E65: Sidney Rigdon, The Baptist, Part One

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:09)
Sidney Rigdon is there for one of the most interesting moments in all of Mormon history. Nauvoo is chaotic.
Most of Nauvoo is there. August 8th, 1844, he stands up and makes his case to be the next guy.
But that's not fun to start there. We gotta go back. Let's first start with the Zeruz.
Because as Mormons, we would be very bad people if we didn't start with Rigdon's genealogy.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:44)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:46)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:48)
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** (1:15)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners, from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:20)
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** (1:29)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:52)
At first blush, Rigdon's upbringing is like something out of a patriotic Tim Ballard novel.
According to his biographer, the usually meticulous Richard Van Wagner, Sidney Rigdon's father was a prominent founding father in the Maryland area. He allegedly signed the Bush Declaration of March 22nd, 1775 And do you know what the Bush Declaration was, Bryan?

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:13)
Oh yeah, sure. So in the early days of the internet, Americans were asked to sign a declaration stating they would grudgingly approve of two Bush presidents, but no more.
That's what you're referring to, right?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:24)
I believe the judges are showing a big thumbs down. The Bush Declaration was actually considered to be the hipster first Declaration of Independence for America. Picture some real 13 colony shiz. However, I looked into this because at the Sunstone Mormon History Podcast, we check our work. And check this out, Bryan. My apologies to beloved Richard Van Wagner, who really is an excellent historian, but I actually think he's wrong about this.
I couldn't find William as one of the signers of this declaration, but I did find William's brother and Sidney's uncle Alexander as a signer.
So the first page of Van Wagner's biography, which we will pull very heavily from, by the way, has a few errors, but the rest of it's pretty solid.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:05)
Alexander Rigdon was one of 34 dudes in Hartford County who signed it. Don't worry, Sidney's father William had his fair share of early American glory, too. In 1776, Old Man Rigdon did sign the Declaration of the Association of Freemen of Maryland.
But that's a less sexy story than Hipster Declaration of America. Citizens in the area who refused to sign were fined and imprisoned. It was just kind of something you did. Peer pressure and all of that. Unless you're one of those weirdos who had to think for 18th century prisons.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:32)
Sidney's dad William was a real Revolutionary War action dude sort of guy. During the war, he served as a private in the Company No.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:41)
12

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:41)
So congratulations Mormons who like to brag about this stuff in their church testimony meetings. We can still claim some Revolutionary involvement for the Rigdon clan.
So check this out. I learned something else from learning about Rigdon. Did you know that many early Americans were Quakers?
Did you know that the religion begins to die out?
Do you know why? Well, I'm going to tell you even if you don't care.
It was Revolutionary War politics. The religion was suspect, according to historian Richard Van Wagner, because of its connections to Toryism. If you like period pieces on the BBC like me, then you'll know what that is. Let's just say God, Queen, and Country slogans weren't too big in the colonies. Here's the thing, though. It's a fun theory, but again, I think it's a little bit more complicated than Van Wagner likes to make it. Take Thomas Paine, for example. He was a birthright Quaker who mobilized the colonies with Quaker influence arguments to rebel against the Crown. But I still think the larger point that Sidney Rigdon's parents grew up in the sort of tumultuous political and religious time is an important point.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:51)
Yeah, so Sidney's grandparents had been devout Quakers, but Sid's parents were born during the Second Great Awakening. Who was there to fill the Quaker vacuum? The Baptists. They're at the barbecue now, that's right.
Once a persecuted minority in the colonies, their democratic practices were appealing to young colonists, and they became the tempting new religion. So Rigdon's parents, William and Nancy, joined up with the new kids on the block.