Corinnethians and the Death Knell Thesis

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the railroading promises of Corinne in light of contemporary religious theories and antipolygamy legislation. The death knell thesis is the belief that by modernizing Utah through trains, capitalism, and opening the West to free enterprise and liberal thought, Mormondom would be destroyed. The death knell thesis provides insight on the relationship between Mormonism and anti-Mormons as railroads economically and politically brought interests to Utah. J.H. Beadle hoped for the railroad hub to bring Christians, he and aimed to expose who he saw as Mormons’ barbarous theocracy, violence, and polygamy. Overall, Congress’s attack on the LDS Church and polygamy through religious legislation such as the Anti-Bigamy Act and the Pacific Railway Act contributed to the death knell thesis’s goal of destroying Mormonism.