Talk about stuff that i am equally eager to talk about with you. A week before joseph smith was killed in carthage jail when he was in some tense negotiations with the state to turn himself in and be tried for ordering the destruction of the knob works pozner he turns to William Clayton who just happens to be the secretary of the secret counsel established, counsel 50. Joseph turns to William Clayton and says i want you to go and burn the minutes of that secret counsel. He knew the contents of those records were very controversial and when seen in a certain light or a certain context they could be understand is treason and he was anxious to keep them out of the wrong hands. William clayton to the great benefit of the rest of us chose to disobey his profit and instead of burning the documents buried them where they remained for several months until the crisis seemed to subdue. Once the crisis subdued and William Clayton dug up those documents again they might as well have remained buried because they remained restricted from scholars and historians, believers and skeptics alike for over 175 years. It wasnt until 2014 that they were made available for the first time and they were finally published in 2016. I dont think i have to tell all of you that whenever there is a document or series of documents that are kept hidden or secret and are related to controversial topics, lots of legends and myths crop up around them so over a century and a half there have been lots of myths about the council of 50 and what took place, what was recorded in this growth to legendary proportions until finally when they were meeting people got access to the records some were disappointed by the contents. Where was joseph smith being crowned as a king . Where were they ordering the assassination of the us president , these were all things that were bandied about that while some were disappointed in these records when they were finally released, as a historian of American Religion they were like catnip it. I read through the documents and they had salacious stuff, dont get me wrong but i found an explicit expression of the deep anxieties of religion and politics. The council of 50, i dont want to be mistaken was radical. In many ways the most radical religious political proposal of the nineteenth century. Joseph smith had reasons want them burned but i also want to emphasize that there were cultural sentiments, anxieties behind these documents that were shared by a lot of Joseph Smiths contemporaries. What i want to do tonight is highlight some of the different cultural feelings and trajectories that led to that eventful june 18th, 1944. Why the council was established, why was so radicalized, white was comprised of the people that apply. Why did they reach such a point they felt their only recourse was to establish a clandestine Theocratic Society that included its own constitution, its own profit king as leader to replace all existing world governments. How did we get to that point. The second thing i want to emphasize, the background too is how to group of otherwise lawfully minded peaceful citizens who resided around come to the conclusion that the only way they could maintain their rights was to kill joseph smith as a mob in carthage jail . Let me do some background to both of these trajectories. Lets talk about the political contest first. When Joseph Smiths followers arrived on illinois soil in winter of 183839 they were religious refugees, they had just suffered from their perspective the great outrages of a state sanctioned mob and a governor who had ordered the extermination or forced removal of all the saints, missourians have the right reasons for why they did that and we can talk more about that in the discussion but they thought they were refugees in need of help and illinois seemed to be in the right position to help them. I want to talk about the background on why they seemed anxious in 1839 to help these believers sectors. Illinois posited itself as the arrival to missouri. Illinois and missouri, these two states, back then they were on the frontier of america, they were representing the two different trajectories western settlement could take, missouri, the slaveowning state, the coerced labor of africanamericans, drawing on the jacksonian policy of selfreliant personal liberty. Illinois was a free state, they rejected not only slavery but also rejected the idea that only a Certain Group of people should be in charge and said they welcomed lots of diverse groups to participate in the political sphere. They embraced an energetic sense of democracy in which politicians, aspiring politicians tried to draw support from otherwise marginalized groups. Politicians like abraham lincoln, steve douglas, both of which are serving in the state legislature at the time the mormons arrive in illinois. Another fact, the first point, illinois was anxious to approve that unlike those who ligands in missouri we know how to take care the outcast and downtrodden, second point about illinois. This was a state that was nearly evenly divided between the two Political Parties. On the one side the democrats, the party of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren championed the rights of selfrule and state laws, then you had the whigs, those who believed in a more enlightened sense of politics, maybe we need to find a way to strengthen government to protect those on the margins of society, both these parties are rather new. Americas political system or party system hopefully been around for about a decade by this point. The First National Party Convention had only taken place the 1830s, the whigs and the democrats were anxious to take advantage of illinois and in, the mormons with their thousands of believers, thousands of converts straining in and these