Excerpt from The Mormon Problem, the Nation's Dilemma: A New Data, New Method, Involving Leading Questions of the Day The Mormon problem is related to some of the deeper prob lems of civilization, as well as to questions of the greatest practi cal moment; while it also offers some of the finest, truest lessons, in. The ethics of reform. But we have lived virtually under a reign of terror as regards this question. There are few persons who cannot tell how the Mormons should be dealt with, but not one in ten thousand has taken any pains to get at the truth; while the silence of a large class accustomed to think for them selves is one of the strangest features of the controversy. Noth ing will prove truer than that Mormonism is providential in being the means of emphazing reforms which the conceit or lethargy of an age is wont to leave to chance or fate. It is time this anti-mormon crusade were at an end, and a reform inauger ated whose life is the music of principle. The course hitherto pursued toward Utah, even though it were to end in the sup pression of polygamy, must partake more of the nature of defeat than of victory. The future must reveal the lack of principle or wisdom in that legislation which betrays no consciousness of the fact, that the difficulties of this Mormon problem are closely allied to questions with which we are confronted outside of Utah. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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From the Mormon Church's public announcement of its sanction of polygamy in 1852 until its formal decision to abandon the practice in 1890, people on both sides of the "Mormon question" debated central questions of constitutional law. Did principles of religious freedom and local self-government protect Mormons' claim to a distinct, religiously based legal order? Or was polygamy, as its opponents claimed, a new form of slavery--this time for white women in Utah? And did constitutional principles dictate that democracy and true liberty were founded on separation of church and state? As Sarah Barringer Gordon shows, the answers to these questions finally yielded an apparent victory for antipolygamists in the late nineteenth century, but only after decades of argument, litigation, and open conflict. Victory came at a price; as attention and national resources poured into Utah in the late 1870s and 1880s, antipolygamists turned more and more to coercion and punishment in the name of freedom. They also left a legacy in constitutional law and political theory that still governs our treatment of religious life: Americans are free to believe, but they may well not be free to act on their beliefs.

Includes its Report, 1896-19 .

This first study of the antipolygamy movement in the United States traces its growth from a Utah-based women's group into a national crusade where it sparked a debate in suffrage politics. The author analyzes this debate, highlighting the differing views of marriage, family, and the role of women held by suffrage leaders, Mormon women, and antipolygamy reformers. Antipolygamy rhetoric masked a more significant debate within women's groups about the structure and meaning of the American family. Coming in the post-Civil War period, the antipolygamy agenda reflects an attempt to re-construct the Republican family, diminish patriarchal authority, and improve the status of women. The reaction of the antipolygamy women was also more than a struggle for power. Their adherence to the Republican family was a discourse involving not just rhetoric, but a whole range of cultural forms and institutions which provided women with status, moral authority, and an identity. Often the fear of polygamy was mingled with anxiety over the increase in divorce and the emergence of the new woman. Ironically, by the end of the long congressional battle over Utah and the Mormons, both the rhetoric of polygamy and antipolygamy were used against the women's movement.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER H. THE EXTENT OF THE EVIL. 1. Its Numerical Strength. The growth of Mormonism has been without a parallel in the history of any religious or irreligious movement. In 1826 Joseph Smith claimed to have discovered the gold plates on which, it was alleged, were engraved the contents of the Book of Mormon. In 1830 the Church was organized in Seneca County, New York, with but six members. On the 14th of April, 184-7, a party of one hundred and forty-eight, led by Brigham Young, started for the Rocky Mountains, and, on the 24th. of July, 1847, entered Salt Lake Valley. In 1860 there had come to be forty thousand Mormons in Utah. In ten years the number had increased to eighty-seven thousand. In ten years more, namely, in 1880, there were one hundred and twenty-five thousand in Utah, with about twentyfive thousand more in the adjacent States and Territories. There are at least one hundred thousand more in their mission-fields and conferences through out the world. So that in the little more than fifty' years since the Church was organized, a man who came forward with a lie in his mouth and ajrtolen manuscript in his hand to proclaim one of the most' monstrous delusions of all time, has obtained a following of more than a quarter of million of souls. From this stand-point the outlook for the future is most alarming. Fifty years ago the Church began its work with six members--now it numbers two hundred and fifty thousand: then, the first convert and dupe mortgaged his farm to publish the first edition of the Book of Mormon; now, a million dollars is collected annually through the tithing system: then, the handful of believers were without character, reputation, or influence, now, the leaders are, many of them, men of learning and...