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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 4 | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 4 | ||
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#Smith, ''Intimate Chronicle'', xlviii-l. | #Smith, ''Intimate Chronicle'', xlviii-l. | ||
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− | {{propaganda|Two hundred pages later, we learn that this suspicion was only because of his [Clayton’s] “discussion of plural marriage” (p. 445), and his [Smith’s] own introduction to Clayton’s journals tell us that the charge was actually raised by an “apostate Mormon,” whom Clayton claimed had maliciously distorted his words, leading to what he called his life’s most painful experience. <ref>Smith, ''Intimate Chronicle'', xlix, 488–489, 490 n. 444.</ref> | + | {{propaganda|Two hundred pages later, we learn that this suspicion was only because of his [Clayton’s] “discussion of plural marriage” (p. 445), and his [Smith’s] own introduction to Clayton’s journals tell us that the charge was actually raised by an “apostate Mormon,” whom Clayton claimed had maliciously distorted his words, leading to what he called his life’s most painful experience.<ref>Smith, ''Intimate Chronicle'', xlix, 488–489, 490 n. 444.</ref> |
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*[[Polygamy/William Clayton]] | *[[Polygamy/William Clayton]] | ||
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</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
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− | *[[Plural marriage spiritual manifestations# | + | *[[Plural marriage spiritual manifestations#Benjamin Johnson|Plural marriage spiritual manifestations—Benjamin_Johnson]] |
==Response to claim: 250 - Benjamin Johnson is said to have been "Impressed by the prophet's inner calm but not fully convinced"== | ==Response to claim: 250 - Benjamin Johnson is said to have been "Impressed by the prophet's inner calm but not fully convinced"== | ||
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By not telling us this, The author hides the true reason for Johnson's decision to approach his sister, and the fact that his conversion (as recounted by the author) was a fulfillment of Joseph's prophetic promise. | By not telling us this, The author hides the true reason for Johnson's decision to approach his sister, and the fact that his conversion (as recounted by the author) was a fulfillment of Joseph's prophetic promise. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[Plural marriage spiritual manifestations# | + | *[[Plural marriage spiritual manifestations#Benjamin Johnson|Plural marriage spiritual manifestations—Benjamin_Johnson]] |
==Response to claim: 252 - Joseph "was able to wrap himself in the authority of the Bible"== | ==Response to claim: 252 - Joseph "was able to wrap himself in the authority of the Bible"== | ||
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#Quinn, ''Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power'', 212; ''Extensions of Power'', 163–97; Herbert R. Larsen, "Familism in Mormon Social Structure," Ph.D. diss., U of Utah, 1954. | #Quinn, ''Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power'', 212; ''Extensions of Power'', 163–97; Herbert R. Larsen, "Familism in Mormon Social Structure," Ph.D. diss., U of Utah, 1954. | ||
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− | {{propaganda|The author here suggests that Joseph's motivations were mercenary and pragmatic, rather than of sincere conviction. The author ignores the literature on Joseph's deep-felt need and commitment to binding friendship in his personal life and theology. <ref>Steven Epperson, ""The Grand, Fundamental Principle": Joseph Smith and the Virtue of Friendship," ''Journal of Mormon History'' 23/2 (Fall 1997): 81-101. See also {{s|| | + | {{propaganda|The author here suggests that Joseph's motivations were mercenary and pragmatic, rather than of sincere conviction. The author ignores the literature on Joseph's deep-felt need and commitment to binding friendship in his personal life and theology.<ref>Steven Epperson, ""The Grand, Fundamental Principle": Joseph Smith and the Virtue of Friendship," ''Journal of Mormon History'' 23/2 (Fall 1997): 81-101. See also {{s||D&C|84|63,77-78}}, {{s||D&C|88|3-4,62,113,117}}, {{s||D&C|93|51}}, {{s||D&C|94|1}}, {{s||D&C|97|1}}, {{s||D&C|100|1}}, {{s||D&C|103|1}}, {{s||D&C|104|1}}, {{s||D&C|105|26}}, {{s||D&C|109|6}}, {{s||D&C|121|9-10}}, {{s||D&C|125|25}}, {{s||JS-H|1|28}}.</ref> Such a pervasive theme in his personal and scriptural writing argues against "convenience" as his motivation. |
}} | }} | ||
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language|Loaded and prejudicial language]] | *[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language|Loaded and prejudicial language]] | ||
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{{misinformation|Joseph reportedly specifically addressed the matter in the first half of the 1830s. | {{misinformation|Joseph reportedly specifically addressed the matter in the first half of the 1830s. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Initiation of the practice|Initiation of the practice]] |
==Response to claim: 263 n. 54 - Ann Eliza Young said that the events she described "have fallen directly under my observation"== | ==Response to claim: 263 n. 54 - Ann Eliza Young said that the events she described "have fallen directly under my observation"== |
Chapter 3 (pp. 159-240) | A FAIR Analysis of: Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage", a work by author: George D. Smith
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Chapter 5 (pp. 325-351) |
Jump to details:
The book speculates that John Bennett's marriage record "may have been deleted" after his disagreement with Joseph Smith.Author's sources:
- No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit)
The book speculates that Joseph and Clayton were "conspiring to alter" his wife's "marital status."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
William Clayton (edit)
Author's quote: "…instead of waiting for [Sarah’s] arrival, [Clayton] married his legal wife’s sister Margaret on April 27. This was before Sarah’s ship had even set sail from England."Author's sources:
- Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 94, 99, 107, 556.
