"A Peculiar People": Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Nineteenth-Century America

240 Pages·2012·3.12 MB·English

by  J. Spencer Fluhman

“A Peculiar People”

“A Peculiar People”
Anti- Mormonism and the Making of
Religion in Nineteenth- Century America
J. SPENCER FLUHMAN
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
© 2012 The University of North Carolina Press
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Frontispiece: Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed . . . (1834), frontispiece (L. Tom
Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo).
This woodcut from Howe’s anti- Mormon tome marks the first visual representation of
Mormonism. It depicts a fanciful tale of the Book of Mormon’s origins, allegedly related by
the Joseph Smith family themselves. According to Howe, the Smiths told how the Mormon
founder was kicked while running from Satan with the famed record. The image received
new life when it was reprinted in Origen Bacheler’s Mormonism Exposed (1838).
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Fluhman, J. Spencer.
A peculiar people : anti- Mormonism and the making of religion in
nineteenth- century America / J. Spencer Fluhman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 8078- 3571- 5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints—Controversial literature. 2. Mormon
Church—Controversial literature. 3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints—History.
4. Mormon Church—History. 5. United States—Church history—19th century. I. Title.
BX8645.F58 2012
289.309′034—dc23
2012004089
Portions of this work have appeared earlier, in somewhat different form, as
“An ‘American Mahomet’: Joseph Smith, Muhammad, and the Problem of Prophets in
Antebellum America,” Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 23–45; “Anti-
Mormonism and the Question of Religious Authenticity in Antebellum America,” Journal
of Religion and Society 7 (2005); and “The Joseph Smith Revelations and the Crisis of Early
American Spirituality,” in The Doctrine and Covenants: Revelations in Context, ed. Andrew
H. Hedges and Alonzo L. Gaskill, with J. Spencer Fluhman, contributing ed., 66–89
(Provo and Salt Lake City: Religious Study Center, Brigham Young University and
Deseret Book Company, 2008), and are reprinted here with permission.
16 15 14 13 12(cid:21)5 4 3 2 1
For
John Dunne,
Ashley Marino,
Sarah Taylor,
& Mark Turco,
who have found a better way
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CONTENTS
PROLOGUE. On Familiarity and Contempt 1
INTRODUCTION. Religious Liberty as an American Problem 9
CHAPTER 1. “Impostor”: The Mormon Prophet 21
Authenticity and Disestablishment 24
Interlopers in the Protestant Historical Pantheon 29
Counterfeiters of Faith and Currency 39
CHAPTER 2. “Delusion”: Early Mormon Religiosity 49
Mormon Spirituality and the Threat of Enthusiasm 52
Religion, Madness, and the Search for Rational Faith 61
Enlightened Christianity and the Problem of Mormon Evidence 66
CHAPTER 3. “Fanaticism”: The Church as (Un)Holy City 79
The Political Burden of the Mormon Gathering 83
The Discovery of a Mormon Theology 91
The Politics of Expulsion 95
CHAPTER 4. “Barbarism”: Rhetorics of Alienation 103
Empire(s) in the West 105
The Problem of Mormon Whiteness 110
Mormon Women, the Ungrateful Objects of American Pity 117
CHAPTER 5. “Heresy”: Americanizing the American Religion 127
Mormonism in the Crowd of World Religions 129
Textbook Mormons and the Weight of Mormon History 134
Conclusion: Mormonism (Almost) Defanged 140
Notes 149(cid:21)Bibliography 183
Acknowledgments 219(cid:21)Index 223
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed . . . (1834),
frontispiece ii
“The Great Sin of the Century,” Daily Graphic,
21 November 1883 2
“He Thinks His Shell Will Protect Him,” Harper’s Weekly,
9 January 1886 10
Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism . . . (1867),
frontispiece 22
Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed . . . (1834), title page 23
A Law Case Exhibiting the Most Extraordinary Developments . . . (1848),
frontispiece 50
“Lieut. Gen. Joseph Smith,” John C. Bennett, History of the
Saints . . . (1842) 80
“The Only Sure Way,” Daily Graphic, 6 December 1883 81
“A Desperate Attempt to Solve the Mormon Question,” Puck,
13 February 1884 104
“Woman’s Bondage in Utah,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,
11 March 1882 105
“The Great Congresses at the World’s Fair,” Cosmopolitan,
March 1893 128
“The School Question,” Leslie’s Weekly, February 1876 129