Missouri Executive Order 44

Extermination Order Day:

"...the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description."

Missouri Executive Order 44 passed on this day in 1838. The law made it legal to kill Mormons in Missouri. The law was not repealed until 1976.

It blows my mind to think this law was on the books for 138 years!

Missouri Executive Order 44

Extermination Order Day:

"...the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description."

Missouri Executive Order 44 passed on this day in 1838. The law made it legal to kill Mormons in Missouri. The law was not repealed until 1976.

It blows my mind to think this law was on the books for 138 years!

Missouri Executive Order 44

Extermination Order Day:

"...the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description."

Missouri Executive Order 44 passed on this day in 1838. The law made it legal to kill Mormons in Missouri. The law was not repealed until 1976.

It blows my mind to think this law was on the books for 138 years!

Missouri Executive Order 44

Some things in our history are not pretty and one of the most ugly examples was the Missouri Executive Order 44 also known as the Extermination Order.

The order, passed in 1838, basically called for the expulsion or murder of all Mormons in Missouri. The order was not rescinded until 1976. The history behind the order doesn't seem as clear cut as something known as the "extermination order" would seem to indicate though.

This seems to me to be an excellent subject for a book or for a Deadwood type HBO series.