Hey guys, so Joseph Smith was killed by a
mob at Carthage Jail on June 27 1844.
This episode is not going to cover the
events of that day in detail. Instead
we're gonna look at the controversy
surrounding the destruction of the
Nauvoo expositor and how that situation
sparked the chain of events that
ultimately led to the martyrdom of
Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
Destroying the Nauvoo expositor, which
we're gonna talk about, wasn't the real
reason Joseph was killed, it was just the
straw that broke the camel's back. People
were angry for a lot of reasons.
Politically the Latter day Saints in
Nauvoo were a threat. Theologically, they
were considered blasphemous and also
rumors had started circulating that
Joseph was quietly teaching and
practicing plural marriage in Nauvoo,
which of course he was. To air these
grievances, some disaffected members
including William Law Robert Foster and
Francis Higby produced a rather
inflammatory new publication in Nauvoo
called the Nauvoo Expositor. On June 7th,
in their first and only edition, the
expositor attacked Joseph's political
goals, plural marriage and theological
teachings. If you want to read the paper,
there's a link in the description. On
June 8th Joseph told the Nauvoo City
Council that such papers are calculated
to destroy the Peace of the city and it
is not safe that such things should
exist on account of the mob spirit which
they tend to produce. On June 10th, the
City Council met again for several hours
to figure out what to do. You can
actually read the council meeting
minutes online if you want to. The city
attorney was at the meeting, he defined
nuisance as anything that disturbs the
peace of the city. With that as a legal
basis the council agreed to take action.
Joseph Smith's personal Journal
summarizes what ended up happening. The
council passed an ordinance declaring
the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance and also
issued an order to me to abate the said
nuisance. I immediately ordered the
marshal to destroy it without delay.
About 8:00 p.m., the marshal returned and
reported that he had removed the press,
type, printed paper, and fixtures into the
street and destroyed them. This was done
because of the libelous and slanderous
character of the paper,
it's avowed intention being to destroy
the municipality and drive the Saints
from the city." Now, was getting a posse
together and destroying the newspaper
illegal? Well, the City Council, who I
admit was probably biased, didn't think
so, but the Governor Thomas Ford
disagreed. He understandably thought it
was an infraction of the freedom of the
press.
Joseph later wrote to governor for
explaining the City Council's legal
justification but also said, "If we have
erred, we again say we will make all right
if we can have the privilege." In response
to the destruction of the Expositor,
Thomas Sharpe with the Warsaw Signal
published, "War and extermination is
inevitable! cCitizens arise one and all!
Can you stand by and suffer such
infernal devils to rob men of their
property and rights without avenging
them? We have no time for comment, every
man will make his own. Let it be made
with powder and ball." Weeks before the
event the same Thomas Sharpe warned that
"Joe Smith is not safe out of Nauvoo and
we would not be surprised to hear of his
death by violent means in a short time."
"This is abuse, a threat." So Joseph was in a
pickle. Governor Ford wanted him and
others to stand trial in Carthage,
Illinois. To Joseph, that was like walking
into Mordor. He invited Ford to Nauvoo.
Ford rejected the offer and threatened
to send the militia in to Nauvoo to
arrest Joseph, which also had great
potential to end in bloodshed. Joseph
wrote back, "We dare not come, though your
excellency promises protection, yet at
the same time you've expressed fears
they you could not control the mob. -- in
which case we are left to the mercy of
the merciless." So Joseph and a couple
others went with option C. They fled
Nauvoo and hoped to appeal to the federal
government. So when a posse arrived in
Nauvoo to arrest Joseph, he wasn't there.
Emma wrote Joseph asking him to turn
himself in and trust the legal process.
On top of that, some on-edge saints
thought Joseph had abandoned them like a
shepherd leaving his flock to the wolves.
Resigned to his fate. Joseph said, "If my
life is of no value to my friends it is
of none to myself." He along with several
others turned themselves in on June 24th.
On June 25th in Carthage they were all
released on bail until their trial would
roll around except for Joseph and Hyrum
who had been readmitted treason charges
which I won't get into because even
governor Ford later doubted whether they
were guilty of treason. He later
recognized the charges as a ploy to keep
the Smiths in jail for the purpose of
murdering them afterwards and it worked.
Joseph and Hyrum were taken to Carthage
Jail to wait for a hearing John Taylor
and Will
Richards voluntarily went with them and
this is where we're going to end this
episode. The stage is set. Eventually I'm
gonna have to do a couple more episodes
about the martyrdom itself as well as
the legal failures surrounding this
event but in a nutshell these are the
events leading up to Joseph's
imprisonment and murder. If you've got
questions, check out our website as well
as the notes and links in the
description and have a great day.
