The Crusades Against the Masons, Catholics, and Mormons: Separate Waves of a Common Current

Authors

Mark W. Cannon

Keywords

Freemasons, Persecution, United States, Freedom of religion, Mormons

Abstract

The anti-Catholic movement of the 1850s shares common features with the anti-Masonic movement of the 1830s and the anti-Mormon movement of the 1870s and 1880s. A closer look at these three movements reveals a distrust among nineteenth-century Americans for any small yet unified minority. The author discusses the similarities among the three campaigns and explores reasons why the anti-Mormon crusade was successful when the previous two were not.

Recommended Citation

Cannon, Mark W. (1961) "The Crusades Against the Masons, Catholics, and Mormons: Separate Waves of a Common Current," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol3/iss2/5