Mexican Exoduses: The Mormon Struggle for Freedom, Identity, and Community In the United States and Mexico, 1823-1917

Abstract

Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830, and during the two decades that followed, Mormons moved westward across the American frontier searching for a place to settle and practice their new religion. The members of the fledgling church sought refuge in Salt Lake Valley after the death of their founder in what was then Mexican territory. Their journeys and settlements cannot be considered part of the great push westward that happened with Manifest Destiny. Rather, the Mormons chose to settle outside the United States to ensure their religious freedom and find sanctuary from persecution. Their goals did not coincide with notions of Manifest Destiny or the American government's policies regarding territory. Though the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding areas later became U.S. territories and eventually the state of Utah, the Mormon colonias founded in Mexico proper have very different histories. The American exceptionalism inherent in the Mormon faith, and the failure of the Mormons to assimilate into Mexican society eventually led to the failure of nearly all the Mormon colonias located south of the U.S./Mexican border.