were low hanging fruit at the time of political harvest. Third cultural context in illinois. Illinois was growing rapidly populationwise so much so that in 1841 the National Government granted illinois three new congressional seats, something we will see take place again after our census year in 2020, we relegate our congressional seats based on population. Now they have these new congressional seats that will need representatives of these new representatives will want to draw from different voters, the morgan mormons are very wanted people. On top of that illinoiss legislature in order to take advantage of the population boom passes a series of legislation that grand suffrage, the ability to vote to any weight men who resided in the state for six months. Your only criteria is if you are white, or a man, all these recent mormon arrivals will be eligible to vote insignificant and upcoming elections. The mormons were anxious to take advantage of this anxiety. They believed over the last decade you had majority cultures unwilling to listen to their interests, unwilling to follow their proposals and they will be forced to listen to what they have to say and they decide the best way to court that vote and be efficient in their Political Action was to do what we now call block votes. We will make sure all the vote for the same thing. John taylor who served as an apostle for the church and editor for the newspaper declared pretty explicitly what good would it do nauvoo if half of our citizens disenfranchise the other half. One of my favorite documents from this period is a local mormon resident who writes a letter to his nonmormon father saying i have never been much of a politician but i learned politicking is necessary. We will give our votes to the democrats into the whigs in other cases when it will help us. So we can gain the influence we need. Politicians listened, none more than Stephen Douglas who becomes famous for his popular sovereignty, he lived a full frontal assault from the Democratic Party to court mormon support. Politicians visit nauvoo, help pass through the let legislature, they trip over each other with excitement to carry nauvoos favor, a move they later come to regret. Mormons were very good at following through on the threat or promise, however you want to interpret it. I imagine many of you went to vote yesterday and you walk into your voting precinct, walk into an individual booth and plugin who you vote for. It is a secret ballot. Back in early america it wasnt a secret ballot. Voting, they follow the common practice of voting vocally meaning you walk into your precinct, there will be a clerk sitting there and you will tell the clerk your name and tell them you are voting for. To give you an example of how this looked in practice, there were ten county and statewide elections including for governor. Voting in one of the precincts took place in the office of hiram smith, secondincommand of the church, Joseph Smiths brother and the week before this election there is a general conference to show we believe the democrats are our friends and we will support them. In case that message didnt reach anyone they said the same thing in the Church Newspaper so zoom into august 6th, 1842, if you live in a print certain precinct you march into hiram smiths office where you are likely met by joseph and hiram smith were just hanging out and then youll state your name and the clerk will write your name down and we have those records from those voting records, you can see them. I have an image in the book of the 457 people who marched into hiram smiths office that day, only 11 do not vote in the same prescribed pattern. To the mormons this is there a way to make sure they make politicians listen to them. To those outside nauvoo this is a betrayal of the democratic system. Because democracy is still a new concept in early america, they are still trying to figure out what it means. Most didnt believe there should be separation between religion and politics but a majority of americans believed it was a christian nation and they supported a quasiauthoritative protestant majority but where they drew the line was ecclesiastical intervention because they cherished the personal conscience, the ability of an individual to choose who they want to vote for unfettered by whatever their leaders say but here you have nauvoo, a priestly leader dictating who they should follow it in the view of those outside nauvoo the Person Holding their salvation in their hands telling them you must vote for a certain candidate and they do so, this seems to be the very example of the type of church and state issued the american constitution abolished. To move even a step further from this they start noticing that politicians in their hopes to court mormon votes are starting to overlook the mormon actions that seem a bit, lets call it innovative in their attempt to protect joseph smith and other mormons from retributive justice in missouri. Let me give you an example. Joseph smith is imprisoned in missouri. For a number of things, hes held on the charge of treason. Eventually he escapes, many historians including myself assume he was allowed to escape my missouri authorities was they were holding him hostage until all the mormons left and then they let him go and washed their hands but once the mormons settle in nauvoo and are doing pretty well, ever break up with someone and see your ex doing well and you get upset . I think that is how missouri starts feeling, the mormons havent learned their lesson so there like it is time to bring joseph smith to justice so on three occasions missouris governor issues a requisition course meaning we have an arrest warrant for joseph smith to be charged on two different charges at different times, he needs to be returned