiah respectively. This translation was not published until 1866 and is not in use in the Mormon churches. In See also:January 183 r Smith, who had been " persecuted " in his New York home, where several lawsuits, all unsuccessful, had been brought against him, accompanied Rigdon to Ohio, where at Kirtland (a few miles See also:south-See also:west of Mentor), Lake county, Ohio, the See also:preaching of the new sect was very successful, partly because Pratt and Rigdon were so well known to the Disciples in north-eastern Ohio. Smith at this time seems to have intended to make the New Jerusalem at Kirtland; there he established a See also:general See also:store, a See also:steam saw-See also:mill and a tannery, bought See also:land, platted a See also:great city, and built a stone See also:temple, which was consecrated in 1836. But the church was " persecuted " again, especially by apostates; on the 25th of See also:March 1832 Smith and Rigdon were tarred and feathered at Hiram,' See also:Portage county, where they were then living. In See also:February 1834 the Church was fairly organized; already on the 8th of March 1833 Smith, Rigdon, and See also:Frederick G. See also:Williams had been styled the first See also:presidency, and were entrusted with the keys of the last See also:kingdom. About this time the licentiousness of Smith might have led to the See also:dissolution of the Church but for Brigham See also:Young (1801–1877), a Vermont painter and glazier, who was baptized in 1832 and soon afterwards was ordained elder. Young's indomitable will, per-suasive eloquence, executive ability, shrewdness and zeal soon made their See also:influence See also:felt, and, when a further step was taken in 1835 towards the organization of a See also:hierarchy by the institution of the See also:quorum of the "twelve apostles,"3 who were sent out as proselytizing missionaries among the " gentiles," Young was ordained one of the Twelve and despatched to preach through-out the eastern states. In 1836 the Kirtland Safety Society See also:Bank was organized (in accordance with a " revelation " to Smith); as it was unchartered it issued notes under the name of "The Kirtland Safety Society anti-BANx-See also:ing Co."; but in March 1837 Rigdon and Smith, the secretary and treasurer, were charged with violating the state See also:law against unchartered See also:banks, and they were convicted in October; the society appealed, claiming that it was not a bank but an association, but in See also:November the " bank " suspended payments and in See also:Jan. 1838 Smith and Rigdon left the state for See also:Missouri. In 1836–1837 there had been a deter-See also:mined See also:attempt to depose Smith and make David Whitmer See also:head of the Church; Rigdon and Young successfully opposed this See also:movement, which was backed by Whitmer, Pratt, Williams and Harris.

Probably in June 1837 (or in See also:

July 1838) there was organized under the leadership of See also:Captain " Fear Not " (David W. See also:Patten) a See also:band called " The Daughter of See also:Zion " (see Mic. iv. 13), the " Big See also:Fan " (Jer. xv. 7), " Brothers of See also:Gideon," and finally " Sons of See also:Dan," or "Danites " (Gen. xlix. 17), See also:bound to secrecy under See also:penalty of death, and formed to punish all who opposed the Church and its supreme head. Numerous crimes and outrages were attributed to them.' In the See also:winter 2 Rigdon had formerly been well known and respected in Hiram, which was a stronghold of the Disciples; there he had taught Latin and Greek to the father of Mrs James Abram See also:Garfield. 3 Young received at this time the See also:title of " The See also:Lion of the See also:Lord "; Lyman See also:Wright and Parley Pratt, who also became apostles, were called respectively " The See also:Wild See also:Ram of the Mountains " and " The See also:Archer of See also:Paradise." ' The existence of this organization has been denied by Mormons, but there is abundant evidence that it did exist. See Linn, pp. 212–214, and See also:Bancroft, pp. 124–126; the latter, friendly to the Mormons, says (p. 124) that of the existence of the Danites " there is no question." of 1830-1831 Pratt, Cowdery and two others had gone as far west as See also:Jackson county, Missouri; in June 1831 Rigdon and Smith joined them there near what is now See also:Independence and (in See also:August) laid corner-stones of Zion and of a Mormon temple; thereafter Mormon See also:immigration to Missouri increased rapidly; and in the early part of 1838 Smith and Rigdon fled to the new settlement called Far West (now Kerr) in Caldwell county, Missouri, which had been made in 1836-1837. Thither many of the saints had taken See also:refuge, having been forcibly driven' from Independence and Big See also:Blue in November and December 1833, and having been induced to remove from See also:Clay county after staying there in 1833-1836.

