Once the crisis subdued and William Clayton dug up as documents again they might as well have remained buried they remain restricted for over 175 years. It wasnt until 2014. The lds church announced they were be making them available for the first time in published form. And dont forget to tell all of you that whenever there is a document or series of documents that are kept hidden and secret lots of legends and myths crop up around them. Over the century and a half there had been lots of myths about the Counsel Council of 50 and what took place in it. And this grew to legendary proportion until finally when they finally got access to the council some were disappointed by the content. Where was Justice Smith being crowned as a king or where were they ordering the assassination of the u. S. President. These were all things that were bandied about. Some people were disappointed in these records when they were finally released as a historian of American Religion and politics they were like catnip to me. I read through these documents they have salacious stuff dont get me wrong but i found in these documents explicit expression of some of the deep anxieties of religion and politics at the time. The council of 50 i dont want to be mistaken here. The council 50 was radical. Joseph smith had a reason to watch them. I also want to emphasize tonight that there was culture dash make culturalist sentiments behind those documents that were shared by a lot of joseph smith contemporaries. So what i want to do tonight is highlight some of the different cultural feelings or trajectories that led to that event full june 1844. Why it was comprised of the people that it was. Why did they grow to such a point that they felt their only recourse was to establish the a clan desk sign Theocratic Society that included its own constitution its own process as leader to replace all existing world governments. How do we get to that point. In the second thing i want to emphasize is how do a group of otherwise lawfully minded peaceful citizens who resided around nauvoo come to the conclusion that the only way they could maintain their rights is to kill joseph smith is a mob in carthage jail. Let me do some background to both of these or trajectories. Lets talk about the political context first. When Joseph Smiths followers arrived on illinois soil in the winter of 183839. They were religious refugees. From their perspective the great outrage of a state sanctioned mob in a governor who had ordered the extermination or forced removal of all the saints. Missouri has their own reason for why they did that. They were refugees in need of help. In illinois seem to be in the right position to help them. I want to talk about some of the background to illinois and why they seem anxious to help these beleaguered saints. First ill positive self as the rival to missouri. Back then they were on the frontier of america they were representing the two different trajectories that they could take in america. Based on the co verse in drawing on the jacksonian policy of self rule and personal liberty. Illinois by contrast was a free state. They also rejected the idea that only a Certain Group of people should be in charge and they said they welcomed a lot of diverse groups to polis it best mate to participate. Politicians aspiring politicians tried to go and get support from otherwise groups. Both of which are serving in the state legislature at the time that the mormons arrived in illinois. So the first one, illinois was anxious to prove that unlike those hooligans in missouri we know how to take care of that out crass and the downtrodden. The second point about illinois this was a state that was evenly divided between the two Political Parties at the time. Give the party of andrew jackson. They championed the rights of the selfrule and state law. The more enlightened sense of politics. Maybe we need to find a way to strengthen the government. Both of these parties are rather new. Americas political system had only been around for about a decade by this point. The First NationalParty Convention had only taken place in the 1830s. They were anxious to take advantage of illinois and incomes the mormons with their thousands of believers thousands of converts streaming and. These were low hanging fruit at the time of political harvest. Illinois was growing rapidly changing population wise. The National Government grants illinois three new congressional seats something that we will see take place after our census year here in a 2020. Now they have these new congressional seats that are going to need representatives. There gonna want to drop from different voters. Illinois legislature in order to take advantage of this population passed a series of legislation that the grand suffrage in the ability to vote. Your only criteria to vote is if you are white and you are a man that means all of these recent mormon arrivals are going to be eligible to vote in these new and significant upcoming elections. The mormons were anxious to take advantage of this. Over the last decade you have majoritarian cultures unwilling to listen to their interests. Unwilling to follow their proposal and now there can be forced to listen to what they have to say. They decide the best way to court that vote. Its to do what we now do black voting. It means we are get a make sure all of the saints together are gonna going to vote for the same candidate is the editor for the newspaper declared explicitly