Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith sold liquor in Nauvoo

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Criticism

Critics charge that Joseph Smith sold liquor in Nauvoo, and this is evidence that he either didn't believe the Word of Wisdom was from God, or was hypocritical about it.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 475.( Index of claims )

Response

Critics count on "presentism"—they hope readers will judge historical figures by the standards of our day, instead of their day.

The Word of Wisdom was enforced differently in the 19th century than today. It was not the strict test of fellowships that it is for the modern member.

Drink was often viewed as a scourge on the nineteenth century frontier. Mayor John C. Bennett's inaugural address sounded this theme:

The 21st Sec. of the addenda to the 13th Sec. of the City Charter concedes to you plenary power "to tax, restrain, prohibit and suppress, tippling houses, dram-shops," etc. etc., and I now recommend, in the strongest possible terms, that you take prompt, strong, and decisive measures to "prohibit and suppress" all such establishments. It is true you have the power "to tax," or license and tolerate, them, and thus add to the city finances; but I consider it much better to raise revenue by an ad valorem tax on the property of sober men, than by licensing dram shops, or taxing the signs of the inebriated worshippers at the shrine of Bacchus. The revels of bacchanalians in the houses of blasphemy and noise will always prove a disgrace to a moral people. Public sentiment will do much to suppress the vice of intemperance, and its concomitant evil results: but ample experience has incontrovertibly proven that it cannot do all -- the law must be brought to the rescue, and an effective prohibitory ordinance enacted. This cannot be done at a better time than at the present. Let us commence correctly, and the great work of reform, at least so far as our peaceful city is concerned, can be summarily consummated. It would be difficult to calculate the vast amount of civil and crime that would be prevented, and the great good that would accrue to the public at large by fostering the cause of temperance; but suffice it to say that the one would be commensurate to the other. -- No sales of spirituous liquors whatever, in a less quantity than a quart, except in cases of sickness on the recommendation of a physician or surgeon duly accredited by the Chancellor and Regents of the University, should be tolerated. The liberty of selling the intoxicating cup is a false liberty -- it enslaves, degrades, destroys, and wretchedness and want are attendant on every step....^[1]

Soon after the Nauvoo charter came into effect, Joseph and the city council "passed an ordinance against vending whiskey in small quantitites, effectively restricting the opening of saloons."^[2]

On 12 December 1843, the city council in Nauvoo passed a law allowing the mayor (i.e., Joseph) to sell spirits:

Be it ordained by the City Council of Nauvoo, that the Mayor of the city be and is hereby authorized to sell or give spirits of any quantity as he in his wisdom shall judge to be for the health and comfort, or convenience of such travelers or other persons as shall visit his house from time to time.^[3]

We note that such sale can include for "health"—some alcoholic use was seen as medicinal. (To learn more about medical beliefs and the Word of Wisdom substances, see here.)

The Mansion House

A bar was set up in Joseph's hotel, the Mansion house. Joseph Smith III tells of Emma's return from a journey to find the bar in place. As her biographers tell the story:

...Emma entered the main room of the Mansion House on April 24. A bar, complete with counter, shelves, and glasses for serving liquor stood in the room. [Orin] Porter Rockwell reigned supreme over it. Emma sent her eleven-year-old son into a meeting to tell Joseph she wished to speak with him; she waited in the hall.

"Joseph, what is the meaning of that bar in this house?" Emma asked with restraint obvious to her young son, who later recorded the confrontation. Joseph explained that a new building across the street was planned for Porter Rockwell's bar and barbershop, but until it could be completed Rockwell had set up the bar in the Mansion. "How does it look for the spiritual head of a religious body to be keeping a hotel in which a room is fitted out as a liquor-selling establishment?" she asked earnestly. Joseph countered that all hotels had their bars, the arrangement was only temporary, and he wanted to make up for Rockwell's months in prison.^[4]

Rockwell had been in jail in Missouri for the alleged crime of attempting to murder former governor Boggs, supposedly on Joseph's order. Rockwell was acquitted of all charges, but had been in jail for months and was probably in financially desperate straits. Joseph hoped to find a trade for his old friend and bodyguard.

Emma was not persuaded by this argument:

Unconvinced, Emma told Jospeh he could hire someone to run the Mansion for him. "As for me," she continued, "I will take my children and go across to the old hosue and stay there, for I will not have them raised up under such conditions as this arrangement imposes upon us, nor have them mingle with the kind of men who frequent such a place. You are at liberty to make your choice; either that bar goes out of the house, or we will!"...

Joseph answered, "Very well, Emma; I will have it removed at once." Soon a frame structure, designed to house the bar and barbership, began to rise across the street.^[5]

The Word of Wisdom was not binding on Latter-day Saint members, and was certainly not seen as a requirement for non-members. Joseph's hotel would likely see many travelers who would be non-members, and he may have felt that his supervision would be better able to prevent the abuse and trouble which liquor often brought with it. Emma's concern, notably, does not have anything to do with the Word of Wisdom, but simply that she does not wish her children and home to be associated with the difficulties that came with the liquor trade.

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Endnotes

1. [note]  John C. Bennett, "Inaugural Address. City of Nauvoo, Illinois, Feb. 3rd 1841," Times and Seasons 2 no. 8 (15 February 1841), 316. off-site GospeLink See also History of the Church, 4:288. Volume 4 link
2. [note]  Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 413. See Anonymous, "Great Moral Victory!," Times and Seasons 2 no. 8 (15 February 1841), 321. off-site GospeLink See also later law, which read: "That no auctioneer or auctioneers shall sell by auction dry goods or groceries, in lots or parcels of less value than five dollars, or liquors of any kind in less quantities than five gallons...." - Anonymous, "An Ordinance Regulating Actions, in the City of Nauvoo," Times and Seasons 3 no. 9 (1 March 1842), 717. off-site GospeLink Still later, "That all keepers of ordinaries or taverns, shall be, and they are hereby prohibited from selling spirituous liquors; and any keeper of a tavern or ordinary, who shall sell or permit to be sold, any spiritous liquors, in violation of this prohibition, shall, on conviction, for the first offence, be fined in the sum of twenty dollars, and for the second offence, forfeit his license, which shall be annulled by the Mayor...." - Anonymous, "An Ordinance to regulate Taverns and Ordinaries, in the City of Nauvoo," Times and Seasons 3 no. 12 (15 April 1842), 766. off-site GospeLink
3. [note]  Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, 2nd edition, (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 178–179. citing Joseph Smith III, Joseph Smith III and the Restoration, edited by Mary Audentia Smith Anderson (Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1952), 74–75.
4. [note]  Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, 2nd edition, (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 179.

Conclusion

The Word of Wisdom was not enforced as rigorously, or with the same requirements, in Joseph Smith's day. Many subsequent leaders emphasized the Lord's patience in this matter, as applied to both leaders and members.

The choices made by the nineteenth century saints and leaders should be seen in their historical context, not ours.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 6:111. Volume 6 link