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Witness to History
No Place for Saints: Mobs and Mormons in Jacksonian America
The emergence of the Mormon church is arguably the most radical event in American religious history. How and why did so many Americans flock to this new religion, and why did so many other Americans seek to silence or even destroy that movement?
Mormonism exploded across America in 1830, and America exploded right back. By 1834, the new religion had been mocked, harassed, and finally expelled from its new settlements in Missouri. Why did this religion generate such anger? And what do these early conflicts say about our struggles with religious liberty today? In No Place for Saints, the first stand-alone history of the Mormon expulsion from Jackson County and the genesis of Mormonism, Adam Jortner chronicles how Latter-day Saints emerged and spread their faith—and how anti-Mormons tried to stop them.
Early on, Jortner explains, anti-Mormonism thrived on gossip, conspiracies, and outright fables about what Mormons were up to. Anti-Mormons came to believe Mormons were a threat to democracy, and anyone who claimed revelation from God was an enemy of the people with no rights to citizenship. By 1833, Jackson County's anti-Mormons demanded all Saints leave the county. When Mormons refused—citing the First Amendment—the anti-Mormons attacked their homes, held their leaders at gunpoint, and performed one of America's most egregious acts of religious cleansing.
From the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1820s to their expansion and expulsion in 1834, Jortner discusses many of the most prominent issues and events in Mormon history. He touches on the process of revelation, the relationship between magic and LDS practice, the rise of the priesthood, the questions surrounding Mormonism and African Americans, the internal struggles for leadership of the young church, and how American law shaped this American religion. Throughout, No Place for Saints shows how Mormonism—and the violent backlash against it—fundamentally reshaped the American religious and legal landscape. Ultimately, the book is a story of Jacksonian America, of how democracy can fail religious freedom, and a case study in popular politics as America entered a great age of religion and violence.
Mormonism exploded across America in 1830, and America exploded right back. By 1834, the new religion had been mocked, harassed, and finally expelled from its new settlements in Missouri. Why did this religion generate such anger? And what do these early conflicts say about our struggles with religious liberty today? In No Place for Saints, the first stand-alone history of the Mormon expulsion from Jackson County and the genesis of Mormonism, Adam Jortner chronicles how Latter-day Saints emerged and spread their faith—and how anti-Mormons tried to stop them.
Early on, Jortner explains, anti-Mormonism thrived on gossip, conspiracies, and outright fables about what Mormons were up to. Anti-Mormons came to believe Mormons were a threat to democracy, and anyone who claimed revelation from God was an enemy of the people with no rights to citizenship. By 1833, Jackson County's anti-Mormons demanded all Saints leave the county. When Mormons refused—citing the First Amendment—the anti-Mormons attacked their homes, held their leaders at gunpoint, and performed one of America's most egregious acts of religious cleansing.
From the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1820s to their expansion and expulsion in 1834, Jortner discusses many of the most prominent issues and events in Mormon history. He touches on the process of revelation, the relationship between magic and LDS practice, the rise of the priesthood, the questions surrounding Mormonism and African Americans, the internal struggles for leadership of the young church, and how American law shaped this American religion. Throughout, No Place for Saints shows how Mormonism—and the violent backlash against it—fundamentally reshaped the American religious and legal landscape. Ultimately, the book is a story of Jacksonian America, of how democracy can fail religious freedom, and a case study in popular politics as America entered a great age of religion and violence.
185 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Adam Jortner
12 books16 followersAdam Jortner studies the transformation of religious and political life in the early United States. His book, The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier, examines the rise of the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa and his new religion on the Indiana frontier in the 1800s. Jortner argues that Tenskwatawa’s religious vision created a new definition of community and power that ultimately coalesced into a viable political alternative for Native Americans in the Old Northwest. The book follows the creation of this movement and its fraught relationship with the new United States and Indiana’s ambitious territorial governor, William Henry Harrison. The relationship between the two men ultimately shaped the War of 1812 and the fate of the American frontier. Gods won the 2013 James Broussard Best First Book Prize from the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR).
