|
|
| (One intermediate revision by the same user not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| − | {{FairMormon}}
| + | #REDIRECT[[Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Expositor#How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?]] |
| − | <onlyinclude>
| |
| − | ==Question: How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?==
| |
| − | ===Destruction of Expositor===
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;8 June 1844: Nauvoo city council meets regarding the Expositor.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;10 June 1844: The city council declares the ''Expositor'' a public nuisance and threat to the peace. This was not mere exaggeration; there were sixteen episodes of mob violence against controversial newspapers in Illinois from 1832 to 1867, and so the leaders’ fears of civil unrest were likely well-founded. The city council therefore ordered the press and the paper destroyed.<ref>Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” ''Utah Law Review'' 9 (1965):874. {{NB}}</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | : This was done. The decision to suppress the ''Expositor'', while legal for the day, worsened a tense situation (in the years following the ''Expositor'' suppression, similar tactics would be used in 1862, 1893, 1918, and 1927).<ref>Oaks, 897–898.</ref><br>Historically, presses which violated community ideas of what was proper were a genuine risk to the public peace. Elijah Lovejoy, an anti-slavery editor of ''The Saint Louis Observer'' was killed by a pro-slavery mob in 1837.<ref>"Today in History, November 7," United States Library of Congress. {{link|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov07.html}}</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | :Joseph and the city council might well have had memories of what happened in Missouri when some members of the Church became frustrated with the lack of legal redress for their mistreatment by Missouri citizens.<br> Missouri probably also set the stage for the legal decision to suppress the press. In 1833, the ''Evening and Morning Star'', the LDS paper in Independence, was subject to being "razed to the ground" at the unanimous decision of the mob committee established to drive out the Mormons.<ref>{{Book:Smith:Essentials in Church History|pages=134}} See also {{HoC|vol=1|start=390|end=395}}; {{TS1|vol=1|num=2|date=December 1839|article=A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri|author=Anonymous|start=18}}</ref> The mob's ultimatum later stipulated that the Mormons were not to publish anything before leaving.<ref>{{HoC|vol=1|start=338|end=339}}</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | :The law of the day probably gave Joseph and the council the right to destroy the offending issue; however, since they had also ordered the press and type destroyed, they violated property laws. Joseph later said he would be happy to pay for the damages.<ref>{{StoryOfLDS1|start=208}}</ref> Critics are inconsistent when they complain about the Nauvoo city council's decision to suppress the ''Expositor'' (an action that was legal) and yet do not also acknowledge that Mormon presses had been destroyed by mobs acting with no legal authority whatever.
| |
| − | | |
| − | :Despite the fact that the ''Expositor'''s suppression was legal, the destruction of the press appeared high-handed to Church critics, and other newspapers began to call for the Mormons’ expulsion or destruction. Joseph and others were arrested on charges of “riot.”
| |
| − | </onlyinclude>
| |
| − | {{endnotes sources}}
| |
| | [[Category:American Massacre]] | | [[Category:American Massacre]] |
| | [[Category:Letter to a CES Director]] | | [[Category:Letter to a CES Director]] |
