This period of peace lasts for years rather than the few months that we saw in the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges. Nevertheless, there arose contention. This case teaches us more about the nature of what it meant to be a Nephite during Chief Captain Moroni’s time. Even though the people who possessed the land of Morianton were considered Nephites, as were the people in the land of Lehi, there was a dispute about the borders of the land.
This dispute suggests that these were new communities established after Moroni’s campaign to drive the Lamanites out of the eastern portion of Nephite lands. Thus, with new communities, long tradition had not codified the boundary lines between the territories that were beholding to the central city. Those lands were available to be tilled, and therefore had an effect on the prosperity of the central city.
Even though both cities were ostensibly Nephite, there was no specific mode of appeal, and conflict could develop internally. The people of Morianton rose up against the city of Lehi, not against the whole of the Nephite hegemony. This continues to paint a picture of cities aligned with other cities, with a principal city that might attempt to act for all. It was not a state government as we see arise in other areas of the world. Archaeologists and ethnohistorians debate whether Mesoamerica ever had true states, but the more state-like political entities tended to come later than Book of Mormon times, and nothing in the Book of Mormon suggests that the Nephites had a state-type organization.