Mark E. Petersen
"The hand of oppression had to be removed from America. The people who lived here must be set up as a free people. IT WAS DONE BY ACT OF THE FATHER. But a human agent was required as in all other things. Washington was an agent of heaven in bringing about His work. He realized it and knew that God was fighting his battles for him. So in humility and gratitude he thanked heaven repeatedly for it.
"Why was America set up as a free nation? In the words of the Savior, 'that these things [meaning the Gospel as recorded in the Book of Mormon] might come forth from them [the Gentiles in America who set up the nation] unto a remnant of your seed [the descendants of Lehi] that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel.'
"Thus we see Washington in his true perspective. As a man of God he was raised up to be the agent through whom the battles of freedom would be fought, and whom God would assist in obtaining the victory." (The Way to Peace, pp. 30-31)
Brigham Young
"There is not another nation under heaven but this, in whose midst the Book of Mormon could have been brought forth. The Lord has been operating for centuries to prepare the way for the coming forth of the contents of that Book from the bowels of the earth…It was the Lord who directed the discovery of this land to the nations of the old world, and its settlement, and the war for independence, and the final victory of the colonies, and the unprecedented prosperity of the American nation, up to the calling of Joseph the Prophet. The Lord has dictated and directed the whole of this, for the bringing forth, and establishing of his Kingdom in the last days." (Journal of Discourses, 11:17 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 444-5)