| Description |
In 1879 George Reynolds was convicted by the United States Supreme Court for practicing the Mormon doctrine of polygamy, the decision to convict echoed the public's feelings about Mormons in the nineteenth century. To understand public opinion of the Mormons in the latter-half of the nineteenth century a brief examination of the theological premises that helped to create distinct divisions between Mormons and their Protestant American counterparts is necessary. Mormon's belief that they represented Christ's restored church impelled religious zeal. Mormons actively gathered together to create "Zion." Zion, a religious utopia, sought to unite the religious, political, economical and social facets of community life. Under the direction of a prophet Mormons consecrated their economic means for the well being of the whole, unified their political objectives, and separated themselves from the social customs of their non-Mormon neighbors. Such beliefs contributed to outsider's view of the Mormons as peculiar, uncooperative and subversive of American ideals and institutions. The federal government sought to domesticate the unruly Mormons through Congressional law. Such laws sought to eliminate the dogmatic political, economical and social grip which Mormon leaders had over the Utah territory and its people. This paper will manifest that the same negative conceptions of the Mormons that drove the formation of such laws was the same opinion of the Mormons adopted in the legal reasoning of the Supreme Court. The inclusion of such prejudicial attitudes undermined the principals of judicial impartiality and rule of law which should have governed the court's opinion. |