In Caldwell and Daviess counties Smith's troubles, however, continued to increase. His profligacy had repelled many of his leading supporters and bred See also:

internal dissensions, while from the outside the brethren were harassed and threatened by the steadily growing hostility of the native Missourians. At Far West on the 4th of July 1838 Rigdon preached his " salt See also:sermon " from Matt. v. 13, urging his hearers to wage " a war of extermination " on those who disturbed them. To such a height did the conflicts with the " gentiles " grow that they assumed the proportions of a See also:civil war, and necessitated the calling out of the state See also:militia. A See also:company of Danites from Far West put some Missourian militia to See also:flight but lost their own leader Captain Patten; the gentiles then attacked a Mormon settlement at Hawn's Mill (near Far West) and killed in See also:cold See also:blood about a See also:score of the Mormons. See also:Late in October Far West surrendered to an overwhelming force of militia. Smith and Rigdon with others were arrested and imprisoned on a See also:charge of See also:treason, See also:murder and See also:felony, and their followers to the number of 15,000 crossed over into See also:Illinois and settled near See also:Commerce, See also:Hancock county. Smith, who succeeded in escaping from custody, had rejoined the Mormons in Illinois, and there they were cordially welcomed, especially by the politicians of both parties, who hoped to secure the Mormon See also:vote in the presidential See also:campaign of 1840; and when they founded (on the site of Commerce) the city of See also:Nauvoo, they readily obtained (Dec. 1840) from the state legislature a See also:charter which made the city practically See also:independent of the state See also:government and gave Smith nearly unlimited civil power. He organized a military See also:body called the Nauvoo See also:Legion (also incorporated by the legislature), of which he was See also:commander, being commissioned "See also:lieutenant-general " by the See also:governor of Illinois in 1841; Smith allowed Dr John C. See also:Bennett, an Illinois politician and a new convert, to be the city's first See also:mayor.

See also:

Foundations of a new temple were laid on the 6th of April 1841 and the temple (83 by 128 ft.) was dedicated on the 1st of May 1846. The city See also:grew very rapidly; a university of the city of Nauvoo was established, among its professors being Rigdon and Orson Pratt (181x-1881), a mathematician, who was called " The See also:Gauge of the Law." In 1842 Smith was charged with instigating an attempt, made by O.P. Rockwell, a Mormon of Nauvoo, to assassinate ex-Governor L. W. Boggs of Missouri; it was impossible to hold either See also:Rock-well or Smith after their See also:indictment and See also:arrest, since the Nauvoo municipal See also:court had the power to determine cases of habeas corpus; the influence of Dr Bennett, who had quarrelled with Smith, was not strong enough to outweigh the power of the Mormon vote with the state authorities, and Smith was not held when in June 1843 he was arrested on the old charge of treason-able acts committed in Missouri. His downfall was brought about in a very different manner. The Book of Mormon had forbidden See also:polygamy: "There shall not any See also:man have See also:save it be one wife, and concubines he shall have none, for I the Lord God delighteth' in the chastity of See also:women. . . . For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up See also:seed unto me, I will command my See also:people, otherwise they shall hearken unto these things." The conditional clause may indicate that Smith from the first had intended to make polygamy a part of the One of the early charges against the Mormons in Missouri was that they invited See also:free negroes and mulattoes to settle with them; and this rather than any disgust at their religious teachings may have been the first source of opposition to them. 2 Such solecisms are not infrequent in the Mormon Bible.creed of the Church. There is some evidence that even in Ohio polygamy had been secretly practised by Smith and less probably by other elders. In Illinois there seems to have been no See also:secret about Smith's cohabiting with other women.

On the 12th of July 1843 he had a revelation expressly establishing and approving polygamy. This revelation was not published officially until 1852, but its purport immediately became known in Nauvoo and aroused great indignation. Dr R. D. See also:

Foster, whose wife Smith seems to have coveted, and whom Smith had accused of See also:theft and immorality, William Law and See also:Wilson Law, wealthy See also:Canadian converts, and See also:Sylvester See also:Emmons, a member of the See also:council, established a newspaper the Expositor, which was to work for the See also:repeal of the city charter, " to correct the abuse of the unit power, to See also:advocate disobedience to See also:political revelations "; the first and only number (June 7, 1844) told of Hyrum Smith's See also:reading to the council the " revelation on the eternity of the See also:marriage See also:covenant, including See also:plurality of wives," of Joseph Smith's methods and success in winning spiritual wives, and of the prophet's political ambitions. The city council tried the editors of the Expositor, the Smiths denying the " revelation" on plural marriage; and on the loth of June the Expositor printing office was razed. Foster and the See also:Laws fled to See also:Carthage. There was a general uprising against the Mormons and Smith put Nauvoo under See also:martial law; but his most able lieutenants were absent,' the legion surrendered its arms, and Joseph and Hyrum Smith and others were arrested on the. charge of treason (June 25, 1844) and were imprisoned at Carthage. On the night of the 27th a See also:mob, with the See also:collusion of the militia guard, See also:broke into the See also:prison and shot the two brothers dead. Rigdon, the survivor of the first presidency, and Brigham Young, who were absent from Illinois at the time of Smith's death, were rivals for Smith's place; Young succeeded in having the Council of Twelve, of which he was head, made the supreme authority, and then had Rigdon 4 tried for threatening treason and " cut off from the Church." Young had still to meet the opposition of Joseph Smith's See also:family, who claimed for his son, Joseph, the right of See also:succession, and for a time supported the claims of James J. See also:Strang (1813-1856) of See also:Wisconsin, who had been baptized in February 1844, who told of revelations he had received, who settled with his followers on See also:Beaver See also:Island, See also:Michigan, in 1847, was crowned " See also:King of Zion " there in July 1850, and was killed by some of his followers there in June 1856, when his kingdom broke up. In January 1845 the Nauvoo city charter was repealed; hostility and suspicion against the Mormons increased; there were " burnings " of Mormon See also:property in the outlying See also:country and See also:retaliation by the Nauvoo Legion under a See also:pro-Mormon See also:sheriff; a See also:commission of four members (including See also:Stephen A.

