Extermination Orders in Mormon Missouri - John Turner Pt. 23 | Ep. 2087

The Missouri Crisis and the Extermination Orders: When Religious Conflict Becomes State Violence

In the autumn of 1838, Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri issued what would become one of the most infamous directives in American religious history: an extermination order targeting members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet the path to this order reveals a more complex and troubling reality than a simple story of persecution and martyrdom. According to recent historical scholarship, including analysis presented on the Mormon Stories Podcast featuring scholar John Turner, the conflict in Missouri involved missteps and escalations on both sides, including unauthorized military operations and coercive actions by church leadership that would ultimately validate the very fears their non-Mormon neighbors held about Mormon intentions. Understanding this period requires examining not only what happened to the Saints, but also what some church leaders did in response to opposition.

What Led to the Missouri Conflict: Settlement, Politics, and Rising Tensions

The Mormon question in Missouri cannot be separated from the politics and demographics of the era. Beginning in the mid-1830s, members of the LDS Church began settling in Jackson County and surrounding areas, drawn by Joseph Smith's designation of Missouri as a gathering place for the faithful. Non-Mormon settlers quickly grew alarmed, not primarily over theological differences, but over the rapid concentration of Mormon population and voting power, combined with economic competition and social insularity.

The 1838 election season crystallized these tensions. Church leadership, for reasons historians have not fully explained, favored the Democratic Party, while many Missouri settlers aligned with the Whigs. When candidate William Penniston, known for anti-Mormon rhetoric, climbed a barrel at a polling place in Daviess County to address voters, a physical altercation erupted. Danites, members of a secret society pledging loyalty to Joseph Smith and church leadership, participated in the violence, cracking skulls and preventing Mormon citizens from voting.

Rather than seeking legal remedies through the courts or state authorities, church leaders escalated the confrontation. When rumors spread that militia officer Adam Black was organizing a mob to expel Mormons, Joseph Smith himself led a grou