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The Radicalizaton of Mormon Theology, 1831-1839

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The Radicalizaton of Mormon Theology, 1831-1839 TROUBLE IN ZION: THE RADICALIZATON OF MORMON THEOLOGY, 1831-1839 _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by ANGELA BELL Dr. John H. Wigger, Dissertation Supervisor MAY 2017 © Copyright by Angela Bell 2017 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled TROUBLE IN ZION: THE RADICALIZATON OF MORMON THEOLOGY, 1831-1839 presented by Angela Bell, a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy of history, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor John H. Wigger Professor Catherine Rymph Professor Steven Watts Professor John Frymire Professor Richard Callahan For Sky, Bruce, and my grandfathers, Clifford and Charles… I miss you all. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have accumulated more debts than I can count during the course of my academic career. It is with utmost sincerity that I offer my gratitude to the following people: My largest debt is to Dr. John Wigger whose patience, humor, and encouragement have been invaluable. I would not be here without his unflagging support and insistence that I continue when I lacked faith in my own abilities. Members of my committee and other professors and staff at the University of Missouri’s Department of History have all enriched my academic career and offered innumerable opportunities to grow and succeed. My fellow graduate students deserve thanks too—in particular, Sandi Burgess, Autumn Dolan, and Nina Verbanez. The staffs at the State Historical Society of Missouri (especially the Newspaper Collection) and Western Historical Manuscript Collections at the University of Missouri, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Snyder Collection, the William Jewell College Library and Special Collections, the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University, the Missouri State Archives, and the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives were all invaluable as I gathered research. I have met a number of brilliant and generous colleagues through the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association. These include David Grua, Grant Underwood, Alex Baugh, Tom Spencer, Jan Shipps, Ron Romig, Steve LeSueur, Mark Ashurst-McGee, David Howlett, Mike Riggs, Kenny Ballentine, and a number of others. Thank you for welcoming and accepting me when I was a very nervous graduate student in awe of your vast knowledge. I admit I still get a little tongue tied in your presence. You are all rock stars to me. iii My colleagues, administration, and staff at Lone Star College-CyFair have been the best cheerleaders during my time in Houston. James Seymour, Esther Robinson, Sandra Harvey, Rob Coyle, Rob Holmes, Blake Ellis, Alex Smith, Kelly Phillips, Tom Kelly, Bobby O’Brien, Keith Altavilla, Kristin Henze, Kelly Gernhart, Rhonda Holstein, Cristina Barron, Nechelle Moody, and so many others. Thank you for your friendship and encouragement. I would not have finished without you. My South Main Baptist Church family picked me up and put me on their shoulders throughout this process—especially my Inner Loop South Main at Home group, who read every update and chapter (or at least pretended to). You are all more than I could have hoped for, but the following deserve special thanks: Michael Raimer-Goodman, Linda and Hart Brupbacher, Jennifer Gribble, Catrice Mays, Jana Milam, Mike Shirl, J Hill, Spencer Gardner, Anne Tülek, Ed Menger, Larry Carroll, Ruthie Shaw, Amy Grizzle Kane, Thomas Coker, Carey Cannon, and Steve Wells. To my extended family and friends, thank you. There are too many of you to name, but you all asked for chapters and updates while you cheered for me. I am humbled by your support. Special thanks to my parents (Kathy Bell and Gary Bell), grandmother (Imogene Bell), sister (Kristy Wade), and nephews (Christian Wade and John Wade) for loving me through this. The last several years have been more than any of us should have had to take, but each of you have helped make it better. And Sox, who should not be omitted. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii INTRODUCTION—REVEALING ZION ..........................................................................1 CHAPTER 1—CLAIMING ZION ....................................................................................27 CHAPTER 2—A RIGHTEOUS MOB ..............................................................................60 CHAPTER 3—REDEEMING ZION ................................................................................96 CHAPTER 4—PERSECUTING THE SAINTS .............................................................129 CHAPTER 5—LOSING ZION .......................................................................................162 CHAPTER 6—EXPELLING THE SAINTS...................................................................194 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................227 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................237 VITA ................................................................................................................................249 1 Introduction—Revealing Zion In 1831, Joseph Smith received his first revelation regarding Missouri and establishing the place of Zion in Latter Day Saints’ theology.1 Missouri promised a land of freedom and potential for religious members who believed they were chosen by God. Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, also provided a place of refuge for the chosen Saints to escape from a sinful and corrupt world. This belief in Independence as the center of Mormonism’s Zion proved integral to the problems the Saints faced in Missouri during the 1830s, as well as being influential to the development of Mormonism’s creed and practices.2 When the Church of Christ was first organized by Joseph Smith, Jr., in 1830, many adherents left Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian, and other Protestant congregations to join the Mormon Church. Leaders and members of the new religious group worked tirelessly to spread the faith and to establish the foundations and beliefs of the new Church of Christ.3 Periods of persecution in upstate New York, Ohio, and Missouri forged an identity of persecuted believer for many Mormons that directly affected the way antebellum Saints viewed the world around 1 Joseph Smith, Jr.’s, vision regarding Missouri as the location of Zion is dated April 1831 and was published in the Doctrine and Covenants and in the Book of Commandments. 2 The significance and importance of the location of Zion in Independence, MO, is reflected in several revelations that were recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Commandments following the expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County in late 1833. Grant Underwood’s The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism also discusses the significance of Zion during the development of the Mormon faith. Grand Underwood, The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993). 3 The early work of many Mormon leaders is well-documented. Some synthesis works include the following: Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, (New York: Knopf, 2005); Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church, (New York: Basic Books, 2002); Matthew Bowman, The Mormon People: The Making of An American Faith, (New York: Random House, 2012); Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987); Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987), as well as countless primary sources. 2 them.4 The intensity of the persecution in Missouri also drove the Church towards more radical revelations and religious practices following expulsion from the state in 1838 and 1839. As a result, by the time Joseph Smith suffered an assassin’s bullet on June 27, 1844, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints bore far fewer similarities to other Protestant denominations in the U.S. than it had at the church’s inception 14 years earlier. Persecution, despite ideological commonalities between the Saints and their Protestant neighbors, spurred the radicalization of Mormon theology in the early 1840s. In addition to their identities as the Mormon faithful, most Mormon converts believed themselves to be patriotic Americans who supported the beliefs of the Founding Fathers and passionately claimed God’s support for the new nation.5 As citizens of a republican nation, Mormon believers lived according to what they understood were core American principles of liberty, personal responsibility, and duty to God and country.6 4 The aspect of persecution is discussed in Underwood’s The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism as well as other works more focused on the Missouri period of Mormon history. These include the following: Kenneth Winn, Exiles in a Land of Liberty: Mormons in America, 1830-1846, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989), Marvin Hill, Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism, (Salt Lake City: Signature
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