The Mormon Proposition

History is filled with delicious ironic cocktails. Here is one of my favorites. In 1854, the Whig Party is in shambles; a new political party was created. Six years later, the Republican Party celebrated the election of Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency of the United States. What we forget is, the Republican Party was concerned primarily with ridding America of three things. Can you name them? Most people can come up with the first one. Slavery. The Republican Party wanted to destroy the southern way of life. The irony that the Republican Party is now primarily a white, male, southern party that has not met a minority group that it cannot vilify, is something to enjoy with a good wine and a nice piece of chocolate cake. The second plank of the party was ridding the country of the stain of alcoholism, which saw its full flower in Prohibition, which did not work out that well. Can you name the third stain on America’s morality that concerned the early Republican Party? Hint: Look at the title of this article. Mormons. The “cult” of the Latter Day Saints bent early Yankee Republicans more out of shape than Elastic Man in an orgy. The early Mormon Church was perhaps the most persecuted group in the history of the United States, and ironically, the backbone of the Republican Party.

As far back as 1830s, the Latter Day Saints were under attack. Neighbors and religious leaders, particularly the Methodist Church, became concerned about the activities of founder Joseph Smith and his followers. Because LDS members tended to vote in a block, many political leaders became alarmed at the power and influence of the new movement. In 1841, an anti-Mormon Party was formed in Illinois to stop the church. Missouri governor Liburn Boggs, declared, in an executive order, that “Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated, or driven from the State.” Less than a week later, the LDS settlement at Haun’s Mill was attacked by a state militia. (The state of Missouri did not formally rescind the “Extermination Order” until well over a century later in 1976.) In Nauvoo, the largest city in Illinois (due to the Mormon influx), surrounding citizens became concerned that the Nauvoo militia, made up solely of LDS members, had grown too large, estimated at being a quarter of the size of the U.S. Army, that Joseph Smith was growing too powerful and needed to be stopped. In 1844, Smith, under arrest in the Carthage Jail, was killed by an angry mob. Many of his former followers fled in fear across the Mississippi River a few months later. They did not stop moving until they settled in the Utah Salt Lake Valley in 1847. A huge LDS outpost in the desert did not sit well with many Americans but there was little they could do about it, until 1857.

Under severe pressure from the new Republican Party, who had campaigned on the platform of destroying “those twin relics of barbarism – polygamy and slavery,” President James Buchanan, a Democrat, decided to do something about the LDS. He removed territorial governor Brigham Young and replaced him with Alfred Cumming. To make sure Cumming would have no problems assuming his new post, 5,000 soldiers under the command of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston were ordered to accompany him to Salt Lake City. With an army marching west, Mormons decided to defend themselves against what they saw as an invasion. The Nauvoo Legion, under the command of Daniel H. Wells and Lot Smith, decided, instead of meeting the U.S. military on a field of battle, to attack the supply and communication lines of the invading army. Other than the Mountain Meadows massacre, in which innocent Missouri and Arkansas settlers heading to California were killed, this plan successfully avoided bloodshed. After a great deal of negotiation, assurances that the military would not harass the Latter Day Saints, and leave as quickly as they could, Young resigned and allowed the army to enter the valley (Salt Lake City was nearly empty as most LDS members fled to Provo, not trusting Johnston’s promises.) and settle at Camp Floyd. Tensions between the Mormons and the United States died down as the nation became preoccupied by the Civil War. In the bloody aftermath of the War Between the States, a lack of political will, reforms, and cunning political moves by LDS leaders, brought peace, and Utah into statehood.

A century later, it is hard to argue that there is a more patriotic group in America than the Latter Day Saints. While many fellow religious Republicans view them as the red headed stepchild in the family photograph, between 80 to 90 percent of Mormons are solidly in the GOP corner each election. (Sorry, Mormons, how do I say this, your party hates you, h-a-t-e-s--y-o-u, hates you. In polls conducted during the last Presidential election, only 25 to 43 percent of voters, depending on the survey, feel comfortable with a Mormon as President, compared to 84 percent who felt comfortable with an African-American and 78 percent for a woman. In other words, you are the dog at a cat fancier ball, the skunk at the garden party.)

I took this long introduction to show that Mormons know persecution. Some will say I am comparing apples to oranges, but it is ironic that one of the main opponents to gay marriage is the LDS. We are at the beginning of a very long political war that, given statistics of younger individuals, will eventually end with gay marriage being a reality. No separate, but equal, it is black and white, gay marriage will someday be a reality across America. Even though gay marriage has suffered a setback almost every time it has been put in front of voters, eventually the elderly will pass on, and it will happen. To paraphrase Jack Webb, those are just the facts, ma’am. In 2008, California voters were given the ballot proposition to amend the state constitution so that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Huge money was thrown into the fight. It is estimated that $39.9 million was spent by those for the amendment and $43.3 million against. What is not as well known is Mormons gave up to $20 million, over half the funds, to see Proposition 8 pass. LDS members are only 2.3 percent of the population and yet they were the main actors in this fight. Although the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claimed to have no role in the campaign, as that would violate state and national laws, it was later unearthed that at least $190,000 of church funds were spent to ensure that gay marriage was banned in California, at least for now. (The church picked up the tab for travel expenses, airline times, car rentals, hotel rooms, and wages for church employees who went to the West Coast to campaign for the ban.) Director Reed Cowan examines the LDS and its members’ activities in the promotion and passage of Proposition 8.

I have avoided making very many comments, attacks or jokes throughout this column mainly because I know that my publisher, when reading this for the first time, was probably rocking himself in the fetal position, muttering, “Please don’t say anything stupid. Please don’t say anything stupid. I like feeding and clothing my family. Please don’t say anything stupid.” I will only note that if today’s technology had been around a century ago, we might be watching a very similar documentary on the efforts to stop the LDS. Kind of ironic I guess.

Verdict: An Ironic Documentary