Surely the Nephites had some questions as to why this particular order should be the way of the future history. Why did the Gentiles have to be established in the land so that they could scatter the remnant of the Nephites (see verse 2). The answer is that they must be set up as a “free people by the power of the Father” or else “these things might [not] come forth.” Of course those in Bountiful could not have understood the complex interrelationships of freedom, politics, and religion that provided the circumstances under which the restoration could take place. He simply tells them that is was necessary. From our modern vantage we can understand that the was the necessity of a land espousing religious freedom:
“And why was freedom so necessary in connection with the restoration of the gospel and its promulgation among the children of men? In order that those to whom the gospel would be restored might have the freedom of speech to preach the gospel; the freedom of the press to publish the gospel; freedom of assembly so they could gather together in congregations and worship the Lord; and religious freedom so that they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
President Joseph F. Smith discussed this subject in this way:
This great American nation the Almighty raised up by the power of his omnipotent hand, that it might be possible in the latter day for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth. If the Lord had not prepared the way by laying the foundations of this glorious nation, it would have been impossible (under the stringent laws and bigotry of the monarchical governments of the world) to have laid the foundations for the coming of his great kingdom. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 409.)
And along the same line, President Brigham Young said:
We believe that the Lord has been preparing that when he should bring forth his work, that, when the set time should fully come, there might be a place upon his footstool where sufficient liberty of conscience should exist, that his Saints might dwell in peace under the broad panoply of constitutional law and equal rights. In this view we consider that the men in the Revolution were inspired by the Almighty to throw off the shackles of the mother government, with her established religion. For this cause were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and a host of others in-spired to deeds of resistance to the acts of the King of Great Britain. (Discourses, p. 359.)” (Elder Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1946, Afternoon Meeting 169.)