That Ye Shall Obtain Power to Organize Yourselves-- Free Incorporation and the Restoration
Paul Edwards
Education Conference ·
June 05, 2009
Paul Edwards spoke about a seemingly little but vitally important piece of religious freedom history related to the Restoration of the Church that is not widely known by Church members.
“The legal freedom that cultivated the soil for the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days was the freedom of religious organizations to freely incorporate,” he said. “A relatively obscure act of the New York state legislature to provide for the incorporation of religious societies was far more consequential for the restoration of the gospel than the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
The first peacetime act of the New York legislature, passed on April 6, 1784, created the administrative process for churches to incorporate in New York. This was the first time in legal history that the power to incorporate was made a general right. Up until that time corporate charters were only available one-at-a-time through special legislation.
Later the statute was amended to require that three to nine people be trustees in order for a church to receive legal recognition by the state. When the Church was organized on April 6, 1830, with six original members, it met that requirement and at least one more. The law stipulated that a new church was to have at least two elders to oversee it. Thus Joseph Smith’s and Oliver Cowdery’s early titles and roles as the first and second elders of the Church also fulfilled a legal mandate.
The impact of New York’s legislation was at least twofold, Edwards said. First, it proliferated church charters in New York, creating the competition for church members that figures so prominently in Joseph Smith’s history, and, second, it paved the way for the free or general incorporation of churches and other associations throughout the early American republic.
In light of this little-known piece of religious freedom history, Edwards quoted Doctrine & Covenants 44:4-5.
“And many shall be converted, insomuch that ye shall obtain power to organize yourselves according to the laws of man; That your enemies may not have power over you; that you may be preserved in all things; that you may be enabled to keep my laws; that every bond may be broken wherewith the enemy seeketh to destroy my people.”
“It is not just those people who met in Philadelphia in 1776, or 1787, that we owe tremendous thanks to for religious freedom and heritage, but to New York state legislators who were thoughtful enough and open enough to inspiration to pave this way for us,” he said.