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Infallible Proofs, Both Human and Divine: The Persuasiveness of Mormonism for Early Converts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Steven C. Harper
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Extract

In March 1830, the Grandin Press in Palmyra, New York, published the first edition of the Book of Mormon. On April 6, Joseph Smith, Jr., organized the Church of Christ—Mormonism—in Fayette near the Finger Lakes. Shortly thereafter, Joseph's unschooled younger brother Samuel filled a knapsack with copies of the book and traveled to villages westward to make converts to what he believed to be the restoration of primitive Christianity. From these beginnings, a small army of itinerant missionaries gathered several thousand American converts throughout the 1830's.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religion and American Culture , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Winter 2000 , pp. 99 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture 2000

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References

Notes

1. Campbeirs assessment of the Book of Mormon was first published in his newspaper Millennial Harbinger 2 (February 7, 1831): 85-96. It was published as Delusions (New York: E. H. Green, 1832) and is most easily accessible in Kirkham, Francis W., A New Witnessfor Christ in America, 2 vols. (Independence, Mo.: Zion's, 1951), 2:101-9Google Scholar. See also see Nibley, Hugh W., The Prophetic Book of Mormon (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998), 127-58Google Scholar.

2. Shipps, Jan, Mormonism: The Story ofa New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985), 3 Google Scholar; Davis, David Brion, ‘The New England Origins of Mormonism,’ New England Quarterly 26, no. 2 (June 1953): 157 Google Scholar. Grant Underwood reviews this article in “The New England Origins of Mormonism Revisited,” Journal of Mormon History 15 (1989): 15-35. Bushman, Richard L. addresses Davis's interpretation in Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 7 Google Scholar.

3. Barlow, Philip L., Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 228 Google Scholar (see also Smith, Timothy, “The Book of Mormon in a Biblical Culture,” Journal of Mormon History 7 [1980]: 3–21 Google Scholar); Brown, Benjamin, Testimonies for the Truth (Liverpool, England: S. W. Richards, 1853)Google Scholar; Davis, “The New England Origins of Mormonism,’ 153, 157-58.

4. DePillis, Mario S., “The Quest for Religious Authority and the Rise of Mormonism,” Dialogue 1, no. 1 (Spring 1966): 68–88 Google Scholar; DePillis, Mario S., “The Social Sources of Mormonism,” Church History 37, no. 1 (March 1968): 50–79 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. DePillis offers a weak sociological argument that rests on a sample of six Mormon converts with half being prominent land owners.

5. Marvin Hill, “The Role of Christian Primitivism in the Origin and Development of the Mormon Kingdom, 1830-1844” (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1968); Vogel, Dan, Religious Seekers and the Advent of Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987)Google Scholar ( Hatch, Nathan O., The Democratization of American Christianity [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989], 168 Google Scholar, emphasizes this same distinction); Hughes, Richard T. and Allen, C. Leonard, Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), xiv, 142-43Google Scholar; Alexander, Thomas G., “Wilford Woodruff and the Changing Nature of Mormon Religious Experience,” Church History 45, no. 1 (March 1976): 56–69 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Underwood, Grant, “The Meaning and Attraction of Mormonism Reexamined,” Thetean 9 (March 1977): 1–15 Google Scholar.

6. Quinn, D. Michael, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987)Google Scholar; Brooke, John L., The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Leventhal, Herbert, In the Shadow of the Enlightenment: Occultism and Renaissance Science in Eighteenth-Century America (New York: New York University Press, 1976)Google Scholar; Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism; Shipps, Mormonism; Klaus Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).

7. Quoted in Kirkham, A New Witness for Christ in America, 2:267; Shipps, Mormonism, 3.

8. Bushman, Richard L., “The Visionary World of Joseph Smith,” BYU Studies 37, no. 1 (1997-98): 183–204 Google Scholar; Wood, Gordon S., “Evangelical America and Early Mormonism,” New York History 61, no. 4 (October 1980): 359-86Google Scholar, quote on 380.

9. Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience, 41. It is telling that Hansen's Statement is itself shaped by the presumption pervading earlier historiography that converts came from among the gullible, i.e., the socially peripheral. Hansen's observation is corroborated by the obvious abundance of early Mormon writers and by Whitney R. Cross's finding that antebellum western New Yorkers were comparatively quite literate. See Cross, Whitney R., The Burned-over District (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1950), 78–109 Google Scholar. Approximately one-fifth to one-quarter of American converts to Mormonism between 1830 and 1839 converted in western New York. See Steven C. Harper, “The Evangelical World of Early Mormonism” (M.A. thesis, Utah State University, 1995); and Yorgason, Lawrence M., “Preview on a Study of Early Mormon Converts, 1830-1845,” BYU Studies 10, no. 3 (Spring 1970): 279-82Google Scholar. My analysis of Erie County, Pennsylvania, tax records shows that persons who converted to Mormonism there between 1831 and 1833 were representative of the overall pattern of property ownership. In 1830, the median dollar value of persons who were to convert less than three years later was $3.7 higher than that of their neighbors. All we know so far suggests that converts came from all but the very most affluent social circles.

10. For instance, see Moore, R. Lawrence, In Search of White Crows (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 7 Google Scholar. On page 50, Moore argues that the intellectual framework informing conversion to Mormonism or Spiritualism was similar in that both “had a passion for collecting witnesses to certify the facts of their faith. Both in their own way strove after a religion whose evidences, however stränge they seemed on first telling, feil entirely within the domain of advancing science.” Accepting that argument, I am interested in distinguishing, insofar as possible, the Mormons’ “own way.”

11. Hatch, , The Democratization of American Christianity, 12, 166 Google Scholar; Hughes and Allen, Illusions of Innocence, 142.

12. Phelps, William in Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland, Ohio), May 1835 Google Scholar.

13. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity, 9-10.

14. See Davidson, Edward H. and Scheick, William J., Paine, Scripture and Authority: The Age of Reason as Religious and Political Ideal (Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press, 1994)Google Scholar.

15. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 6 (see also 8, 14-39); Shipps, Mormonism, 8.

16. This aspect of Mormonism has been addressed by Arrington, Leonard J. and Bitton, David, The Mormon Experience, 2d ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992)Google Scholar, esp. chap. 2; and Leonard J. Arrington, “Faith and Intellect as Partners in Mormon History,” no. 1 in the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture Series, November 7, 1995, Utah State University.

17. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 6; John Murdock, Journals (1832, 1830-59), holographs, Historical Department Archives, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; typescripts, archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. See also John W. Welch and Jan Shipps, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin (Urbana, Ill., and Provo, Utah: University of Illinois Press and BYU Studies, 1994), “Journal II,” 60-78; and McLellin to Beloved Relatives, August 4, 1832, in Welch and Shipps, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 82.

18. Hughes and Allen, Illusions of Innocence (142-44), used a loaned copy of John Murdock, “An Abridged Record of the Life of John Murdock, taken from his Journal by himself,” 4-10. I relied primarily on his Journals noted above.

19. Esaias Edwards, Autobiography, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

20. Ibid.

21. Joel Johnson, Excerpts from Autobiography (1802-1868), Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 3-4.

22. For an example of a missionary who recorded his efforts to teach this way, see the Journal of Zebedee Coltrin (1832-34), Historical Department Archives, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

23. Greene, John P. to Cowdery, Oliver, Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland, Ohio), October 1834, 7–8 Google Scholar (emphasis in original).

24. Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience, 39-40.

25. See the title page of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981); William Cahoon, Autobiography, in Reynolds Cahoon and Sons (n.p.: privately printed, 1960), Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 3-4; Alexander Campbell, “Delusions,” Mülennial Harbinger (Bethany, Va., 1831), 2; Welch, and Shipps, , eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 29 Google Scholar (Journal entry for July 18, 1831); McLellin to Beloved Relatives, August 4, 1832, in Welch and Shipps, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 80 (the emphasis is in the typescript, Archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independence, Missouri).

