Christian denominations and sects not treated equally in the 19th century

Notwithstanding what people say today, the United States of America was founded on Christian principles. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution “prevents the government from making laws … that prohibit the free exercise of religion.” It was clear that the First Amendment applied to the federal government, but the individual states were not bound by the bill of rights until the ratification bill the Fourteenth Amendment, which made the bill of right enforceable to all governmental entities in the United States, including the states.

 

Until the Fourteenth Amendment, the states were unkind to, and at times downright, evil in their treatment of Christian denominations and sects that were in the minority of Christianity. Missouri’s treatment of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a prime example. The Latter-day Saints began moving into Jackson county, Missouri, in 1831, just one year after the church’s founding in New York.

 

Based on religious intolerance and a distrust of the Saints, in the late 1833 and into 1834, the citizens of Jackson county forcibly removed the Saints from their homes and property, physically assaulting the Saints, and instigating gun fights that left men on both sides dead.[1] The Missouri governor at the time, Daniel Dunklin, did nothing of substance to provide redress.[2]

 

Initially, the Saints were given refuge in Clay county, but that was only meant to be a temporary solution for the short-run. The Saints were given land in Caldwell county in 1836, but this was not enough as Missourians continued to persecute and harass the Saints. In 1838, the next governor, Lillian Boggs, sent the state militia to Caldwell county to arrest church leaders including Joseph Smith.

 

After the arrests, Smith and other church leaders were kept for months in a rat-infested basement of Liberty county jail. While they were in jail, the Saints were subjected to physical and sexual assault, their property was stolen from them.[3]Then, on October 27, 1838, the Missouri governor, Governor Boggs, signed an executive order, identifying the Saints “as enemies” that “must be exterminated or driven from the state …” by any means necessary to exterminate the Saints from the state.[4]

 

The Saints, religious refugees in their own country, a country built on religious freedom, fled to Illinois. Smith and other church leaders made several attempts to gain redress from Congress and the United States President.[5] They even went to Washington D.C., but to no avail.

 

The abuse the Saints suffered at the hands of Missouri, with no action by the federal government is not the exception. The Catholics are another example of a minority religious group being abused with no opportunity for redress. As such, while the Christian church was gaining ground, the free exercise right as guaranteed in the constitution was not applied evenly.


[1] Henry Mayhew and Charles Mackay, History of the Mormons or Latter-Day Saints : with memoirs of the life and death of Joseph Smith, the "American Mahomet", 3rd ed. (Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1854), 86–92, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed April 11, 2023). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0111058215/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=6c1ed068&pg=1.

 

[2] Mayhew and Mackey, History of the Mormons, 86-92. 

 

[3] Parley Parker Pratt and Parley Parker Pratt. The autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, one of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : embracing his life, ministry and travels : with extracts in prose and verse from his miscellaneous writings (New York: Russell Bros., 1874), 257, Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed April 12, 2023). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0108092938/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=8cc2580f&pg=1.

 

[4] “Governor Boggs’ Extermination Order,” October 27, 1838, 

https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/archives/resources/findingaids/miscMormRecs/eo/1838102

7_ExtermOrder.pdf.

 

[5] Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 30 October 

1839–27 January 1840,” The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/papersummary/memorial-to-the-united-states-senate-and-house-of-representatives-circa-30-october1839-27-january-1840/1.

 

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