manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
9827_174	Day Saints" took possession of the temple and excommunicated Smith and Rigdon. Smith and Rigdon
9827_175	relocated to Missouri and were followed there by hundreds of loyalists in a trek known as the
9827_176	"Kirtland Camp."
9827_177	Movement in Missouri
9827_178	As the church was gathering to Kirtland, a second gathering place was established 900 miles
9827_179	distant, on the frontier in Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith had revealed to Latter Day
9827_180	Saints that they were to prepare "the way of the Lord for his Second Coming", "for the time is soon
9827_181	at hand that I shall come...." (D & C 34:6,7) He also revealed that the "center place" of the City
9827_182	of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County. (D & C 57:3) Latter Day Saints
9827_183	began to settle the area to "build up" the City of Zion in 1831. Settlement was rapid and
9827_184	non-Mormon residents became alarmed that they might lose political control of the county to the
9827_185	Latter Day Saints. In October 1833, non-Mormon vigilantes succeeded in driving the Mormons from
9827_186	the county. Deprived of their homes and property, the Latter Day Saints temporarily settled in the
9827_187	area around Jackson County, especially in Clay County.
9827_188	Years elapsed, and despite Mormon lawsuits and petitions, the non-Mormons in Jackson refused to
9827_189	allow the Mormons to return. Meanwhile, new converts to Mormonism continued to migrate to Missouri
9827_190	and settle in Clay County. In 1836, the Missouri legislature created Caldwell County specifically
9827_191	for Mormon settlement and Missouri branches of the church gathered there, centering on the town of
9827_192	Far West.
9827_193	Church headquarters established in Far West
9827_194	In 1838 Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and their loyalists left the former church headquarters of
9827_195	Kirtland and relocated to Far West, Missouri. A brief leadership struggle left the former heads of
9827_196	the Missouri portion of the church excommunicated, such as David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, William
9827_197	Wines Phelps and others. Years later, many of this group of "dissenters" became part of the
9827_198	Whitmerite schism in the Latter Day Saint movement.
9827_199	While the church was headquartered in Far West, Smith announced revelations that changed the name
9827_200	of the church to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and initiated the "Law of
9827_201	Tithing." Conflicts with non-Mormon settlers arose as the church began to plant colonies in the
9827_202	counties surrounding Caldwell. These escalated into what has been called the 1838 Mormon War. The
9827_203	perceived militant attitude adopted by the church caused some leaders, including Thomas B. Marsh,
9827_204	president of the Quorum of the Twelve, to break with Smith and Rigdon. This precipitated another
9827_205	schism which led to the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife by
9827_206	George M. Hinkle, who had been the Mormon commander of the Caldwell County militia.
9827_207	As a result of the war, 2,500 Missouri militia troops were called out to put down the Mormon
9827_208	"rebellion." Smith and other church leaders were imprisoned in Liberty, Missouri and the majority
9827_209	of the Latter Day Saints were deprived of their property and expelled from the state.
9827_210	Movement in Illinois
9827_211	With the help of sympathetic non-Mormons in Illinois, in the spring of 1839 the Latter Day Saint
9827_212	refugees regrouped and began to establish a new headquarters in Nauvoo. Smith and other leaders
9827_213	were allowed after several months of harsh treatment to escape Missourian custody, and they
9827_214	rejoined the main body of the movement in April, 1839. In 1841, construction began on a new
9827_215	temple, significantly more elaborate than the one left behind in Kirtland. The Nauvoo city charter
9827_216	authorized independent municipal courts, the foundation of a university and the establishment of a
9827_217	militia unit known as the "Nauvoo Legion." These and other institutions gave the Latter Day Saints
9827_218	a considerable degree of autonomy.
9827_219	Nauvoo saw the final flowering of Joseph Smith's vision for the movement, including some of
9827_220	Mormonism's more controversial practices. It was here that Smith introduced Baptism for the dead,
9827_221	Rebaptism, the Nauvoo-era Endowment, and the ordinance of the Second Anointing. In addition, he
9827_222	created a new inner council of the church — containing both men and women — called the Anointed