26. Shipps, Mormonism, 33; O'Dea, Thomas, The Mormons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957)Google Scholar; Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience, 41; George Laub, Autobiography, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 2-3.

27. Lewis Barney, Autobiography, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 18; Levi Jackman, Autobiography, typescript, Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

28. Anson Call, Autobiography, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Eli Gilbert to the Editor, Messenger and Advocate (Kirtland, Ohio), October 1834, 10 (for another example, see Milo Andrus, Autobiography, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah); Hansen, Mormonism and the American Experience, 40; Shipps, Mormonism, 33.

29. See the testimonies of three and eight witnesses at the beginning of each copy of the Book of Mormon.

30. Welch, and Shipps, , eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 33, 29.Google Scholar

31. Ibid., 33. All eleven Book of Mormon witnesses maintained their testimony throughout their lifetimes, as did McLellin. At the same time, each of the three witnesses, most of the eight, and McLellin defected from Joseph Smith. See Richard L. Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981).

32. Welch, and Shipps, ., eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 37.Google Scholar

33. McLellin to Cobb, August 14, 1880, as cited in Larry C. Porter, “William E. McLellan's [sie] Testimony of the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 10, no. 4 (Summer 1970): 485-87.

34. Welch, and Shipps, , eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 33 Google Scholar; Book of Mormon (Alma 32: 26-43, Moroni 10:3-5); Howard Coray, Journal, typescript, Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 6-7.

35. Zerah Pulsipher, Autobiography, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

36. See Backman, Milton V. Jr., The Heavens Resound (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983), 5–6 Google Scholar, for more on the Murdocks; Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 150-51, on the Greenes; and Hartley, William G., My Best for the Kingdom (Salt Lake City: Aspen, 1994)Google Scholar, on the Butlers.

37. Besides McLellin, see John Corrill, History of the Mormons (n.p.: privately printed, 1839), a copy of which is housed in Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; John Whitmer, “Book of John Whitmer,” typescript, Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; and Cook, Lyndon, ed., David Whitmer Interviews (Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1994)Google Scholar.

38. Brodie, Fawn M., No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2d ed. (New York: Knopf, 1985)Google Scholar, argues that Joseph Smith and his followers had a psychological and social need for each other, thus explaining the attraction of Mormonism.

39. Matthew L. Davis to Mary Davis, February 6, 1840, in Ehat, Andrew F. and Cook, Lyndon W., comps. and eds., The Words of Joseph Smith (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980), 32–34 Google Scholar.

40. See Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981), section 76. Smith “referred to the [lack of] charity of the sects, in denouncing all who disagree with them in opinion, and in joining in persecuting the Saints, who believe that even such may be saved, in this world and in the world to come (murderers and apostates excepted).” Smith, Joseph Fielding, comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1976), 192 Google Scholar.

41. For a summary of the relevant historiography with this view in mind, see Ludlow, Daniel, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1994)Google Scholar, s.v. “Mormonism, an Independent Interpretation,’ by Jan Shipps.

42. Givens, Terryl L., The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 83 Google Scholar.

43. Matthew Davis to Mary Davis in Ehat and Cook, comps. and eds., Words of Joseph Smith, 32-34.

44. Evan M. Greene, Journal, May 3, 1833, Historical Department Archives, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; Western Courier (Ravenna, Ohio), May 26, 1831; James H. Wells to Br. Leavitt, 1836, in Mulder, William and Mortensen, Russell A., Among the Mormons: Historical Ac-counts by Contemporary Observers (New York: Knopf, 1958), 86–88 Google Scholar.

45. Brigham Young's conversion is particularly illustrative of this idea, as are Nancy Tracy's and Sarah Leavitt's. See Arrington, Leonard J., Brigham Young: American Moses (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 24 Google Scholar; Nancy Tracy, Autobiography, typescript, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Sarah Studevant Leavitt, History, edited by Juanita Pulsipher, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City.

46. Hansen, Klaus, review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, by Quinn, D. Michael, in Church History 59, no. 1 (March 1990): 111 Google Scholar.