MURDER OF THE MORMON PROPHET: POLITICAL PRELUDE TO THE DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITH, by LeGrand L. Baker,Eborn Books, 812 pages,$39.95
The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in the Carthage Jail is a familiar story to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others interested in the period.
But there is more to the story than the mere fact that the murders were committed by an unruly mob, according to LeGrand L. Baker, an adjunct professor of history and curator of the Wells Freedom Archives at Brigham Young University.
In "Murder of the Mormon Prophet," a detailed survey of the months and week leading up to the murders of Joseph and Hyrum, Baker sets forth four major theses:
1. Joseph Smith's foray into national politics was more important in shaping the tragic events than has been understood.
2. The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor printing press was not the immediate cause of the assassination, nor did it constitute a violation of freedom of the press.
3. Criminal charges leveled against the prophet were frivolous and served only as a flimsy pretext of legitimacy for the assassination.
4. Plans to assassinate the prophet had been in the works for a long time.
Baker provides supporting arguments, drawn from contemporary accounts from 250 newspapers. As he points out, in Illinois the Mormons held a balance of power and the swing vote. When they could get no help from Washington and decided to make their case national, Joseph Smith announced his candidacy for president.
During the six months of his campaign, "It generated a great deal of interest and was predicted to have an important impact on the outcome of both state and national elections," writes Baker.
By June 1844, enemies of the church, not only from Illinois but also from Missouri, Iowa and other places, had marshaled enough strength to attack and ransack Nauvoo.
They deliberately chose the Nauvoo Expositor as their catalyst. Its purpose, notes Baker, "was not to publish, but to be prevented from publishing, thereby creating the incident the anti-Mormons and Missourian were waiting for."
After the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of the press, Joseph and Hyrum were summoned to Carthage, not on charges of violating freedom of the press but on charges of "riot," which were not only spurious but insufficient. Gov. Ford, who had promised his protection, instead changed them to "treason," also a fallacy, but it was a good enough excuse to keep the men in jail.
The author shows that the Mormons were not unaware of what their enemies were planning. Nor were they unlearned in either law or politics; they were quite savvy. But they were dealing with corrupt and devious opponents.
Baker's book not only makes for interesting reading, but "Murder of the Mormon Prophet" is a scholarly, comprehensive and compelling addition to understanding the Nauvoo story.
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