to missouri for trial. The governor of illinois decides my hands are bound, im going to do it. Mormons interpret this as a direct threat. They believe as soon as joseph smith sets foot in missouri hes going to be killed so we have to take whatever mission we can to save him. The first time this happens, the first extradition attempt they just happen to have already defended Stephen Douglas who by that time was a Circuit Court judge in illinois. As part of his quest to court mormon favor he tells joseph smith why did you bring the case to me, i will grant you a writ of habeas corpus. So those of you are not familiar with fancy legal terms the drawn latin words, habeas corpus means presenting the body and it is a trial that adjudicates whether the arresting officers follow proper protocol interesting a person. I want to be clear it has no merit on whether a person is guilty or innocent only whether they are arrested properly. Stephen douglas through proper channels grants joseph smith a writ of habeas corpus, illinois had a law that said if youre granted a writ of habeas corpus corpus on a statewide crime they will automatically be another arrest warrant so you can be properly arrested but the state ignored that. The next year, a former missouri governor who signed an extermination order in 1838 someone tries to kill him in his own home. Initially word gets out that he died from this assassination. One of my favorite documents is Wilford Woodruff who writes in his diary that ungodly rich has finally faces retribution and he doodles in his diary a picture of boggs being shot. They are pretty happy about it. But he eventually comes out of the coma, he survives and puts his finger at joseph smith. I have evidence that joseph smith was behind this assassination and the military governor signed the recognition order, illinois governor signs in order to move joseph smith to missouri, nauvoo free set again but they learned from Stephen Douglas this habeas corpus thing works pretty well. The problem is the nauvoo city charter like any city charter follows proper protocol and so the court can only issue writs of habeas corpus related to cases that originate within their jurisdiction, the Municipal Court can only try habeas corpus on charges that originate against nauvoo law. Does that make sense . The day the arresting officers arrive in nauvoo to arrest joseph smith the city court meets and pass a new resolution that those two things, one, grants Municipal Court authority to try a writ of habeas corpus on cases that originate outside of nauvoo, from missouri for instance. Second the city court or city Council Grants the city court the ability to try the merits of those cases beyond just the arresting process so these arresting officers arrive in nauvoo and joseph smith handed him his writ of habeas corpus like too bad and these arresting officers are befuddled. How do they respond to that . They leave and talk to the governor. Meanwhile joseph smith goes into hiding and spent several months in hiding because even he realizes those City Council Resolutions and Municipal Courts was not going to hold water. Eventually, once again, common theme here, elected officials trying to court mormon support decide we are going to ignore those city Council Things and try to free joseph smith so joseph smith is taken before the city court, one Circuit Court judge, Nathaniel Pope find a loophole and grants joseph smith his freedom and joseph smith is once again free, has offered illinois law that protects them. The story is not even over after that. That summer the missouri governor. Imagine how frustrated missouri officials must be by this point. They go all right, we will try this again, the missouri governor signed another requisition order, the only governor signed another order to remove joseph smith from missouri, this time he goes into hiding once again, arresting officer pose as mormon missionaries, knock on the door of Joseph Smiths inlaws family where they are trying to have a quiet vacation, arrest joseph smith and are marching to missouri with joseph smith in their custody, the Mormon Prophet seems to be out of luck finally but an aspiring politician, a lawyer nearby goes i am running for the new congressional seat this fall, i am a wig, the mormons had the support of the democrats, maybe this is my chance to garner the mormon vote, he gathers friends including the county sheriff and these illinois officials arrest the arresting officer for false imprisonment and these arrests are not like what is going on . While they are trying to figure out what to do the nauvoo lesion interceptors group and marches the back to nauvoo where they receive a military escort, a grand band performance as well as what the newspaper calls exquisitely dressed ladies who are celebrating Joseph Smiths arrival. They have a big banquet at Joseph Smiths home where the two arresting officers are put at the end of the table, probably befuddled by this whole situation and as you could probably expect nauvoo Municipal Court grants joseph smith another writ of habeas corpus at this time the state authorities ignored that. This time the state authorities including the governor decide we dont want to lose the mormons into the weekend. We need to win the mormon support back to the governor sends word to nauvoo that if you support the democrats in this election this fall we will allow your habeas corpus to stand. Than the mormons are left in a dilemma because joseph smith had personally promised his support to the whig candidates but now the democratic governor is promising even further powers if they support the democrats. Joseph smith tries to find a way to satisfy both but he ends of alienating both. A couple weeks before the election joseph smith gets up in a move that really