Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./1839 - 1844

1838 to 1839

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr. A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)

Death

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An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."

Reviews of previous revisions of this section

19 May 2009

From the Wikipedia article:
In April 1839, Smith rejoined his followers who, having fled east from Missouri, had spread out along the banks of the Mississippi, near Quincy, Illinois. There, for both humanitarian and political reasons, the refugees had been welcomed.

Wikipedia footnotes:
"There was chronic border friction between Missouri and Illinois, and the 'Suckers' welcomed the chance to demonstrate a nobility of character foreign to the despised 'Pukes.' More important, a presidential election was in the offing, and the Democratic Association, which controlled the votes in the quincy area, was eager to make friends with this huge new voting bloc. Fearful lest the Mormons turn Whig in bitterness against the Democratic government in Missouri they solicited funds for relieving the Mormons' distress and did their best to provide housing." Fawn Brodie, 248-49.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Purchasing waterlogged wilderness land on credit from two Connecticut speculators (who drove a hard bargain during this period of economic recession), Smith established a new gathering place for the Saints along the Mississippi in Hancock County.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 383-84. Smith also purchased land across the river in Iowa from a dishonest recent convert, Isaac Galland. Galland sold his land cheaply enough, but when courts finally straightened out the titles, Gallands' proved worthless. The 250 Mormon families who had settled had to return "penniless to Nauvoo." Brodie, 262.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
He renamed the area "Nauvoo", which he said meant "beautiful" in Hebrew.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• A similar Hebrew word appears in Isaiah 52: 7

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The soggy low land and river eddies were exceptional breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and the Saints suffered plagues of malaria in the summers of 1839, 1840, and 1841. (In 1841 malaria killed Joseph's brother Don Carlos and his namesake, Joseph's son Don Carlos, within a few days of one another.)

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 384, 425.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Late in 1839, Smith went to Washington to seek redress from the federal government for the Saints' losses in Missouri. He met briefly with President Martin Van Buren, but neither man seems to have thought much of the other, and the trip produced no reparations. Whatever sympathy Van Buren or Congress might have had for Mormon victims was canceled out by the importance of Missouri in the upcoming presidential election.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 392-93.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Nevertheless, Smith shrewdly made Missouri a "byword for oppression" and "saw to it that the sufferings of his people received national publicity."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie, 259. The editor of the Chicago Democrat wrote, "We will not go so far as to call the Mormons martyr-mongers, but we believe they are men of sufficient sagacity to profit by anything in the shape of persecution....The Mormons have greatly profited by their persecution in Missouri...let Illinois repeat that bloody tragedies of Missouri and one or two other states follow, and the Mormon religion will not only be known throughout our land, but will be very extensively embraced. March 25, 1840 in Brodie, 259.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In a bold stroke, Smith sent off the Twelve Apostles to Great Britain to serve as missionaries for the new faith. All left families in desperate circumstances struggling to establish themselves in Iowa or Illinois. While Smith had been imprisoned, Brigham Young, the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, had with indefatigable skill, brought the believers out of Missouri, and the Saints "had obeyed him implicitly."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie, 258.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
But with Young and the others in Europe, Smith recovered his earlier prestige and authority. Meanwhile, the missionaries found many willing converts in Great Britain, often factory workers, poor even by the standards of American saints.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 409; Brodie, 258, 264-65. Many converts came from dissatisfied members of English sects "along the margins of conventional church life." On the previous religious beliefs of these Mormon converts, see Grant Underwood, The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1993). The Mormon missionaries were shocked by the poverty they witnessed, and as Fawn Brodie has written, they "began to preach the glory of America along with the glory of the gospel." The Mormon Millennial Star published in Liverpool "frequently had the ring of a real estate pamphlet." Brodie, 264.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
These first trickled, then flooded, into Nauvoo, raising Smith's spirits.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 410.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In February 1841, Nauvoo received a charter from the state of Illinois, which granted the Latter Day Saints a considerable degree of autonomy. Smith threw himself enthusiastically into the work of building a new city. The charter authorized independent municipal courts, the establishment of a university, and the creation of a militia unit known as the "Nauvoo Legion." Smith dreamed of industrial projects, and even received a revelation commanding the building of a hotel, "that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 410-13; D&C, 124: 23. The revelation (still included in the Mormon canon) specifically provided the amount of stock to be owned by any individual and granted a suite of rooms to Joseph Smith and his posterity "from generation to generation, for ever and ever." D&C, 124: 59.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
While burdened with the temporal business of creating a city, Smith also elaborated on the cosmology of the new religion. According to Richard Bushman, Smith moved from "a traditional Christian belief in God as pure spirit to a belief in His corporeality."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• D&C, 130: 22; Bushman (2005), 420. According to LDS theologian David Paulsen, this teaching was foreshadowed in the Book of Mormon by the story of the brother of Jared, although even Richard Bushman admits that the "doctrine of a corporeal God was not fully articulated until later." David L. Paulsen, "The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Restoration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives, BYU Studies 34, no. 4 (1995-96), 19-21. The earliest unequivocal statement of Joseph Smith was made at the opening of the Nauvoo Lyceum, January 5, 1841: "There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bone." Kurt Widmer, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830-1915 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000), 122. See also Douglas J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 75-76.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In other words, Smith declared that God had a body of flesh and bone and taught that "the great principle of happiness consists in having a body."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 421.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Instead of affirming that there was an eternal God who had created matter, Smith taught that matter was eternal and that it was God who had developed through time and space. God only assembled the earth from preexisting materials and then had drawn on "a cohort of spirits from the pool of eternal intelligences to place upon it."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 421. In general see, Kurt Widmer, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830-1915 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000). Widmer notes that Smith's "Doctrine of Eternal Progression" includes four components: that God is an exalted man; that man's spirit is co-equal with God and he can become a god; that there are innumerable gods who are progressing in knowledge; and that there is a "council or plurality" of gods." (119)

