That the Poor May Be Exalted

In 1935, Mormon fundamentalists outlined a vision for their community based on the United Order, a nineteenth-century Mormon communitarian program based on consecration and tithing. Joseph White Musser’s theology of communitarianism manifested in the founding of Short Creek, a section of land on the border between Utah and Arizona that is the historic home to the Mormon fundamentalist movement and synonymous with the faith. This chapter contextualizes the emergence of Short Creek during the Great Depression. During economic turmoil and loss of social safety nets, the community became a source of hope for disenfranchised polygamists and a way to solidify the movement into a united body of believers.