There goes the neighborhood

Written in a child’s perspective from Carthage Illinois in the early 1840s.

             I woke up on Monday morning to my parents arguing about the Mormons, those dang Mormons. They think they can just come to Illinois and have so much power, they have so much political influence here; at least that’s what my parents say. At school I heard some kids saying that their parents said the Mormons were bad, that they tried to take our stuff, and our land. I asked the kids why they would try to take our things, they told me that the Mormons steal everything, and that’s why they’re in Illinois. They used to be in Missouri, but they were kicked out because they wouldn’t stop stealing people’s stuff, so they moved here. Now the Mormons are taking our power in this state and in Hancock County.

            Months later I heard that the state had called for Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith’s arrest, Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon church. I wondered why they would want him arrested, I knew that yes everyone was worried about his growing power, but he didn’t commit any crimes. A lot of people told me things like, he’s a bad man who wants to steal our stuff, and take our land, but I knew that wasn’t really why. I finally found out that he had ordered that the facilities that produced the newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, be destroyed. He didn’t like that newspaper because they published an issue saying that the Mormons practiced polygamy. My mother told me polygamy means that a man can have more than one wife.

            Joseph was finally arrested and he was to be kept here in Carthage. A lot of the people in the town were angry that they were to be staying here. I heard some people saying they wanted to hurt them, but they couldn’t because Governor Ford promised them safety. Despite the promise, one night a mob attacked the jail and shot Joseph and Hyrum. Everyone in the town talked about how they deserved it, about how these men were awful.

            After the men were killed, everyone in town still hated the Mormons. In Warsaw, a nearby town, they called for a wolf hunt; the wolves they would be hunting were the Mormons. When the Governor heard about this “wolf hunt” he ordered that it be stopped. The people of Hancock County continued to hate the Mormons.

            A year later I woke up to people rejoicing in the streets, I hadn’t seen people so happy in year. I asked my mom why everyone was so happy. She said that the Mormons are finally leaving Illinois. I learned that the Mormons said they would peacefully leave Nauvoo if they were left alone.

The Mormons were forced to leave Missouri in 1838, they fled to Nauvoo and built a very successful town. Other towns in Hancock County were nervous and jealous of this extremely powerful town. Persecutions began and eventually the Mormons were forced out of Illinois too. When the Mormons arrived in Illinois the people there felt that they were “taking over the neighborhood.” This is the story I thought of when given this prompt. I think its interesting that even when people don’t do anything wrong specifically, and they don’t mean to do harm to others it can still threaten and worry the people around them.