Letter: Pioneers were loyal Americans

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I enjoyed the "facts" article in the Trib ("This is the place for facts you might not know about Mormon pioneers," July 24). But I was a bit confused about the assertion that the pioneers were not loyal Americans. If one of the church's sacred doctrines is that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired; if the church's 12th Article of Faith — "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" – was written by Joseph Smith before his assassination; if leaving established homes and businesses to relocate in a desert valley to escape persecution, destruction of personal property and murder because local governments could or would not give constitutional protection are all signs of disloyalty, then I guess the pioneers were disloyal.

Fred Ash

Sandy