William Clayton (edit)
*The author states:…Clayton wrote on October 19 about needing to protect "the truth" by telling untruths, in this case the strategic charade of publicly rebuking someone while privately embracing them. Clayton wrote about Smith's advice: "Says he[,] just keep her [Margaret, his plural wife] at home and brook it and if they raise trouble about it and bring you before me I will give you an awful scourging and probably cut you off from the church and then I will baptise you and set you ahead as good as ever." [Italics and quotation marks as in The author's original.]
Author's sources:
- Citation errorThe author's source is given as "Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 122 (emphasis added)." No italics have been added by the author to any portion of Clayton's journal. All italicized material is G.D. Smith's words, not Clayton's.
William Clayton (edit)
The author then describes Clayton’s 1853 mission to England, during which, “instead of persuading the flock of the correctness of [polygamy], Clayton contributed to defections and was personally suspected of ‘having had unlawful intercourse with women.’”Author's sources:
- Smith, Intimate Chronicle, xlviii-l.
William Clayton (edit)
Author's quote: "The prophet went on to ask Benjamin [F. Johnson] for his sister Almera [in plural marriage], provoking his protégé to comment that if Smith did anything to 'dishonor or debauch his sister, he would have Benjamin to contend with. As Smith casually deflected this threat, his 'eye did not move from mine,' Johnson reported."Author's sources:
- Johnson to Gibbs, Apr.-Oct. 1903, 28–29.
"Brother Joseph This is Something I did not Expect & I do not understand it—You know whether it is right. I do not. I want to do just as you tell me, and I will try. But if I [ever] should Know that you do this to Dishonor & debauch my Sister I will kill you as Shure as the Lord lives"
Joseph does not "casually deflect" as is claimed. He promises revelation:
"while his eye did not move from mine He Said with a Smile, in a soft tone ‘But Benjamin you will never know that. But you will know the principle is true and will greatly Rejoice in what it will bring to you…"
Benjamin Johnson is said to have been "[i]mpressed by the prophet's inner calm but not fully convinced."Author's sources:
- Johnson to Gibbs, Apr.-Oct. 1903, 28–29.
"But.how I asked. Can I teach my Sister when I mYself do not understand…'But you will See & underStand it' he Said and when you open your mouth to talk to your Sister light will come to you & your mouth will be full. & your toung lose."
By not telling us this, The author hides the true reason for Johnson's decision to approach his sister, and the fact that his conversion (as recounted by the author) was a fulfillment of Joseph's prophetic promise.
The author claims that Joseph "was able to wrap himself in the authority of the Bible…."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author speculates: "In a theological explication, perhaps partly inspired by convenience, Smith saw the church hierarchy as an extended family that would continue to live together in an afterlife community."Author's sources:
- Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, 212; Extensions of Power, 163–97; Herbert R. Larsen, "Familism in Mormon Social Structure," Ph.D. diss., U of Utah, 1954.
Joseph Smith: cynical motivations (edit)
}}
*Benjamin F. Johnson is claimed to be "representative of the mainstream in LDS practice" because he married seven wives…
- The publisher's response to this original claim generated a new claim: That Joseph "justified taking a monagamist's wife and giving it to a man who already had ten."
Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Statistical problems (edit)
}}
Author's quote: "We do not know how long Joseph Smith had been contemplating polygamy, but the earliest conversations in which he explicitly addressed the topic were in late 1840 and early 1841."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author quotes Ann Eliza Young regarding events that happened in 1842: "She wrote that some of the events she related depended upon the 'experience of those so closely connected with me that they have fallen directly under my observation.'"Author's sources:
- Wife No. 19, 74.
John C. Bennett is claimed to have "publicized Young's clumsy attempt to entice [Martha] Brotherton" into plural marriage.
John C. Bennett (edit)
Brigham Young is claimed to have ridiculed geologists who "tell us that this earth has been in existence for thousands and millions of years."Author's sources:
- Citation error Journal of Discourses 12:271 [Smith provides the wrong citation: should be 14:115.]
Brigham Young is claimed to have "worked out a scheme" in which church members were organized into companies of 'tens' and 'fifties'….[footnote] The author then notes that "[t]he first LDS divisions of this kind were in Missouri, where Samson Avard….told men it would soon be their privilege to "….take to yourselves spoils of the goods of the ungodly gentiles."Author's sources:
- Andrew Jenson, "Caldwell County, Missouri," Historical Record 8 [Jan 1889]: 701.
Author's quote: "a history of the Mormons in the West would be … a history of a mad prophet's visions turned by an American genius into the seed of life."Author's sources:
- Bernard DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846 (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1942), 92-101, 469.
Author's quote: "When the opposition newspaper appeared and devoted space to polygamy, Smith and the ruling councils had it destroyed."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Smith also presumes that the concern was only about polygamy. He fails to inform the reader about concerns regarding its libelous nature and consequent risk of mob violence.
For example, Joseph was said to be a “blood thirsty and murderous…demon…in human shape” and “a syncophant [check spelling], whose attempt for power find no parallel in history… one of the blackest and basest scoundrels that has appeared upon the stage of human existence since the days of Nero, and Caligula.” He was also accused of causing the death of young women. The author acts instead as if the paper spoke only of polygamy.
Nauvoo Expositor (edit)
* Author's quote: "…since institutional histories have minimized the incidence and profile of polygamy (see chapter 1), it is easy to imagine that most men who entered polygamy did so in a cursory way." "In reality, the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo had between three and four wives, with a higher incidence of large families."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Statistical problems (edit)
The author states that as Nauvoo was gradually depopulated, it became increasingly lawless.Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author speculates that there would have been six plural husbands in Nauvoo by 1842 if John Bennett "had not been expelled…."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit)
Notes
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