Category Archives: Mormonism
The Assassinations of Joseph Smith Jr. and Hyrum Smith
June 27th marks the anniversary of the 1844 assassinations of Joseph Smith Jr., the Mormon founding prophet, and his brother Hyrum Smith at the Carthage Jail in Hancock County, Illinois. It is usually a day of remembrance for those claiming … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Nauvoo Polygamy: ‘but we called it celestial marriage'”
Nauvoo Polygamy: “but we called it celestial marriage.” By George D. Smith. Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008. Introduction, photographs, appendices, footnotes, bibliography, index. ix + 705 pp. ISBN: 978-1-56085-201-8. Hardcover with dustjacket. $39.95. Plural marriage, or polygamy, among … Continue reading
Mormonism and the Founding of Nauvoo
During the bitter winter of 1838-1839 some 5,000 Latter-day Saints crossed the Mississippi River from Missouri and settled in western Illinois. Since the organization of the Mormon church almost ten years before, this group of religious pioneers, led by Joseph … Continue reading
Mormon Militancy and the Conflict in 1840s Nauvoo?
The non-Mormons of Hancock County, Illinois, in the early 1840s probably disliked the Mormons from the first, in the same way that most Americans have generally disliked what they have viewed as religious fanaticism, but they were initially disposed toward toleration … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Book Review: “Mormons and their Historians”
Mormons and their Historians. By Davis Bitton and Leonard J. Arrington. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988. Although this book is rather long in the tooth, and both authors have passed on, it is still a fine short … Continue reading
Zion in Mormon History: An American Promised Land
Mormonism’s self-identification as a modern replacement for ancient Israel mandated the quest for Zion as a literal place. The establishment of what the Saints called Zion had been the most persistent goal of the early Mormon movement. The early Latter-day … Continue reading
The Latter-day Saint Movement and the Concept of a “Chosen People”
Perhaps the single most important tenet of Joseph Smith Jr.’s (1805-1844) theology in founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) was the identification of his followers as a “latter-day Israel.” This identification drove much of the rest of … Continue reading
Mormon Nauvoo in the Context of Post-Colonial Studies
To an extent underappreciated by historians, the Mormon experience in Nauvoo between 1839 and 1846 represents an expression of colonialism and its antithesis. The field of post-colonial studies has been gaining prominence since the 1970s. While historians and others debate the … Continue reading
The Esoteric Mormon Doctrine of Baptism for the Dead
Many have all wondered about it in Washington, D.C., at one time or another while driving around the Beltway and see the Mormon Temple rising before us like the Emerald City out of Oz. What do the Mormons do in there? … Continue reading
An Account of the Evacuation of Nauvoo by the Mormons in 1846
After a lengthy period of conflict between the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois, and their non-Mormon neighbors, they negotiated a treaty, dated September 16, 1846, which gave the remaining Mormons five days to leave the city. A few days after this, on … Continue reading
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