confuses everyone and says sorry to break it to you but im no longer a profit. I cant prophesy. My brother hiram has the right to prophesy, you should listen to him. He later says he just said that ironically which happens to be the thing i say when something turns out to be unpopular. I was just ironic when i said that. The day before the election that august theres another general conference at a church in which hiram smith gets up in front of thousands and says i have had a revelation that the saints should vote for the democrats. Joseph smith stands up and says im going to vote for cyrus because i have a good personal friendship with him but let me tell you this, hiram never had a revolutionary revelation that turned out to be wrong. Through that mechanism joseph smith maintained his personal promise to cyrus, they maintain this profit connection between revelatory authority and voting and move the election to the democrats. According to accounts from the area nauvoo votes for the democrat by 120090, joseph hoag gets into the Office Thanks to those mormon votes. After that point, however, the Democratic Party or the whig party is really matted nauvoo and are no longer willing to stand up. Democrats even though they made out ahead, that could change at a moments notice so they are no longer willing to support the mormons so we are moving into fall and winter of 43 into 44 where they were a state Political Parties will no longer support them. They are doing another radical provision, send a number of federal petitions to the government to try to protect them including my favorite episode where joseph smith sent a petition to the National Government asking them to raise an army of 100,000 soldiers and put joseph smith in charge to protect nauvoo. Congress does not go for that. Joseph smith announces his campaign for the presidency, one of five leading candidates for the 1844 election. I could talk more about his platform in the q and a but feeling the walls are closing in and state and National Government will no longer protect their interests they are left where they were before and they come up with a contingency plan. That doesnt capture the radical left at this moment. They gather together in early march and start imagining if we are kicked out of america where do we go and what do we do . We might go to texas or oregon. We are going to establish a theocratic government that will return god to earth. To them they look at the world around them and they see only chaos and disaster and violence and division. With can bring stability to the world again . Only the voice of god. That is where the counselor 50 originates which i could talk about that and the constitution they come up with. I want to circle back to what i said at the beginning, there were cultural sentiments found in the council of 50 that were common to america. America in the 1840s and 1850s was a very divided setting. We think we have a Divisive Political culture today. We dont have senators hitting each other on the head with keynes like they did in the 1850s but when america seem to be falling apart you see an increasing number of people, whether it be over the issue of womens suffrage or antislavery or workers rights who said the point america falls apart is because they are no longer listening to divine law or god dictates of human equality and so forth. Let me give you a couple examples. Many of your family with john brown. Radical abolitionist who leads the raid on Harpers Ferry. Before he leaves the raid on Harpers Ferry he writes a provisional constitution to replace the american constitution. The american constitution which he declared a pact with the devil and his provisional constitution to replace it specifically said it is based on the laws of god, human equality. The Confederate States of america when they secede the next year and create their own country, and write their own constitution wants to guess what the first line of the constitution said . The laws are based on divine providence. You see this, especially where the american nation is falling apart. The mormons take that sentiment and exercise it on steroids to the ninth to agree but i want to emphasize the document counselor 50 records and nauvoo in general capture a lot of broader sentiments that tell a much larger story about messiness of democratic rule. Im running out of time. I dont have much time to dig into one other issue that is significant, political and legal issues are what is driving the external opposition, Joseph Smiths new domestic and theological proposals within nauvoo that cause internal division. Among those, perhaps most notably is Joseph Smiths proposal of plural marriage, chance for men to be sealed to multiple women. While it is impossible to precisely identify the origins of polygamy i argue in the book that it is located in late fall of 1840 and early spring of 1841 when connected to other ideas percolating. We could find human origins cut desires and urges that lead to Something Like polygamy but im interested in the theology that both defense and justifies and expands the doctrine of this domestic experimentation. What struck me in reading this book is the same language joseph smith uses to propose radical new political system this is the same language he and his followers used to justify polygamy. Let me use one example of a woman who participates in polygamy and get their perspective. Eliza who becomes very famous as a poetess and a writer and someone who is the foremost female voice, she is sealed to joseph smith as a polygamist wife in summer of 1842, very controversial time where joseph smith was quieting his actions instead of ramping them up and eliza snow does not especially talk about polygamy but in her diary on the day she secretly is sealed to joseph smith