Kirtland Safety Society

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Criticism

Critics attack Joseph Smith over the Kirtland Safety Society (KSS) on multiple grounds:

• they claim the KSS was a "wildcat bank"
• they claim that the bank was illegal, and that the Church broke the law by founding it
• they claim it was a money-making scheme for Joseph
• they claim its failure proves Joseph was not a prophet

Response

This article will address the above issues, but it necessary to first discuss:

• vocabulary often used in discussions of banks and banking
• the reason for the formation of the KSS
• the status of banks in the 1830s frontier
• the way in which the KSS functioned

Terms and Defintions

face value

the money value marked on scrip. For a $20 note, the face value would be $20.

note

another term for scrip

redeem

to exchange scrip for specie at the bank

specie

hard currency, 'official' US money

scrip

paper money, issued by a bank. An example of KSS scrip can be seen here.

wildcat bank

a bank established as a money-making scam. The scam operated because specie would be accepted and scrip given. To redeem the scrip, however, required that the possessor travel to the bank (the "home office," so to speak). A wildcat bank would be established in a remote, hard-to-access place (where "the wildcats are"). This made it difficult to even find the bank, much less bring the scrip to be redeemed for specie. Thus, the bank kept the specie, and the note holder was left with worthless paper than no one would honor, since it could not be redeemed.

Criticisms

"Wildcat bank"?

A "wildcat bank" was a financial institution which was placed in a hard-to-access, out-of-the-way place (where "the wildcats were"). This meant that bank scrip

Conclusion

A summary of the argument against the criticism.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

• Links to related articles in the wiki

FAIR web site

• Links to articles on the FAIR web site; Topical Guide entries go first

External links

• Scott H. Partridge, "The Failure of the Kirtland Safety Society," BYU Studies 12:4 (Summer 1972):437–454. GospeLink
• Paul Sampson and Larry T. Wimmer, "The Kirtland Safety Society: The Stock Ledger Book and the Bank Failure," BYU Studies 12:4 (Summer 1972):427–436. GospeLink
• Dale W. Adams, "Chartering the Kirtland Bank," BYU Studies 23:4 (Fall 1983) 467–482. GospeLink
• Marvin S. Hill, Keith C. Rooker and Larry T. Wimmer, "The Kirtland Economy Revisited: A Market Critique of Sectarian Economics," BYU Studies 17:4 (Summer 1977): 389–471. GospeLink
• Images of KSS scrip and other "Mormon Money"

Printed material

• Printed resources whose text is not available online