His current research interests include new religions in the early republic, deism, witchcraft, the decline of magic, and Native American prophets; he currently teaches classes on American religion, politics, and the Age of Jefferson. He is working on a manuscript on the politics of miracles in the early republic.
Dr. Jortner has received fellowships from the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the Redd Center for Western Studies.
His current research interests include new religions in the early republic, deism, witchcraft, the decline of magic, and Native American prophets; he currently teaches classes on American religion, politics, and the Age of Jefferson. He is working on a manuscript on the politics of miracles in the early republic.
Dr. Jortner has received fellowships from the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the Redd Center for Western Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 16, 2022
Jacksonian America was not a pleasant place, unless you were white, male, and mainstream Protestant. Violence was common, popular sovereignty overruled the rights of minorities, and newspapers reprinted scandalous and false information about “undesirables” in the interest of improving circulation. It was also a time of intense religious turmoil, as new religious movements sprang up throughout the American landscape. Such was the environment that Joseph Smith, Jr. grew up in and established his new church. Students of Mormon History will be familiar with the persecutions that followed the Saints from New York to Kirtland, Ohio, and then to Jackson County, Missouri.
In No Place for Saints, Adam Jortner has placed Smith’s new church squarely in the midst of the sectarian chaos of Antebellum America. This was the time of Indian Removal, forcing Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River, the founding of the Anti-Mason movement, the burning of Catholic convents over rumors of sex abuse and witchcraft, and slavery, with all its violence and brutality. No other work I have read so skillfully traces all these and other elements into a coherent explanation of why people who considered themselves good American citizens were capable of scorn, hatred, and physical violence against other American citizens. And Jortner does it with a refreshing economy of writing and strength of narration that captivates a reader’s attention.
Many academic works seem written to impress tenure-track search committees with obscure language and complex composition. Not so Jortner’s work. His sentences opening chapter 1 of No Place for Saints are a perfect example of how to communicate with a reader in simple but profound text:
“In 1805, Vermont had not yet earned its reputation for New England quaintness. It was a severe frontier landscape, more H. P. Lovecraft than Robert Frost.” [p7]
Such vivid and clear prose dominates No Place for Saints. Jortner has a light and concise style that is easy to read, and clearly communicates his arguments. As he lays out the cultural, religious, and political environment of the 1820s and 1830s, Jortner makes his case for a unified view of the many conflicts surrounding the founding of the Latter-day Saints church.
One of the problems with Joseph Smith’s new church, Jortner says, is that the Mormons elevated visions, revelation, and other “supernatural” events above scriptural authority, a linchpin of Protestant doctrine. Jortner notes that to mainstream American Christianity “…visions were all of the Devil.” [p23] The Book of Mormon as additional scripture also ran counter to Protestant belief in a closed canon. Stories of Smith’s earlier involvement in treasure hunting added to the negative impression of his new faith. Other churches and religious movements in the Northeast during the same time were also ridiculed and their leaders discounted as frauds. Reports that church elders cast out demons was another problem. Such exorcisms, Jortner writes, were “…powerful proof of the divine sanctions of the exorcists and their church. For those who did not believe in demons, exorcisms worked the opposite way---proof of a charlatan making miserable dupes of ignorant fanatics.” [p78] Despite this, the church added new converts at a rate that alarmed outsiders. Even as traditional Protestant beliefs were challenged, many found the new church and its teachings compelling. Almost entire congregations converted in Ohio. But as the church moved west from New York to Ohio and then Missouri, the problems followed. Persecution, rumor, and small-scale violence occurred everywhere the Mormons settled. In Missouri, small group acts became community campaigns against the new faith.
Fears about the Mormon’s relationship with Native Americans compounded the suspicions of those outside the church. Smith and other church leaders identified Native Americans as the direct descendants of the Book of Mormon Lamanites, leading to unsuccessful proselyting missions that created friction with government officials. As the church expanded into frontier Missouri, rumors of this outreach combined with other negative views of the Mormons to create a hostile environment. Missourians feared Mormons voting in blocs and dominating the political landscape. Coming on the heels of Indian Removal policies of the Jackson era, otherwise law-abiding Missourians saw a precedent for the forced removal of some 1,200 Mormons in and around Independence, Jackson County. Militias which included local government officials demanded that Smith’s followers leave the county immediately.