she secretly show that she gives a roundabout defense. She compares the chaos, the tumult of the world around us, the failed democratic experiment that failed to protect those most destitute and vulnerable through the stability offered by this priesthood covenant, to eliza polygamy was the way to offer redemption corrective to the world. Is lots of domestic experimentation going on in america, the shakers and the proposal of solvency, united and their proposals of shared marriage, all throughout america your finding people who think that the domestic situation common in Anglo America has run its course and we need something new. You also see at the same time groups who are terrified of these experimentations, a conservative backlash that america lost its way the only way to bring stability is a more patriarchal, for those of you who arent familiar with robert mathias, a selfdescribed profit, Robert Matthews named matthias, it will blow your mind, read kingdom of mathias. Mormon polygamy tapped into both of these anxieties, both the experimentation of saving the domestic home as well as patriarchal retrenchment to make sure things dont spin out of control. I dont want to give the perspective that everyone saw polygamy that way was one of things that stood out to me in researching nauvoo is a lot of these women who entered plural marriages had Different Reasons to do so. I also dont want to emphasize everyone exposed to the doctrine accepted it because there are plenty that rejected it, saw it as a betrayal of their religious ideas, as a corruption of norms. None were more adamant than Joseph Smiths own brother hyrum smith. When rumors of polygamy start creeping out in 1841 ira smith leads a moral crusade to root out what he saw as rampant sexual improprieties and to do so he marshals the most powerful ecclesiastical body in the city known as the high council and this high council is operating at the same time joseph smith is doing his polygamist activity so you get these two brothers, joseph smith and his polygamist experiment, hiram, trying to shore up traditional morals heading toward a crisis. When hiram finally converts to polygamy in may of 1843 in an instantaneous and in some ways confusing though i can talk a lot reasons why i think he did so, when he converts to polygamy he had already created a machine to eradicate the principles he now embraced. In fact shortly after he converts to polygamy he takes the doctrine of polygamy to the high council, the vehicle hes been using to eradicate polygamy and so sorry to break it to you guys, three of the men serving on the high council had wives or daughters who had been secretly sealed to joseph smith and plural marriage and this might have been news to them. A number of men in that meeting in august of 1843 when hiram smith breaks the news to them that core group of men become the core of a new Resistance Movement who eventually create their own church and dissenting newspaper. It is when those walls are crumbling around them that emma smith, Joseph Smiths wife opposes polygamy in march of 1844, another issue i wish i had more time to plug into, the joseph smith feels the walls collapsing and the need for more radical intervention. That is when he creates the counselor 50. We have these two trajectories leading to the counselor 50, the political experimentation and the domestic experimentation that finally, nates in spring of 1844 when the external opponents and internal dissenters join together and pose the biggest threat to Joseph Smiths vision and nauvoo sovereignty, that everything resulting Joseph Smiths death at the hands of the carthage chair. Ive talked a little more than i planned and i want to give enough time for questions so i would like to open it up, anything you heard that you want to correct, that you have more questions about, i have planting of seeds of things that i would love to talk more about our other issues that might strike you about nauvoo. If you have any insights. The question is why did emma smith deny polygamy to his children. We need some background on nauvoo. We dont know when and mercifully find out about polygamy. Joseph smith appeared to keep it secret from her for quite a while. I imagine she learns in drips and drabs a time, a whisper here, whispered a. I see when joseph started presenting the doctrine of polygamy to he did it in pieces not knowing fully well. All we know is in may of 1843 in the smith only knows about polygamy but grants joseph smith the opportunity to be sealed to sets of sisters, two young sisters who lived at the home she already felt comfortable with. Two problems with it. One of those sisters had already been sealed to joseph smith and didnt know that. They go through another ceremony to hide the fact they were already sealed to joseph smith. The other issue is im pretty sure when emma finds out polygamy she only knows so much that it is an internal issue doesnt have a ratification in everyday life. Pieces together the documents the same day, smith witnesses her husband sealed to these plural wives she catches joseph smith and eliza snow behind a locked door in their home and to her it seems to be an eyeopening experience, this isnt just an eternal thing and so she rejects it again. She had accepted at least theoretically the doctrine of polygamy the same week hiram smith did but where hiram smith grew a permanent defender and it soon becomes quite reckless in sharing the doctrine, and the support proves very tenuous and their relationships hours over the next few months. At one point she threatens divorce, and one point she threatens to take a plural husband of her own. At one point joseph smith tries to sign 60 lots of land over to her saying you will be financially protected the matter what happens and they seem to have