A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

od's gracious, overruling providence, to the wise and dedicated leadership of these men. It should be remembered that for the Mennonites a primary motive for leaving Russia was the desire to preserve the principle of nonresistance which was threatened by the Imperial Decree of 1870. Could they expect complete exemption from military service in America? The Mennonites who decided to emigrate to Canada received such assurances from Ottawa. The response from Washington was not as unequivocal. The 1870's constitute the "Era of Reconstruction" in U.S. history. Ulysses S. Grant was in his second term of office, when the Mennonites filed their petition in 1873. Influenced, no doubt, by the pressure from the large railroad companies (who had contributed to his election funds) Grant was favorably disposed toward the request of the Mennonites. The debate in Congress, however, revealed a negative attitude on the part of many government leaders. There was protest and opposition to the closed nature of Mennonite communities, to their refusal to defend the country, and to the granting of special concessions in the purchase of large tracts of land. 4 The so-called "Mennonite Bill" (Senate Bill No. 655) failed to come to a vote. This did not stop the Mennonites from coming into the country, however, since they had public and private assurances from various government officials that they would be exempt from "militia service," a matter which was under the jurisdiction of the state legislatures. Eventually all states where Mennonites desired to settle provided such exemption, and for forty years the Mennonite Brethren, together with the other Mennonite MENNONITE BRETHREN COME TO THE UNITED STATES 131 groups, enjoyed complete freedom — not only from military service, but also from alternative service, to which their brethren in Russia were subject. On the basis of their attitude toward government service the Mennonites of Russia in the 1870's might be divided into three main groups, according to C. Krahn. The more progressive culturally, approximately two-thirds of the total number, remained in Russia. The most conservative Mennonites, who had lived in the Old Colony and its daughter-colonies, migrated to Canada because they were promised complete exemption from all compulsory military service by the Canadian government. The third, a moderately conservative group, came from the Molotschna Colony and settled in the United States. The Mennonite Brethren who came to North America all belonged to the latter group. They were a part of the larger movement of approximately ten thousand Mennonites who exchanged the Russian steppes for the American plains in the decade following 1873. The founding and the expansion of Mennonite Brethren churches in the states of the Midwest and the expansion of these original congregations to the North, South, and Far West, constitutes the main story of this chapter. TABLE II