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Another striking doctrine revealed to Smith after 1840 was baptism for the dead, an attempt to join "the generation of humanity from start to finish" by bringing "saving ordinances to the millions who had died without their benefits."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 422.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
During the same period, Smith published the Book of Abraham, his translation of what later turned out to be an ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead that he had purchased from a traveling exhibitor in 1835. The Book of Abraham, canonized by the LDS Church after Smith's death, also emphasized the plurality of gods, pre-mortal existence, and the concept that the earth had been organized out of preexisting matter.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 452-58; Brodie, 170-75; Widmer, 90. The Book of Abraham was also used by later Mormons to justify discrimination against those with black skin because they were, like Pharaoh, descendants of Ham.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
These doctrinal expansions culminated in a renewed effort to build another temple. Smith chose a site on a bluff in Nauvoo where he blessed the cornerstones in a public ceremony on April 6, 1841. In Kirtland, Smith had instituted rituals of washing and anointing, but in Nauvoo "the ceremonies were further elaborated to include baptism for the dead, endowments, and priesthood marriages."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 448; Ostlings, 9; Davies, 205. Davies notes that "Baptism for the dead and covenant-endowments for the conquest of death both found their ultimate validation in the power of the priesthood yet these three elements are absent from the Book of Mormon, whose emphasis upon baptism is always a baptism of repentance of the living for themselves." Smith did not live to see the completion or dedication of the temple. The Saints began to receive endowments on December 10, 1845, and the temple dedication was held on April 30, 1845, just before Nauvoo was abandoned.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith had "a green thumb for growing ideas from tiny seeds," and "portions of the temple ritual resembled Masonic rites that Joseph had observed when a Nauvoo lodge was organized in March 1842 and that he may have heard about from Hyrum, a Mason from New York days."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 449. Smith was initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason at the Nauvoo lodge on March 15, 1842. The next day, he was raised to the degree of Master Mason; the usual month-long wait between degrees was waived by the Grand Master of Illinois, Abraham Jonas.Mormons;Excerpts - Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed;The Message and the Messenger: Latter-day Saints and Freemasonry;Facing the facts about Mormonism;The Masonic Moroni- Images- Page One;Joseph Smith Jr.: Encyclopedia II - Joseph Smith Jr. - Biography. Some commentators have noted similarities between portions of temple ordinance of the endowment and the Royal Arch Degree of Freemasonry. Richard Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (Harper Collins, 1999), 188. "Smith was an active Mason when he introduced the endowment ordinance two years before his death, and many scholars have noted the strong resemblance between the Mormon ordinance and Masonic ritual." Richard Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (Harper Collins, 1999), 194-95. "Early Mormons were fairly open in recognizing the connection between the endowment ritual and Masonry. Apostle and First Counselor Heber C. Kimball wrote that Smith believed in the 'similarity of preast Hood in Masonary.' Other early church leaders taught that the Masonic ceremony was a corrupted form of temple rituals that had descended directly from the biblical Solomon and were restored to their true, pristine form by the inspired Joseph Smith. ... Joseph Smith became a Mason in March 1842, advancing all the way to Master Mason the next day. This was highly unusual since the normal minimum wait between each of the three degrees is thirty days. In the weeks that followed he observed Masonic ritual degree advancements thirteen times before introducing the endowment ceremony on May 4 and 5, 1842. The essentially British version of Masonry as probably practiced in Nauvoo included such elements as ritual anointing of body parts; a ... drama as a metaphor for a spiritual journey; bestowal of a secret name (as a password into eternity); special garments (in Mormonism, sacred undergarments) when stepping through a veil in glorified ascent to a Celestial Lodge; secret handshakes and tokens; promises to fulfill moral obligations; penalty oaths to protect secrecy; progression through three degrees toward perfection; the use of special temple robes and aprons; and the word exalted to signify becoming kings in connection with the Royal Arch degree. Masons regard the lodge as a temple. All these elements have strong parallels in Smith's endowment ceremony. In addition, Masonic symbols that have been adapted by Mormons on everything from temples to gravestones to logos include: the beehive, the square and compass, two triangles forming a six-pointed star, the all-seeing eye, sun, moon, and stars, and ritualistic hand grips." Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith,The Mormon Murders, (St Martin's Press, 1988), 78. "But like many Mormon boys with doubts, Mark was already caught up in the intriguing, Masonic-like initiation rites of the Mormon priesthood, the secret passwords, the secret handshakes, the special garments." Stanley B. Kimball,Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer, 85: "Heber thought he saw similarities between Masonic and Mormon ritual." "Heber seems to have felt that both Mormonism and Masonry derived separately from ancient ceremonies connected with Solomon's temple." (See Freemasonry and the Latter Day Saint movement.)