9827_223	Quorum. Although, according to some reports, Smith himself had been secretly practicing what he
9827_224	later called plural marriage for some time, in Nauvoo he began to teach other leaders the doctrine.
9827_225	In March 1844, Smith was said by William Law to have organized a secret council of the church
9827_226	called the "Council of the Kingdom". Practices of this council included acclaiming Joseph Smith as
9827_227	"Prophet, Priest, and King" in addition to polygamy. These secrets were threatened to be released
9827_228	in a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. Smith, acting in his capacity as mayor and head of the
9827_229	municipal court, responded by having the newspaper declared a "public nuisance" and by ordering the
9827_230	destruction of the press.
9827_231	Death of Joseph Smith
9827_232	Whenever Latter Day Saints gathered in large numbers, they met with opposition from neighbors who
9827_233	suspected that Mormon bloc-voting would lead to theocracy. By the mid-1840s, many non-Mormons in
9827_234	Hancock County felt threatened by growing Mormon political power, commercial rivalries, and a new
9827_235	religion with at least two elements that were hard to digest in the religious community of that
9827_236	time: first, Latter Day Saints had a somewhat different perspective on the nature of God from
9827_237	traditional Protestants; second, the claim of modern revelation, together with the claim of new
9827_238	scripture, opened the canon of the Bible.
9827_239	Smith's destruction of the Expositor exacerbated all these fears and non-Mormons throughout
9827_240	Illinois began to clamor for his arrest. When Smith submitted to imprisonment in the county seat of
9827_241	Carthage, the Governor of Illinois, Thomas Ford, left the jail, taking the only impartial local
9827_242	militia unit with him. With the jail being guarded only by two guards and a unit of anti-Mormon
9827_243	militiamen, the Carthage Greys, a mob of disbanded militia units, attacked without resistance.
9827_244	Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed.
9827_245	All men who were tried for the murders were acquitted after the prosecuting attorney dismissed the
9827_246	testimonies of the state's witnesses suddenly in his closing remarks.
9827_247	Change in leadership
9827_248	Succession Crisis of 1844
9827_249	In the months following Smith's murder, it was not immediately clear who would lead the church.
9827_250	His brother, Hyrum, who was Assistant President of the Church, (and as such would have been Smith's
9827_251	natural successor) had died with him. Another Smith brother who may have been a presumed successor
9827_252	should both Hyrum and Joseph die, Samuel, died a month later. Before Brigham Young could return to
9827_253	Nauvoo and stake his claim, another Smith brother, William was also considered as a potential
9827_254	successor. Other men who (by some reports) were designated as successors, including Book of Mormon
9827_255	witnesses David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, had been excommunicated from the church.
9827_256	As a result, three of the principal claimants on the scene were:
9827_257	Sidney Rigdon, the only remaining member of the First Presidency — the church's highest executive
9827_258	council before his excommunication.
9827_259	The (Presiding) High Council of Nauvoo — the church's highest legislative and judicial council —
9827_260	led by William Marks.
9827_261	The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — the council in charge of the church's missionary program — led
9827_262	by Brigham Young.
9827_263	Smith's widow, Emma, wanted Marks to become church president, but Marks believed that Rigdon had
9827_264	the superior claim.
9827_265	In a general meeting of the church at Nauvoo on August 8, 1844, Rigdon and Young presented their
9827_266	respective cases. As the only surviving member of the First Presidency (who had not officially
9827_267	apostatized), Rigdon argued that he should be made "guardian" of the church. Young argued that
9827_268	without Smith there, there was no presiding authority higher than the Twelve. Therefore, he
9827_269	proposed that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles be constituted as the new presiding authority. A
9827_270	vote of the congregation overwhelmingly supported Young's proposal, said to have been caused by
9827_271	Brigham briefly yet miraculously having the "voice and countenance of Joseph Smith" during his
9827_272	talk. Soon after, Rigdon left Nauvoo and established his own church organization in Pittsburgh,
9827_273	Pennsylvania.

