21. Joseph Wouldn’t Allow Emma to have her Endowment
September 16, 202418. Joseph Lied About Polygamy
September 18, 2024
Joseph Smith had the nauvoo expositor torn down. The expositor published an expose showing that Joseph was practicing polygamy.
Table of contents
- Joseph Smith had the nauvoo expositor torn down. The expositor published an expose showing that Joseph was practicing polygamy.
- A1) The Nauvoo Expositor exposed Joseph Smith’s teaching of polygamy.
- A2) Joseph Smith ordered that the printing press that printed the Nauvoo Expositor be destroyed, because it committed "libel."
- A3) Joseph Smith ordered that the printing press that printed the Nauvoo Expositor be destroyed, because it committed "libel."
- A4) Although the Church claims that the Nauvoo Expositor was full of “many vicious lies about Joseph Smith.” No one has been able to show any lies. Everything that was printed has been substantiated.
- Questions these Facts Raise
A1) The Nauvoo Expositor exposed Joseph Smith’s teaching of polygamy.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
The only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, dated June 7, 1844, was a four-page publication. In addition to more mundane content such as poetry and marriage announcements, it contained a statement from the "Seceders from the Church at Nauvoo" and sworn statements from multiple individuals attesting to the teaching of "the plurality of wives".
A2) Joseph Smith ordered that the printing press that printed the Nauvoo Expositor be destroyed, because it committed "libel."
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“You are hereby commanded to destroy the printing press from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor, and pi the type of said printing establishment in the street, and burn all the Expositors and libelous handbills found in said establishment; and if resistance be offered to your execution of this order by the owner or others, demolish the house: and if anyone threatens you or the Mayor or the officers of the city, arrest those who threaten you, and fail not to execute this order without delay, and make due return thereon.
By order of the City Council, JOSEPH SMITH, MAYOR”
- History of the Church, v. 6, p. 448
A3) Joseph Smith ordered that the printing press that printed the Nauvoo Expositor be destroyed, because it committed "libel."
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“The legality of the action of the Mayor and City Council was, of course, questionable, though some sought to defend it on legal grounds; but it must be conceded that neither proof nor argument for legality are convincing.”
- LDS Historian B.H. Roberts, History of the Church, Introduction to v.6, p. XXXVIII
“... there was no legal justification in 1844 for the destruction of the Expositor press as a nuisance.”
- Utah Law Review, Summer 1965, pp. 890-891.
“The destruction of libelous ‘prints and papers' can scarcely be held to sustain the action of destroying a ‘printing press.'”
- LDS Historian B.H. Roberts, History of the Church, v. 7, p. 91, footnote
“... when Joseph Smith ordered the actual destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor printing press he provided his enemies with a clearly legitimate means of arresting him for violation of the law. They seized upon this to inflame the public even more, and this led directly to the assassination. Some people may be disturbed by the suggestion that Joseph Smith acted illegally in this instance, but it is important to understand that under the tense pressure of the times he too, may have made a mistake.”
- BYU Today, March 1976, p. 10
A4) Although the Church claims that the Nauvoo Expositor was full of “many vicious lies about Joseph Smith.” No one has been able to show any lies. Everything that was printed has been substantiated.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
LDS Primary Manual: “Some enemies of the Church believed that if they got rid of Joseph Smith, the Church would fall apart. These men started a newspaper in which they told many vicious lies about Joseph Smith. The members of the Church were angry about these lies. Joseph Smith, who was mayor of Nauvoo at the time, called a meeting of the city council, which was composed of both Church members and nonmembers. The city council declared the newspaper a “public nuisance” and ordered the town marshal to destroy the printing press used to print the newspaper.”
Church webstie: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/primary-5-doctrine-and-covenants-and-church-history/lesson-37?lang=eng
LDS Video: “City leaders in Nauvoo were angry about the newspaper because it published lies. These leaders felt they had legal authority to stop it. Some men went to the newspaper building and burned the newspapers and destroyed the printing press.”
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-06-57-chapter-56-more-trouble-for-the-saints-1843-1844?category=doctrine-and-covenants/doctrine-and-covenants-stories&lang=eng#d
Updated Link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2010-06-57-chapter-56-more-trouble-for-the-saints-1843-1844?lang=eng#d
If no lies can be found in the Nauvoo Expositor (which I can’t find), then Joseph lied about lying when the Expositor was published in Nauvoo, accusing him of lying. During the city council debate over some allegations made in the Expositor, Joseph declared that he had not kept the doctrine of polygamy secret but had taught it openly. This was patently false. William Clayton recorded that Emma Smith told him "it was the secret things which had cost Joseph and Hyrum their lives." (Solemn Covenant, p. 367)