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The early years in Nauvoo had been a time of comparative peace and economic prosperity, but by mid-1842, Smith was entangled in the conflicts that ended with his death two years later.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 436.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
A year previous, Missouri courts had once again tried to extradite him on old charges that stemmed from the Mormon War. Although Stephen Douglas, then a member of the Illinois State Supreme Court, declared the writ of extradition void on a technicality, Smith "realized that popular opinion was turning against the Saints after two years of sympathy." Not surprisingly, Smith's praise for the Democrat Douglas first provoked opposition to the Mormons in a Whig newspaper, the Warsaw Signal, whose young editor, Thomas C. Sharp, Joseph then unwisely offended.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 425-28. Prior to Smith's praise for Douglas, Sharp had been a "neutral observer" of the Nauvoo settlement. Smith had given him a place of honor at the dedication of the temple cornerstone and had invited him to his house for turkey dinner. After Sharp announced that his newspaper would "oppose the concentration of political power in a religious body, or in the hands of a few individuals," Smith canceled his subscription and called the paper "a filthy sheet, that tissue of lies, that sink of iniquity," and signed the letter "Yours, with utter contempt."

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Of all Smith's innovations during the years immediately preceding his death, the one that received the most hostile reception was his institution of plural marriage. In April 1841, Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman as a plural wife, and during the next two and a half years, he may have married thirty additional women, ten of them already married to other men.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 437; Remini, 151; Brodie, 335. Bushman follows the conservative reckoning of Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), excluding one.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
About a third of Smith's plural wives were teenagers, including two fourteen-year-old girls.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Compton, 11; Remini,154; Brodie, 334-43.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith was "a charismatic, handsome man," and in Remini's words, he "seemed cheerful and gracious" to all.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 439; Remini, 144.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Because many husbands and fathers knew about these plural marriages, Smith must have convinced them that "they and their families would benefit spiritually from a close tie to the Prophet."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 439. Smith also told some women that an angel had commanded him to marry them, sometimes coming with "a drawn sword and threatened his life." Brodie, 303.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith told one prospective wife that submitting to plural marriage would "ensure your eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your father's household"; a father who gave his daughter in plural marriage was assured that the marriage would ensure "honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house both old and young."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Whitney, "Autobiography" [2]; Revelation, July 27, 1842, Revelations Collections; quoted in Bushman, 439; Martha Sonntag Bradley and Mary Brown Firmage Woodward, Plurality, Patriarchy, and Priestess: Zina D. H. Young's Nauvoo Marriages," Journal of Mormon History 20 (1994): 84-118.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Furthermore, once sealed for eternity by priesthood authority, Smith revealed that such couples would continue to procreate in the next life, becoming, in effect, gods.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 439, 444; D&C 132: 20: "Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them."

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith surely "must have realized that plural marriage would inflict terrible damage, that he ran the risk of wrecking his marriage and alienating his followers." And for those in the larger world, plural marriage "would confirm all their worst fears" about Mormonism. "Sexual excess was considered that all too common fruit of pretended revelation."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 438: "Joseph's enemies would delight in one more evidence of a revelator's antinomian transgressions. He also risked prosecution under Illinois's anti-bigamy law."

