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Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./Death: Difference between revisions
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=An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."=


===Reviews of previous revisions of this section===
==Reviews of previous revisions of this section==
[[/051909|19 May 2009]]
{{SummaryItem
 
|link=/051909
=== Death {{WikipediaUpdate|7/6/2010}} ===
|subject=19 May 2009
{{Main|Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.}}
|summary=A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia on 19 May 2009.
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
By the spring of 1844, a rift had developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=527–28}}.
}}
}}


===== =====
==Section review==
{{WikipediaPassage
=== Death {{WikipediaUpdate|9/3/2011}} ===
|claim=
most notably his trusted [[First Presidency|counselor]] [[William Law (Latter Day Saints)|William Law]] and Robert Foster, a [[general officer|general]] of the [[Nauvoo Legion]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=368}} (noting that Law and Foster were also the chief city contractors); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=528}} (noting that Law had been was a member of the [[Anointed Quorum]]); {{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=528}} (Law was criticized in 1843 and then dropped from the Anointed Quorum in January 1844, but after being defended by [[Hiram Smith]], rejected an April 1844 offer by Joseph Smith to be restored to church positions if he stopped opposing polygamy).
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
Law and Foster disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo's [[theocracy|theocratic]] economy,
Smith and his brother Hyrum were held in [[Carthage Jail]] on charges of treason.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=368–69}} (Law believed that Smith was misappropriating donations for the [[Nauvoo House]] hotel and neglecting other building projects despite the acute housing shortage, while Smith had no respect for building projects by Law and Foster.); {{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=14}}.
#Joseph and Hyrum were accompanied in jail by [[John Taylor (Mormon)]] and Dr. [[Willard Richards]], who were not prisoners.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
 
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
and both believed Smith had [[marriage proposal|proposed marriage]] to their wives.
On June 27, 1844, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971}} ("With sorrow and suspicion Law watched Joseph ever enlarging his circle of wives. Then the prophet tried to approach Law's own wife, Jane." (p. 369); Robert D. Foster came home and caught Smith having dinner alone with his wife, and after a confrontation where weapons were drawn, Mrs. Foster fainted and then said Smith had proposed to her (p. 371)); {{Harvtxt|Van Wagoner|1992|p=39}}; {{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=14}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=660–61}} (noting that Smith claimed that Jane Law had proposed to ''him'' (660–61), citing Journal of Alexander Neibaur, 24 May 1844 (Smith claimed that Jane Law lured him into her house alone, embraced him, and proposed to him, but that Smith resisted her advances); also noting that Smith confronted Mrs. Foster with two witnesses and got her to say that during their dinner, Smith had made no sexual advances and had not "preached the spiritual wife doctrine" (530–31).)).
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=550}} ("Hyrum was the first to fall. A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
 
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
After the dissidents organized, and one of them was heard predicting an uprising in Nauvoo,
Smith fired a [[pepper-box]] pistol that had been smuggled into the prison,
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=371}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=530}}; {{Citation|last=Williams|first=A.B.|title=Affidavit|date=15 May 1844|periodical=[[Times and Seasons]]|volume=5|issue=10|page=541|url=http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n10.htm}} (Affidavit stating, "Joseph H. Jackson said that Doctor Foster, Chauncy Higbee and the Laws were red-hot for a conspiracy, and he should not be surprised if in two weeks there should be not one of the Smith family left in Nauvoo").
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=393}} ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|2005|p=549}} (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
 