at least a cooling period where he promises not to take any support away from his wife but then the next march investment seems to go on the fire path again and holds a series of four Public Meetings publicly denouncing polygamy in more explicit ways than she had ever done before saying things like i dont care what you hear in private, only trust the things joseph smith says from the stand which is as clear as she can get that i like the public rhetoric. Im not a fan of the private. The same week emma smith gives public decorations joseph smith starts the counselor 50 and one of the requisites for anyone to enter the counselor 50 was they will not share anything that takes place in the council outside the council even through their wives and that is the setting in which joseph smith dies a couple months later. Im not sure what the relationship is. To emma smith, after joseph smith dies polygamy was where his vision fell apart. She had been a steadfast defender of her husband, suffered immensely for the cause of the church but polygamy was the storybook. Brigham young represented to emma of the worst of the tradition. He takes joseph smith to the field not only to inherit Joseph Smiths mantle but his own family. I speculate he made a similar proposal to emma smith just like he does to other plurals, they have a falling out, that is an understatement. They hate each other and when Brigham Young leads the saints west he explicitly tells the mormons none of you are to invite emma to go with us. That is cool with me. She wants to stay so when they leave emma, like i imagine most of us, try to imagine the best but when shes teaching her children she would rather imagine joseph, the joseph she loved, joseph, the image of the joseph she cared for and that does not include polygamy so that was a decision when she consciously chose thats not part of the memory of joseph i wish to carry. With regard to the constitution is there anything contained therein that either through your historian lens or personal lens you would have liked to see in the american constitution . I want god in charge of everything. The question was what can we find in the mormon constitution that might be replicable. The mormon constitution when they first gather in the counselor 51 of the first things he asks for as i want you to write a new constitution to replace the american constitution. It is a lot easier said than done. Every meeting, how is that constitution going in there like we will have something for you next week. They finally propose a very rough draft that has a rambling preamble and several articles in these articles basically boil down to article 1, god is the original later of all laws, article 2, these laws will be dictated through an appointed process, article 3 there will be judges who make sure these laws are applied correctly. There is a lot left to be considered but that is where they left it. I will say one of the arguments not found in the constitution but in Joseph Smiths political rhetoric especially when he runs for president i found striking is his argument that when looking at the groups in america that are suffering the most under majoritarian democracy the only way to protect their rights and keep them safe is to strengthen the federal government. The states, we cannot rely on states to cut down on laws because in Joseph Smiths own words what happens when the governor is the head of the mob . When joseph smith runs for the presidency he runs a campaign of strengthening the federal government, to protect the rights of individual citizens. He has a correspondence with john c calhoun, the guy South Carolina senator known as the most prominent voice for the states rights docket and when he writes, he says if youre elected president what will you do to support the mormons and calhoun response saying that is a state issue. The federal government has no authority to interfere in joseph smith responds by saying im surprised someone of your stature should have such a week view of the constitution. If the state can dictate with the federal government can do that is the tail wagging the dog, child governing the parent, the federal government has to be powerful enough to preserve the rights of individual citizens. This argument is jacksonen america where they believe the higher you get in Political Office the more prone you are to corruption. The best government is at the local level but the mormons are not the only people making this argument. Abolitionistss primary argument is we cant leave this to be a state issue. The federal government has to be Strong Enough to take charge. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment make the federal government the arbiter of individual rights. I do want to qualify my answer a little bit by saying im not convinced joseph smith with a systematic political thinker. Hes thinking about the deep nuances of federal sovereignty in a democratic republic. I think they are mostly reactive. We find this in the mormon situation once this a lot of utah where they are not in favor of a strong federal government, right . But the anxieties driving their actions i think are quite immutable and i would like to think there is an irony in the tradition that later on proves the idea of federal government getting involved and protecting minorities but history is always ironic. Joseph smith would agree with that. You talk about the counselor 50 in terms of numbers and what attributes. That is the nickname given the council. Their original name was the kingdom of god and his laws that filter through his Prophet Authority and goes on for 2 more lines like a pr firm would have hated it but they colloquially call it the counselor 50 because around 50 were involved that is more like 55 or 56. What i find fascinating is they