9827_174

Day Saints" took possession of the temple and excommunicated Smith and Rigdon. Smith and Rigdon

9827_175

relocated to Missouri and were followed there by hundreds of loyalists in a trek known as the

9827_176

"Kirtland Camp."

9827_177

Movement in Missouri

9827_178

As the church was gathering to Kirtland, a second gathering place was established 900 miles

9827_179

distant, on the frontier in Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith had revealed to Latter Day

9827_180

Saints that they were to prepare "the way of the Lord for his Second Coming", "for the time is soon

9827_181

at hand that I shall come...." (D & C 34:6,7) He also revealed that the "center place" of the City

9827_182

of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County. (D & C 57:3) Latter Day Saints

9827_183

began to settle the area to "build up" the City of Zion in 1831. Settlement was rapid and

9827_184

non-Mormon residents became alarmed that they might lose political control of the county to the

9827_185

Latter Day Saints. In October 1833, non-Mormon vigilantes succeeded in driving the Mormons from

9827_186

the county. Deprived of their homes and property, the Latter Day Saints temporarily settled in the

9827_187

area around Jackson County, especially in Clay County.

9827_188

Years elapsed, and despite Mormon lawsuits and petitions, the non-Mormons in Jackson refused to

9827_189

allow the Mormons to return. Meanwhile, new converts to Mormonism continued to migrate to Missouri

9827_190

and settle in Clay County. In 1836, the Missouri legislature created Caldwell County specifically

9827_191

for Mormon settlement and Missouri branches of the church gathered there, centering on the town of

9827_192

Far West.

9827_193

Church headquarters established in Far West

9827_194

In 1838 Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and their loyalists left the former church headquarters of

9827_195

Kirtland and relocated to Far West, Missouri. A brief leadership struggle left the former heads of

9827_196

the Missouri portion of the church excommunicated, such as David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, William

9827_197

Wines Phelps and others. Years later, many of this group of "dissenters" became part of the

9827_198

Whitmerite schism in the Latter Day Saint movement.

9827_199

While the church was headquartered in Far West, Smith announced revelations that changed the name

9827_200

of the church to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and initiated the "Law of

9827_201

Tithing." Conflicts with non-Mormon settlers arose as the church began to plant colonies in the

9827_202

counties surrounding Caldwell. These escalated into what has been called the 1838 Mormon War. The

9827_203

perceived militant attitude adopted by the church caused some leaders, including Thomas B. Marsh,

9827_204

president of the Quorum of the Twelve, to break with Smith and Rigdon. This precipitated another

9827_205

schism which led to the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife by

9827_206

George M. Hinkle, who had been the Mormon commander of the Caldwell County militia.

9827_207

As a result of the war, 2,500 Missouri militia troops were called out to put down the Mormon

9827_208

"rebellion." Smith and other church leaders were imprisoned in Liberty, Missouri and the majority

9827_209

of the Latter Day Saints were deprived of their property and expelled from the state.

9827_210

Movement in Illinois

9827_211

With the help of sympathetic non-Mormons in Illinois, in the spring of 1839 the Latter Day Saint

9827_212

refugees regrouped and began to establish a new headquarters in Nauvoo. Smith and other leaders

9827_213

were allowed after several months of harsh treatment to escape Missourian custody, and they

9827_214

rejoined the main body of the movement in April, 1839. In 1841, construction began on a new

9827_215

temple, significantly more elaborate than the one left behind in Kirtland. The Nauvoo city charter

9827_216

authorized independent municipal courts, the foundation of a university and the establishment of a

9827_217

militia unit known as the "Nauvoo Legion." These and other institutions gave the Latter Day Saints

9827_218

a considerable degree of autonomy.

9827_219

Nauvoo saw the final flowering of Joseph Smith's vision for the movement, including some of

9827_220

Mormonism's more controversial practices. It was here that Smith introduced Baptism for the dead,

9827_221

Rebaptism, the Nauvoo-era Endowment, and the ordinance of the Second Anointing. In addition, he

9827_222

created a new inner council of the church — containing both men and women — called the Anointed

9827_223

Quorum. Although, according to some reports, Smith himself had been secretly practicing what he

9827_224

later called plural marriage for some time, in Nauvoo he began to teach other leaders the doctrine.