Although Jortner never uses the terms “popular sovereignty” in his text, the idea that a majority could subject an unpopular minority to deprival of rights and property was a key feature of Jacksonian America, and No Place for Saints clearly defines the effect this had on the problems in Missouri in 1833. Missouri Governor Dunklin’s response to pleas for help from the new settlers directed them to use the courts to address their grievances, ignoring the fact that those threatening the Mormons were the civic officials, potential jurors, and leading citizens upon which legal redress depended. As Jortner writes, a committee of these citizens “…met peacefully and voted on resolutions…and then they decided to destroy and assault Mormon properties and persons to make their point. By calling themselves citizens, they implied that somehow the Mormons were not...Those who could not meet their standards had no rights.” [p3]
No Place for Saints clearly communicates how outsiders with new ideas and ideologies can be labeled as Others, demonized as strange and dangerous to the status quo. American Democracy still suffers, although at a lesser level, many of the same cultural, racial, and religious divides in the 21st century that prevailed in 19th century America. Jortner’s short book is not only good Mormon History, but a cautionary tale of how intolerance and suspicion can fuel even good people’s worst impulses. Jackson’s violent America is not all that far behind us. No Place for Saints is a sharp, easy read that underscores how American democracy can be undermined by vocal and potentially violent groups who designate others as undesirables and outsiders. The echoes of Jacksonian America are reverberating still.
In No Place for Saints, Adam Jortner has placed Smith’s new church squarely in the midst of the sectarian chaos of Antebellum America. This was the time of Indian Removal, forcing Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River, the founding of the Anti-Mason movement, the burning of Catholic convents over rumors of sex abuse and witchcraft, and slavery, with all its violence and brutality. No other work I have read so skillfully traces all these and other elements into a coherent explanation of why people who considered themselves good American citizens were capable of scorn, hatred, and physical violence against other American citizens. And Jortner does it with a refreshing economy of writing and strength of narration that captivates a reader’s attention.
Many academic works seem written to impress tenure-track search committees with obscure language and complex composition. Not so Jortner’s work. His sentences opening chapter 1 of No Place for Saints are a perfect example of how to communicate with a reader in simple but profound text:
“In 1805, Vermont had not yet earned its reputation for New England quaintness. It was a severe frontier landscape, more H. P. Lovecraft than Robert Frost.” [p7]
Such vivid and clear prose dominates No Place for Saints. Jortner has a light and concise style that is easy to read, and clearly communicates his arguments. As he lays out the cultural, religious, and political environment of the 1820s and 1830s, Jortner makes his case for a unified view of the many conflicts surrounding the founding of the Latter-day Saints church.
One of the problems with Joseph Smith’s new church, Jortner says, is that the Mormons elevated visions, revelation, and other “supernatural” events above scriptural authority, a linchpin of Protestant doctrine. Jortner notes that to mainstream American Christianity “…visions were all of the Devil.” [p23] The Book of Mormon as additional scripture also ran counter to Protestant belief in a closed canon. Stories of Smith’s earlier involvement in treasure hunting added to the negative impression of his new faith. Other churches and religious movements in the Northeast during the same time were also ridiculed and their leaders discounted as frauds. Reports that church elders cast out demons was another problem. Such exorcisms, Jortner writes, were “…powerful proof of the divine sanctions of the exorcists and their church. For those who did not believe in demons, exorcisms worked the opposite way---proof of a charlatan making miserable dupes of ignorant fanatics.” [p78] Despite this, the church added new converts at a rate that alarmed outsiders. Even as traditional Protestant beliefs were challenged, many found the new church and its teachings compelling. Almost entire congregations converted in Ohio. But as the church moved west from New York to Ohio and then Missouri, the problems followed. Persecution, rumor, and small-scale violence occurred everywhere the Mormons settled. In Missouri, small group acts became community campaigns against the new faith.