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Although Emma believed in Joseph's prophetic calling, she was displeased with his multiple marriages, especially since five of the women lived in the Smith household when he married them.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Leonard Arrington & Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience (University of Illinois, 1979), 223; Bushman (2005), 491; Remini, 152-53; Brodie, 340-42: "Only Joseph's intimates knew that Emma nagged at him incessantly to be done with plural marriage....There was a hard core of resistance in Emma that Joseph simply could not wear down."

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Emma may have temporarily approved of Joseph's marriage to two sisters, Eliza and Emily Partridge, but even they were an "awkward selection" because Joseph had already married the sisters two months previous, and he had to go through another ceremony for Emma's benefit.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 494; Brodie, 339; Remini, 152-53. The day Joseph married the Partridge sisters, he bought Emma a new carriage.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Nevertheless, "from that hour," Emily later wrote, "Emma was our bitter enemy," and they had to leave the household.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quoted in Brodie, 339.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
According to Smith's scribe, William Clayton, Joseph's brother Hyrum encouraged him to write down his revelation on plural marriage to present to Emma, and Joseph did so.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 495-96.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
When Hyrum presented Emma with the revelation, she abused him.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 496; Newell and Avery, 161. Hyrum said that he came away from Emma having "never received a more severe talking to in his life." Later Joseph supposedly told his brother, "I told you you didn't know Emma as well as I did. Historical Record, 6: 224-26 (1887), quoted in Brodie, 341.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Clayton reported that when Joseph reproved Emma for demanding from one plural wife a watch Joseph had given her, Joseph "had to use harsh measures to put a stop to [Emma's] abuse."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman (2005), 496 quoting Clayton, Journal, August 16, 21, 23, 1843,

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Throughout her life and on her deathbed, Emma Smith frequently denied that her husband had ever taken additional wives.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Emma claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Joseph by Mormons was when she read about it in Orson Pratt's booklet The Seer in 1853 (Saints' Herald 65:1044–1045). Emma campaigned publicly against polygamy and also authorized and was the main signatory of a petition in Summer 1842, with a thousand female signatures, denying that Joseph was connected with polygamy (Times and Seasons 3 [August 1, 1842]: 869). As president of the Ladies' Relief Society, Emma authorized publishing a certificate in October 1842 denouncing polygamy and denying her husband as its creator or participant (Times and Seasons 3 [October 1, 1842]: 940). In March 1844, Emma said, "we raise our voices and hands against John C. Bennett's 'spiritual wife system', as a scheme of profligates to seduce women; and they that harp upon it, wish to make it popular for the convenience of their own cupidity; wherefore, while the marriage bed, undefiled is honorable, let polygamy, bigamy, fornication, adultery, and prostitution, be frowned out of the hearts of honest men to drop in the gulf of fallen nature". The document The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo. signed by Emma Smith as President of the Ladies' Relief Society, was published within the article Virtue Will Triumph, Nauvoo Neighbor, March 20, 1844 (LDS History of the Church 6:236, 241) including on her deathbed where she stated "No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband's death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of...He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have". Church History3: 355-356

