Wi: Mormons 100 years earlier fleeing across the Appalachian mountains

say an alt Joseph Smith founds Mormons during the first great awaking in the early 1730s and is forced from the 13 colonies with around 10,000 followers

could they successfully settle some territory west of the Appalachian mountains or would they be pushed out by either the French or Indian tribes

Would they be able to keep out later american settlers or possibly gain independence from either Britain or France or America
 
1730s? Will not happen. If they had that many followers, there would be no reason to flee. All Mikey Mormon needs to do is move his followers to another settlement and essentially have the state of Deseret. That was how it was done before the revolution.
 
1730s? Will not happen. If they had that many followers, there would be no reason to flee. All Mikey Mormon needs to do is move his followers to another settlement and essentially have the state of Deseret. That was how it was done before the revolution.
Wouldn't the polygamy cause a big issue with that
 
I would say that Puritans amd Anglicans would greatly disapprove of the new Mormon religion. All of the colonies would disapprove of Polygamy, but let's assume that polygamy never happened in this time line or maybe later on? At this time in American history there was a belief that some native a,Erica s were descended from Hebrews and if you look at historical records the farmers and settlers noted massive earth structures. Without Polygamy more people would be more accepting of this religion based around Jesus in the new world. I wouldn't be surprised if some lower level lords in England would obtain copies of the Book Of Mormon. Let's assume that a few leaders in this new religion were able to get the British to listen about the no taxation without representation. I know it sounds far fetched but the Europeans might be more open of the settlers in the colonies if they knew they had a great history like the old country. In a really off chance King George might convert to this new religion amd build a temple in England. This could cause a revolution in England, with conflict overseas the British are unable to keep their colonies under control and USA is founded without a single shot fired. Seeing that the colonies are no longer under Bristish control the French attempt to invade the colonies with funding from the Pope to crush this new apostate religion.
 
In a really off chance King George might convert to this new religion amd build a temple in England.

ASB. The role of the British monarch was intricately tied up with Anglicanism—they even hold the title of “Defender of the Faith” to this day. George III won’t convert under any circumstances, and if by some miracle he does, he loses the throne. He’ll just be deposed then and there. No need for a revolution; he won’t have any support to prevent his overthrow, especially if he converts to Mormonism instead of, say, Catholicism.
 
ASB. The role of the British monarch was intricately tied up with Anglicanism—they even hold the title of “Defender of the Faith” to this day. George III won’t convert under any circumstances, and if by some miracle he does, he loses the throne. He’ll just be deposed then and there. No need for a revolution; he won’t have any support to prevent his overthrow, especially if he converts to Mormonism instead of, say, Catholicism.
Like I said In a really off chance. I never said it was anywhere in the realm of possibilities.
 
Mormonism was the product of it's time, i.e. the Great Revival and growing interest in the pseudo-historical idea that some of the 'Lost Tribes of Israel' wound up in the new world.

I don't see Mormonism taking off in the 1730's the way it did in the 1830's, at most it will be a similar size to the Shakers, and seen as a extremist sect, if not outright heretical.
 
Mormonism was the product of it's time, i.e. the Great Revival and growing interest in the pseudo-historical idea that some of the 'Lost Tribes of Israel' wound up in the new world.

I don't see Mormonism taking off in the 1730's the way it did in the 1830's, at most it will be a similar size to the Shakers, and seen as a extremist sect, if not outright heretical.
I disagree, the Shakers died out because most sects didn't believe in sex if any kind. I think if anything This 18th century Mormonism might be more like the French Huegenots. Mormonism would be seen as extremist but even early Mormonism wasn't as radical or out there as the Anabaptists or Huegenots and they got a decent amount of followers. The key to Mormons getting followers would be the same as in our time line, you have missionaries. I don't think that Mormonism would be seen as heresy since they believed in Jesus, if anything they'd be looked on as the equivalence of the bastardized step child that's away at boarding school of Protestantism. I'm going to make a leap here, let's assume in this timeline our Alternative Smith finds the plates, shows them off, a religious authority verifies them and makes Mormonism legitimate and not just a 'believe me I found a New Testament to Jesus Christ' deal. Under the premise that the plates are real more might start to convert. Let's say they get Ministers to convert and the ministers preach and convert their congregation. Under this strategy and the plates known to be real they could have 2,000-4,000 depending on their efforts within maybe 10-15 years, converting people is hard work I hear. The question is how could a small fringe religion survive during the American Revolution?
 
For me, it's the fact that the "plates" (which I don't believe ever existed) were found in Western New York, and that's not settled in the 1730s. What you have then is a Mountain Man Joseph Smith out in the wilderness with the indigenous peoples, who are going think he's cra-cra. Even if you move the "plates", the best you can do is a couple of hundred people before the revolution and even that will be a stretch. Mormonism would be regarded as a heresy, because of "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become" = the sin of Lucifer "I will be like God". That is heresy. Plus, they took the Bible a LOT more seriously then and the curse of adding to the Bible (which is how the Book of Mormon would be viewed) would be taken literally. Smith would be lucky to survive his 'revelations' in many areas.
 
For me, it's the fact that the "plates" (which I don't believe ever existed) were found in Western New York, and that's not settled in the 1730s. What you have then is a Mountain Man Joseph Smith out in the wilderness with the indigenous peoples, who are going think he's cra-cra. Even if you move the "plates", the best you can do is a couple of hundred people before the revolution and even that will be a stretch. Mormonism would be regarded as a heresy, because of "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become" = the sin of Lucifer "I will be like God". That is heresy. Plus, they took the Bible a LOT more seriously then and the curse of adding to the Bible (which is how the Book of Mormon would be viewed) would be taken literally. Smith would be lucky to survive his 'revelations' in many areas.
I can see where you are coming from but people were the same religiously in the 1730s as in Joseph Smiths time. I really don't understand why the plates are the things that make you believe Mormonism in this timeline would die out. I think that as long as Polygamy isn't practiced there will be no lynch mobs as compared to what happened in our timeline.
The Mormons could be move to Tennessee, the Mormons in this timeline could take arms to prevent the British from burning down illegal settlements on King George's order. Seeing that Mormons are just as patriotic as other colonists Mormons though an oddity are good hard working patriots willing to die for their country
 

Zioneer

Banned
To be honest, as a Mormon, I don't understand the fascination of having Mormonism pop up decades or a century earlier. There's other PODs that could be more interesting, yet this or "alternate Utah!" is always picked.

Anyway, as others have said, it really wouldn't work, and besides, a Mormonism started in the 1730s would look radically different from OTL Mormonism.
 
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