Origin of the Mormons

The Western center of the Mormon domain is in the state of doh. From on that point the Mormons expanded, carrying their program of resolution and community outward. Southeastern Idaho was one of s incessantlyal outposts of Mormonism that was established after the Western center in Utah was stable. Because Mormons in Idaho were non a clear majority, as they were in much of Utah, the persecution of the perform was very intense and even more dangerous than in Utah. The battle in Idaho mirrored the struggle in Utah as the Gentiles made political suppression of the congregation their precept means of thwarting their advance. Despite considerable effort, anti-Mormonism did not nix southeast Idaho from becoming a secure place for the church building which flourishes there today.

In a recent oral archives project on a large Mormon group in Delaware, a woman described growing up in Idaho in the 1950s and 1960s. In many ways the situation was ideal, "I was active in church and did everything there was to do -- road shows, speech festivals, dance festivals, music festivals" (Taber. 1993, p. 330). in time she found that she was even happier when she lived in Provo, Utah where the Church's procedures were so much higher -- she felt the most important goal for families, especially for the children of converts, was "to have the experience of being where the church is the majority, where it's extraordinary to be a member of the church" (Taber, 1993, p. 333). Despit

Rich, Russell R. (1972). Ensign to the nations: A history of the church from 1846 to the present. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Publications.

Wells, M. W. (1978). Anti-Mormonism in Idaho, 1872-92. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.

Coates, L. G., Boag, P. G., Hatzenbuehler, R. L., & Swanson, M. R. (1994). The Mormon shutdown of southeastern Idaho, 1845-1900. Journal of Mormon History, 20(2), 45-62.

In the late eighties many Idaho Mormons decided that they could "refrain from advocating polygamy" and yet were still kept from voting. The harder they worked to meet the requirements of the act, the more new obstacles the anti-Mormons put up.

Anti-Mormons discounted anything the Mormons now tell by making the Oath's disabilities retroactive -- if a person had ever believed in polygamy he was disenfranchised. When Church President Wilford Woodruff renounced polygamy in 1890 Idaho informed Church members "that they would have to guarantee that they never everyplace again would advocate polygamy" (Wells, 1978, p. 156). After extensive political bargaining over the question of statehood the state of Idaho finally repealed most prohibitions against Mormons in 1893 and amnesty was granted to those convicted of the crime. In 1894 the franchise was also returned to Mormons in Utah.

though long ignored and widely known to be un natural, the row disenfranchising Church members was still part of the Idaho constitution in 1982. A proposal to finally repeal this wording was put on the ballot along with a number of other constitutional amendments. Little more than fifty percent of those who voted in the Idaho oecumenic election of 1982 voted to repeal the language. The vote was 191,474 to 99,713 -- with a large number of voters declining to vote on the constitution at all (Bennett, 1984, p. 24). As of 1982 there were still 100,000 people willing to vote to bind antiquated language that had as its sole purpose the persecution of the members
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