what good would it do if half of our citizens disenfranchise the other half. It is the local mormon residents. I have never been much of a politician and we will give it to the whigs in other cases when it will help us. So that we can gain the influence that we need. They were eager for the support. They become famous in the next decade for the popular sovereignty doctrine. A full frontal assault to court mormon support. They helped to pass the train for Nauvoo Charter through the legislature. They trip over each other with excitement. Mormons were very good at following through on their threat or promise however you want to interpret it. Many of you went to vote yesterday and you go in and you walk into the precinct and you get to your precinct. You plug in who you vote for. Its a secret ballot. Back in early america it was not secret ballots. In illinois they followed the very common practice of voting vocally. You walk into your precinct there will be a clerk sitting there. To give you an example of how this looked in practice. Voting and one of the precincts took place in the office of hiring smith. They stand up and say we believe the democrats are our friend. They said the same thing at the church newspaper. Both joseph and hiram smith our just hanging out. They will mark your tallies. We have those records. You can see them at the lds Church Library that 457 people who marched into his office that day only 11 do not vote in the same prescribed pattern. To the mormons this is their weight to curb and make sure that they had politicians that help them. I this is the betrayal of the democratic system. Because democracy is still a new concept in early america. Most did not believe that there should be a separation between church and politics. Where they drew their line was ecclesiastical intervention. The ability of the individual. But here you have in nauvoo a priestly leader who is dictating who they should follow. That means the Person Holding their salvation in their hands is telling them you must vote for this certain candidate and they do so. This seems to be the very example of the type of church and state issue and that the american constitution have seemed to abolish. To move a step further from that. They are starting to overlook some mormon action. In their attempt to protect joseph smith. Let me give you an example. For a number of things there are the mormon ones. Eventually he escapes. Many historians assume he was a loud escape. They were holding him in jail hostage until all of the mormons left and they let him go. Once they settle in nauvoo and they start to do really well. It is time to bring joseph smith back. The issue of requisition order. We have an arrest warrant for joseph smith to be charged on two different charges at different times. Hes be returned to missouri for trial. The governor of illinois decides my hands are bound. Im going to do it. They believe that as soon as joseph smith sets foot in missouri he is going to be killed. We have to take whatever measure he can. They just happen to have already defended stephen k douglas. When you bring the case over to me. I will grant you out brit of habeas corpus. For those of you that arent familiar with the terms. It will be presenting the body. It is a trial that adjudicates whether the arresting officers in that situation followed proper protocol in arresting the person. I want to be clear has no merit on whether a person is guilty or innocent of that crime. Only whether they were arrested properly. Through the proper channels they grant a risk dash writ of hormuz keep us. There well automatically be another arrest warrant out for you. Joseph smith goes on his merry way. The next year was served governor so extermination order. Someone tries to kill him in his own home. Initially word gets out that he dies from the assassination attempt. One of my favorite documents is woodford will drift. He actually doodles. They eventually they come out of the coma. I had evidence that joseph smith was behind this assassination attempt. They freak out once again. The problem is the city charter like any city charter. A court can only issue that. The day that arresting officers arrived. The city court meets and they pass a new passed a new resolution that does two things. A grant the municipal court. The city court is the ability to try the merit of those cases. Beyond just the arresting process. The arresting officers arrive in nauvoo and joseph smith just kind of hands him the writ of habeas corpus. They leave and go talk to the governor. Meanwhile joseph smith goes into hiding. With the municipal courts. Its not really going to hold water. Eventually once again commenting here. We will try to free him through official means. Nathaniel pope and one Circuit Court judge. They find a loophole and they grant just a joseph smith their freedom. As for illinois law that is protecting us. That summer the governor you can imagine how frustrated they might be by this point. The arresting officers pose as missionaries. They are trying to have a quiet vacation. They are marching to missouri. The prophet seems to be out of luck. An aspiring politician and a lawyer nearby says im running for the new congressional seat this fall. Maybe this is my chance to finally earn the mormon vote. The illinois officials arrest the arresting officers. For false imprisonment. And these arresting officers as you imagine are i like what the heck is going on. They are trying