See also:

Douglas), appointed by the governor, arranged with the Mormon authorities in October 1845 that they should all leave the state next See also:spring. In May and June 1846 most of the Mormons left Nauvoo; in September the city was cannonaded and it again surrendered to the gentiles. Five companies of Mormon See also:volunteers joined the force under. See also:Colonel Stephen W. See also:Kearny which marched to See also:California in the winter of 1846-1847; but this was rather in the nature of assistance from the general government, which provided for their western transportation, than a proof of Mormon patriotism. An exploring party under Brigham Young entered (July 24, 1847) the Great Salt Lake valley and See also:chose it as a place for their new city. Young then returned to Winter Quarters, near what is now See also:Florence, See also:Nebraska, and there on the 5th of December 1847 was chosen See also:president as Smith's successor. Under his leader-See also:ship, and in accordance with a scheme " revealed " to him and announced in January 1847, the march was organized in a ' Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and others of the Twelve were campaigning for Smith's candidacy for president of the See also:United States, a campaign which he had undertaken because neither See also:Henry Clay nor John C. See also:Calhoun would give him satisfactory pledges as to the attitude he would take toward the Mormons if elected president. 4 Rigdon attempted, with brief success, to establish in Pittsburg a Church of Christ, independent of the Latter Day Saints, but based on much the same See also:plan. He spent his last years at Friendship, Allegany county, New York. masterly way; the See also:main body, for instance, in its trip across the prairies made See also:flour in a mill built by Young and reaped See also:grain sowed months before by an advance guard.

The first See also:

migration arrived in Salt Lake City in September, and the See also:population of the new settlement before the See also:close of 1848 was about 500o. The city did not prosper, however, during the first few years of its settlement; but in 1849 and 185o it became a See also:depot and outfitting place for the immigrants to California in the gold excitement. The great improvement of the country under systematic See also:irrigation (here first used on a large See also:scale in the United States) was another See also:factor in the See also:industrial growth of the settlement. As early as 1837 Mormon missionary work had begun in Great See also:Britain, and many See also:foreign converts had immigrated to Ohio, Missouri and Illinois; in December 1847, in a " general See also:epistle " to the Church, Young urged all Mormons in See also:Europe to emigrate as speedily as possible; 120 See also:British saints immigrated in February 1848; a general "emigrating fund " was established in 1849, and the Perpetual See also:Emigration Fund Company was incorporated in 185o; but in 1855 when there were 4425 emigrants, according to the British agency, as a result of an attempt to cut down expenses, proper See also:provision was not made for their transportation from See also:Iowa City, only hand-carts or push-carts being supplied, and one-See also:sixth of a party of 400 died of See also:starvation or exhaustion in a winter march across the plains. When the Mormons first went west they thought they would See also:escape from the See also:jurisdiction of the United States, but the treaty of Guadalupe See also:Hidalgo at the close of the Mexican War transferred the region to the United States. In March 1849 a See also:convention at Salt Lake City organized the " State of Deseret,"of which Brigham Young was elected governor; a general See also:assembly meeting in July sent a delegate to the Federal See also:Congress and asked through. Stephen A. Douglas for See also:admission into the See also:Union as a state or as a Territory; and on the 9th of September 1850 Utah was admitted as a Territory, of which Young became governor. He forced three non-Mormon See also:district See also:judges to leave the Territory in 1851, and by his open opposition to Lieut.-Colonel See also:Edward See also:Jenner Steptoe, U.S.A.,who was stationed in Salt Lake City in the winter of 1854–1855 with about 300 soldiers on the way to California, and who was appointed governor of Utah in December 1854, forced Steptoe to decline the nomination. In 1855–1856 actual violence seems to have been offered to Judges See also:George B. See also:Stiles and W. W.

