Religious Freedom: The Mormom Legacy

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Religious Freedom The Mormom Legacy

• By Charlotte Wilson
• ED 417
• Dr. Helms

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Rationale

• Students have many misconceptions about religious
  freedom in America after the Civil War. It is
  important for students to understand that
  religious freedom was a trial. Students will
  learn about the problems the Mormons faced in the
  early stages of freedom in America. This will
  enable students to better understand Mormons, and
  the individual freedoms they wanted that we know
  have.

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Religious Revival

• Between 1797 thru the early 1830s people were
  caught up in the Second Great Awakening.
• New religions sprouted.
• New York given label as burned-over district.
• Many confused. Joseph Smith, 14, was one of them.

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Joseph Smith

• Had a vision in 1820 and later in 1823.
• Claimed he saw an angle that showed him where
  ancient records of Christs visit to the
  Americas were.
• Translated the records now known as The Book Of
  Mormon.
• Personal testaments of records and truthfulness
  given by scholars and others.

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Records

• Engravings written upon gold plates were
  Egyptian.
• History of prophet Lehi and his family when they
  left Jerusalem and sailed to Western Hemisphere.
• Their descendents split into the Lamanites and
  the Nephites.
• Said to be ancestors of American Indians.

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Church Organized

• April 6, 1830 Church of JESUS CHRIST of
  Latter-day Saints was organized.
• Given nickname of LDS church and Mormons because
  they believe the Book of Mormon to be true.
• Membership grew through missionary work
• Today is the fastest growing church in world with
  over 6 million.
• More members outside U.S. than inside.

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Kirtland, Ohio

• Due to the religious times, non-believers
  harassed members.
• Marks the beginning of the Saints long journey
  westward.
• Communities established in Kirtland, Ohio and
  Independence, Missouri during 1830s.
• Was the churchs center for 8 years.
• First Mormon temple built and completed in 1836.
• Now over 100 Mormon temples worldwide.

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Problems

• Missourians burned fields, barns, and drove off
  livestock.
• Beat and killed Saints.
• Joseph Smith arrested for preaching Book of
  Mormon. Later released.
• Persecution began.
• Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered by a mob
  while his family was asleep.

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Far West, Caldwell County

• Caldwell militia attack was ordered.
• Higher authorities overruled the order.
• Gangs burned houses later that day in opposition
  to cancellation of order.
• Deeds done that would make a savage hang its
  head in shame.

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Hauns Mill

• Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued an extermination
  order against the Saints.
• He stated, Mormons must be treated as enemies,
  and must be exterminated or driven from the state
  if necessary, for the public good. These
  outrages are beyond all description.
• He published lies making them appear like exiles
  wanting to flood the state with war.
• Was unprovoked during a truce between the Saints
  and Missourians.
• Saints wanted to practice their religion and
  preach to others.

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Hauns Mill Massacre

• October 30, 1838 200 Missourians attacked the
  isolated settlement and butchered the Saints.
• Mormon men retreated to a blacksmith shop.
• Women and children ran into the woods for safety.
• Children were mutilated and the gang boasted of
  their deeds and robbed the dead.
• Child shot in the head and childs head blown
  off.
• Survivors put bodies in an unfinished well.
• Sound familiar?.(the Holocaust)

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Holocaust

• 1941 Americans were appalled at stories of
  torture and suffering as Hitler committed
  genocide on his own people in Germany.
• Mass graves, torture, persecution.
• Americans had already forgotten that over 100
  years earlier they themselves did the same to
  Mormons.
• Was there really religious freedom in America?

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Jail

• November 30, 1838 the prophet, Joseph Smith, his
  brother Hyrum, and other leaders were moved to a
  jail in Clay County and incarcerated at Liberty
  Jail.
• Charged with treason.
• Poisoned for five days.
• Served human flesh as meat.
• Freed in 1839.

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Nauvoo or Commerce, Illinois

• Mormons sought refuge here in the late 1830s.
• Was a swamp, but Mormons irrigated it and it
  became a beautiful place.
• Non-Mormons became jealous of their prosperity.
• Petitions made to Governor of Illinois to
  disperse the Mormons.

