Mormonism and Mormon adherents have been subjected to, as well as in a few instances themselves used, significant violence throughout much of the religion's history. In the early history of the United States, violence was used as a form of control. Many people of different faiths used violence to harass and persecute different religious beliefs. The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, especially in its early history, were both the victims of violence as well as sometimes the perpetrators in much the same way as other major religions. Mormons were persecuted violently and pushed from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois and then west to the Utah Territory. There were incidents of massacre, home burning, pillaging, and the murder of their founder, Joseph Smith. However, there were also a few notable incidents of Latter-day Saints who perpetrated violence, as in the case of the Mountain Meadows massacre.
The effect of this violence has affected the history of the Latter Day Saint movement and its doctrines.
Early Mormon history is marked by many instances of violence, which has helped shape the church's views on violence. The first significant instance occurred in Missouri. Mormons tended to vote as a bloc there often unseating local political leadership. Differences culminated in hostilities and the eventual issuing of an executive order (often called the Extermination Order) by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs declaring "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State." Three days later, a militia unit attacked a Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill, resulting in the death of 18 Mormons and no militiamen. The Extermination Order was not formally rescinded until 1976.