See also:

Drummond; and about the same . time Federal Indian agents in Utah complained that Mormon missionaries to the Indians were rousing them to hostilities against the United States. The defiant attitude of the Mormon Church towards the United States was thus being continually brought to the See also:notice of the Federal authorities by See also:official reports and by officials fugitive from Utah; and at the same time popular sentiment was stirred against Mormonism by See also:constant rumour of violence in Utah against non-Mormons and apostates and by the official publication, in August 1852, of the " revelation on the eternity of the marriage covenant, including plurality of wives." In. 1853 Young put down autocratically the "Gladdenites," followers of See also:Gladden See also:Bishop, who opposed polygamy. In 1856 the Mormon " See also:Reformation " had begun: its See also:principal factors were an elaborate See also:system of confession to missionaries of the Church; the apparent See also:inspiration by the Church of assassination of any suspected of hostility to the Church, of opposition to the ambition of its leaders, or of an intention to escape from Utah and the See also:control of Young; and the doctrine of " blood See also:atonement," which was introduced by Jedediah Morgan See also:Grant (1817–1856) and by which the only remission for certain sins was the shedding of the sinner's blood, so that, according to Brigham Young, " cutting people off from the See also:earth . . . is to save them, not to destroy them." Many outrages were committed by a Mormon band of desperadoes who called themselves " See also:Wolf-hunters." Young's agents doubtless killed William P. See also:Parish of Springville, Utah, early in 1857, apparently because he was planning to remove to California; at about the same time a party of six, including two brothers named See also:Aikin, travelling from See also:San Francisco were arrested as spies, were acquitted, and then were attacked in their camp and murdered, one at least by an See also:assassin who claimed that Young had given him the order; and at See also:Mountain Meadows in See also:Washington county, in the south-western part of Utah, on the 11th of September 1857, about 12o immigrants on their way to See also:southern California, having been attacked four days before by Indians and Mormons and having made a bold See also:defence, were tricked by a See also:flag of truce carried by Mormons who pretended to be a rescuing party, and were killed by armed Mormon troops,' seventeen of the younger See also:children being spared. In 1857 President See also:Buchanan 2 appointed See also:Alfred See also:Cumming (then See also:superintendent of Indian affairs on the Upper Missouri) as governor of the Territory in place of Young, and sent 1500 men to Utah under Colonel See also:Albert Sidney See also:Johnston. On the 15th of September Young issued a See also:proclamation forbidding all armed forces from entering the Territory, calling to arms all forces in the territory, and declaring martial law. On the 5th and 6th of October a band of mounted Mormons under See also:Major See also:Lot Smith captured and burnt three See also:supply-trains of the Federal troops; soon afterwards 800 oxen were cut out from another supply-See also:train and were driven to Salt Lake City. The main body of the Federal troops under Colonel Johnston went into winter quarters in November at See also:Black's Forks, near Fort Bridger. But in the spring of 1858, through the intervention of See also:Thomas L. See also:Kane of See also:Pennsylvania, who had probably been baptized by Young in 1847 and seems to have been a Mormon See also:agent in the See also:East, and who now received letters of authority from President Buchanan, the Mormons were induced to make a merely formal submission to Federal authority.

Governor Cumming acquiesced in this settlement of affairs, by which the actual victory was with the Saints. A See also:

peace commission sent to Utah in the summer of 1858 carried to the Mormons a presidential proclamation by which they received See also:pardon for their treason. Practically all the Federal troops were withdrawn from Utah in the summer of 186o; soon afterwards Governor Cumming left the Territory to join the Confederate See also:army. One of his immediate successors, John W. See also:Dawson of See also:Indiana, late in 1861 was forced to leave the territory, having been terribly beaten by several Mormons who professed (with apparent truth) to avenge an insult to a woman. In 1862, because the Mormons were suspected of sympathizing with the Confederate States, Colonel P. E. See also:Connor, in command of the military district of Utah (and See also:Nevada), actually marched United States troops into Salt Lake City. Governor Stephen S. See also:Harding, appointed in 1862, proved less tractable than previous See also:governors; a See also:mass meeting in March 1863 undertook to secure his removal; and in)June he and a Federal See also:judge were displaced, possibly by the influence of Young (whom Harding had arrested for polygamy but who was not indicted), through capitalists interested in western See also:mail-See also:express and See also:telegraph projects. The Church became less hostile to the Federal government toward the close of the Civil War, as it became apparent that the Confederacy was to be defeated. Young made a successful effort in 1868–1869 to assure the industrial and commercial control of Utah: after Colonel Connor established Camp Douglas in the immediate vicinity of Salt Lake ' There is no See also:positive proof that this See also:massacre was ordered by the authorities.

