The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle
The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press | pages: 256 | 2003 | ISBN: 0807828319 | PDF | 12,5 mb
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press | pages: 256 | 2003 | ISBN: 0807828319 | PDF | 12,5 mb
This outstanding historical study focuses on the national outrage a century ago when Reed Smoot, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was elected to serve as a Senator from Utah. Millions of Americans signed petitions urging the Senate to unseat Smoot, who endured several years of hearings to determine his status. Although he was not a polygamist, his opponents claimed that his alliance with the Mormon hierarchy would prevent him from being a faithful and patriotic Senator. Flake, a lawyer and professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School, draws upon her legal expertise to help readers understand the trial testimony.