As I've discussed in previous posts, there were many factors which made life extremely difficult for the poor, working class people in nineteenth century Sweden. To review:
1. Land was scarce. Through the end of the 1800s most households (worldwide) were still self-sustaining, producing almost all of their own food and bartering for what they couldn't produce themselves. Between 1750 and 1850 the population of Sweden had doubled and was continuing to grow. As oldest sons had traditionally inherited the farms, it became harder and harder for the younger sons to lease enough farmland to support a family. Drought and crop failure would take the lives of many impoverished families. Available resources became more and more scarce with every new generation.
2. The class system was highly oppressive. The "landless peasants" had no hope of ever rising above their low status in the community. It was highly frowned upon for anyone with land or status to "marry beneath them," and the system kept wages and compensation very, very low for those who were without means to begin with.
3. The Lutheran Church was controlling and repressive. Religious orthodoxy and orthopraxy, as dictated by the national church, was mandated and policed. Local priests were charged with testing all Swedes regularly to insure they had sufficient gospel knowledge, and failure to practice, believe, and/or attend would be met with significant consequences. Along with the strict adherence to prescribed religious practice came a debilitating shame culture inflicted on those who were not in the mainstream. After 1860 Swedes were allowed to align themselves with other "state-recognized" religions, but public opinion continued to bring humiliation and shame to those who ventured outside the state church.
4. Social conservatism limited progress. The aristocracy and Swedish monarchy sought to maintain the status quo so as to maintain their own high places in culture and society. Expanding the rights of women, creating laws and public policies which would elevate the working poor, and creating a society with more equality, freedom, and opportunity was very slow in coming.
Those who study mass emigration and immigration talk about the "push-pull" factors which facilitate migration. The reasons listed above, among others, were the primary hardships which "pushed" nineteenth century Swedes from their homeland, seeking a better life.
Word spread like wildfire as to the potential wealth and opportunity available to people of all nations (especially those who were, ahem, white people from northern or western Europe, but we won't get into that) who chose to come to America. The "pull" factors were equally compelling:
1. Land. In the early days of American immigration, the Headright System was set up to provide free land to settlers. The Homestead Act, signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln, allowed immigrants 160 acres of free public land provided they lived on it and improved it.
2. Freedom. A democratic form of government took the place of an oppressive monarchy and the US constitution afforded every citizen equal rights and protection under the law.
3. Equality and Economic Opportunity. The United States of America was founded on the principle that "all men were created equal," and everyone who came had equal opportunity to pursue the "American dream". The pursuit of wealth was available to anyone with sufficient drive, determination, and know how, regardless of previous social standing.
4. Religious freedom. No national religion had been adopted. Everyone was free to believe and worship as their conscience dictated.
Immigration to the US from all land-locked European countries was highly marketed by the shipping companies. In some countries printed propaganda was heavily circulated, expounding the great riches available to all who choose to pursue them. Rumors quickly spread of unlimited land, resources, and opportunity found in America.
As US immigration increased, additional laws and restrictions were put in place. Early settlers to Colonial America could just walk off the ship and join a community. Subsequent laws required immigrants to be documented, healthy, and name a local "sponsor" who would be financially responsible for them until they could become self-supporting.
Which brings me to Mormonism.
Often we're told of early European converts who encountered Mormon missionaries and listened to them preach, received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost that the church was true, and hurried to gather to Zion. That story might very well be true for some European converts, and it might be at least partially true for others, but from what I've come to understand I think that for most of them it was much more complicated than that.
Concerning European converts, Brigham Young declared in 1860 that emigration should happen "upon the first feasible opportunity," and that it "directly follows obedience to the first principles of the gospel (meaning baptism)." In other words, baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and immigration to Utah to "gather with the saints in Zion" went hand-in-hand. One did not exist without the other. Tim B. Heaton of BYU wrote, ". . . the infusion of new members from Europe was crucial to expansion and possibly even survival of the Utah Church." (here)
In the early days of proselyting, there was no MTC, there were no memorized discussions, and the missionaries were pretty much on their own to "preach the gospel as directed by the Holy Ghost." The first missionary publication produced in the Swedish language happened in 1877 and a Swedish translation of The Book of Mormon was first published in 1878. However, without a standardized correlated message, missionaries were free to pick and choose between the basic doctrines of Mormonism which they felt would draw in potential converts. Additionally, they would preach their message in the way they understood it and internalized it personally. Further, missionary discussions at that time weren't always doctrinally based. Sometimes they would expound the amazing health benefits of the clean Utah air or focus on the abundance of free land and resources. I'm sure there were doctrines which the missionaries also presented to Swedish investigators which they found quite compelling and consequently believed and embraced.
So when I look at the list of highly debilitating and oppressive practices which could push an underprivileged peasant out of his native country, coupled with the list which could pull them into America, the mechanism the church offered to easily facilitate emigration could have been, for many of them, the catalyst that led them to baptism.
Missionaries returning to Utah after completing their European missions would always accompany groups of converts and offer help and support throughout the journey. The church had immigration agents stationed at major stopping points and ports of call all along the way. Because of the volume of business the church did with the shipping companies, the church agents were able to negotiate special fares and services, sometimes even chartering entire ships for very large companies of immigrating saints and passing through immigration check points with lightning speed. Even if new convert/immigrants were not preceded by friends or family members who could act as their American sponsor, the church would step in and guarantee someone would fulfill that role. And the Perpetual Emigration Fund, established in 1849 to provide travel expenses to impoverished converts which they would repay at a later date, provided economic assistance to more than 30,000 nineteenth century converts.
I think for many Swedish people at the time they were also looking for a way out of the oppression of the national church. They wanted to practice religion without force and coercion and they wanted to be free to act for themselves. I'm not saying they didn't necessarily develop testimonies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I do think there were often many other factors that gave them a really good feeling about joining the church in ways they probably didn't even realize at the time. (More about Mormon emigration and immigration here and here.)
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