John See also:

Doyle See also:Lee, who was executed in 1877 for the massacre, was a prominent Mormon, had been " adopted " as a spiritual son of Brigham Young in Nauvoo, was one of the founders of See also:Provo and other Mormon settlements in southern Utah, a See also:probate judge, afterwards a member of the Territorial legislature, and his statement implicates the Church. Lee said that he was sacrificed to See also:justice. The only charge against the immigrants seems to have been that they were from See also:Arkansas, and that all Arkansans had forfeited their lives because it was in Arkansas (near See also:Van Buren) that Parley Parker Pratt, the Mormon Isaiah, was killed on the 13th of May 1857 by See also:Hector H. McClean, with whose wife Pratt had eloped. It seems probable that sentiment was aroused against the Arkansans by false stories of their poisoning wells, burning fences, &c. 2 Buchanan's See also:message (Dec. 8, 1857) stating that Young and his followers apparently intended " to come into collision with the government of the United States " and his sending troops to Utah were considered by his critics as attempts to create an issue which would overshadow the See also:slavery question and to draw away from the army an important force. 846 City it became increasingly difficult for the Mormon authorities to prevent See also:trade with See also:gentile stores in the city; and in 1869 there was incorporated the Zion Co-operative See also:Mercantile Institution, to which practically all retailers in the territory were forced to sell out. In 1869 the Pacific Railroad reached Salt Lake City and by lessening its See also:isolation, lessened its control by Young. His power was shaken somewhat, and the general See also:tone of Mormonism was improved greatly by the " Godbeite movement," led by W. S: Godbe and E. L.

T. See also:

Harrison, who with T. B. H. Stenhouse, author of The Rocky Mountain Saints (1874), Edward W. Tullidge, who wrote an official History of Salt Lake City, and others, had established in 1868 the Utah See also:Magazine, which attacked Young's despotism. Although Godbe and Harrison were " cut off " from the Church they succeeded in founding the Salt Lake See also:Tribune (187o), the first permanent pro-test in Utah against Young. At the same time the power of the Latter-Day Saints and Young's See also:autocracy were threatened by the growth of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was formed in 1852 upon the announcement of the doctrine of polygamy, which declared that polygamy had been foisted upon the Church and that Brigham Young was an interloper, and which chose Joseph Smith III. (son of Joseph Smith, jun.; born in 1832) as its head in 186o; in 1863 and in 1869 representatives of the Reorganized Church preached in Salt Lake City. As early as 1862 Congress had passed the See also:Morrill See also:Act (introduced by See also:Justin S. Morrill) " to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories," but in 1867 the presiding See also:officers of the Utah legislature, petitioning for the repeal of this act, declared that the judiciary of this Territory has not, up to the See also:present time, tried any See also:case under said law." Attempts to pass some extreme See also:measures in 1866 and in 1869–187o failed. In October 1871 a See also:grand See also:jury in Utah indicted Young and others for violating a Territorial See also:statute against improper cohabitation; but in April 1872 the Supreme Court of the United States (Chilton v.

Englebrech) practically declared the jury incompetent as it had been impanelled by a Federal (and not by a Territorial) See also:

marshal, and in October 1873 the same court (See also:Snow v. The United States) ruled that the See also:attorney-general appointed by the president in a territory could try no cases save those in which the Federal government was a party, thus putting the See also:prosecution of polygamy cases into the hands of the locally elected attorney-general. But on the 23rd of June 1874 President Grant signed the See also:Poland Act,' "in relation to courts and judicial officers in the Territory of Utah," which provided for prosecution by the United States attorney-general (not the locally elected official) in criminal cases in Federal courts in the Territory, for the impanelling of grand and See also:petit jurors by the United States marshal, and for the See also:challenge of any juror practising or believing in polygamy on a trial for See also:adultery or polygamy, and otherwise corrected the defects in the Territorial law as pointed out by the Supreme Court, so that prosecutions for polygamy might no longer be a See also:mere See also:farce. But the law was little more than a dead See also:letter: there were few prosecutions, and the only conviction was that of Young's secretary, George See also:Reynolds, whose case dragged on from 1874 to 1879. In 1873 See also:Ann Eliza Young, called " Wife No. 19," brought a suit for See also:divorce against Brigham Young; the See also:defendant was at various times imprisoned and fined for failure to pay See also:alimony pendente lice ; and in 1877 the judge decided that the marriage was void as polygamous. Young died in Salt Lake City on the 29th of August 1877; he left an See also:estate of more than $2,000,000, and was survived by about 25 wives and more than 40 children. The Church owes much to him, for he was an able leader. It has been said of him that he was " for daring a See also:Cromwell, for intrigue a ' This act, introduced by See also:Luke See also:Potter Poland (1815–1887) of Vermont, was bitterly opposed by the Congressional delegate from Utah, George Q. See also:Cannon (1827–1901), an Englishman by See also:birth, a prominent Mormon missionary in See also:Hawaii and Great Britain, and Parley P. Pratt's successor as apostle. He had been elected in 1872, and there was a long fight to prevent his being seated because he was a polygamist.

