The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon ApostleBetween 1901 and 1907, a broad coalition of Protestant churches sought to expel newly elected Reed Smoot from the Senate, arguing that as an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot was a lawbreaker and therefore unfit to be a lawmaker. The resulting Senate investigative hearing featured testimony on every peculiarity of Mormonism, especially its polygamous family structure. The Smoot hearing ultimately mediated a compromise between Progressive Era Protestantism and Mormonism and resolved the nation's long-standing "Mormon Problem." On a broader scale, Kathleen Flake shows how this landmark hearing provided the occasion for the country--through its elected representatives, the daily press, citizen petitions, and social reform activism--to reconsider the scope of religious free exercise in the new century. Flake contends that the Smoot hearing was the forge in which the Latter-day Saints, the Protestants, and the Senate hammered out a model for church-state relations, shaping for a new generation of non-Protestant and non-Christian Americans what it meant to be free and religious. In addition, she discusses the Latter-day Saints' use of narrative and collective memory to retain their religious identity even as they changed to meet the nation's demands. |
Contents
Reed Smoot | 3 |
The American Idea of a Church | 12 |
Possible Future President of the Mormon Church | 14 |
Copyright | |
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1890 Manifesto American anti-Mormon apostle authority Badger to Rose believed Book of Mormon brethren Brigham Young University Burrows CABP canonized Carl Badger celestial marriage Christ of Latter-day Christian Church History Library church leaders Church of Jesus church president claim committee constitutional Courtesy of LDS Deseret Diary divine doctrine federal George Teasdale Ibid Idaho Jesus Christ Joseph F Joseph Smith Joseph Smith story kingdom L.D.S. Church Latter-day Saints Lee Library Lyman Marriner W Merrill mission moral Mormon Church Mormon Problem Mormonism's nation Nauvoo non-Mormon Perry Special Collections plural marriage political polygamists polygamy President Smith Press Proceedings prophet Protestant protestors Provo quorum Reed Smoot religion religious Republican revelation Rose Badger Salt Lake City seat Senator Smoot sermon SGKC Smith's testimony Smoot hearing Smoot's election Taylor and Cowley temple testified tion Tom Perry twentieth century Utah Utah's Vision vote Washington wife witnesses wives York