LDS Church and politics in the United States

Early in its history, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had a series of negative encounters with the United States federal government. This led to decades of mistrust, armed conflict and the eventual disincorporation of the church by an act of the U.S. Congress. The relationship between the church and the government eventually improved and in recent times LDS Church members have served in leadership positions in Congress and held other important political offices. The LDS Church reserves the right to become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level with over a dozen members of congress having membership in the church in the early 2000's, and about 80% of Utah state lawmakers identifying as Mormon.

Many of the political problems faced by the LDS Church stemmed from the controversial practice of polygamy. The practice started with Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, secretly taking on additional wives and was practiced publicly after his death.

Early LDS scriptures speak favorably of the United States government. The Book of Mormon (published 1830) contains a passage that favorably describes the American Revolution. An 1833 revelation from Joseph Smith gives divine credit to the establishment of the United States Constitution.

In 1839, Joseph Smith visited U.S. president Martin Van Buren to plead for the U.S. to help roughly 20,000 Mormon settlers of Independence, Missouri. The Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, in attempt to resolve the 1838 Mormon War, had issued an executive order on October 27, 1838, known as the "Extermination Order". It authorized troops to use force against Mormons to "exterminate or drive [them] from the state". Smith and his party appealed to members of Congress and to President Van Buren to intercede for the Mormons. According to Smith's grandnephew, Van Buren said to Smith, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri". After failing to receive the assistance of the President, Smith took his case to the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Senator Garret Wall. The Judiciary Committee did nothing to help the Mormons, lacking the political willpower to launch an investigation into the Mormon War.

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