9827_225

In March 1844, Smith was said by William Law to have organized a secret council of the church

9827_226

called the "Council of the Kingdom". Practices of this council included acclaiming Joseph Smith as

9827_227

"Prophet, Priest, and King" in addition to polygamy. These secrets were threatened to be released

9827_228

in a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. Smith, acting in his capacity as mayor and head of the

9827_229

municipal court, responded by having the newspaper declared a "public nuisance" and by ordering the

9827_230

destruction of the press.

9827_231

Death of Joseph Smith

9827_232

Whenever Latter Day Saints gathered in large numbers, they met with opposition from neighbors who

9827_233

suspected that Mormon bloc-voting would lead to theocracy. By the mid-1840s, many non-Mormons in

9827_234

Hancock County felt threatened by growing Mormon political power, commercial rivalries, and a new

9827_235

religion with at least two elements that were hard to digest in the religious community of that

9827_236

time: first, Latter Day Saints had a somewhat different perspective on the nature of God from

9827_237

traditional Protestants; second, the claim of modern revelation, together with the claim of new

9827_238

scripture, opened the canon of the Bible.

9827_239

Smith's destruction of the Expositor exacerbated all these fears and non-Mormons throughout

9827_240

Illinois began to clamor for his arrest. When Smith submitted to imprisonment in the county seat of

9827_241

Carthage, the Governor of Illinois, Thomas Ford, left the jail, taking the only impartial local

9827_242

militia unit with him. With the jail being guarded only by two guards and a unit of anti-Mormon

9827_243

militiamen, the Carthage Greys, a mob of disbanded militia units, attacked without resistance.

9827_244

Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed.

9827_245

All men who were tried for the murders were acquitted after the prosecuting attorney dismissed the

9827_246

testimonies of the state's witnesses suddenly in his closing remarks.

9827_247

Change in leadership

9827_248

Succession Crisis of 1844

9827_249

In the months following Smith's murder, it was not immediately clear who would lead the church.

9827_250

His brother, Hyrum, who was Assistant President of the Church, (and as such would have been Smith's

9827_251

natural successor) had died with him. Another Smith brother who may have been a presumed successor

9827_252

should both Hyrum and Joseph die, Samuel, died a month later. Before Brigham Young could return to

9827_253

Nauvoo and stake his claim, another Smith brother, William was also considered as a potential

9827_254

successor. Other men who (by some reports) were designated as successors, including Book of Mormon

9827_255

witnesses David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, had been excommunicated from the church.

9827_256

As a result, three of the principal claimants on the scene were:

9827_257

Sidney Rigdon, the only remaining member of the First Presidency — the church's highest executive

9827_258

council before his excommunication.

9827_259

The (Presiding) High Council of Nauvoo — the church's highest legislative and judicial council —

9827_260

led by William Marks.

9827_261

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — the council in charge of the church's missionary program — led

9827_262

by Brigham Young.

9827_263

Smith's widow, Emma, wanted Marks to become church president, but Marks believed that Rigdon had

9827_264

the superior claim.

9827_265

In a general meeting of the church at Nauvoo on August 8, 1844, Rigdon and Young presented their

9827_266

respective cases. As the only surviving member of the First Presidency (who had not officially

9827_267

apostatized), Rigdon argued that he should be made "guardian" of the church. Young argued that

9827_268

without Smith there, there was no presiding authority higher than the Twelve. Therefore, he

9827_269

proposed that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles be constituted as the new presiding authority. A

9827_270

vote of the congregation overwhelmingly supported Young's proposal, said to have been caused by

9827_271

Brigham briefly yet miraculously having the "voice and countenance of Joseph Smith" during his

9827_272

talk. Soon after, Rigdon left Nauvoo and established his own church organization in Pittsburgh,

9827_273

Pennsylvania.