Extermination Order (1838)

Extermination Order (1838) was an executive proclamation issued in 1838 by Lilburn Boggs, then Missouri Governor of Missouri, ordering that members of the Latter Day Saint movement be treated as enemies and exterminated or expelled from the state. The order followed a period of violent confrontations between Missouri settlers and adherents of the movement led by Joseph Smith. It contributed to the forced displacement of thousands of Mormon adherents and became a focal point in later legal and political debates involving religious freedom, state authority, and civil liberties in antebellum United States.

Background

Tensions emerged in the mid-1830s as followers of Joseph Smith migrated from Kirtland, Ohio and Jackson County, Missouri to new settlements in Clay County, Missouri and Caldwell County, Missouri, including Independence and Far West. Conflicts involved settlers from Ray County, Missouri and Daviess County, Missouri and intersected with national controversies such as the Second Great Awakening and westward expansion. Political alignments among Democrats, Whigs, and local militias overlapped with disputes over land claims, voting blocs, and communal institutions like the Zion's Camp expedition. Incidents such as the Gallatin Election Day Battle and the Battle of Crooked River heightened fears among Missouri residents and prompt responses from state officials including Thomas Reynolds’s predecessors and successors.

Issuance of the Order

On October 27, 1838, Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the proclamation from Jefferson City, Missouri, characterizing the Latter Day Saint populace as "an enemy" who must be "exterminated or driven from the state." The language drew on precedents in frontier governance, militia proclamations, and the authority vested in state executives under statutes of the Missouri General Assembly. The order referenced recent confrontations with militias organized by figures such as David W. Patten’s opponents and actions by Thomas B. Marsh-aligned factions. National figures from Washington, D.C. took limited notice while regional newspapers in St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee reported extensively. The proclamation’s publication reverberated through Mormon settlements in Far West, Missouri, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and smaller communities in Caldwell County, Missouri.

Immediate Effects and Enforcement

Local militias and posses, including officers elected in counties such as Ray County, Missouri and Daviess County, Missouri, used the order as justification for forced expulsions, property confiscation, and sieges. The order precipitated the siege of Far West, Missouri and the arrest of Joseph Smith and other leaders by Missouri Rangers and state militia detachments. Thousands of adherents fled across the Mississippi River into Illinois, founding new settlements like Nauvoo. Casualties and losses during the Missouri Mormon War included events such as the Haun's Mill massacre and skirmishes that involved local leaders such as Alexander Doniphan who later opposed the execution of Smith under martial orders. Press accounts from outlets like the St. Louis Enquirer and the New York Herald amplified regional outrage and appealed to legislators in Jefferson City, Missouri and federal authorities in Washington, D.C..

Legal Challenges and Repeal

Legal responses unfolded over decades through petitions, lawsuits, and appeals to federal authority. Joseph Smith and other leaders pursued habeas corpus petitions and remonstrances; cases implicated constitutional questions that later informed jurisprudence involving First Amendment protections for religious assemblies. Political pressure from Mormon leaders who resettled in Illinois and later emigrated to Great Salt Lake Valley under Brigham Young shaped negotiations with state and federal officials. The order remained technically in force until Governor Christopher S. Bond formally rescinded it in 1976, responding to advocacy by representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and public figures who invoked precedents such as the Civil Rights Movement and modern civil liberties discourse. Congressional and judicial developments, including debates in the United States Senate and rulings by the United States Supreme Court, reframed the legal environment that had originally allowed such executive proclamations.

Long-term Impact and Legacy

The proclamation's legacy shaped the trajectory of the Latter Day Saint movement, accelerating migration to Illinois and ultimately to Utah Territory where leaders like Brigham Young established new social and political institutions. It influenced scholarly accounts produced by historians affiliated with institutions such as Brigham Young University and University of Missouri and became a subject in biographies of Joseph Smith Jr. and studies of the Missouri Mormon War. The episode informed later legal doctrines concerning state power, minority protections, and the limits of executive proclamations during periods of civil unrest, featuring in legal analyses referencing cases like Reynolds v. United States and debates over religious liberty in the United States Supreme Court. Public memory has been contested through commemorations at sites like Haun's Mill State Historic Site and interpretive work by local historical societies in Caldwell County, Missouri; scholarly reassessment continues in journals and monographs published by presses affiliated with Oxford University Press and University of Illinois Press. The rescission by Christopher S. Bond and subsequent apologies by political figures remain emblematic of broader national efforts to reconcile nineteenth-century state actions with twentieth-century commitments to civil rights and religious pluralism.

Category:1838 in Missouri