Political Assassinations and Attempts in US History by Martinez J. Michael;

Author:Martinez, J. Michael;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

19.1 Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church in 1830. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Aside from polygamy, the Mormons encountered resistance from outsiders fearful of the church’s willingness to employ violence. Smith insisted that he was a pacifist, but as his membership rolls expanded, church members faced hostile populations. Refusing to turn the other cheek indefinitely, he instructed his flock to train on military tactics and maneuvers. As the 1830s continued, the Mormons assembled a paramilitary force.648

Church members were destined to generate excitement, hostility, and fear wherever they settled. Perhaps Joseph Smith intended this result. Nothing ensures spiritual connectedness and bonding among the faithful as much as persecution from outsiders. Whenever non-believers assailed the church, Smith cemented the loyalty of his congregants by promising protection in this life and heavenly rewards in the next.

Always a restless soul, he resolved to move on in search of the true Zion almost as soon as he landed in Kirtland. After he was tarred and feathered in 1832, he knew the time was right. He sent a delegation to Missouri to scout for suitable locations, but the expedition proved to be a mistake when several leaders challenged Smith’s authority. Mormons living in Ohio and Missouri soon struggled for control of the church.649

A pattern emerged. Smith would move into a community, build his church and populate it with his flock, announce that he was a community leader, and alienate indigenous residents. Sooner or later, angry, frightened neighbors banded together to drive the interlopers away. The cycle originated when Smith fled from Ohio to avoid creditors. Mormons also were driven out of Missouri. By the late 1830s, Smith and his loyal church members had landed in Nauvoo, Illinois. He soon declared that he was the mayor of the town as well as commander of his own private militia, the Nauvoo Legion. The year was 1843, and Joseph Smith had reached the pinnacle of his power and influence.650

A year later, Smith’s empire crumbled when a newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, appeared. In its one and only edition, the Expositor revealed secrets about the Mormons and Smith’s almost dictatorial power over the church. Published by apostates who had confronted Smith and insisted that he repudiate polygamy, the accounts were difficult to refute. Predictably, the detailed stories about polygamy ignited a firestorm of controversy, inflaming an already hostile anti-Mormon audience throughout Illinois. Smith might have salvaged his reputation, if not his life, had he responded to the accusations calmly and rationally. He did no such thing. Instead, he ordered soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion to destroy the press that had printed the offending newspaper. Acting as though he were a political authority, Smith also declared martial law. These reckless acts, coupled with the allegations recounted in the newspaper, all but sealed his fate.651

Confident that he could raise more troops through the Nauvoo Legion than Illinois Governor Thomas Ford could field with the state militia, Smith issued his imperious orders. Not surprisingly, Illinoisans reacted with alarm, calling for the government to suppress the Mormons through force of arms.

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