Mormonism and slavery

A smaller contingent followed Joseph Smith III, who opposed slavery[7] and established the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS).

[12][13][14] Mormon scripture simultaneously denounces both slavery and abolitionism in general, teaching that it was not right for men to be in bondage to each other,[15] but that one should not interfere with the enslavement of others.

[18] While promoting the legality of slavery, the church at one point taught against the abuse of enslaved people and advocated for laws that provided protection.

An assistant president of the church, W. W. Phelps, wrote in a letter that Ham's wife was a descendant of Cain, and that the Canaanites were Black and covered by both curses.

[27]: 19 After the succession crisis, Brigham Young consistently argued slavery was a "divine institution", even after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.

[30] After Young, leaders did not use the curse of Cain to justify slavery, but this doctrine continued to be taught by President John Taylor[31] and Bruce R.

[32] The LDS Church today does not support slavery and disavows the theories advanced in the past that Black people's skin tone is a sign of divine disfavor or curse.

[41] In his personal journal, he wrote that the enslaved people owned by Mormons should be brought "into a free country and set ... free— Educate them and give them equal rights.

"[42] During Smith's 1844 campaign for president of the United States, he had advocated for the immediate abolition of slavery through compensation from money earned by the sale of public lands.

[27][43] My cogitations, like Daniel's have for a long time troubled me, when I viewed the condition of men throughout the world, and more especially in this boasted realm, where the Declaration of Independence 'holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;' but at the same time some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours.Smith was killed in 1844, the year of his presidential bid, resulting in a schism among his followers.

Its leader following the schism, Joseph Smith III, was a "devotee" of Abraham Lincoln and supported the Republicans' charge to end slavery.

"[45]: 85 [36] After President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Young prophesied that the attempts to free enslaved people would eventually fail.

In March 1842, Smith began to study some abolitionist literature, and stated, "it makes my blood boil within me to reflect upon the injustice, cruelty, and oppression of the rulers of the people.

The rules established by the church for governing assemblies in the Kirtland Temple included attendees who were "bond or free, black or white".

Young led the Mormons to Utah and formed a theocratic government, under which slavery was legalized and the trafficking of enslaved Native American individuals was supported.

[citation needed] When church leaders asked for men from the members of Mississippi to help with the westward emigration, they sent four enslaved persons with John Brown who was given the task to "take charge of them".

[63] When William Dennis stopped in Tabor, Iowa, members of the Underground Railroad helped five people he was enslaving escape, and despite a manhunt, they were able to reach freedom in Canada.

[60][39]: 52 In 1851, a company of 437 Mormons under direction of Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles settled at what is now San Bernardino, California.

He discussed the ongoing trial of Don Pedro Leon Lujan and the importance of explicitly indicating the true policy for slavery in Utah.

He argued that it is proper for persons thus purchased to owe a debt to the man or woman who saved them,[74] and that it was "necessary that some law should provide for the suitable regulations under which all such indebtedness should be defrayed".

[8]: 110  On January 27, Orson Pratt objected to Young's remarks, saying it was not man's duty to enforce Cain's curse, and that slavery had not been authorized by God.

"[87]: 272  Young officially legalized Indigenous American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852 with each purchased Native person allowed to be held up to twenty years in indentured servitude.

[87]: 274 As historian Max Perry Mueller has written, the Mormons participated extensively in the trafficking of enslaved Native people as part of their efforts to convert and control Utah's Indigenous population.

In 1851, Apostle George A. Smith gave Chief Peteetneet and Walkara talking papers that certified "it is my desire that they should be treated as friends, and as they wish to Trade horses, Buckskins and Piede children, we hope them success and prosperity and good bargains.

In his book, Forty Years Among the Indians, Daniel Jones wrote, "[s]everal of us were present when he took one of these children by the heels and dashed its brains out on the hard ground, after which he threw the body towards us, telling us we had no hearts, or we would have bought it and saved its life.

According to Harris and Bringhurst, Joseph Smith made these statements to distance the church from abolitionism, and not to align with pro-slavery positions, but it came across as supporting slavery.

[editorializing] According to Turner, Young's position on slavery was unsurprising given the racial context of the time, as discrimination was common in white American Protestant groups.

Smith III was a vocal advocate of abolishing the slave trade, and followed Owen Lovejoy, an anti-slavery congressman from Illinois, and Abraham Lincoln.

[98] The church has been suspected of trafficking underage girls across state lines, as well as across the US–Canada[99] and US–Mexico borders,[100] for the purpose of sometimes involuntary plural marriage and sexual slavery.

[101] The FLDS is suspected by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of having trafficked more than 30 under-age girls from Canada to the United States between the late 1990s and 2006 to be entered into polygamous marriages.

Joseph Smith justified slavery using the Curse of Ham .
Young taught the Emancipation Proclamation went against the decrees of God and predicted it would eventually fail.
Apostle Charles C. Rich, a prominent Mormon enslaver
Biddy Mason was one of 14 Black individuals who sued for freedom after being illegally held captive in San Bernardino.
Brigham Young promoted slavery as a consequence of the Curse of Ham .
Justin Smith Morrill opposed the Mormon belief in slavery.
Joseph Smith III opposed slavery.