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Even when her sons Joseph III and Alexander presented her with specific written questions about polygamy, she continued to deny that their father had been a polygamist.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Van Wagoner (1992) , pp. 113-115 As Fawn Brodie has written, this denial was "her revenge and solace for all her heartache and humiliation." (Brodie, 399) "This was her slap at all the sly young girls in the Mansion House who had looked first so worshipfully and then so knowingly at Joseph. She had given them the lie. Whatever formal ceremony he might have gone through, Joseph had never acknowledged one of them before the world." Newell and Avery wrote of "the paradox of Emma's position", quoting her friend and lawyer Judge George Edmunds who stated "that's just the hell of it! I can't account for it or reconcile her statements." Newell (Avery) , p. 308

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Although Smith's teachings about plural marriage were expressed in strict confidentiality and only to his leadership, the more men and women who participated, the more likely it became that these secret marriages would be revealed to the Nauvoo community and, of course, to the larger world.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• "Rumors of polygamy among the Mormons were not loud, but they were persistent....there was talk of it, talk that increased with the passing years." Brodie, 186. When in 1841, Smith approached Joseph Bates Noble about marrying his wife's sister, Smith asked Bates to "keep quiet": "In revealing this to you I have placed my life in your hands, therefore do not in an evil hour betray me to my enemies." Noble performed the ceremony "in a grove near Main Street with Louisa in man's clothing." Bushman, 438.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
By May 16, 1842, the New York Herald reported the rumor that "promiscuous intercourse" was being practiced in Nauvoo.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quoted in Brodie, 269.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Yet Smith might have been able to talk down these reports along with other salacious gossip had it not been for his erstwhile second-in-command, John Cook Bennett.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 32.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith was not always a good judge of men,

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 32. Bushman says more discreetly that Smith "had trouble distinguishing true friends from self-serving schemers." Bushman (2005), 410.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and Bennett shortly became Smith's nemesis, although Smith had first predicted that Bennett was "calculated to be a great blessing to our community."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 410.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
After deserting a wife and three children and arriving in Nauvoo in 1841, Bennett had been baptized into the new religion.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 12.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Emma never trusted him, but Joseph welcomed his assistance in acquiring the Nauvoo city charter. Soon Bennett became the first mayor of Nauvoo, “assistant president,” and Major General of the Nauvoo Legion.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 12; Bushman, 459.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
The latter Bennett threatened to use in challenging Missouri for restitution of the Saints’ lost property, suggesting to skittish gentiles that Mormons intended to use force of arms to accomplish their objectives.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie, 273. Bennett wrote that the “blood of murdered Mormons cries aloud for help…and I swear by the Lord God of Israel, that the sword shall not depart from my thigh, nor the buckler from my arm, until the trust is consummated, and the hydra-headed fiery dragon slain.” Times and Seasons, 3 (March 15, 1842), 724.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Unfortunately for Smith, Bennett also had an eye for women and made use of Smith’s new revelation to seduce the unwary, telling them that illicit sex was acceptable among the Saints so long as it was kept secret.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 460.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
And Bennett ignored even perfunctory wedding ceremonies.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Brodie, 310; Bushman, 460. Bennett, a minimally trained doctor, also promised abortions to those who became pregnant.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith was incensed at Bennett’s activities and forced Bennett’s resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett remained in the area and wrote “lurid exposés of life in Nauvoo” that were first published in various newspapers and, later that year, compiled into a book.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 12; Bushman, 461-62; Brodie, 314.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Even contemporaries could hardly escape the conclusion that Bennett was, as Fawn Brodie has called him, “a base and ignoble opportunist.” But the Ostlings note that “there was just enough of a kernel of truth to arouse internal suspicion and whip up anti-Mormon sentiment elsewhere.”

