Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./1839 - 1844

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An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"

1838 to 1839

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: "Joseph Smith" A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)

Death

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Reviews of previous revisions of this section

19 May 2009

Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia on 19 May 2009.

From the Wikipedia article:
Newspapers throughout the country criticized Missouri for expelling the Mormons,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , pp. 246–47, 259 (noting rebukes by Missouri and Illinois newspapers, and "press all over the country"); Bushman (2005) , p. 398 (Mormons were depicted as a persecuted minority).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and Illinois accepted the refugees

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 248 ("There was chronic border friction between Missouri and Illinois, and the 'Suckers' welcomed the chance to demonstrate a nobility of character foreign to the despised 'Pukes'".).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 381 (Saints gathered near Quincy, Illinois.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith purchased high-priced swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 383–84 (noting that the land had strategic importance as a possible major port).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and urged his followers to move there.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 384.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Promoting the image of the Saints as an oppressed minority,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 398–99; Brodie (1971) , p. 259 (Smith "saw to it that the sufferings of his people received national publicity.").

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
he unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Smith traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Martin Van Buren and Congress (Bushman (2005) , pp. 392–94; Brodie (1971) , p. 260).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
During a malaria epidemic, Smith anointed the suffering with oil and blessed them;

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 385; Brodie (1971) , p. 257. In 1841, malaria claimed the lives of one of Smith's brothers and his son, who died within eight days of each other Bushman (2005) , p. 425.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
but he also sent off the ailing Brigham Young and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve to missions in Europe.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 258 (arguing that Smith was eager to reclaim some of the prestige that had been ceded to Brigham Young while Smith was imprisoned); Bushman (2005) , p. 386 (Though many of the apostles had malaria, Smith required them to covertly slip into hostile Missouri so that Far West, now deserted, would be their point of departure on exactly 26 April 1838.); Roberts (1905) , pp. 46–47 (Revelation given in Far West in 1838: "Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth day of April next, on the building-spot of my house, saith the Lord.").

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
These missionaries found many willing converts in Great Britain, often factory workers, poor even by the standards of American Saints.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 409; Brodie (1971) , pp. 258, 264–65.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The religion also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts, including John C. Bennett, M.D., the Illinois quartermaster general.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 410–11.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Bennett used his connections in the Illinois legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 412; Brodie (1971) , pp. 267–68.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
which Smith named "Nauvoo" (Hebrew נָאווּ, meaning "to be beautiful").

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 415. A similar Hebrew word appears in Isaiah 52: 7.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The charter granted the city virtual autonomy, authorized a university, and granted Nauvoo habeas corpus power—which saved Smith's life by allowing him to fend off extradition to Missouri

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 110.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
from which he was still a fugitive.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 273; Bushman (2005) , p. 426. Prior to the charter, Smith had narrowly avoided two extradition attempts (Brodie (1971) , pp. 272–73; Bushman (2005) , pp. 425–26).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion an autonomous militia

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 267; Bushman (2005) , p. 412.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
with actions limited only by state and federal constitutions.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1995) , p. 106.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
"Lieutenant General" Smith and "Major General" Bennett became its commanders,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 271 (Smith "frequently jested about his outranking every military officer in the United States".); Bushman (2005) , p. 259 (noting that Bennett had effective command of the Legion).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
thereby controlling by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1995) , p. 106 (The Legion had 2,000 troops in 1842, 3,000 by 1844, compared to less than 8,500 soldiers in the entire United States Army.)

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith, who was often a poor judge of character,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostling (Ostling) , pp. 11–12; Bushman (2005) , p. 410 (Smith "had trouble distinguishing true friends from self-serving schemers," and incorrectly stated that Bennett was "calculated to be a great blessing to our community.").

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
made Bennett Assistant President of the church,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 268; Quinn (1995) , p. 1067.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and Bennett was elected Nauvoo's first mayor.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 411

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Though Mormon general authorities controlled Nauvoo's civil government, the city promised an unusually liberal guarantee of religious freedom.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1995) , pp. 106–08.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation. Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 421; Brodie (1971) , p. 282.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and in 1841, construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 448–49.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the "fulness of the priesthood,"

Wikipedia footnotes:

• D&C 124:28.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and in May 1842, Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or "first anointing."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 113.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The endowment resembled rites of freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 449; Quinn (1994) , pp. 114–15.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
At first the endowment was open only to men, who once initiated became part of the Anointed Quorum. For women, Smith introduced the Relief Society, a service club and sorority within which Smith predicted women would receive "the keys of the kingdom."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 634.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith also elaborated on his plan for a millennial kingdom, no longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 384 (Smith viewed Nauvoo as a compromise to his plan to build Zion).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
He now viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 404.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
all Mormon settlements being "stakes"

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 384.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
of Zion's metaphorical tent.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• The tent–stake metaphor was derived from Isaiah 54:2.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Zion also became less a refuge from an impending Tribulation than a great building project.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 415 (noting that the time when the Millennium was to occur lengthened to "more than 40 years".)

