Mormons, 100 years later

POD: 1. Joseph Smith doesn't see any visions or found a new religion in the 1820s. 2. An alt-Joseph Smith does in the 1920s, same location, generally the same belief system specifically including poygamy.

First part:

1. I would guess the settlement of the Intermountain West would be different. Probably less population in OTL Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Wyoming. Possibly later statehood dates? No or smaller Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Boise?

2. The gold rush in California would probably have played out slower and lasted longer. OTL LDS both participated in the gold rush and sold supplies to 49ers.

3. Did the Oregon settlement also depend on Mormons selling supplies to travellers on the way?

4. No 19th Century LDS means polygamy is still not even a subject either the states or federal government even think of as an issue.

Second part:

1. assume that all events re: the LDS happen exactly 100 years after OTL except those that are butterflied away. alt-Joe starts his church in Palmyra, NY in 1930, isn't public about preaching polygamy but does try a communal "United Order". Probably doesn't get much flak for his project. Maybe even gets admired agaianst the backdrop of the Depression. By 1947, he's openly a polygamist. Maybe gets in legal trouble but we're talking jail time not lynching. The Supreme Court may even side with the alt-LDS in the post-WWII era since there's no opposite legal precedent. (I can't imagine this TL butterflying away the World Wars.)

2. By the 1970s, the furor over polygamy dies down as the sexual culture of the US liberalises (again I don't see Vietnam or its domestic effect butterflied away either). Essentially we come to a situation like OTL where even though it's technically illegal, most states don't give a fuck if you practice polygamy as long as you don't attempt to get multiple marriage licences, involve children, or seek welfare.

3. In this TL, Mormonism is geographically associated with the eastern Great Lakes area, not the Intermountain states. Perhaps the modern headqaurters would be in Cleveland, Ohio? "This is Spencer Kinnard, from the Crossroads of the East, Public Square in Cleveland, Ohio...."
 
If the doctrine remains the same, the LDS Holy Land is still Independence, Missouri, and Harry S. Truman might not be very appreciative.
 
The mid-20th century isn't a really fertile time for new religious movements like the mid-19th. Joseph Smith was a popular and charismatic leader in a time when people were really looking for one - it was the Second Great Awakening after all. By the 1940s, Americans still joined cults, but there wasn't anything with the kind of mass appeal that Mormonism and other 19th century sects put together.

This isn't to say that an alt-Smith wouldn't have adapted, and come up with something more tolerable to mainstream Protestantism.
 
If the doctrine remains the same, the LDS Holy Land is still Independence, Missouri, and Harry S. Truman might not be very appreciative.

That is, if Harry S Truman exists in TTL.

And it would be interesting for the Holy Land to be in Missouri.
 
That is, if Harry S Truman exists in TTL.

And it would be interesting for the Holy Land to be in Missouri.

What about this POD would even potentially eliminate Harry S?

In OTL when did Joseph Smith get the idea of Indpendence as the Holy Land? I thought it was in response to persecution in Kirtland, Nauvoo, etc.
ITTL this isn't likely to happen. That's why I would guess these alt-Mormons would settle the Great Lakes area....

Though the Independence thing brings me to another question. Was there any connection between the RLDS and the Unity church both being headquartered in suburbs of Kansas City? Or was it pure 100% coincidence?
 
What about this POD would even potentially eliminate Harry S?

In OTL when did Joseph Smith get the idea of Indpendence as the Holy Land? I thought it was in response to persecution in Kirtland, Nauvoo, etc.
ITTL this isn't likely to happen. That's why I would guess these alt-Mormons would settle the Great Lakes area....

Though the Independence thing brings me to another question. Was there any connection between the RLDS and the Unity church both being headquartered in suburbs of Kansas City? Or was it pure 100% coincidence?

Joseph Smith came to Jackson County, MO and proclaimed it the Holy Land before fleeing to Nauvoo. The Mormons fled back (eastward) into Illinois after Missouri Gov. Boggs issued an extermination order in response to an LDS threat to kill the governor.

The Unity Church in Lee's Summit has no relationship with either LDS faith (RLDS is now the Community of Christ in Independence), the Unitarian Church or the (Moonie) Unification Church.
 
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