3Government Response to Religion
In 1789, the Constitution of the United States of America was written, including the first amendment, saying the citizen's have "freedom of religion". Did the U.S. government stand by this decision? Were they open to new denominations and ideas? As I began research on this subject, I found that the government was a lesser of two evils in how they or the people reacted.
Only a few decades after the Constitution was approved, there was a 'Second Revival', in which many denominations got their start, including: Jehovah's Witnesses, United Society of Shakers, and The Curch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In the 1870's, Charles Taze Russell founded the Bible Students (who changed their name in 1931 to Jehovah's Witnesses), and started rather peace- fully with a small number of followers. However, because of quotes such as: "Also, in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any that escape shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of 'Christianity.'"(The Finished Mystery), many people had strong resentment for them, especially during World War II. During this the United States attorney general himself spoke out agianst the alarming mob violence.
The Shakers belief in no marriage or sex for all members and views on the Second Coming caused them to be hated by the British. Many of the critics felt they had strange views of Mother Ann Lee including the idea she was Christ reincarnated and therefore she was a Goddess.
These and other issues meant that many Shakers spent time in British prison. Because of this they moved in the 1780s to the United States hoping for religious freedom. Although legal persecution rarely occured in the U.S., violence against the Shakers did happen from time to time, esspecially because the Shakers harbored American Indians or slaves.
Although suffering is as unwelcome to Latter-day Saints as to any other people, they strive to respond with patience and faith and to avoid bitterness or revenge. However, several missionaries and potential converts were murdered in the United States at the height of antipolygamy agitation during the 1870s. The governor of Missouri, Daniel Dunklin, did not keep his promise to help the army of Saints reinstate the Church members who had been forced from their homes because of mobs.
Later, being surrounded by troops, Governor Dunklin interceded and instructed Colonel Thomas Pitcher to disarm both sides. However, Colonel Pitcher's sympathies were with the mob, and he took the weapons from the Saints and delivered them to the mob. Then, Governer Dunkin gave the "extermination order." That decree, dated 27 October 1838, stated, "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary, for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description."
The defenseless Saints were attacked and their homes destroyed. Also, angry mobs, numbering 400 men, attacked a Mormon newspaper office, which was also the home of the editor, William W. Phelps. The attackers stole the printing press and demolished the building.
In June 1844 Joseph Smith, the founder and first Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was shot dead by a mob of vigilantes. He was incarcerated in Carthage Jail at the time, awaiting action on a charge of treason sworn against him. After this, the persecution became too much and soon they traveled west to find their new Zion, once their pled was ignored by President Tyler.
Based on this evidence, you may see that the early government either rejected a religion, as in Mormonism's case, or ignored it completely, as with the Shakers. In the end, it is a stalemate; on one side they let countless Mormons die in mob violence, on another they let the Shakers have the religious freedom to act as they might.