spoke in the council as if they were about to rule the world but they never put in any practical steps to do so. One of those cases where radical groups are there but the steps are never taken. They do some practical things. They are the ones that end up overseeing the westward settlement option, coordinating a response to the State Government to nearby mosques. Perhaps most importantly there the venue for which Brigham Young starts flexing his muscle as the new leader of the church. We hear the lions roar the loudest through the counselor 50 and nauvoo. But i think the Practical Application of the council of 50 are more murky. Once they move out to utah and dont have an official government the counselor 50 operates as a theocratic government. It keeps on until utah. We are not sure the extent or what they are doing because the minutes for the counselor 50 after they leave nauvoo is still restricted so we are still only seeing the nauvoo portion. Hopefully someday we can see once they grab utah that might be more exciting. Theres a record of what 50 did in salt lake. My question is why did joseph smith f8 conmen and crooks like john c benefit and Joseph Jackson and Edward Bonnie . These guys become big shots in the nauvoo region or the second council. What was the fondness for such characters . Joseph smith was not the best guess for the best opportunity. I will focus on john bennett because hes the most important case. You focus on Joseph Jackson. Joseph jackson is a fascinating bag of bond, a guy who flies into nauvoo, sitting on fire and leaves one of the most revealing accounts we still havent fully reckoned with. I think joseph smith was smitten by men who seemed powerful, charismatic and could add their voice. He was very pragmatic. There are a number of men in 18391840 of elite illinois men who are connected to political and military establishment who present themselves to joseph smith and joseph smith is anxious not only to embrace them but to empower them because to him they are evidence this church is not just pulled from the dregs of society. John c benefit is an important example because hillary had a chaotic life by 18, he lived several situations and burned many bridges and left his family behind but by the time he joined the church he was the quartermaster of the illinois militia and embracing john bennett, making him the first mayor of nauvoo not only give stature because he had a reputation until he didnt have a reputation in illinois, he also is able to arm the nauvoo militia, get them munitions, cannons, also accumulates a lot of affairs. It is impossible to know how much he knew about Joseph Smiths polygamous activities but i think like a lot of his confidants, when word starts spreading in his critics eyes, realizing john bennett, one thing happens, hiram smith worries about a rampant sexual impropriety and need to read them out and that is the origins of the cleansing, joseph smith is terrified that any investigation into John C Bennett is going to also reveal his private polygamy so hiram smith leading the high council, over a dozen disciplinary meetings in one week in the spring of 1842 and joseph smith going to these meetings saying i think we are getting too ernest here. Maybe we should simmer down a little bit. He was hoping John C Bennett could quietly accept but it doesnt happen so to get to your question i think the answer is joseph smith gets people who are smart and charismatic who can add that resemble that resemble him and that causes his troubles. In terms of the nauvoo kingdom and the mormon response to the difficult tension in american democracy that you talked about, the tension between the democratic ideal of really the majority which can lead to tear any of the majority versus federal power, the tension that nauvoo is testing when it is testing definitions and the limits of american democracy, do you think the better example of joseph smith and the mormons, the nauvoo response is found in a speech charter, the city council versus the counselor 50 which happens at the end, when going out of control, do you see that is more of a crisis than an attempt to respond . Im getting at is is the mormon response to this problem with democracy . Is that more representatives and the city council . I guess the mormon constitution to defining democracy and trying to find a balance when hes trying to come up with a the euro democracy. You see the speech charter as a better example of the mormon response . Great question. Do we see the better reflection of how mormons represent the anxiety of political culture, do we see that more in their city council and the Nauvoo Charter or in the counselor 50 . I would say we see them represent each in different ways. If we want to see the mormons as a more mainstream reflection, not totally mainstream but the liberal and radical, thus the council does that because the Nauvoo Charter itself the grants this is nauvoo it City Position and power, there is nothing radical in the charter itself except what it does it takes the most powerful parts from all the other different charters in the state and throws them all together so there is no sentence in the nauvoo speech are that is not found University Charters but it is a combination of those things that make it radical in a step further is how they interpret the charter. In some ways i think that is a lot more reflective of these broader anxieties. The council of 50 is more reflective of the radical solution when that failed so the city council and the Nauvoo Charter is reflective of the mormons trying to make the democratic system work, however flawed it may be while the counselor 50 is a reflection of when they think it fails and we need a radical replacement. Before we get the counselor 50 minutes there are arguments the