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 13.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Non-Mormons looked with increasing uneasiness not only at reports of Mormon “free wifery” but at the comparative success of Nauvoo, the competent drilling of the Nauvoo Legion, and the growing political clout of the Saints.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, p. 13

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Furthermore, on May 6, 1842, an unknown assailant shot former governor of Missouri Lilburn Boggs three times in the head.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 468.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Bennett named a rough Mormon loyalist, Porter Rockwell, as the gunman. Mormons assumed Boggs would die and considered his assassination a fulfillment of prophecy. The Nauvoo Wasp indiscreetly gloated that the person who “did the noble deed remains to be found out."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 468; Brodie, 323; Nauvoo Wasp, May 28, 1842.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Boggs refused to die, however, and when he recovered, he pressed Illinois governor Thomas Carlin to extradite Smith to Missouri. Smith once again went into hiding for some months until the U. S. Circuit Court in Springfield finally ruled that the extradition order was unconstitutional.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 468-75. The court’s reasoning was that if Smith had committed a crime, it had been committed in Illinois not Missouri.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Nevertheless, Smith realized his current position was tenuous. Many citizens of Illinois were now determined to drive the Mormons out of the state.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 508.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In December 1843, Smith petitioned Congress for the right to make Nauvoo an independent federal territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 511; Brodie, 356. Smith also threatened Congress. The Millennial Star later quoted Smith as having said, "if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them—not even a grease spot." Quoted in Brodie, 356.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Then, probably unwisely, Smith also decided to desert both Whigs and Democrats, and announce his own candidacy for President of the United States, sending out the apostles to advertise his campaign.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 514-15; Brodie, 362-64. Smith chose Sidney Rigdon as his running mate.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
Meanwhile, he made plans to scout possible sites for a large Mormon settlement in Oregon or California.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 519.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In March 1844, Smith organized a secret Council of Fifty, a policy-making body based on what Smith called "Theodemocracy"

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Smith told a St. Louis reporter, "I go emphatically, virtuously, and humanely for a Theodemocracy, where God and the people hold the power to conduct the affairs of men in righteousness. And where liberty, free trade, and sailor's right [sic], and the protection of life and property shall be maintained inviolate, for the benefit of ALL." (Quoted in Bushman, 522.) Nevertheless, as Bushman admits, to critics, "Joseph's plan for the Kingdom of God looked like a program for Mormon dominance." The Council of Fifty (which originally had fifty-three members) included only three non-Mormons, two of whom were known counterfeiters. (Ostlings, 13).

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
and which was in effect a shadow government.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Bushman, 511; Ostlings, 13; Remini, 166; Robert Bruce Flanders, Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1965), 292-94.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
One of the Council's first acts was to ordain Smith as King of the Kingdom of God. And, as if they had just organized an independent state, Smith and the Council sent ambassadors to England, France, Russia, and the Republic of Texas.

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Ostlings, 13.

FAIR's analysis:

From the Wikipedia article:
In April, Smith predicted "the entire overthrow of this nation in a few years."

Wikipedia footnotes:

• Quoted in Bushman, 521.

FAIR's analysis:

References

Wikipedia references for "Joseph Smith, Jr."