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
 
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Joseph fired a gun}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=531}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
The dissidents formed a [[True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|competing church]]
|authorsources=
*Bushman 2005 531
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and the following month procured [[grand jury]] [[indictment]]s against Smith for [[polygamy]] and other crimes in [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]], the [[county seat]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=373}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
In response, Smith and his followers unleashed a barrage of [[defamation]] against the dissidents,
|authorsources=
*Brodie 1971 373
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and in a public sermon, Smith vehemently denied he had more than one wife.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=373}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=538}} (arguing that Smith may have felt justified denying polygamy and "spiritual wifeism" because he thought it was based on a different principle than "plural marriage"); {{Harvtxt|Roberts|1912|pp=408–412}} (Smith stated, "I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives....I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves....What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." "This new holy prophet [Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this").
|response=
*One cited source, Bushman, states that Joseph's "main point as always was that he was not committing adultery, nor was he practicing 'spiritual wifeism,' another name for polygamy. To Joseph's enemies, the speech was blatant hypocrisy, but in his own mind, priesthood plural marriage was based on another principle than polygamy." (Bushman, p. 538)
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy#Hiding_the_Truth.3F|l1=Hiding the truth about polygamy}}
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
After the dissidents published a [[prospectus (book)|prospectus]] for a new newspaper that referred to Smith as a "self-constituted monarch,"
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=137–38}} (noting that the prospectus was published May 10, 1844, and that an informant within the [[Council of Fifty]] had told Law about Smith's ordination as king).
|response=
*The relevant passage from the Nauvoo Expositor:
<blockquote>
We have received from Nauvoo a Prospectus for a new paper, to be entitled the "Nauvoo Expositor." It is intended to be the organ of the Reformed Mormon Church, which has lately been organized in that place, and to oppose the power of `the self-constituted Monarch,' who has assumed the government of the Holy City. We care no more aboout the New Church than the Old one, as a church; for we regard both with indifference. But if it can be a means of humbling the haughty miscreant who rules in that city and exposing his rank villianies, than we shall wish both Church and Paper a hearty God speed! The gentlemen who have the new paper in charge, have the reputation of being men of character and talent; and have commenced the work in which they are engaged, in real earnest. We hope the public will encourage their effort. -- ''Upper Mississippian''.
</blockquote>
*{{Detail|Primary sources/Nauvoo Expositor Full Text}}
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
the [[Council of Fifty]] offered to reinstate Law, but he refused to return to the church unless it renounced polygamy.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=138}} (noting that the offer was presented by [[Sidney Rigdon]], who did not have authority to concede polygamy).
}}
 
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Therefore, on June 7, 1844, the dissidents published the first and only issue of the ''[[Nauvoo Expositor]]'', calling for reform within the church.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=539}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=374}} (arguing that given its authors' intentions to reform the church, the paper was "extraordinarily restrained" given the explosive allegations it could have raised).
|response=
*{{Detail|Nauvoo Expositor}}
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
The paper decried [[polygamy]] and Smith's new "[[Mormon cosmology|doctrines of many Gods]]" (taught recently in his [[King Follet discourse]])
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=539}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=374–75}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and alluded to Smith's kingship,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=375}} (stating that the Expositor contained "an unmistakable allusion to Joseph's kingship"); {{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=139}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|2005}};{{Harvtxt|Marquardt|1999|p=312}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
promising to present evidence of its allegations in succeeding issues.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=139}} (noting that the publishers intended to emphasize the details of Smith's delectable plan of government" in later issues).
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
At a meeting of the Nauvoo city council, Smith again denied that the church was practicing polygamy.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=377}} (Smith declared that the 1843 revelation on polygamy referred to in the ''Expositor'' "was in answer to a question concerning things which transpired in former days, and had no reference to the present time").
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
On the theory that the paper threatened to bring the countryside down on the Mormons,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=340–41}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
the council ordered the [[Nauvoo Legion]] to destroy the ''Expositor'''s printing press as a public [[nuisance]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=540}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=377}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|2005}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|1999|p=312}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith failed to foresee that suppressing the paper would sooner incite riots than allowing it to continue publishing.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=541}} (Smith "failed to see that suppression of the paper was far more likely to arouse a mob than the libels. It was a fatal mistake.").
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV}}There is a subtle difference in wording between what Bushman says and what the wiki editor states. Bushman states that Smith "failed to see," whereas the wiki editor claims that "Smith failed to ''foresee''." This is a subtle dig at Joseph's prophetic abilities.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms by [[Thomas C. Sharp]], editor of the ''[[Warsaw Signal]]''.
|authorsources=
*''Warsaw Signal'', June 14, 1844. ("Citizens arise, one and all!!! Can you stand by, and suffer such Infernal Devils! to rob men of their property and rights without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. Let it be made with Powder and Ball!!!."
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Fearing an uprising, Smith mobilized the [[Nauvoo Legion]] on June 18 and declared [[martial law]]. [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]] responded by mobilizing its small detachment of the state militia, and [[Governor of Illinois|Illinois Governor]] [[Thomas Ford (politician)|Thomas Ford]] appeared, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=16}}.
|response=
*According to the Ostlings: "Mormons feared anti-Mormon retaliation. Local non-Mormons feared the Nauvoo Legion. Smith also feared for his life. On June 18, he declared martial law and mobilized the Legion. Non-Mormons pressured Governor Thomas Ford to mobilize the state militia." {{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=16}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling|work=Mormon America: The Power and the Promise}}
}}
 


