Filter: 19th-Century History (or Earlier)
Total chapters: 24
1 Nephi 13
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Nephi describes the colonization of the Americas by Europeans, including the voyage of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, which happened long after Moroni supposedly sealed up the plates.
2 Nephi 25
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Nephi explains how the quoted Isaiah chapters retroactively describe the scattering of Israel as understood in the 19th century.
Alma 2
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Amlici leads a rebellion to make himself king, which fails. The Nephites are commanded not to have kings, but they do it anyway, repeatedly. The Book of Mormon is very anti-monarchical, which fits with an early American's democratic and anti-British sentiments.
Alma 3
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Mentions the Lamanites being mostly naked, using bow and arrow, stones, slings, having dark skin etc. Mentions the curse from 2 Nephi 5:21. Repeats the Natives as “savages” stereotype of white settlers in the 19th century without calling them that word.
Alma 18
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Lamoni uses the term Great Spirit, a very Native American concept (JS Jr. putting it in the minds and mouths of Lamanites), connecting the omnipresent supreme life force of Indigenous New World cultures to the Near Eastern Nephite (Jewish) understanding of God.
Alma 22
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Lamoni uses the term Great Spirit, a very Native American concept (JS Jr. putting it in the minds and mouths of Lamanites), connecting the omnipresent supreme life force of Indigenous New World cultures to the Near Eastern Nephite (Jewish) understanding of God.
Alma 23
19th-Century History (or earlier)
This characterization that before his conversion, the king of the Lamanites did not let his people know that “they ought not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to steal, nor to commit adultery, nor to commit any manner of wickedness” seems like a weird way to characterize the (supposed) ancestors of the Native Americans, like any culture could survive that allowed such things to run amok. Luckily the “white” (Jewish) Nephites could bring the ten commandments to the Lamanites, so they could learn the basics of how to run a society.
Alma 30
19th-Century History (or earlier)
“No law against a man's belief” is practically straight out the US First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, etc.” Ancient democracies, such as Athens and Rome, did not even have this basic human right. This is either super ahistorical in the New World before Columbus, or all evidence of this was wiped cleanly from history.
Alma 37
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Mentions the secret abominations coming out into the light. The secret combinations trope throughout most of the Book of Mormon refers to the anti-Masonic sentiment in the early 19th century in the wake of the disappearance (and presumed murder) of William Morgan, right before the Book of Mormon was produced. Morgan tried to leak the secret Masonic oaths and bring them to light, and was presumably punished for it.
Alma 46
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Amalickiah wants to be king, so Captain Moroni quotes George Washington in response, in the most anti-monarchical, American way possible.
Alma 51
19th-Century History (or earlier)
The Nephites show their anti-monarchical sentiments, as king-men try to overthrow the government by instituting a king (a concern of George Washington Captain Moroni), but the voice of the people (“vox populi,” an idea from Ancient Rome) prevails.
Alma 63
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Hagoth builds ships, so that the Polynesians can be Lamanites too. (Many LDS church leaders in the 20th century would say as much to congregations of Maori, or Pacific Islanders, at Stake Conferences, etc. patriarchal blessings, etc.) calling them the children of Hagoth, based on this one passage. But Polynesians actually have Southeast Asian and Austronesian ancestry.
Helaman 2
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Gaddianton starts a secret combination using signs to ensure loyalty and to know who was part of the in-group. This mirrors anti-Masonic sentiment of the early 19th century, when anti-Mason William Morgan was kidnapped, murdered, or disappeared in 1826 and it caused a public scandal and a furor. Until that point, many prominent politicians were Freemasons, and it was considered a positive by the public at large. This event turned public sentiment against Freemasonry. In particular, the Book of Mormon explains how the robbers posed a constant threat by infiltrating the government and replacing it with a murderous secret combination or organized crime ring.
Helaman 6
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Gaddianton robbers run amok again, see note on Helaman 2. By the way, this secret combination is overseen by Satan himself.
Helaman 12
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Mormon offhand mentions “according to [God's] word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so” and then references the 16th century idea from astronomy, heliocentrism, “for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun,” which dates to the 1543 publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus. Perhaps God revealed this information to ancient American prophets, but it had to be rediscovered by scientists in the 16th century, against the pressure of the Catholic church, who sought to suppress it. Where was God on that one?
3 Nephi 6
19th-Century History (or earlier)
JS Jr. can't help but narrate about the atermath of the war of 1812, when Americans wondered if they would maintain their new democracy against the threat of the British king. This is also definitely an anachronism. Democracy only existed in ancient Rome, ancient Greece, the United States, and maybe Switzerland.
Ether 8
19th-Century History (or earlier)
Moroni describes the secret combinations and the downfall of the Jaredite civilization, reflecting the anti-Masonic rhetoric of the time.