Comments on: Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:57:06 +0000

Matt: It looks like they moved the audio recording. I’ve fixed the link.

By: Matt Warren

Matt Warren — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:21:55 +0000

Hey, great blog. The link to the Bushman talk on Joseph Smith and Abe Lincoln isn’t working. Is there another way I can get to it?
-Matt

By: Mike Griffith

Mike Griffith — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:19:07 +0000

Lincoln was no friend of the Latter-day Saints. He said nothing when the Saints were being persecuted in Illinois. Before the war, he said the Saints were “probably” in rebellion and added that they needed to be “coerced” somehow. kHe also condemned polygamy as “a relic of barbarism.” As president, he signed the first anti-polygamy bill and appointed anti-Mormons as territorial officials, ignoring Church requests that locals be appointed.

Privately, Brigham Young was very critical of Lincoln. We must remember that there was a federal army garrison stationed in Utah, and many hostile federal appointees, who all kept a close ear out for anything that sounded the least bit “unpatriotic,” so the Saints were very guarded in their public comments. Readers here may be interested in my article “Abraham Lincoln, the Mormons, and the Civil War” at:

http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/lincolnandlds.htm

Mike Griffith

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:30:53 +0000

I am more interested in how Lincoln acted in his role as a state representative while the Mormon’s were being persecuted. The Governor certainly was ineffective in protecting the Saints as I read it in Bushman’s book.

By: A.C. KORITZ

A.C. KORITZ — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:30:49 +0000

Didn’t Abe Lincoln respond to an anti-Mormon critic to the effect that the Mormons were like a green tree stump, and to just “plow around them.”? I can’t find the source. Any ideas?

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:48:40 +0000

Rachel: My comments here are true to the content and tone of Mr. Bushman’s talk; I was paraphrasing more than writing. But this wasn’t intended to disparage Lincoln at all, nor do I think that was Bushman’s intent. I agree that Lincoln was an incredible leader and lived an inspired and inspiring life.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:03:36 +0000

We do not need to belittle Abraham Lincoln to make Joseph Smith great. Both were inspired of God. I didn’t care for how this was written.

By: Richard K Miller dot coooooooooom » Informal discussion societies

Richard K Miller dot coooooooooom » Informal discussion societies — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:20:23 +0000

[...] I just finished listening to an excellent lecture by Richard Bushman on Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln, and he briefly mentioned Ben Franklin’s Junto group: Both Lincoln and Joseph explored … ideas in informal discussion societies modeled roughly after Benjamin Franklin’s Junto a century earlier. All around the country, ambitious young men gathered to read and talk with the aim of improving themselves. [...]