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In the summer of 1842, Smith revealed a plan to establish the millennial Kingdom of God, which would eventually establish theocratic rule over the whole earth.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , pp. 111–12.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In April 1841, Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman as a plural wife, and during the next two and a half years he may have married thirty additional women,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Compton (1997) , p. 11 (counting at least 33 total wives); Smith (1994) , p. 14 (counting 42 wives); Brodie (1971) , pp. 334–36 (counting 49 wives); Bushman (2005) , pp. 437, 644 (accepting Compton's count, excepting one wife); Quinn (1994) , pp. 587–88 (counting 46 wives); Remini (2002) , p. 153 (noting that the exact figure is still debated).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
ten of whom were already married to other men,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Foster (1981) ; Quinn (1994) ; Compton (1997) ; Bushman (2005) , p. 437; Launius (1988) ; Van Wagoner (1992) ; Newell (Avery) .

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and about a third of them teenagers, including two fourteen-year-old girls.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Compton (1997) , p. 11; Remini (2002) , p. 154; Brodie (1971) , pp. 334–43.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Meanwhile he publicly and repeatedly denied that he advocated polygamy.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 491.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith told at least some of his potential wives that marriage to him would ensure their spiritual exaltation.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 439; Hill (1977) , p. 355.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Although Smith's first wife Emma knew of some of these marriages, she almost certainly did not know the extent of her husband's polygamous activities.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 439.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith kept the doctrine of plural marriage secret except for potential wives and a few of his closest male associates,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 438 (Smith approached Joseph Bates Noble about marrying his wife's sister, Smith asked Bates to "keep quiet": "In revealing this to you I have placed my life in your hands, therefore do not in an evil hour betray me to my enemies." Noble performed the ceremony "in a grove near Main Street with Louisa in man's clothing.")

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
including Bennett. Smith's plural relationships were preceded by a "priesthood marriage," which Smith believed legitimized the relationships and made them non-adulterous. Bennett, on the other hand, ignored even perfunctory ceremonies.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , pp. 311–12; Bushman (2005) , p. 460 (Bennett told women he was seducing that illicit sex was acceptable among the Saints so long as it was kept secret). Bennett, a minimally trained doctor, also promised abortions to any who might became pregnant.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
When embarrassing rumors of "spiritual wifery" got abroad, Smith forced Bennett's resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett wrote "lurid exposés of life in Nauvoo."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostling (Ostling) , p. 12; Bushman (2005) , pp. 461–62; Brodie (1971) , p. 314.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
By mid-1842, popular opinion had turned against the Saints.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 436.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal became a sharp critic after Smith attacked the paper.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 427–28.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
When Lilburn Boggs, the Governor of Missouri, was shot by an unknown assailant on May 6, 1842, many suspected Smith's involvement

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 468. Boggs survived the attack.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
because of rumors that Smith had predicted his assassination.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 323 (noting rumors that Smith had predicted in 1840 that Boggs would meet a violent death within a year, and that Smith offered a $500 reward for his death); Quinn (1994) , p. 113 (noting that Smith held Boggs responsible for the Haun's Mill massacre).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Evidence suggests that the shooter was Porter Rockwell, a former Danite and one of Smith's bodyguards.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 113; Bushman (2005) , p. 468 (stating the evidence was circumstantial).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith went into hiding, but he ultimately avoided extradition to Missouri because any involvement in the crime would have occurred in Illinois.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 468–75.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Rockwell was tried and acquitted.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 468. Rockwell later acquired "a reputation as a gunslinging lawman in Utah."

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In June 1843, Illinois Governor Thomas Ford issued an extradition writ against Smith, but Smith countered with a Nauvoo writ of habeas corpus.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 504–08.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Ford later wrote that this incident caused a majority of Illinois residents to favor expelling Mormons from Illinois.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 508.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In 1843, Emma reluctantly allowed Smith to marry four women who had been living in the Smith household—two of whom Smith had already married without her knowledge.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 339; Bushman (2005) , p. 494; Remini (2002) , pp. 152–53.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Emma also participated with Smith in the first "sealing" ceremony, intended to bind their marriage for eternity.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 638 (first Mormon sealing); Bushman (2005) , p. 494.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
However, Emma soon regretted her decision to accept plural marriage and forced the other wives from the household,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 339.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
nagging Smith to abandon the practice.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie (1971) , p. 340.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Hill (1989) , p. 119 ("By assuring Emma that her salvation would be virtually certain and all but the unpardonable sin would be merely visited 'with judgment in the flesh,' Smith placed enormous pressure on his reluctant wife to accept plural marriage."; Bushman (2005) , pp. 495–96; Brodie (1971) , pp. 340–341 (revelation indicated Emma would be "destroyed" if she refused polygamy); Roberts (1909) , pp. 505–06 ("A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith,...[that she] receive all those [wives] that have been given unto my servant Joseph.... But if [Emma] will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.")

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
but the revelation only made her furious.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 496 (Emma abused Hyrum Smith when Joseph sent him to Emma with the revelation); Hill (1989) , p. 119 (noting that according to William Clayton, Emma "did not believe a word of [the revelation] and appeared very rebellious.").

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Nevertheless, in the fall of 1843, after Smith allowed women to be initiated into the Anointed Quorum,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 36 (arguing that Smith extended the priesthood to women through the Endowment, rather than through ordination).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Emma participated with Smith in the first second anointing.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 640.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
According to Smith, this ritual was the prophesied "fulness of the priesthood"(sic) in which participants were ordained "kings and priests of the Most High God" and thus fulfilled what Smith called "[a] perfect law of Theocracy."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 115.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The Anointed Quorum became Smith's advisory body for political matters.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , pp. 115–18.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In December 1843, under the authority of the Anointed Quorum,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , pp. 115–16 ("Such decisions were made by the formality of 'a vote' after the 'true order of prayer' and the announcement of God's revelation on the subject.").

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 511; Brodie (1971) , p. 356; Quinn (1994) , pp. 115–116 (noting that the Anointed Quorum also authorized "a proclamation to the kings of the earth," but Smith never sent it). Smith also threatened Congress. The Millennial Star later quoted Smith as having said that "if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them—not even a grease spot." Quoted in Brodie, 356.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith then wrote the leading presidential candidates and asked them what they would do to protect the Mormons. After receiving noncommittal or negative responses, Smith announced his own third-party candidacy for President of the United States, suspending regular proselytizing

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 119

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and sending out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , pp. 118–19 (the Anointed Quorum chose Sidney Rigdon as Smith's running mate);Bushman (2005) , pp. 514–15; Brodie (1971) , pp. 362–64.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In March 1844, following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 121 (The day before the Council was organized, word reached Smith that a U.S. Indian agent was interfering with acquisition of lumber needed for the Nauvoo Temple).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith organized the secret Council of Fifty

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , pp. 120–22 (noting that the Council was authorized by a revelation, and members committed to keep what Smith said during the organizational meeting secret); Bushman (2005) , p. 519.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
with authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quinn (1994) , p. 121.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The Council was also to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in Texas, California, or Oregon,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 517.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond other governmental control.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 517.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In effect, the Council was a shadow world government,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , p. 521 (noting that in April, Smith prophesied "the entire overthrow of this nation in a few years," at which time his Kingdom of God would be prepared to take power); Ostling (Ostling) , p. 13 (As if they had just organized an independent state, Smith and the Council sent ambassadors to England, France, Russia, and the Republic of Texas); Remini (2002) , p. 166.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
a first step toward creating a global "theodemocracy".

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005) , pp. 521–22 (noting use of the term theodemocracy); Ostling (Ostling) , pp. 13, 15 The council included only three non-Mormons, two of whom were apparently counterfeiters.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
One of the Council's first acts was to elect Smith as "prophet, priest and king" of the millennial monarchy.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• "In an act shocking to democratic sensibilities, at the Council of Fifty meeting of April 11, 1844, 'Prest J[oseph] was voted our P[rophet] p[riest] and K[ing]...Monarchy did not repel Joseph as it did other Americans. A righteous king was the best kind of ruler, the Book of Mormon had taught. The office of king came out of temple rituals where other Saints were anointed 'kings and priests,' according to prescriptions in the Revelation of St. John, but here the title had overt political implications. Joseph was to be king in the Kingdom of God, or 'King and Ruler over Israel.' His election as king did not alter his behavior or give him additional power. . . but it did indicate Joseph’s frame of mind." Bushman (2005) , p. 523

FAIR's analysis:

References

Wikipedia references for "Joseph Smith, Jr."

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• Newell, Linda King, (1994), Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith University of Illinois Press .
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• Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1904), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
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Further reading

Mormonism and Wikipedia

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