A Brief History of Mormonism

I am still trying to understand what happened to America. And, as I write this, the word understand stands out. Because most Americans were not interested in understanding anything, but fitting in to their world - and conforming as much as they could.

Why? Because they were scared of being human - in a world where superhumans reigned.

Which brings up the question "How did this happen?' When it happened is clear, sometime in the 19th Century. And the religious correlations are also clear - for my family: Mormonism appeared, as an unexpected byproduct of this situation.

I realize most of you are not Mormons - but Mormonism can serve as symptom for all the other strange things that were going on, after the Second Great Awakening changed America.

A short historical review, of the development of Mormonism is in order. It was lead by Joseph Smith, who attained his power, by a series of strange developments.

He began as a fortune finder, part of the craze that swept the people of his time - who believed that buried treasure could be found in the fields of Western New York State. That had recently been taken from the Indians. Long trenches were being dug, in frantic effort to find the treasure. but no treasure had been found!

They needed someone who would tell them where the treasure was buried. And Joseph Smith had this ability. He had a stone he would place in his hat, put the hat over his eyes, and he would be able to see where the treasure was. But this practice was illegal, and a hearing was held, to determine if he should be prosecuted under the law. But he avoided prosecution, by leaving the state.

His next business venture was to write a book - that he claimed, was a translation of the writings on some golden plates, that he had in his possession. It was called the Book of Mormon, and was printed, and made available for sale. No one should have been deceived by this, but many people were - especially when it was taken to England, by enthusiastic missionaries - and shown to workers in the factories there.

These were not the intellectuals in  London, who had no interest in it - but a new audience, who were not capable of critical thought, but had strong beliefs. And they thought Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God! And they longed to follow him - and promptly immigrated to America where they could do just that.

This was a new idea to Joseph himself, but he found it suited him well.And he founded a new church - the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints - LDS, for short. With him as its leader, and prophet. Whatever he wrote, became divine scripture, and was printed in their Doctrine and Covenants.

This church moved frequently, first to Kirtland, Ohio - where they built a temple, and started a bank, that soon failed. Then they moved to Missouri, that was the scene of intense violence between slavery forces and abolition forces. They were caught in the middle, and the church leaders, including Joseph Smith - ended up in jail! Most of the church members fled eastward, into Illinois, were they were treated kindly by the people of Quincy, Illinois.

Joseph Smith was allowed to escape from jail, and joined his church members in Quincy. He next purchased land further up the Mississippi River, and set about building a new town he called Nauvoo. New members were arriving frequently, and Nauvoo soon became a large town. where another temple was built.

But Missouri tried to extradite him, and try him as a criminal there. Joseph went into hiding, but surrendered to the Governor of Illinois, who promised to treat him fairly.  He was taken  to the County Seat, of Carthage, Illinois - where he was killed by an angry mob.

The Mormons believed they were superhuman - but so did many other Americans - for different reasons, that will have to be examined later, in this blog.