Comments on: “[W]e, the members of the society of the Daughter of Zion…”: The Danite Constitution

By: Juvenile Instructor » From The Archives: Posts You Might Have Missed, November-December 2008

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:55:24 +0000

[...] The Danite Constitution [...]

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:37:20 +0000

To be fair to those who take “Daughters” for “Daughter”, read on beyond Isaiah 4 to Isaiah 5:

2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

This doesn’t fit the Danites like Micah, but at least it does speak of a cleansing and a purging of Israel. No more tinkling feet.

By: David G.

David G. — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:11:18 +0000

Jeans, no need to apologize. Like Sam said, the group had several different names, although “the Danites” is the name that has stuck in legend and history. Most scholars believe that the name Danite refers to the tribe of Dan, which is portrayed as being the most warlike of the tribes. But there is another theory that it comes from the book of Daniel, as according to Avard, Joseph Smith commissioned the Danites to bring forth the Kingdom, as spoken of by Daniel. I’m more partial to the first explanation, given the connotations of the society of the Daughter of Zion (see my comment 13).

By: smb

smb — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:14:12 +0000

they’re competing names for the same group. they were also, as i recall, the brothers of Gideon. this last is a reference to Jared Carter’s brother Gideon; the other two are Bible references.

By: jeans

jeans — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:07:18 +0000

Pardon my ignorance. This is fascinating. Who is the “Dan” in Danites? How do we get from society of Daughters of Zion (which was amazing to me) to Danites?

By: smb

smb — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:02:45 +0000

thanks, d. one of the Russian converts whose oral history I collected in the 1990s remembered that she learned about Mormonism from Studies in Scarlet, which of course features the (late, mythic) Danites. I’ll confess I just haven’t got that curious beyond my memory of our pleasant laugh about Conan Doyle as a missionary for the church.

By: David G.

David G. — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:59:05 +0000

I have a vague memory of that JS quote, but I’m not sure if we can take it quite a face value (I think it’s in a petition for habeas corpus from Liberty, so he’s putting as much distance between himself and Avard as possible). I think Corrill made the point explicitly that he hadn’t seen the document before (but he attended two Danite meetings and had had enough). I at one point compiled a lot of notes on who said what about the constitution, but alas, those notes are on a computer that I can’t access right now.

As for secondary sources, I think Gentry is the most adamant that Avard made it up. Everyone else just mentions that Avard included the Constitution in his testimony in Nov. 1838, gives a sentence or two describing it, and then goes on. No one’s really hashed out a good study of it.

By: smb

smb — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:36:37 +0000

David: neither of us is that smart–JCB in Hx Saints makes the claim very explicit. I think that a certain level of mimicry is quite likely. the question is always how much by whom and to what actual end, I think. I’m eager for Nick to get the book done. I had to write a whole section on Masonry for my temple chapter essentially because the lacuna remains. I’d be glad to be able to fill it with a footnote.

re: 19, my vague memory is that JSJ and others claimed that Avard had manufactured the Constitution–Gentry certainly makes a lot of the point that no one had seen or heard of it until Avard produced it. has that been hashed out historiographically?

By: David G.

David G. — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:01:59 +0000

Ha!, thanks for that link, Ben. It was on that thread, comment 4.

During the early history of Mormonism, Joseph made several abortive attempts to create this “Masonic restoration,” among which was the Danite movement. Existing records (some of which, as noted above, are critical) describe initiation ceremonies which are clearly based on Masonic ritual. In addition, individual Danites who dropped from church activity later became involved with a non-Mormon vigilante group, also calling itself “Danites” with full recognition of the earlier Mormon usage. This group is even more readily recognized as Masonic in structure, even to the point of holding its meetings in local Masonic halls.

And yes, I think JS was referring in general to the Constitution, although the JS quote doesn't refer to "texts" really, but rather organizations, societies, and oaths.

By: David G.

David G. — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:59:32 +0000

Sam, Winn mentions it but doesn’t analyze it, IIRC.

I’ve started considering that Danites _might_
represent an experiment with Masonic fraternal forms. I haven’t decided entirely–it certainly failed miserably.

Alas, I can’t find it now, but I remember Nick L. leaving a comment somewhere saying that he argues in his book that the Danites had Masonic influences.