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
After instructing his clerk to hide or destroy the minutes of the [[Council of Fifty]] and ordering the [[Anointed Quorum]] to burn their [[temple garment]]s,
then "sprang to the window" before being shot several times. He died shortly after falling to the ground.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=140, 145–46}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=393–94}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith fled across the [[Mississippi River]]. Nevertheless, under pressure from Emma and other Saints, he returned and surrendered to Ford. On June 23, Smith and his brother [[Hyrum Smith|Hyrum]] were taken to [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]] to stand trial for inciting a [[riot]].
|authorsources=
*Ostlings, 17; Bushman, 546. Eight Mormon leaders accompanied Smith to Carthage: Hyrum Smith, [[John Taylor (1808-1887)|John Taylor]], [[Willard Richards]], [[John P. Greene]], Stephen Markham, [[Dan Jones (Mormon)|Dan Jones]], John S. Fullmer, Dr. Southwick, and Lorenzo D. Wasson. [http://byustudies2.byu.edu/hc/6/31.html] All of Smith's associates left the jail, except his brother Hyrum, Richards and Taylor.
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to [[treason]] against Illinois.
|authorsources=
*
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith and Hyrum were held in [[Carthage Jail]].
|authorsources=
*Joseph and Hyrum were accompanied in jail by [[John Taylor (Mormon)]] and Dr. [[Willard Richards]], who were not prisoners.
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
On the morning of 27 June 1844, Smith sent a letter ordering the [[Nauvoo Legion]] to attack Carthage and free him, but the acting commander quietly disobeyed the order.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=141}} ([[Major General]] Jonathan Dunham "realized that such an assault by the Nauvoo Legion would result in two blood baths").
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Later that day, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=550}} ("Hyrum was the first to fall.  A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")
}}
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith fought back with a [[pepper-box]] pistol that had been smuggled into the prison
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=393}} ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|2005|p=549}} (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Hiding Joseph's gun|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Joseph fired a gun}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Masonic cry of distress}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}}  
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}}  
}}


===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
but was shot while jumping from a window, then shot and killed as he lay on the ground.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=393–94}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005}}.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Masonic cry of distress}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}}
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
Smith was buried in Nauvoo.
Smith was buried in Nauvoo.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.
#Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith<ref name="at_the_time">Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.</ref>
|claim=
|claim=
Five men were tried for his murder; all were [[acquitted]].
Five men were tried for his murder; all were [[acquitted]].
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=552}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=552}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}


==References==
{{To_learn_more_box:anti-Mormon_literature_and_Wikipedia}}
{{WikipediaRefList:Joseph Smith, Jr.}}


=={{Further reading label}}==
{{MormonismAndWikipedia}}


{{suggestions}}
{{Endnotes sources}}
{{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}}

Latest revision as of 07:05, 31 May 2024

An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"



1839 - 1844
A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: "Joseph Smith"
 A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here) 		Distinctive views and teachings
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Reviews of previous revisions of this section

19 May 2009

Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia on 19 May 2009.

Section review

Death  Updated 9/3/2011

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith and his brother Hyrum were held in Carthage Jail on charges of treason.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

On June 27, 1844, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith fired a pepper-box pistol that had been smuggled into the prison,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

then "sprang to the window" before being shot several times. He died shortly after falling to the ground.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith was buried in Nauvoo.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Five men were tried for his murder; all were acquitted.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
Wikipedia and anti-Mormon literature
Key sources
  • Roger Nicholson, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That 'Anyone Can Edit'," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1/8 (14 September 2012). [151–190] link
Wiki links
Online
Navigators


Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.
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