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Smith Surrendered

• Joseph Smith was faced with threats on members
  lives and expulsion from the state, and
  surrendered.
• He was jailed with three others on June 24, 1844.
• While traveling there Smith said, I am going
  like a lamb to the slaughterI shall be innocent,
  and it shall be said of me-he was murdered in
  cold blood.

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Awaiting Trial

• Friends visited and smuggled letters to the
  prophet.
• One night 100 men gathered around jail.
• Mob forced their way inside, firing as they came
  up the stairs.
• Instantly the occupants grabbed two guns.
• Hyrum was shot 4 times crying, I am a dead man.
• Smith shot twice in the back by the window and
  then fell 25 feet to the ground below.
• Sealed their testimonies of their faith with
  their own blood.

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Brigham Young

• Church leader after Smith was martyred.
• Organized the evacuation of Mormons from Nauvoo.
• Then took over as prophet of the church.
• Took Mormons on a dramatic exodus west over
  thirteen hundred miles.
• Studied reports of explorer's and chose the Great
  Salt Lake.

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Mexican War

• 1836 federal government got involved in Mexican
  War.
• Mormons supplied 500 men for the cause.
• In return Mormons were given permission to
  temporarily camp on Indian Land in Nebraska.
• Tribes agreed.

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Journey Begins

• Begins in Spring of 1846.
• Young and advisors mapped out every detail of
  exodus in advance.
• Saints went west in caravans at regular
  intervals.
• First wagons halted to plow and plant for next
  caravans.

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Mississippi River

• Initial party reached river on June 14, 1846
  which took them four months to complete this
  part.
• Camp built in Omaha, Nebraska called Winter
  Quarters.
• Also called Misery Bottom.
• Provided safety against mobs
• Entire families wiped out by heavy winter
  conditions and disease
• Before spring, 2,000 saints died in the cold.

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Pioneer Band

• April 1847 Young led a band along trail to blaze
  the way for Saints to come.
• Known as Mormon Trail.
• Last 116 miles were most the difficult.
• Livestock were weak, wagons worn, people weary.
• Roamed through canyons, slopes, and over rocky
  ridges of the Watsatch Range.

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Home

• July 24, 1847 the Saints caught their first
  glimpse of home.
• Immediately planted crops.
• Emigrants continued to arrive.
• Over the next twenty years over 70,000 Mormons
  traveled by wagons and handcarts to Salt Lake
  City.

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Migration

• Mormons made the trails for other migrates.
• Mormons expedition was not voluntary for they had
  to find an isolated area to settle and practice
  their religion in peace.
• Was a movement of an entire people, religion and
  culture driven by religious fervor and
  determination.

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Immigrants

• Europeans came daily off boats and traveled with
  the Mormons as they moved west.
• Missionaries had been busy proclaiming the
  restored gospel of Jesus Christ around the world
  while Mormons trekked.
• Many left families and loved ones behind to go
  preach for years at a time.
• Today there are over 30,000 young men each year
  who serve two years of their life to preach the
  gospel.

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Conclusion

• In the end the Saints were given their freedom to
  worship only after too many lives were taken in
  cold and innocent blood.
• June 25, 1976 Governor Christopher S. Bond of
  Missouri issued and executive order which
  recognized the legal invalidity and formally
  apologized in behalf of the state of Missouri for
  the suffering it caused the Saints.
• By almost any measure the Church of JESUS CHRIST
  of Latter-day Saints is one of the worlds
  richest and fastest-growing religious movements
  of all time.
• It has sustained the most rapid growth rate of
  any new faith group in American history since the
  founding one hundred and seventy years ago in
  upstate New York.
• Nevertheless the churchs pioneer past is now
  celebrated as an integral part of the American
  saga and a legacy to the descendents of the early
  Saints.

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Further Questions and Exploration

• Compare and contrast the Mormons legacy to other
  persecuted groups of people.
• Was there religious freedom in America in 1800s?
  What connotes religious freedom?
• Find out what Mormons believe by looking up The
  Thirteen Articles of Faith.
• What differentiates Mormon religion from others?

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Reference

• To know more about Joseph Smith, The Book of
  Mormon, the trek west, religious freedom at this
  time, or the First Vision
• Contact your local missionaries, or a local
  Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints.
• Or ask meCharlotte Wilson athletic_char_at_usa.com