to figure out what to do they lead and intercept the whole group. They receive a military escort. With the exquisitely addressed ladies. They then have a big banquet. The two arresting officers are put at the have of the table. And then as you could can probably expect. They grant another writ of habeas corpus. But this time they decide what we dont want to lose the mormons because they have enabled the escape. We need to win the mormon support back. If you support the democrats we will allow your habeas corpus powers to see and then the mormons are left in a dilemma because joseph smith had personally promised to support it. But now the democratic governor is promising even further city powers to nauvoo if they support the democrats. He ends up alienating both. A couple weeks before the election in a move that really confuses everyone there and says im sorry to break it to you but im no longer a profit. My brother hiram has the birthright to prophesy. You should listen to him. He says that ironically. The day before the election that august is another general conference of the church in which hiram smith gets up and says i had have a revelation that the saints should vote for the democrats. He sits down. Im going to vote for cyrus walker because im a good personal friendship with him. But let me tie this. Hiram has never have a revelation that has turned out to be wrong. He maintains the personal promise. They maintain this prophetic connection. And they move the election to the democrats according to accounts from the area the votes for the democrats by about 1290. They get into the Office Thanks to those mormon votes. After that point however the Democratic Party where the or the wake party as you can imagine is really mad. And theyre no longer willing to stand up for them. Even though they made out ahead. They realized that could change at a moments notice. So they are no longer willing to support the mormons. We are moving into the fall and winter of 43 and 44. They will no longer support them in their initiatives. They start doing other radical provisions. They try to protect them. Including perhaps my favorite episode. They ask for them to raise an army of 100,000 soldiers. Congress does not go for that. Then he announces the campaign for the presidency. They refused to promised support. And i could talk more about the platform during the q a. Eventually, seeing that the walls are closing in and the state and National Government is no longer going to protect their interests they are once again left to where they were before illinois in their minds. They come up with a contingency plan. Contingency plan does not capture the rattle radical list of this plan. If they are kicked out of america where do we go and what do we do. What we will do as we are can establish in their words a government that will return gods voice to earth. To them they look at the world around them and they see only chaos and disaster in violence in division. What can bring stability to this world again. I could talk more about that. I can talk about the constitution that they come up with. They were also common throughout america. It was a very divided setting. Well have a senators hitting each other upside the have with keynes alike canes like they did in the 1850s. You see an increasing number of people over the womens suffrage. Or workers rights you say they are no longer listening to divine laws. Let me just give you a couple examples. John brown. They lead the raid. He writes a provisional constitution to replace constitution to replace the american constitution. He declared a path with the devil. They said that it is based on the laws of god. The Confederate States of america. And created their own country. And write their own constitution. Do you want to guess what the first line said these lines are based on divine providence. You see this argument spread. They take that sentiment and exercise it on steroids. I want to emphasize that that document capture a lot of these broader sentiments that tell a much larger story. I dont have much time to dig into one other issue that is significant here. In the political and legal issues is what is driving the external opposition. It is a new domestic arrangement. And the theological proposals that caused internal division. Cause internal division. Among those perhaps most noticeable is the proposal of polygamy. The chance for men to be sealed to multiple women. While it is impossible to identify. Of course we can find human origins. In both the defense and justifies. And what struck me is that the same language that Justice Smith uses to propose radical new political systems is the same language he and his fathers followers use. Let me use one example. Eliza r snow who becomes very famous in the lds tradition. The polygamist wife in the summer of 1842 and a very controversial time where joseph smith would be quieting down some of his actions. And said hes ramping them up. He does not explicitly talk about it. On the day they sealed it. Lets give roundabout defense. They can pair the chaos of the world around them it fails to protect those most destitute and vulnerable to the stability offered by this priesthood covered it. It seemed to be the way to offer redemption. There is lots of domestic and experimentation. With the proposal of shared marriage. You find people who think that the domestic situation common in Anglo America has run its course. And we need something new. You also see