Fears about the Mormon’s relationship with Native Americans compounded the suspicions of those outside the church. Smith and other church leaders identified Native Americans as the direct descendants of the Book of Mormon Lamanites, leading to unsuccessful proselyting missions that created friction with government officials. As the church expanded into frontier Missouri, rumors of this outreach combined with other negative views of the Mormons to create a hostile environment. Missourians feared Mormons voting in blocs and dominating the political landscape. Coming on the heels of Indian Removal policies of the Jackson era, otherwise law-abiding Missourians saw a precedent for the forced removal of some 1,200 Mormons in and around Independence, Jackson County. Militias which included local government officials demanded that Smith’s followers leave the county immediately.
Although Jortner never uses the terms “popular sovereignty” in his text, the idea that a majority could subject an unpopular minority to deprival of rights and property was a key feature of Jacksonian America, and No Place for Saints clearly defines the effect this had on the problems in Missouri in 1833. Missouri Governor Dunklin’s response to pleas for help from the new settlers directed them to use the courts to address their grievances, ignoring the fact that those threatening the Mormons were the civic officials, potential jurors, and leading citizens upon which legal redress depended. As Jortner writes, a committee of these citizens “…met peacefully and voted on resolutions…and then they decided to destroy and assault Mormon properties and persons to make their point. By calling themselves citizens, they implied that somehow the Mormons were not...Those who could not meet their standards had no rights.” [p3]
No Place for Saints clearly communicates how outsiders with new ideas and ideologies can be labeled as Others, demonized as strange and dangerous to the status quo. American Democracy still suffers, although at a lesser level, many of the same cultural, racial, and religious divides in the 21st century that prevailed in 19th century America. Jortner’s short book is not only good Mormon History, but a cautionary tale of how intolerance and suspicion can fuel even good people’s worst impulses. Jackson’s violent America is not all that far behind us. No Place for Saints is a sharp, easy read that underscores how American democracy can be undermined by vocal and potentially violent groups who designate others as undesirables and outsiders. The echoes of Jacksonian America are reverberating still.
May 8, 2025
“The expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County is one of the great acts of religious violence and repression in United States history…The Missourians defined citizenship as a kind of ideology—their kind of people counted as citizens, and others did not.”
“Historians often tell the story of Hiram Page’s stone as a bump on the road… but to view this crisis from the perspective of Smith obscures the world of early Mormonism for the converts themselves. It was a world brimming with possibility— a world in which God would end schismatic division and silence debate directly… A shared system of a prophethood was repeatedly suggested by early Saints; Smith’s position as a sole prophet was not universally accepted by new Mormons. Page’s seer stones were not a moment of peril for Smith leadership but rather a moment of possibility for the Mormon movement… Smith acted in 1830 not as an unquestioned authority, but as an influential leader of a community— working to resolve conflicts rather than consolidate power.”
“Early Mormonism was far more inclusive than exclusive in dealing with myriad forms of worship in Ohio.”
Ashbel Kitchell described the Book of Mormon “as not interesting enough to keep them [the Shakers] awake.”
“When Shakers and Mormons met in 1831, they each tried to convert the other; they could see similarities in their approaches, but in the end, they were each trying to form a new church, rather than collect and combine existing churches. Trying to solve sectarianism bred sectarianism.”
“There were always dissenters and schismatics in the church…Mormons were not a pliant, happy group, eager to do whatever Joseph Smith asked. Especially in their first decade, they were prone to bickering and argument.”
“Indian removal, conditioned white Americans to accept forcible exodus as something both possible and natural… it indicated a social willingness to expel people from their homes, as well as political tolerance for this idea.”
“Schisms and dealing with schisms were standard for early Mormonism.”
“If the idea of an Edenic age of Mormonism when the Saints all got along and dutifully followed Smith without question is mostly an illusion, then Saints can at least take comfort that almost no American religion ever had any such golden age.”
“Zion’s Camp was almost certainly a tactical blunder. Given that tensions in Ohio and Missouri centered on Mormon claims to supernatural powers and the politics thereof, sending an army across four states to defend belief in supernatural visitations seems like a bad idea.”