See also:

Machiavelli, for executive force a See also:Moses, and for utter See also:absence of See also:conscience a See also:Bonaparte." It must be See also:borne in mind that to him, more than to anyone or anything else, was due the long struggle of the Church against the United States. His only doctrinal contribution to the Church was in 1852 when, in a sermon, he said that our Father could be none other than the first Man; that See also:Adam came into the See also:garden of See also:Eden in a See also:celestial body and with one of his wives; and that "He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do." Young's successor in the presidency—acting president until 188o—was John See also:Taylor (1808–1887), an Englishman by birth, who was living at See also:Toronto when P. P. Pratt converted him in 1836; he was a missionary in See also:England in 184o; then went to Nauvoo and was wounded when Smith was killed; preached in See also:France and See also:Germany, and translated The Book of Mormon into See also:French. His first counsellor, appointed in 188o, was George Q. Cannon, who was probably the real See also:administrator. On the 22nd of March 1882 President See also:Arthur approved the See also:Edmunds Act, drafted by George F. Edmunds of Vermont, which disfranchised polygamists in the Territories, made ineligible for jury See also:duty in prosecutions for See also:bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation all who practised polygamy or believed in it, and made polygamy punishable by a maximum See also:fine of $500 and imprisonment of not more than five years, and cohabitation with more than one woman punishable by a maximum fine of $300, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. The act was opposed because it was ex See also:post facto. Under the Edmunds Act and the Edmunds-See also:Tucker Act of March 1887 about 1200 persons were convicted of polygamy or unlawful cohabitation in Utah, See also:Idaho and See also:Arizona. The law was so rigidly enforced that about 12,000 were disfranchised, and the president of the Church had to spend his last years in hiding, and many other prominent Mormons escaped " on the underground." The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 dissolved the Perpetual Emigration Company and the See also:corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; and the Supreme Court in May 1890, on the ground that the Church was an organized See also:rebellion, upheld the constitutionality of the See also:confiscation of the Church property. On the 24th of September 1890 Wilford Woodruff' (1807–1898), who had been chosen to succeed President Taylor in 1889, and who was himself a polygamist, issued a manifesto declaring " that my See also:advice to Latter-Day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land "; and on the 6th of October the general conference of the Church approved Woodruff's manifesto and accepted " his See also:declaration concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding." This apparent rescindment of " revelation " was explained by Mormon scholars as Smith had explained the See also:abandonment of the New Jerusalem in Missouri—the Saints were prevented from carrying out the commands contained in a revelation, but as they had tried to obey, they would not be punished for disobedience.3 On the 4th of January 1893, in response to a See also:petition from the officials of the Church pledging the member-ship thereof to faithful obedience to the laws against polygamy, &c., President Harrison issued a general pardon to all liable to the penalties of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, on See also:condition that they had not violated its provisions since the 1st of November 1890 and should not violate them in future.

On the 4th of January 1896 Utah was admitted to the Union as a state, one of the conditions made by Congress being that polygamy should be prohibited by the state constitution, and that this See also:

prohibition be repealable only with the consent of the United States and of the people of the state; and See also:article iii. of the constitution reads: " The following See also:ordinance shall be irrevocable without the See also:con- sent of the United States and the people of this state: Perfect ' Woodruff was born in See also:Connecticut, became a Mormon in 1832, in 1839 was made an apostle, in 1840 and in 1845 was a missionary to England, preached throughout the United States; wrote Leaves from my See also:Journal (1881), and was called in the Church "Wilford the Faithful." In 1831 the Order of See also:Enoch, or United Order, was established, providing for a community of goods; when the people proved unable to keep this law, the " lesser law of See also:tithing ' was given to them in 1838. See also:toleration of religious sentiment is guaranteed. No inhabitant of this state shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious See also:worship; but polygamous or plural marriages are for ever prohibited." In March 1896 the escheated property of the Church still in See also:possession of the United States government was restored, but the Church was not again incorporated, its legal business being transacted by its president as trustee-in-See also:trust for the body of religious worshippers known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; each See also:ward of the Church has, however, been incorporated, and its bishop is its executive head. In 1898 President Woodruff died and was succeeded by Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901), a native of Ohio, converted to Mormonism in 1836. In 1898 Brigham Henry See also:Roberts (b. 1857), an Englishman by birth and a Mormon leader, was elected to Congress from Utah; as he had three wives there was objection to his taking his seat in 1899 in the 56th Congress; and on the 25th of January 1900 by a vote of 268 to 5o he was excluded from his seat. In 1903 See also:Reed Smoot (b. 1862), an apostle of the Church, was elected to the United States See also:Senate, where there was an attempt to exclude him (not on the ground that he was a polygamist, for there was no suspicion of his having violated the law, but because the apostles of the Church still advocated polygamy); the Senate See also:Committee on Privileges and Elections reported in favour of his exclusion; but on the 20th of February 1907 the Senate voted against his exclusion (42-28). According to Senator Smoot there were in 1906 not more than 500 householders in Utah who were polygamous; only six of the twelve apostles, and only one chosen since April 1900, were polygamous; and of the fourteen general authorities chosen between 1890 and 1906 twelve were monogamists. Joseph See also:Fielding Smith (b. 1838), a See also:nephew of the prophet, being a son of Hyrum Smith, succeeded to the presidency in 1901; he was a polygamist, and in March 1907, soon after the birth of what was said to be his See also:forty-third See also:child, he pleaded guilty when charged with breaking the law against polygamy and was fined $300. The growth of the Latter-Day Saints has been largely in foreign countries.

