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+ | This is not to say that there was not some violence in frontier Utah—of course there was, given the place and time. But, as one researcher noted: | ||
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+ | :the point here is not to claim that no vigilante crimes by angry Mormons protecting their interests ever occurred in territorial Utah. The point is that overattention to such activities obscures the fact that they were very rare compared to elsewhere in the West, where no concerted effort to undermine a popularly supported government was going on as in Utah [by the federal government versus the Mormons].{{ref|eliason.3}} | ||
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|link=Utah/Crime and violence/Castration in the 1800's | |link=Utah/Crime and violence/Castration in the 1800's | ||
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Brigham Young is often accused of creating a 'culture of violence' with his incendiary speeches. That accusation would be hard to prove, given the comments below. He makes reference, in 1866, to a man who exhibited the garments to some non-members. Brigham's suggestions to the audience is interesting: | Brigham Young is often accused of creating a 'culture of violence' with his incendiary speeches. That accusation would be hard to prove, given the comments below. He makes reference, in 1866, to a man who exhibited the garments to some non-members. Brigham's suggestions to the audience is interesting: | ||
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:In Pioche [Nevada] we have two courts, any number of sheriffs and police officers and a jail to force people to do what is right. There is a fight every day and a man killed about every week. About half the town is whisky shops and houses of ill fame. In these Mormon towns there are no courts, no prisons, no saloons, no bad women; but there is a large brick Church and they keep the Sabbath—a fine schoolhouse and all the children go to school. All difficulties between each other are settled by the Elders and the Bishop. Instead of every man trying to hang his neighbor, they all pull together. There is only one store on the co-operative plan and all own shares and it is really wonderful to see what fine towns and the wealth they have in this barren country. It shows what industry and economy will do when all work together....The Devil [i.e., the Mormons] is not as black as he is painted.{{ref|buck.1}} | :In Pioche [Nevada] we have two courts, any number of sheriffs and police officers and a jail to force people to do what is right. There is a fight every day and a man killed about every week. About half the town is whisky shops and houses of ill fame. In these Mormon towns there are no courts, no prisons, no saloons, no bad women; but there is a large brick Church and they keep the Sabbath—a fine schoolhouse and all the children go to school. All difficulties between each other are settled by the Elders and the Bishop. Instead of every man trying to hang his neighbor, they all pull together. There is only one store on the co-operative plan and all own shares and it is really wonderful to see what fine towns and the wealth they have in this barren country. It shows what industry and economy will do when all work together....The Devil [i.e., the Mormons] is not as black as he is painted.{{ref|buck.1}} | ||
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+ | #{{note|eliason.3}} {{FR-12-1-9}} | ||
#{{note|alexander.1}} {{BYUS1|author=Thomas G. Alexander|article=Review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows''|date=January 2003|vol=31|num=1|start=167–}} {{link|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Reviews/Pages/reviewdetail.aspx?reviewID=99}}; citation reads: "James Elbert Cutler, ''Lynch-Law: "An Investigation into the History of Lynching in the United States,"'' (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 180. On the lynching of an African-American, see Craig L. Foster, "Myth vs. Reality in the Burt Murder and Harvey Lynching," manuscript furnished by the author. I am indebted to Foster for sharing other material on lynching as well." Alexander is quoting from Bagley, ''Blood of the Prophets'', 42. | #{{note|alexander.1}} {{BYUS1|author=Thomas G. Alexander|article=Review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows''|date=January 2003|vol=31|num=1|start=167–}} {{link|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Reviews/Pages/reviewdetail.aspx?reviewID=99}}; citation reads: "James Elbert Cutler, ''Lynch-Law: "An Investigation into the History of Lynching in the United States,"'' (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 180. On the lynching of an African-American, see Craig L. Foster, "Myth vs. Reality in the Burt Murder and Harvey Lynching," manuscript furnished by the author. I am indebted to Foster for sharing other material on lynching as well." Alexander is quoting from Bagley, ''Blood of the Prophets'', 42. | ||
#{{note|eliason.1}} {{FR-12-1-9}}; citing Dale L. Morgan, ''The State of Deseret'' (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1987), 7—27. | #{{note|eliason.1}} {{FR-12-1-9}}; citing Dale L. Morgan, ''The State of Deseret'' (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1987), 7—27. | ||
#{{note|eliason.2}} {{FR-12-1-9}} citing D. Michael Stewart, "The Legal History of Utah," in ''Utah History Encyclopedia'', ed. Alan K. Powell (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994), 323. | #{{note|eliason.2}} {{FR-12-1-9}} citing D. Michael Stewart, "The Legal History of Utah," in ''Utah History Encyclopedia'', ed. Alan K. Powell (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994), 323. | ||
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#{{note|buck.1}} Franklin A. Buck, ''A Yankee Trader in the Gold Rush: The Letters of Franklin A. Buck,'' comp. Katherine A. White (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930), 234–36; cited by W. Paul Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall, "review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'', by Will Bagley," ''Mormon Historical Studies'' (Spring 2003): 156. | #{{note|buck.1}} Franklin A. Buck, ''A Yankee Trader in the Gold Rush: The Letters of Franklin A. Buck,'' comp. Katherine A. White (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930), 234–36; cited by W. Paul Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall, "review of ''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows'', by Will Bagley," ''Mormon Historical Studies'' (Spring 2003): 156. | ||
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[[Category:Mormon Reformation]] | [[Category:Mormon Reformation]] | ||
{{Suggestions}} | {{Suggestions}} | ||
[[fr:Utah/Crime and violence]] | [[fr:Utah/Crime and violence]] |
==
Critics charge that Utah was a hotbed of violence, murder, and lawlessness, and that this can be attributed to LDS doctrine and practices.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
====
This is not to say that there was not some violence in frontier Utah—of course there was, given the place and time. But, as one researcher noted:
==
Brigham Young is often accused of creating a 'culture of violence' with his incendiary speeches. That accusation would be hard to prove, given the comments below. He makes reference, in 1866, to a man who exhibited the garments to some non-members. Brigham's suggestions to the audience is interesting:
There is also a man down the street who tried to exhibit the endowments to a party who was here. You will see what becomes of that man. Do not touch him. He has forfeited every right and title to eternal life; but let him alone, and you will see by and by what will become of him. His heart will ache, and so will the heart of every apostate that fights against Zion; they will destroy themselves. It is a mistaken idea that God destroys people, or that the Saints wish to destroy them. It is not so.
1866 Brigham Young 12 August 1866 SLC Bowery Journal of Discourses 11:262.; DN 15:315.
This claim is generally based on taking anti-Mormon accounts uncritically, and relying on anecdotal evidence. Winnowed to its kernel," writes historian Thomas Alexander, "Bagley's argument [like Abanes' and most other critics in this vein] rests on the proposition that Mormon Utah was a society of officially sanctioned and publicly practiced violence." But, does the data reflect this? Alexander continues:
Contemporary observers that were not writing hostile anti-Mormon polemics recognized the truth of this as well:
Legal historian D. Michael Stewart underscored this when he remarked, "extralegal violence was rare compared to that found in other frontier communities."[4]
Non-member Franklin Buck described the difference between southern Utah and his own town of Pioche, Nevada in 1871:
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