“Historians often tell the story of Hiram Page’s stone as a bump on the road… but to view this crisis from the perspective of Smith obscures the world of early Mormonism for the converts themselves. It was a world brimming with possibility— a world in which God would end schismatic division and silence debate directly… A shared system of a prophethood was repeatedly suggested by early Saints; Smith’s position as a sole prophet was not universally accepted by new Mormons. Page’s seer stones were not a moment of peril for Smith leadership but rather a moment of possibility for the Mormon movement… Smith acted in 1830 not as an unquestioned authority, but as an influential leader of a community— working to resolve conflicts rather than consolidate power.”
“Early Mormonism was far more inclusive than exclusive in dealing with myriad forms of worship in Ohio.”
Ashbel Kitchell described the Book of Mormon “as not interesting enough to keep them [the Shakers] awake.”
“When Shakers and Mormons met in 1831, they each tried to convert the other; they could see similarities in their approaches, but in the end, they were each trying to form a new church, rather than collect and combine existing churches. Trying to solve sectarianism bred sectarianism.”
“There were always dissenters and schismatics in the church…Mormons were not a pliant, happy group, eager to do whatever Joseph Smith asked. Especially in their first decade, they were prone to bickering and argument.”
“Indian removal, conditioned white Americans to accept forcible exodus as something both possible and natural… it indicated a social willingness to expel people from their homes, as well as political tolerance for this idea.”
“Schisms and dealing with schisms were standard for early Mormonism.”
“If the idea of an Edenic age of Mormonism when the Saints all got along and dutifully followed Smith without question is mostly an illusion, then Saints can at least take comfort that almost no American religion ever had any such golden age.”
“Zion’s Camp was almost certainly a tactical blunder. Given that tensions in Ohio and Missouri centered on Mormon claims to supernatural powers and the politics thereof, sending an army across four states to defend belief in supernatural visitations seems like a bad idea.”
March 8, 2022
I didn't expect to read more than a chapter or two of this book. I've read a lot of 19th century Mormon church history and thought I knew it pretty well.
But surprisingly I learned a lot of new details in this short book and ended up reading it cover to cover. Jortner puts specific events in Kirtland and Missouri in context of things going on in US society in general.
Reading about the Missouri persecutions in detail, it's no wonder the animosity the Saints felt towards the Missourians lasted for decades, long after the Mormons were fully established and relatively safe in Utah.
The book ends as Zion's Camp is disbanded. I hope there will be a sequel covering Nauvoo.
But surprisingly I learned a lot of new details in this short book and ended up reading it cover to cover. Jortner puts specific events in Kirtland and Missouri in context of things going on in US society in general.
Reading about the Missouri persecutions in detail, it's no wonder the animosity the Saints felt towards the Missourians lasted for decades, long after the Mormons were fully established and relatively safe in Utah.
The book ends as Zion's Camp is disbanded. I hope there will be a sequel covering Nauvoo.
February 2, 2023
What a banger of a book. This book is concise and focused. Jortner's argument is well set and supported. Mormonism is painted as not unique, yet wild enough to test the boundaries of a growing country (wild west country). Learned way more than I thought I would (including little details about the history of Mormonism). Without question, my favorite book of Mormonism published last year.
May 12, 2022
I would probably rank it closer to 4 as the book gave a lot of background information that I had never read before,
December 13, 2022
I was impressed with Jortner’s Gods of Prophetstown about Tenskwatawa’s American Indian religious movement. So when I heard he had come out with a book on Mormon history, I was exited. And the book did not disappoint.
Jortner does an excellent job of explaining 1830s anti-Mormon mob violence in its cultural, historical, and political context. But perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is Jortner’s message to modern Americans, in the age of Trump, about the steps that take religious bigotry to delegitimization and delegitimization to violence.
Jortner does an excellent job of explaining 1830s anti-Mormon mob violence in its cultural, historical, and political context. But perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is Jortner’s message to modern Americans, in the age of Trump, about the steps that take religious bigotry to delegitimization and delegitimization to violence.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews