Ben Park

What does polygamy, the Nauvoo Expositor and Masons have to do with Joseph Smiths death in the Carthage Jail in 1844?

Lets talk about it.

Yesterday I did a video on the three common myths regarding Joseph Smiths death at the hands of a mob in Carthage in June in 1844.

And there are some excellent questions that deserve a follow up video.

The first question is what role did polygamy play in the drama that led to Joseph Smith being imprisoned.

And there is both a public and a private role that polygamy played. Publicly, rumors about Joseph Smiths polygamy had been circulating since 1842. But it wasn't the primary driver for external opposition. While the rumors of polygamy certainly confirmed that idea for many of those who hated Joseph Smith that he was a heretic it was actually his wielding of political power that drew their major ire. Specifically it was Joseph Smiths orchestration of the Mormon vote known as bloc voting it was their working with State politicians to wield community favor and it was Joseph Smiths ability to escape anytime he was arrested through the use of habeus corpus. A topic I covered in depth in a recent video. But that external opposition did not  reach a fulcrum until there was internal dissent from Joseph Smiths closest followers which came as a result of their knowledge of polygamy. 

And that brings us to our second topic, the role of the Nauvoo Expositor. That group of Latter Day Saints including a number of prominent leaders who came to believe that Joseph Smith was corrupt in what they saw as a pure gospel dissented from the Church over polygamy in early 1844, founded their own Church and even started their own newspaper. The same day their paper appeared, Joseph Smith ordered its destruction. Which is what put in motion all the legal mechanisms that brought Joseph Smith to the County Jail. But while Joseph Smith initially agreed to be arrested on the charge of destroying the press those charges were soon dropped. He was instead charged for treason for declaring martial law in the midst of the fighting between the Latter Day Saints and their neighbors around June 18th.

 This was significant. Because being charged with treason-- meant Smith could not be let out on bail.

Which brings us to our third question. Which is what role Masonry played in this drama? 

First while Masons were upset with how Mormons used their initiation ceremony for endowment rituals. There are no records that thats a motivating factor for killing Joseph Smith. And second, the claim Smiths "O Lord, My God"  cry while being shot was the first part of the "O Lord My God is there any help for the widows son" Masonic cry of distress-- that connection is not made until 50 years later in a reminiscence. I think the contemporary records make clear that Masonry does not play much of a role in Joseph Smiths death. 

If you have any questions, let me know and I may address them in a future video. 

Ben Bark

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