mormons, the primary definition of political ideas is a term used, co democracy, joseph smith comes up in 1844, the idea of gods ruling the rule of people merging together. There are great articles that talk about the euro democracy and the council of 50 minutes in the general response is they were just theocrat because by the counselor 50 they have fought, the other system failed, it is nothing to be redeemed, nothing to be salvaged in their minds so we need something new. Enough is enough. What is interesting in the council of 50 shows the staying power of democratic principles, joseph smith even as hes introducing an exquisitely theocratic government is still trying to define it in democratic terms. He says the title of this council should be jeffersonian democracy was a statement that would have made Thomas Jefferson roll around in the grave. He also in my favorite example uses a common phrase from the time. Have any of you heard the phrase fox party live fox di, the voice of the people in the voice of god. The deification of democracy, the voice of the people is the voice of god. In the counselor 50 minutes joseph smith says i believe in that but it is translated wrong by all these people cannot the voice of evil is the voice of god but the voice of evil assenting to the voice of god, the true democracy is when god declares something through the prophet and the people see as wholesale. That is not democracy, but the fact that joseph smith is trying to use the democratic language shows how powerful that language still was. Maybe we have time for one more question. Any information who the counselor 50. A great question. Who were the people, how are they chosen. We were fortunate have their names, the counselor 50 records lists all the names of them. What get someone in there . They are close to joseph smith. Someone joseph smith feels he can trust. A more important question is who is not in the counsel of 50 . People not in the counselor 50 are those who have been fighting with joseph smith including people on the city council, people on the high council, people joseph smith could no longer trust. The council of 50 was meant to replace those different organizations. Also included in the counselor 50 were three gentiles, those outside the church. In Joseph Smiths mind had a big debate in the counselor 50. Is there a difference between the kingdom of god, the counselor 50 in the church of god . Joseph smith said of course there is a difference. Disregards the fact that to be in both you had to recognize Joseph Smiths prophetic story but a nuance that is unfortunate. I wish we had been on mormons who served on the council, they dont leave a record. We only have one line in the counselor 50 where one of the guys as i dont believe there. I think you all are good folk. He might have been uttering of joseph smith because he lived in nauvoo and wanted to stay in his good graces because others were on the house. In the debate in the counselor 50 were joseph smith says that is different between the church and the kingdom there are other voices who disagree. Among them are Brigham Young. Brigham young counters joseph smith by saying i dont see any difference, they are the same thing, should be the same people running them. I dont think it is a coincidence that the First Council of 50 meeting after Brigham Young takes over, one of his first initiatives is to kick off the three gentiles out of the council of 50 because to him that division is what caused the problem. For him to avoid the trauma of joseph smith being killed we need absolute obedience and that is it. I am going to close saying there are broader lessons be on a fascinating tale that i barely capture in the book but there are broader lessons, in are divided and cacophonous and partisan political system, we take for granted that the solution to our problems are still through democratic order even if we disagree on what the function means. Looking at the story of nauvoo we are reminded that is not always the case because in 1840 in the american frontier two groups of people oppose each other, those inside nauvoo and those outside nauvoo concluded the democratic system has failed. They will introduce new radical proposals, ma nonmormon neighbors conclude the sale because politicians can be manipulated. There are legal loopholes, joseph smith will never be brought to justice in this type of malleable political system. The only way to secure true justice is to take us in our own hands. When they march on carthage they dont just march with pitchforks and without much thought. They write out a manifesto. A letter to the government explaining that what we are doing is justified because our legal system has failed. Nauvoo and its failure matters because it reminds us that the democratic system was an experiment and it was not always a sure thing so if we want to fully comprehend, fully understand americas democratic history we must not always focus on that tradition, but also its discontent, thank you. [applause] thank you very much, benjamin park, thank you very much for the great conversation. I am going to walk up to the signing table in the green room. The books availableforsale, thank you very much. On our Author Interview program afterwards Eileen Zimmerman reports on whitecollar drug addiction. They recounted their recount their dirt journey for a writer and feminist. As the coronavirus continues to spread we wanted to share a program from the book tv archives. Science reporter gina kolata provides a history of the flu pandemic that killed 40 Million People worldwide. Book notes from 2000. The story of the great influence of pandemic. In the search for the virus. I never really thought much about it. People would just get sick and
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