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 NationalParty 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