the groups that are terrified of this experimentation. The only way to bring stability as a more patriarchal order for those of you who are not familiar with Robert Mathias a self described profit with robert matthews. Read kingdom of mathias it will blow your mind. They tap into both of those executives. As well as the patriarchal to make sure that they dont spin out of control. In researching nauvoo is that a lot of these women had Different Reasons to do so i also dont want to emphasize that everyone exposed to the doctrine excepted it. They sought as a betrayal. As the corruption of morals. None were more adamant than Joseph Smiths own brother hiram smith. When rumors start seeping out in 1841 they have a moral crusade as rampant sexual improprieties in the city. They know as the high council. And as high council is operating at that same time that joseph smith is doing his polygamist activity. They try to shore up morals. Heading towards a crisis. When hiram finally confirms that. It was the principal they now embrace. In fact shortly after he takes it. Sorry to break it to you guys. They either head wives or daughters who have been secretly sealed. A number of men in that meeting when they break the news to them that core group of men becomes the core of a new Resistance Movement within nauvoo. They eventually create their own church. In their own dissenting newspaper. Its when those walls are crumbling around them. In march of 1844. Its another one i wish i have more time to delve into. The walls collapsing and a need for more radical intervention. And thats when they created the council as well. We get these two trajectories leading to the council of 50. I finally culminates in that spring of 1844 when the external opponents or the centers are posing the biggest threat to joseph smith and the vision and to nauvoo sovereignty. Everything seems to come apart resulting in the death at the hands of a mob. I have talked a little more than i planned. I want to make sure i give enough time for questions so id like to open it up anything that you heard that you want to correct that you have more questions about i definitely planted enough seeds. I just might strike you about nauvoo. I would love to start a conversation. I want to know how emma denied polygamy to her Adult Children later on . Why did emma smith deny polygamy to the children. We dont know when emma smith fully finds out about polygamy. I imagine she learns and drifts and drabs over time a whisper here in a whisper there. When they started presenting the doctrine he did in pieces. They grant them the opportunity. Two problems with this though. One of those sets of sisters had already been sealed. They go through another ceremony to hide the fact that they were already sealed. The other issue is they only know so much that its an eternal issue. Im pretty sure that same day that they witness their husband. She catches Justice Smith behind a locked door. In their home. To her it seems to be in an eyeopening fact. And so she rejects it again. She have accepted the same week that hiram smith did. What he did was to be a permanent defender. It soon becomes quite reckless. Their relationship sours over the next few months. At one point she threatens divorce. She threatens to take a plural husband of her own. At one point joseph smith tries to get her keys by signing over 60 lots of land. And then they seem to have at least a cooling. That fall where joseph smith promises not to take any more plural wives. But then the next march. She seems to go on the fire path again. And she holds a series of four Public Meetings publicly denouncing polygamy and more explicit ways than shed ever done so before. I dont care what you hear and private only trust the things that he says from the stand. Thats about as clear as they can get. I like the public rhetoric. That same week thats when the concept council of 50. They will not share anything. Even to their wives. Thats kind of the setting. Justice smith and dies a couple months later. Im not sure what the relationship is. After just a smith dies polygamy was where his vision fell apart. A steadfast defender. It was the sore spot. They represented to emma the worst of the tradition. He is expanding to polygamy. He takes the other one. As a way to not only inherit Justice Smith and his own family. I speculate that he might have made a similar proposal to emma smith just like he does to the other plural wives. Emma and brigham and up having a falling out. That is an understatement. They hate each other for this. And when they lead the saints he tells the mormons none of you are to invite emma to go with us. When they leave. Like most of us try to ask imagine the best of times. She would rather imagine joseph that she loved. The image of the joseph that she cared for. And that did not edges concert is not part of the memory. The constitution of 50. Even through your story lends our personal lens that you would like to see. What can we find in the mormon constitution that might be reparable call. When they first gather in a council of 50. One of the first things they ask for. As i want you guys to write a new constitution. It turns out is a lot easier to be said than done. We will have something for you next week. It just has a rambling preamble. In several articles. Article one. Article two. Article three there will be judged judges in make sure that these larges that they are i wont say. Even not found in the constitution. Just