• Abanes, Richard, (2003), One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church Thunder's Mouth Press
• Allen, James B., The Significance of Joseph Smith's "First Vision" in Mormon Thought off-site .
• (1992), The Mormon Experience University of Illinois Press .
• (1980), The Lion and the Lady: Brigham Young and Emma Smith off-site .
• Bergera, Gary James (editor) (1989), Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine Signature Books .
• Bloom, Harold, (1992), The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation Simon & Schuster .
• Booth, Ezra, Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX (Letters to the editor) off-site .
• Brodie, Fawn M., (1971), No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith Knopf .
• Brooke, , (1994), The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 Cambridge University Press .
• Bushman, Richard Lyman, (2005), Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling , New York: Knopf .
• Clark, John A., (1842), Gleanings by the Way , Philadelphia: W.J. & J.K Simmon off-site .
• Compton, Todd, (1997), In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith Signature Books .
• Foster, Lawrence, (1981), Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community , New York: Oxford University Press .
• Harris, Martin, (1859), Mormonism—No. II off-site .
• Hill, Donna, (1977), Joseph Smith: The first Mormon , Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co. .
• Hill, Marvin S., (1976), Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties off-site .
• Hill, Marvin S., (1989), Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism Signature Books off-site .
• Howe, Eber Dudley, (1834), Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition and Delusion, from its Rise to the Present Time , Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press off-site .
• Hullinger, Robert N., (1992), Joseph Smith's Response to Skepticism Signature Books off-site .
• Jessee, Dean, (1976), Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History off-site .
• Lapham, [La]Fayette, (1870), Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, Forty Years Ago. His Account of the Finding of the Sacred Plates off-site .
• Larson, Stan, (1978), The King Follett Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text off-site .
• Mormon History off-site .
• Mack, Solomon, (1811), A Narraitve [sic] of the Life of Solomon Mack Windsor: Solomon Mack off-site .
• (1994), Inventing Mormonism Signature Books .
• Marquardt, H. Michael, (1999), The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary Signature Books .
• Marquardt, H. Michael, (2005), The Rise of Mormonism: 1816–1844 Xulon Press .
• Matzko, John, (2007), The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism off-site .
• Morgan, Dale, Walker, John Phillip (editor) (1986), Dale Morgan on Early Mormonism: Correspondence and a New History Signature Books off-site .
• (2008), Joseph Smith Jr.: reappraisals after two centuries Oxford University Press .
• Newell, Linda King, (1994), Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith University of Illinois Press .
• (1999), Mormon America: The Power and the Promise HarperSanFrancisco .
• Persuitte, David, (2000), Joseph Smith and the origins of the Book of Mormon McFarland & Co. .
• Phelps, W.W. (editor) (1833), A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ , Zion: William Wines Phelps & Co. off-site .
• Prince, Gregory A, (1995), Power From On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood Signature Books .
• Quinn, D. Michael, (1994), The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power Signature Books .
• Quinn, D. Michael, (1998), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View Signature Books .
• Remini, , (2002), Joseph Smith: A Penguin Life Penguin Group .
• Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1902), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
• Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1904), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
• Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1905), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
• Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1909), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
• Shipps, Jan, (1985), Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition University of Illinois Press .
• Smith, George D., (1994), Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report off-site .
• Smith, George D, (2008), Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" Signature Books .
• Smith, Joseph, Jr., (1830), The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi , Palmyra, New York: E. B. Grandin off-site . See Book of Mormon.
• Smith, Joseph, Jr., Jessee, Dean C (editor) (1832), Personal Writings of Joseph Smith , Salt Lake City: Deseret Book .
• Jessee, Dean C (editor) (1839–1843), Personal Writings of Joseph Smith Deseret Book .
• (1835), Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God , Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & Co off-site . See Doctrine and Covenants.
• Smith, Joseph, Jr., Church History [Wentworth Letter] off-site . See Wentworth letter.
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• Joseph Smith: The Gift of Seeing off-site .
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• Vogel, Dan, (1994), The Locations of Joseph Smith's Early Treasure Quests off-site .
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• Widmer, Kurt, (2000), Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915 McFarland .

Further reading

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Mormonism and Wikipedia

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FairMormon's approach to Wikipedia articles

FairMormon regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FairMormon as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work. As those articles are revised and updated, we will periodically update our reviews to match.

Who can edit Wikipedia articles?

Editors who wish to participate in editing LDS-themed Wikipedia articles can access the project page here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. You are not required to be LDS in order to participate—there are a number of good non-LDS editors who have made valuable contributions to these articles.

Recommendations when editing Wikipedia articles

FAIR does not advocate removing any references from Wikipedia articles. The best approach to editing Wikipedia is to locate solid references to back up your position and add them rather than attempting to remove information. Individuals who intend to edit should be aware that posting information related to the real-world identities of Wikipedia editors will result in their being banned from editing Wikipedia. Attacking editors and attempting to "out" them on Wikipedia is considered very bad form. The best approach is to treat all Wikipedia editors, whether or not you agree or disagree with their approach, with respect and civility. An argumentative approach is not constructive to achieving a positive result, and will simply result in what is called an "edit war." Unfortunately, not all Wikipedia editors exhibit good faith toward other editors (see, for example, the comment above from "Duke53" or comments within these reviews made by John Foxe's sockpuppet "Hi540," both of whom repeatedly mocked LDS beliefs and LDS editors prior to their being banned.)

