The Tyranny of King StrangWhen the Mormon leader Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, the Mormon Churc

The Tyranny of King StrangWhen the Mormon leader Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, the Mormon Church suffered a massive schism as followers joined different church elders who claimed they should become the new leader of the religion.  One of those elders was an influential man named James Strang.  One of Joseph Smith’s inner circle, he became a rival of Brigham Young and set off north to start his own Kingdom of God.  His reputation as a bonafide prophet was cemented when in September 13th, 1845, he discovered six mysteries brass plates of divine origin buried near Voree, Michigan.  In 1848, Strang and a few hundred of his followers landed on Beaver Island, a 55 square mile island situated in Lake Michigan in between the Upper and Lower Peninsula’s of Michigan State.  There the Strangites intended to build a New Jerusalem.  They built farms, houses, a commercial fishery, a sawmill, and a temple.  By the 1850’s the Strangites had built a prosperous Mormon community numbering around 2,600 people.  By then however, Strang’s behavior began to swing toward the bizarre causing cracks to form in the Strangite Kingdom.On July 8th, 1850 Strang declared himself “King of the Kingdom of God on Earth”.  At his coronation he was crowned with a tin crown while wearing red robes.  Although he held the title of king, Strang claimed that he was a religious leader of his followers with no secular authority.  Despite this claim, Strang began to act like a true monarch issuing a number of decrees that governed everything from what was to be worn within his kingdom to the sexual habits of his subjects.  First he levied tithes (religious taxes) on the residents of the island and demanded the County Treasurer hand over 1/10th of the taxes collected on the island.  Then he issued laws prohibiting red meat, alcohol, tea, and coffee.  He mandated that  every man marry at least two women, introduced animal sacrifice, and outlawed adultery. Incredibly Strang demanded not only his followers abide by his rules but also the island’s  population of non-believers as well, many of whom had lived on the Beaver Island long before Strang and his followers had arrived.  Whenever they refused, Strang had them flogged as punishment.  As Strangites took over political leadership of the island, those who were non-believers found themselves at the Strangite’s mercy.  Eventually the non-believers revolted against his rule, but were quickly defeated by a Strangite militia armed with a cannon.  At that point most of the gentile populace left the island.In 1851 word of the bizarre exploits of King Strang reached the ears of US President Millard Filmore, who issued orders for Federal prosecutors to prosecute Strang for treason, tax fraud, counterfeiting, delaying the mail, and cutting timber on Federal land.  There were even rumors of piracy in which Strangites raided ships on Lake Michigan and businesses on the mainland, however no such charges were filed.  In May of 1851 the Navy warship USS Michigan, with a detachment of Marines and US Marshals escorted Strang and 100 of his followers to Detroit for trial.  Incredibly Strang was acquitted of all charges after masterfully representing himself in court.  The trial against Strang cemented his power, and by 1852 King Strang was the unquestioned absolute ruler of Beaver Island.  At that point Strang began to expand his power even more.  After a large influx of Mormons to Beaver Island, the Strangites were able to take over all the political offices on neighboring Mackinac Island, essentially adding it to his empire.  This effectively made Strang the sole political authority of the Beaver Island Archipelago.  In 1853 he was elected to the Michigan State Legislature, giving him a degree of state influence as well as local power.  At the height of his power, King Strang began to issue even more bizarre decrees.  One of the weirdest was a new law requiring that all women wear bloomers instead of skirts and dresses.  His bizarre decrees began to sow seeds of dissent among the Strangites.  Finally a follower named Thomas Bedford decided that Strang had to go after he had ordered him flogged for adultery.  On June 16th, 1856 Bedford and a band of 40 disgruntled followers ambushed Strang, mortally wounding him with three gunshots.  This occurred in clear view of the USS Michigan, which was docked at the nearby harbor, the crew of the warship chose not to intervene.  After smelling weakness within the Strangite organization, a heavily armed mob of non-believers from Mackinac Island landed and forced Beaver Island’s 2,600 Strangite residents to leave.  The Strangites continued to live and worship, but slowly stagnated without Strang’s strong leadership.  Today only 300 Strangites are estimated to exist in the United States. -- source link

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