in the political rhetoric when he runs for presidency i found it quite striking to me. His argument when you look at the groups in america. When you suffer the most the only way to protect their rights is to strengthen the federal government. We can rely on states. In his own words. What happens when the governor is the have of the mob. They have it to strengthen the federal government. He even has a correspondence with the John C Calhoun the guy in South Carolina known as the most a prominent voice for the state rights doctrine. And when he writes that. When your youre elected president what will you do to support the mormons. They responded saying that as a state issue. And then a response. Im surprised someone well had that. The child governing the parents. And to preserve the right of individual citizens. This argument is pretty rare during that time. They believe that the higher you get in political office. The guest best government as is at the local level. Their primary arguments said you cant leave this to be a state issue. They are passed following the civil war. It makes the federal government the arbiter of individual rights. I do want to qualify my answer just a little bit. Im not convinced that he was a very simple automatic thinker. I think theyre mostly reactive. And we find this in the mormon situation. I think the seats there. The anxiety that are driving the actions. I think they are quite amenable. I would like to think that there is an irony there in the tradition that later on disapproves of the idea of the federal government getting involved. History is always ironic. You tell us about the council of 50 in terms of numbers. And what type of people were on it. That name as a nickname given to counsel because their original name the kingdom of god in his laws had filtered through a pr firm wouldve hated it. Around 50 people get involved. What i find fascinating is that they have focused with the council. They never put in any practical steps to actually do so. The roots are there but the steps are not really there. They are the ones that are overseen Joseph Smiths president ial run. They oversee the westward settlement option. They are crediting the response. Most importantly in 1885. The venue in which he starts flexing his muscle as the new leader of the church. We hear the lions roar. I think the Practical Application is a bit more murky. They dont have a official government yet. We are not sure to the extent or to what they are doing. The minutes for the council of 50 after they leave nauvoo is still restricted. We are still only seen the nauvoo portion and hopefully we can see that. It might be an even more exciting development. Its quite revealing. My question is why did joseph smith elevate krugmans and cook. And joseph a jackson. What was the fineness fondness for such characters. That they were to be the best opportunity. I think he is the most important case. He is a fascinating he kind of slides into navajo. We still havent fully reckoned with. I think he was often smitten by men who seemed powerful, charismatic and can add their voice. There are a number of men in 18 391840 of elite illinois men who were collect connected to the military establishment that present themselves to joseph smith and they are anxious to not only embrace them but to empower them because to him they are evident that the church it was not just pulled from the dregs of society. Now that have an important example. He left his family behind. He was the Quarter Master for the illinois militia. Embracing John C Bennett making him the first man of nauvoo. He have a reputation among illinois. He also is able to arm the militia. He is able to get them muskets and ammunition. He accumulates a lot of affairs. Its impossible to know how much he knows. I think he like a lot of them. But when words start spreading in the critics had eyes. They start with the rapid sexual and priorities. Joseph smith is terrified. You get hiram smith leading the council over i doesnt disappear planarian meetings. I think were getting at bit ernest here. Theyre hoping that they could quietly exit. It doesnt happen. To get your question. I think the answer is available. Smart and charismatic and can add it. They resemble him. That ends up causing him trouble later. In terms of the nauvoo kingdom in the mormon response to this difficult tension that youve talked about. The tension between the democratic idea the majority which can lead to the tierney versus an appeal the tension that they had felt. Is the definition and the limit. Do you think the better example is found in the city charter and the city council. It happens at the end when things are going out of control. What im getting at is up mormon the mormon response to this problem with democracy is it more representative in their city council. Is that what youre going for . I guess the mormon contribution to defining democracy and trying to find the balance. Joseph smith is trying to come up with the deal democracy. Do you see the city council as a better example of the mormon response . The question is do we see the better reflection of how mormons represent anxieties of political culture. Do we see that more and the city council and that charter. We see them representing two different things. If you want to see them as a more mainstream reflection the city council does that. The charter itself. City positions. There is nothing so called radical the charter itself. It takes all