E42: Text Appeal and Nauvoo Justice

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:11)
Hey friends, are you feeling down? Does the cost of everyday goods and services have you feeling the blues? You're not alone.
Let's talk about depression. And by depression, we mean economic depression.
Just like people, countries can get depressed too.
I wanna talk about what happens when America gets depressed. Unlike people, or myself more specifically, when America gets depressed, it doesn't order obscene amounts of late night door dash and stay in its pajamas all week. When America goes through a depression, the economy tanks, farms fail, and darkness falls all over the land. At least that's what happened to America in the late 1830s. Everyone will remember the Great Depression of America 100 years later in the 1930s, where dust bowl droughts and post and pre-war sentiments had everyone slinging around in their metaphorical PJs. But the depression of the 1830s, known as the Panic of 1837, is lesser known and lesser thought about because it feels so far away. But for Mormons, it's actually a pretty formative time in our history. We talked about this a little in the Kirtland episode about the Panic of 1837, which resulted from many things, including a sharp rise in prices of just about everything. And it caused a great depression over the United States that would last several years, causing folks to go hungry, to lose jobs, and be generally pessimistic about everything. Mormons felt it too. Oh boy, did they ever, especially since they had one of the 343 failed banks in America, or anti-banks, depending on who you ask, hanging over their heads thanks to Kirtland shenanigans. People weren't only disenchanted by Mormon leadership after the failed Kirtland Bank or anti-bank or whatever the hell we're calling it. People suffered and suffered under a larger trend of economic disparity. How the Mormons responded to the crisis showed a real American spirit of stick-to-itedness. Mormons were setting up municipal systems in the swamplands of Illinois, which meant setting up a government. A better government than they lived under in Ohio or Missouri. Maybe they could shirk the surrounding national economic crisis by building a better system than the one they inherited.
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:36)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:38)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion. This isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:05)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:10)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:18)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.
Let's take you back to 1800s America. This is a time when a newborn country is making its way in the Western world. End of the Napoleonic Wars brought revolution and profound change to the entire world. In the mid-19th century in the US we were getting just a little too big for our britches. Territorial expansion grew as fast as Evangelical Revivalism.
Economic growth expanded with democracy. America saw the spread of reform movements, social movements, labor movements, all sorts of movements. As city spread and industry grew, it gave folks a little more time to think about human rights. The rights of black Africans who were enslaved, the status and role of white women in society. Notice we said white women. The plight of the poor.
A wave of social campaigns sought to address these issues, leading to the Antebellum Period. All of these things and more shaped and changed the way people looked at harm, community, crime, and so much more. It's no surprise then that along with all this social and economic growth and development, America was also trying to figure out how to achieve justice through laws, courts, and leadership. During this century, American prisons were established, public schools came into existence, the US would formally abolish slavery, reduce drinking, extend some rights to some women, and expand and expand. Hopefully, you got a nap somewhere in there. That's a lot of work.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:50)
While solving problems for one group of people, these new reforms and laws would have unintended consequences for other groups as well. As this sort of Anglo expansion dotted the frontier, millions of indigenous folks already living for centuries on the land would be wiped out by violence, disease, starvation, and greed. As religious liberalism exploded around the country, causing white Americans to shun the harsh Calvinist doctrines that hurt the generations before them, ideas like free love and new conceptions of God became new dogmas. Remember the Cochranites from last time? The ones not responsible for Mormon polygamy? They're right in the middle of this evolution. To understand all of this large scale shifting, all we need to do is focus on a community whose story is the perfect microcosm of a larger American story. The Mormons in Nauvoo, whose ambitious plans sought to build a kingdom of God in the western corner of Illinois, gives people a great glimpse into the large developments happening elsewhere.