Why was Joseph Smith (and the other saints) driven out of three states. Why weren't their rights protected?

Question

I am absoulty amazed by the ignorance of some answers. What really gets me about this is that the people who drove the saits out were supposedly Christian. Wow that Christ like love was really apparent.

Matt F. You missed my point completely (not the first time) Whether you believe it or not the Latter-day Saints have the right to believe what he wanted. And Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob of Cowards who borke in to a jail where he was unjustly held. He died trying to protect his brother and friends. Grow up.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Joseph smith was no saint. He was a money digger and a conman. He died with a pistol in his hands like a criminal, not a saint. Wise up.

Update:

Of course he has a right to believe what he wanted! I would fight for his right to believe what he wanted, as I would for your right to be LDS (if you are). That proves nothing about the truth of his beliefs. You are right about him trying to protect Hyrum in jail. But a saint doesn't shoot at people on the way to martyrdom, and a saint doesn't order the press of an opposition newspaper burned in the street, sorry. Believe me, I am not ignorant about Mormonism. I have spent the last 7 months studying it's history and talking about it with 3 missionaries (with no hard feelings, these were great guys who were doing what they believed in, and we parted friends). Thus my conclusions aren't reactionary, just conclusive. Have a nice day.

Answer 3

Because they practiced Polygamy. And that freaked
alot of people out.

BTW I am a mormon and i do not believe JS recieved
revelation to do this. Most other mormons would be shocked
to hear a fellow member say this. But I believe Joseph Smith
went bad, he fell away-I still believe the core doctrine-
eternal marraige, eternal families, heavenly father and mother etc
but i dont believe in JS, he is not god and he is not christ.
The one thing he DID do is expose alot of information about
the bible that was heretofore unknown.

Latter Day Saints are encouraged to read and study
the scriptures and find the true meanings.

Answer 4

Because back then the Law protected our right to freedom of religion, and they would arrest phony Evangelist who were trying to deceive the people. The people and the government saw Joseph Smith for what he was-a criminal who preyed on ignorant people. It is a shame the law doesn't do that today.

Answer 5

Because back then, this country only protected the rights of people we liked or agreed with. There are people now who pretty much feel the same way: one of them lives in the White House and many of them work at Fox News.

Answer 6

The Mormons had militias and fought a war against other settlers in the Mississippi Valley. They tried to drive non mormons out of some counties to gain political dominance, many people were murdered by them. They had death squads called Dannites and practiced a form of murder called blood attonement, against their own people who dissented
When they got to Utah they massacred a whole wagon train ( Mountain Meadows Massacre) and the US government fought a war with them. Smith was a meglo maniac con man who was killed by a lynch Mob because one of his militia's smashed up a newspaper premises and beat up the staff for having the audacity to criticise his loathsome practices

Answer 7

Mormons were killed, raped, and robbed with no protection from the US government. They were driven out of the states under penalty of death.

Why weren't the early Christians protected against Nero?
Why weren't the Jews protected against Hitler?
Why wasn't Jesus protected when he was crucified?

Satan uses the wicked to fight against the righteous. He manipulated people to harm those who are good. Good people should not expect fair treatment. Satan will prevent it.

Answer 8

Because Joseph Smith was a witch...and witches gain no quarter!

Answer 9

Jesus told his followers that they would be persecuted, but promised them a great reward in heaven (Matt. 5:11-12). Latter-day Saints believe that righteously enduring persecution can bring blessings in both this life and the next. Although suffering is as unwelcome to Latter-day Saints as to any other people, they strive to respond with patience and faith and to avoid bitterness or revenge (Matt. 5:43-47; D&C 101:35; cf. 98:23-27).

Although Latter-day Saints claim no greater suffering than many others who have also been persecuted for their religious beliefs through the ages, many Latter-day Saints have been persecuted, beginning with Joseph Smith (see JS—H 1:33). As the Church grew, persecutions increased; the Latter-day Saints faced threats, murder, rape, mayhem, property damage, and revilement in Kirtland, Ohio (1831-1838), in Missouri (1831-1839), and in the area of Nauvoo, Illinois (1839-1846), culminating in the assassinations of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage, Illinois, in 1844 (Hull, pp. 643-52). (See Church History home page)

The isolation and safety of the Great Basin in the American West, to which the main body of the Church fled beginning in 1846-1847, lasted only a few years before persecutions were renewed. The Great Basin area became part of the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American War, and soon federal laws against the practice of plural marriage forced many Latter-day Saints into hiding or to settlements in Mexico and Canada. More than one thousand Latter-day Saints, mostly polygamous husbands, were fined and imprisoned. Ultimately, antipolygamy legislation disenfranchised the Saints and disincorporated the Church, allowing confiscation of Church property. After the 1890 manifesto enjoining plural marriage, anti-Mormon persecution declined substantially, but other hostilities persisted.

Anti-Mormon literature has often incited and precipitated persecution, from early attempts to discredit Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, to recent films misrepresenting LDS doctrine. LDS missionaries have sometimes especially been persecuted. Some missionaries sent to England and Scandinavia in the 1830s and 1850s were confronted by mobs, threats, imprisonment, and physical harm. Several missionaries and potential converts were murdered in the United States at the height of antipolygamy agitation during the 1870s. As recently as 1990, two LDS missionaries were killed in Huancayo, Peru, by anti-American terrorists, and Church property was vandalized or destroyed in several South American countries.

Scriptural examples provide comfort and perspective to Latter-day Saints by showing that in God's eternal plan persecutions are sometimes allowed, with blessings then coming to the persecuted (Ivins, pp. 408-413). The biblical stories of Joseph (Gen. 37-46) and Esther (Esth. 2-9) demonstrate that faith can overcome persecution and bring honor to the persecuted. In the Book of Mormon, the Ammonites provide a poignant example of a people who became dedicated to righteousness, willing to suffer persecution and death rather than break their covenants (Alma 24). Many have also been comforted by the Lord's words to Joseph Smith when he was falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned. Despite his many trials, the Lord reminded Joseph that the Savior had endured even more, and promised him, "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7). He expanded the Prophet's perspective to eternity with the statement "Fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever" (D&C 122:9).

The LDS response to persecution is to temper sorrow and anger in accordance with scriptural counsel. The Savior's admonition to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39-42) is expanded in the Doctrine and Covenants: Great rewards are promised to those who do not seek retribution and retaliate, but the persecuted may seek for justice after they have suffered repeated offenses and given their adversaries adequate prior warnings (D&C 98:23-31). Patience and tolerance are admonished in the Book of Mormon (Alma 1:21) and in Articles of Faith 11 and 13. A true Latter-day Saint hopes to be reconciled to, and perhaps even to convert, an enemy.

Answer 10

They were Indian (Native American) lovers. In the case of Missouri, they didn't believe in Putting Black people into slavery.

Answer 11

A lot of people had their rights violated in those days. There was nothing to keep anyone in check.