of the most powerful parts from all of the different charters in the state and throws them altogether there is no sentence in the charter that is not also found in another city charter. In a step further. Its how they interpret that charter. In some ways i think that is a lot more reflective. It is the radical solution when that fails. It is reflective of the mormon trying to make the democratic system work however it may be in their mind. The council of 50 is a reflection of when they think they failed and we need a radical replacement. Before we got the council of 50 minutes there were arguments that the mormons their primary definition for their political idea is a used word called theo democracy. The idea of gods rule and the rule of people merging together. There is great articles and books. Then we thought the council of 50 minutes nevermind. By the council of 50 they thought the other system failed. There is nothing to be redeemed. Nothing to be salvaged in their minds. I do want to say that what is interesting in the council of 50 use have the staying power. Even as he is introducing an explicitly theocratic government is still trying to define it in democratic terms he says the title of this council should be just estonian democracy. A statement that wouldve made him roll around in his grave. One of my favorite examples he uses a very kind phrase. It is land for len for the voice of the people is the voice of god. It was commonly used. In the council 50 minutes joseph smith said i believe in this but its translated rock all of these people. Its a voice of god. Assenting to the voice of god. That true democracy is when god declared something through the prophet and then the people see it fulfilled. That is not democracy the fact that joseph smith is still trying to use at the democratic language shows how powerful that language still was to him. Maybe we had time for one more question. Think you so much for coming out here. Do you have any questions about how they were chosen at the time the city council was the powerful men and then the other people just to swoop in . Who were the people that comprise the council of 50 and how were they chosen. We are fortunate to have all of their names. It lists out all the names of them. Lets get someone in there they are close to joseph smith. A more important question is who is not in the council of 50 and the people not in the council of 50 are those who have been fighting with Justice Smith over the previous months. People who are in the first presidency that Justice Smith could no longer trust. In some ways it was meant to replace those different organizations. They had three gentiles those outside the church because with joseph smith did a big debate. The kingdom of god in the Church Church of god and joseph smith said yes of course theres a difference. Disregard that fact. You have to recognize that prophetic authority. I wish we have more in the three non mormons who served on this council. We only had one line for them. I think you all are good folk. He wants to stay in his good graces. They are on the outskirts there is a difference between the church and the kingdom there are other voices who disagree with them. Among them are Brigham Young. And bring Brigham Young counters him. I dont see any difference between the church and the kingdom. They are the same thing. I dont think its a coincidence that the First Council of 50 meeting it is to kick off the three gentiles out of the council of 50. Two him that decision is what caused the problem. For him to avoid the trauma we need absolute obedience. And that is the authority that Brigham Young head. Saying that there are some broader lessons it is a fascinating tale i just barely capture this in the book. But there are broader lessons. In our very divided partisan political culture we still take for granted the idea that the solution to our problem are still through democratic order. Even though we might disagree and what that democracy is. But by looking at the story of nauvoo we were reminded that that is not always the case. In 1840 on the american frontier to groups of people posing as each other. Those inside of nauvoo and outside. The democratic system have failed. They will introduce new radical proposals. Their non mormon neighbors said politicians could be manipulated. It was never brought to justice in this type of political system. Its to take it in our own hands. And when the warsaw mocked. They dont just march with pitchforks and fires. Without much thought. They write out a manifesto at letter to the government saying that what we are doing is justified because our legal system have failed. Nauvoo and its failure matters because it reminds us that the democratic system was an experiment early on and even if we take it for granted it was not always an assured thing. If we want to fully comprehend with the democratic history. We must not always focus on the victors of that transition. Thank you. [applause]. Think you very much dr. Benjamin park. Thank you all so much for coming. Im going to walk been up to the signing table in the history room in the books are available for sale thank you very much for being here. [applause]. Book tv is television for serious readers all weekend every weekend join us again next saturday beginning at 8 00 a. M. Eastern for the best in nonfiction books. The u. S. Senate is about to gavel in for a short pro forma session. No votes expected. Now live to the senate floor