Missionary work in southern Canada was begun in 1833 by Orson Pratt, and in 1836 his See also:

brother, Parley P. Pratt, organized a See also:mission in Toronto; in 1837 the work was begun in See also:Liverpool, which is still the headquarters in Great Britain; in See also:Ireland the work met with little success; from Germany missionaries were expelled in 1851 and in 1853; the Book of Mormon was translated into See also:Italian by Lorenzo Snow in 1852; a Hawaiian version was made in 1856 by George Q. Cannon; and the See also:missions in Scandinavia were begun about 185o. In the earlier years of the Church all converts were urged to migrate to Utah, and the glowing accounts of See also:life there doubtless increased their number; the later policy of the Church, to which it was forced after 1887, when the Perpetual Emigration Fund was dissolved and assisted immigration was forbidden by the Federal government, was for converts to remain in their native countries. In England (and to a lesser degree on the Continent) the announcement of the doctrine of plural marriage was a disadvantage to the Church, and many converts transferred their See also:allegiance to the Josephites, or Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who always opposed polygamy and attempted to prove that such doctrines had been foisted on the Church by Brigham Young, who had supplanted Joseph Smith's true successor, Joseph Smith III. In 1908 the See also:total number of Latter-Day Saints in the United States (chiefly in Utah and the neighbouring states) was estimated at 350,000, and there were besides about 48,000 members of the Reorganized Church. In Utah there are four great Mormon temples—at Salt Lake City (1893), Manti (1888), See also:Logan (1884) and St George (1877). The Reorganized Church has twice been declared by United States Courts the legal successor of the Church founded by Joseph Smith, jun.; it holds that " the doctrines of polygamy, human See also:sacrifice, or killing men to save them, Adam being God, Utah being Zion or the gathering place of the saints, are doctrines of devils "; its headquarters are in Lamoni, Iowa, whither it was removed from Plano, Illinois, in 1881; it has several churches in Canada, the largest being at See also:London, Ontario, and Toronto, and it is the owner of a Temple lot at Kirtland, Illinois. The Temple lot at Independence, Missouri, is owned by the small band of Mormon schismatics (organized in Illinois in 1835) who See also:call themselves The Church of Jesus Christ," and are known as Hedrickites; the Utah Church considers Independence as the See also:holy city, and made a large settlement there in 1907. The general morality of the Mormons seems to have been high for a frontier community; there was no gambling nor See also:drunkenness. The Saints, notably in the time of Brigham Young, were fond of dancing, and the Deseret Dramatic Association was formed and a See also:theatre was built in the early years of the settlement in Utah. Government.—The Mormon hierarchy is highly complicated.

At the head of the body is a president, who possesses supreme authority, and is successor to Joseph Smith, jun., " Seer, Translator, Prophet "; the president is supported by two counsellors. These three are supposed to be the successors of Peter, James and John, constitute what is known as the " first presidency," seem to typify the Trinity, and are the head of the priesthood of Melchisedec. Then comes the " See also:

patriarch," whose See also:chief duty is to bless and lay on hands, and after him the " twelve apostles," forming a travelling high council. Of these the president is ex officio one, and endowed with authority equal to the other eleven. Their duties are important. They ordain all other officers, elders, priests, teachers and deacons, See also:lead all religious meetings, and administer the See also:rites of See also:baptism and See also:sacrament. The " quorum of the twelve " is second in power to the " quorum of the first presidency," and acts in case the president See also:dies or is disabled. See also:Fourth come the seven presidents of the " seventies " or " seventies' quorums," each body comprising seventy elders; there are about 140 seventies in all, each of which has seven presidents, and every seven one president. These seventies make See also:annual reports, and are the missionaries and propagandists of the body. Fifth come the " high priests, " whose chief duty is to officiate in all the offices of the church in the absence of any higher authorities. The priesthood of Melchisedec is made up of the officials just named—president, two counsellors, patriarch, apostles, presidents of seventies, elders and high priests. In the Aaronic priesthood, which is subordinate to the priesthood of Melchisedec, and is occupied rather with temporal affairs, the highest office is that of the presiding bishop, who superintends the collection of See also:tithes; other Aaronic officials are styled priests, teachers and deacons.

The Church is made up of about 50 stakes (21 in Utah), each having a presidency (a president and two counsellors), and is divided into wards, which are subdivided into districts, each of which has a certain number of teachers, a meeting-See also:

house, See also:Sunday school, day school, and dramatic, debating and See also:literary See also:societies. Doctrine.—A system of polytheism has been grafted on an earlier See also:form of the creed, according to which there are grades among the gods, the place of supreme ruler of all being taken by the primeval Adam of Genesis, who is the deity highest in spiritual See also:rank, while Christ, See also:Mahomet, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young also See also:par-take of divinity. The business of these deities is the See also:propagation of souls to people bodies begotten on earth, and the sexual relation permeates the creed. The saints on leaving this See also:world are deified, and their See also:glory is in proportion to the number of their wives and children; hence the See also:necessity and See also:justification of polygamy (although its practice is not now authorized by the Church), and the practice of having many wives sealed to one See also:saint. Marriage, if accompanied by the ecclesiastical ceremony of " sealing," is for eternity, and is a necessary pre-requisite to heavenly See also:bliss. A man may be sealed to any number of women, but no woman may be sealed to more than one man. Both marriage and sealing by See also:proxy are permitted to assure salvation to women who See also:die unsealed. This system of spiritual wives or celestial marriage is based on the See also:idea that a woman cannot be saved except through her See also:husband. Polygamous marriage is supposed to make possible the procreation of enough bodies for thousands of See also:spirits which have long awaited incarnation. Especially in their earlier years the Mormons believed in faith healing, and Joseph Smith bade them " trust in God when sick, and live by faith and not by See also:medicine or See also:poison." Their distinguishing points of faith are: religiously, a belief in a continual divine revelation through the inspired See also:medium of the prophet at the head of the Church; morally, polygamy, though this is condemned in the Book of Mormon, as has been noticed above; and, socially, a See also:complete hierarchical organization. They believe in the Bible as supplemented by the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine, and revelation through the president of the Church; in the See also:gift of prophecy, miracles and casting out devils; in the imminent approach of the end of the world; in their own identity with the apocalyptic saints who shall reign with Christ in a temporal kingdom, either in Missouri (at Independence) or in Utah; in the resurrection of the body; in See also:absolute See also:liberty of private See also:judgment in religious matters; and in the salvation of a man only if he believes in Christ's a4onement, repents, is baptized by See also:immersion by a Christ-appointed apostle and receives the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy See also:Ghost by duly-authorized apostles. Among their See also:minor rules as laid down in A Word of See also:Wisdom supposed to have been revealed to Joseph Smith (Feb.

27, 1833), are these recommendations: that it is not good to drink See also:

wine or strong drink, except at the Lord's Supper (and even then it should be home-made See also:grape- wine), or to use hot drinks or See also:tobacco—the former being meant for the washing of the body and the latter for the healing of bruises and sick See also:cattle; man's proper See also:food is herbs and See also:fruit; that for beasts and fowls, grain; and, except in winter and in case of See also:famine and severe cold, flesh should not be eaten by man. See also:Infant baptism is also condemned, but the children of saints who have reached their eighth year should be baptized. The deceased, also, can be baptized by proxy, and in this way—" baptism for the dead " (1 See also:Cor. xv. 29)—Washington, See also:Franklin and others have been vicariously baptized into the Church, since, according to the Mormons, there was no valid baptism between the time of the corruption of the primitive Church and the See also:establishment of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. See also:Tam, Illinois, 2nd ed., 188o). Edward H. See also:Anderson's Brief History the Church of Latter-Day Saints (3rd ed., 1905) and J. E. See also:Talmage's Story of Mormonism (reprinted, 1907) are regarded by Mormons as See also:authentic. Early attacks on Mormonism are E. D. See also:Howe's Mormonism Unveiled (Painesville, Ohio, 1834) and See also:Pomeroy Tucker's Origin and Progress of the Mormons (New York, 1867).

And among See also:

works descriptive of Mormonism in Utah written by Gentiles the more important are: History of the Mormons of Utah: their Domestic Polity and See also:Theology (See also:Philadelphia, 1852), by Lieut. J. W. Gunnison of the U.S. Topographical See also:Engineers, who took part in surveys preliminary to See also:building a transcontinental railway; Utah and the Mormons (New York, 1854), by B, G. Ferris, secretary of Utah Territory in 1852–1853; See also:Horace See also:Greeley, Overland See also:Journey from New York to San Francisco in 1859 (New York, 1860) ; Jules Remy, Journey to Great Salt Lake City (London, 1861); and The City of the Saints, and across the Rocky Mountains to California (London, 1861), by See also:Richard F. See also:Burton, who spent a See also:month in Salt Lake City in 186o. There is much valuable material in the Reports of the Utah Commission appointed under the Edmunds Act, in Testimony before the Senate Committee in the Smoot case (1903–1905), and in the See also:Report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections (Senate Report 4253, 59th Congress, 1st Session), also in the Smoot case.

End of Article: MORMONS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MORMAOR, or MORMAER (from two Gaelic words mor, gre... 		[next]
MORMYR

Site © 2006 - Net Industries