Reconstruction and Mormon America

Abstract

In 2002, then-president of the Western History Association Elliott West introduced the concept of “Greater Reconstruction.” West posited that while histories of nineteenth-century America were dominated by the nation's westward expansion and the Civil War and its aftermath, the field might benefit from treating these simultaneous events as portions of one larger process of American nation-building that prioritized federal power and remade the United States. It has now been more than twenty years since West's initial paper, and the concept of Greater Reconstruction has pushed the field in many interesting directions since then, opening the door to comparative scholarship that has expanded the historiography of Civil War era.One of the fields that has most benefitted from this concept has been Mormon history, and Reconstruction and Mormon America is a perfect example. Originating from a seminar hosted by the Charles Redd Center at Brigham Young University, this edited collection is a meditation on the fields of Reconstruction and Mormon history, thoroughly considering the applicability of Greater Reconstruction in territorial Utah and thoughtfully comparing Latter-day Saint experiences with white and Black Americans in the U.S. South, as well as Indigenous Americans in the U.S. West.The book consists of an introduction (appropriately written by Elliott West) and three main parts, each consisting of a short preface and three longer essays. The first section is the most contextual, focused on how assimilation efforts by the federal government in Utah fit in with state-building efforts elsewhere. Angela Pulley Hudson leads off, with a brilliant analysis of why there is no “Mormon Trail of Tears.” As settlers themselves, Mormons were often the perpetrators and beneficiaries of settler colonialism, she says. Hudson also calls into question the value of the framework of Greater Reconstruction, because the comparison of Mormon and Indigenous assimilation efforts by the government obfuscates the unique brand of state violence against Indigenous peoples, in which “Mormons have been enthusiastic, if not always welcome, participants” (20). Christine Talbot comes next, focusing on Republican efforts to remake America's social structure by not only abolishing slavery, but by remaking the nuclear family by eradicating polygamy and plantation-style patriarchy. She also makes insightful comparisons between the mid-nineteenth century concepts of free labor and companionate marriage. Patrick Mason finishes the first section with an analysis of “legitimate violence” and the state, concluding that Mormon Utah was subject to what he calls “disciplinary democracy,” which ultimately implied the religion's eventual assimilability in the larger state, though it had to accept federal force for that to occur.The next section is more specific to Reconstruction itself, with both Brett Dowdle and Brent Rogers arguing that Utah is a prime example of the development of federal supremacy in the post-Civil War United States. This applied to territorial administration and legislative action, as well as cultural and social pressures. Mormons, like other American “others,” were indeed subject to federal assimilation efforts, though there were differences in the groups. Rachel St. John, however, pushes against this conclusion, arguing that expanding the concept of Reconstruction to all assimilation efforts diminishes the framework's usefulness.The final section focuses on the legacy of Mormon Reconstruction, where the three authors (Clyde Milner, Eric Eliason, and Jared Farmer) ponder why there is no Mormon “Lost Cause” comparable to the legacy of the Confederacy in the southern United States. In all, the authors largely agree that Mormons have side-stepped the issue in many clever ways, such as prioritizing “pioneer” heritage in their commemorations, which situates them as agents of national development rather than dissatisfied refugees, or by truly giving up on the elements of their faith that were lost, such as polygamy.In all, Reconstruction and Mormon America is an excellent collection that succinctly and cogently ties together many excellent stand-alone essays into an insightful historiographical reflection. Each of the essays would work well in undergraduate or graduate seminars, and the book as a whole is essential for any reader attempting to understand the current state of either Mormon or Reconstruction history. This is a solid contribution to the field.