Date of Award:

5-2025

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Arts (MA)

Department:

History

Committee Chair(s)

Patrick Q. Mason

Committee

Patrick Q. Mason

Committee

Maria Angela Diaz

Committee

Robert E. Ross

Abstract

Brigham Young assumed the role as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838, as the Church began to face extreme persecutions by the state of Missouri. Although he was a mostly apolitical individual preceding his new role, over the next eight years Young would hold political office and help the Church navigate challenging relationships with local, state, and federal governments. By the time he led the Latter-day Saints to the Great Basin and became president of the Church in 1847, Young had gained significant experience over several years of tense political conflict.

This thesis is a historical study of Brigham Young’s development as a political leader and thinker from 1838-1846. Over these years he led the Saints out of Missouri as they sought refuge in Illinois, grew increasingly frustrated by the federal government’s unwillingness to provide redress for the Saints, advocated for the city’s poorest residents as a member of the Nauvoo City Council, served as a political missionary for Joseph Smith’s 1844 presidential campaign, and participated as an active member of the Council of Fifty. I argue that the traumatic experiences of state-sanctioned violence against the Latter-day Saints in Missouri and Illinois radicalized Young from mainstream American republicanism and nationalism and made him a staunch advocate for what the Latter-day Saints called “theodemocracy.”

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