Rigdon's July 4th Oration

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An oration delivered by Mormon leader Sidney Rigdon during a 4th of July celebration in Far West, Missouri in 1838. Rigdon was first councillor and spokesman for Joseph Smith Jr..

The oration was meant as a Mormon "declaration of independence" against "mobocrats" and Anti-Mormon persecution. In the speech, Rigdon declared:

"And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them until the last drop of their blood is spilled; or else they will have to exterminate us, for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed..."

The speech alarmed local non-Mormons attending the celebration. Later, the church presidency published the July 4th Oration, causing considerable agitation and further stoking anti-Mormon sentiment throughout northwestern Missouri. Many contemporaries and later historians cite the July 4th Oration as a contributing factor to the 1838 Mormon War.

Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs may have been referencing the "war of extermination" threatened in the July 4th Oration when he issued his infamous Extermination Order.

The July 4th Oration is often confused with the Salt Sermon.

[edit] References

  • Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, University of Missouri Press, 1990.
  • Alexander L. Baugh, A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, BYU Studies, 2000.
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