Mormon Quotes

Civil War

Brigham Young
Ham will continue to be servant of servants, as the Lord decreed, until the curse is removed. will the present struggle free the slave? No; but they are now wasting away the black race by thousands.... Treat the slaves kindly and let them live, for Ham must be the servant of servants until the curse is removed. Can you destroy the decrees of the Almighty? You cannot. Yet our Christian brethren think that they are going to overthrow the sentence of the Almighty upon the seed of Ham. They cannot do that, though they may kill them by thousands and tens of thousands.
Brigham Young, Millennial Star, Vol. 25, page 787; also published in Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, page 250
Brigham Young
I should never fight one moment about it [slavery], for the cause of human improvement is not in the least advanced by the dreadful war [the Civil War] which now convulses our unhappy country.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:49
Brigham Young
It is not the prerogative of the President of the United States to meddle with this matter, and Congress is not allowed, according to the [p.40] Constitution, to legislate upon it. If Utah was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, and we chose to introduce slavery here, it is not their business to meddle with it; and even if we treated our slaves in an oppressive manner, it is still none of their business and they ought not to meddle with it.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 4:39
Brigham Young
Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race ‑ that they should be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:290
Brigham Young
According to accounts, in all probability not less than one million men, from twenty to forty years of age, have gone to the silent grave in this useless war [the Civil War], in a little over two years, and all to gratify the caprice of a few ‑‑ I do not think I have a suitable name for them, shall we call them abolitionists, slaveholders, religious bigots, or political aspirants?
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:49
Brigham Young
We consider [slavery] of divine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants.
Brigham Young, Brigham Young interviewed by Horace Greeley for NY Tribune article Aug 20, 1859
Brigham Young
I am neither an abolitionist nor a pro‑slavery man. If I could have been influenced by private injury to choose one side in preference to the other, I should certainly be against the pro‑slavery side of the question, for it was pro‑slavery men that pointed the bayonet at me and my [p. 490] brethren in Missouri.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:110
Brigham Young
The rank, rabid abolitionists, whom I call black‑hearted Republicans, have set the whole national fabric on fire.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:110
Joseph Smith
Having learned with extreme regret, that an article entitled, 'Free People of Color,' in the last number of the Star has been misunderstood, we feel in duty bound to state, in this Extra, that our intention was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to this state, but to prevent them from being admitted as member of the Church.
Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:378‑379
Joseph Smith
[Are the Mormons abolitionists?] No, unless delivering the people from priestcraft, and the priests from the power of Satan, should be considered abolition. But we do not believe in setting the negroes free.
Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol 3, Ch 3, p 28‑30
John Taylor
This Greeley is one of their popular characters in the East, and one that supports the stealing of Niggers...
John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 5:119
Orson Pratt
This great war [Civil War] is only a small degree of chastisement, just the beginning; nothing compared to that which God has spoken concerning this nation, if they will not repent.
Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 12:244
George A. Smith
There is a great deal said about the origin of the trouble between the North and the South; some said it was the almighty negro; but the fact is, the people did not respect the [p. 180a] Constitution of our country; for the Latter‑day Saints were driven in violation thereof from Jackson County to Clay, and from Clay to Caldwell and Davis counties, and then from the State of Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, robbed and plundered of their property, their women ravished, their leaders murdered, and there was not a solitary man arose to enforce the laws or the Constitution in our defense.
George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses 11:27
Erastus Snow
The extremists of the north, the anti‑slavery agitators heeded it not; and neither party approached the subject with any earnest determination to effect an honorable settlement of this question.
Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses 23:34
John Morgan
Brother Taylor says that language cannot express the conduct, the feelings, and the spirit that are upon the people in the States. Well, suppose you take up a labor and swear about them, what are the worst words that can be spoken? 'Nigger stealing,' Mobs or Vigilance Committees, and Rotten‑hearted Administrators of a Government are three of the meanest and wickedest words that can be spoken. I expect that somebody will write that back to the States, as being treasonable, because spoken by a Latter‑day Saint.
John Morgan, Journal of Discourses 23:6
B. H. Roberts
Mr. Greeley was disappointed in the lack of abolition sentiment in Salt Lake City.
B. H. Roberts, History of the Church 4:533
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