Do LDS editors control Wikipedia?

Although there exist editors on Wikipedia who openly declare their affiliation with the Church, they do not control Wikipedia. Ironically, some critics of the Church periodically falsely accuse Wikipedia editors of being LDS simply because they do not accept the critics' desired spin on a particular article.

Do "anti-Mormons" control Wikipedia?

Again, the answer is no. The truth is that Wikipedia is generally self-policing. Highly contentious articles do tend to draw the most passionate supporters and critics.

Why do certain LDS articles seem to be so negative?

Although some LDS-related Wikipedia articles may appear to have a negative tone, they are in reality quite a bit more balanced than certain critical works such as One Nation Under Gods. Although many critical editors often accuse LDS-related Wikipedia articles of being "faith promoting" or claim that they are just an extension of the Sunday School manual, this is rarely the case. Few, if any, Latter-day Saints would find Wikipedia articles to be "faith promoting." Generally, the believers think that the articles are too negative and the critics believe that the articles are too positive. LDS Wikipedia articles should be informative without being overtly faith promoting. However, most of the primary sources, including the words of Joseph Smith himself, are "faith promoting." This presents a dilemma for Wikipedia editors who want to remain neutral. The unfortunate consequence is that Joseph's words are rewritten and intermixed with contradictory sources, resulting in boring and confusing prose.

FairMormon's analysis of LDS-related Wikipedia articles

We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FairMormon Answers Wiki. Wikipedia articles are constantly evolving. As a result, the analysis of each article will be updated periodically in order to bring it more into line with the current version of the article. The latest revision date may be viewed at the top of each individual section. The process by which Wikipedia articles are reviewed is the following:

1. Update each Wikipedia passage and its associated footnotes.
2. Examine the use of sources and determine whether or not the passage accurately represents the source used.
3. Provide links to response articles within the FairMormon Answers Wiki.
4. If violation of Wikipedia rules is discovered, identify which Wikipedia editor (by pseudonym) made the edit, provide a description of the rule violated and a link to the Wikipedia "diff" showing the actual edit.
5. If a violated rule is later corrected in a subsequent revision, the violation is removed and a notation is added that the passage is correct per cited sources. This doesn't mean that FAIR necessarily agrees with the passage—only that it is correct based upon the source used.

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That “Anyone Can Edit”"

Roger Nicholson,  Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2012)

The ability to quickly and easily access literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been made significantly easier through the advent of the Internet. One of the primary sites that dominates search engine results is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit.” Wikipedia contains a large number of articles related to Mormonism that are edited by believers, critics, and neutral parties. The reliability of information regarding the Church and its history is subject to the biases of the editors who choose to modify those articles. Even if a wiki article is thoroughly sourced, editors sometimes employ source material in a manner that supports their bias. This essay explores the dynamics behind the creation of Wikipedia articles about the Church, the role that believers and critics play in that process, and the reliability of the information produced in the resulting wiki articles.

Click here to view the complete article

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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	Mormonism and Wikipedia Martin Harris—analysis of wikipedia treatment Oliver Cowdery—analysis of wikipedia treatment First Vision—analysis of wikipedia treatment Joseph Smith—analysis of wikipedia treatment Golden plates—analysis of wikipedia treatment Three Witnesses—analysis of wikipedia treatment
Online	"Wiki Wars: In battle to define beliefs, Mormons and foes wage battle on Wikipedia", Michael De Groote, Deseret News, January 30, 2011. "Wiki Wars: In battle to define beliefs, Mormons and foes wage battle on Wikipedia", Michael De Groote, Mormon Times, January 31, 2011. "Something Wiki This Way Comes: How collaborative editing is changing the face of online LDS apologetics", R. Scott Lloyd, Church News, August 8, 2011. Something Wiki This Way Comes: How Collaborative Editing is Changing the Face of Online LDS Apologetics. A close look at the challenges and history of editing LDS topics in a Wikipedia. This is a 2011 FAIR conference presentation by Roger Nicholson, in PDF format.
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