RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mormons
(at that time Kirtland and Zion), called the " quorum of seventy." The various councils came to be called " quorums " — the first presidency, the twelve, the seventy. In 1837 the apostles Hyde and Kimball were sent as missionaries to England and South Wales, where they worked with remarkable success, especially among the laboring classes. After three years' labor they could count 4,019 Mormons in England alone. The report for June, 1851, gave a total of 30,747 adherents in the United Kingdom and further declared: "Within the last fourteen years more than 50,000 have been baptized in England, of whom nearly 17,000 have emigrated to Zion."
The year 1836 was marked by the apostasy of
some of the pillars of the church at Kirtland. The
" three witnesses " (Cowdery, Whit-
io. History, mer, and Harris) to the Book of
1836-38. Mormon were excommunicated along with other " dissenters." There is evidence that while the Saints were yet in Kirtland polygamy began to be practised by some of the leaders. Whether Smith privately sanctioned or condoned these practises is not quite certain. His ostensible efforts at their suppression lacked the vigor that generally characterized his actions. In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants (1835) he declared: " Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one husband." In obedience to a revelation Smith in 1836 established a bank at Kirtland, which about the beginning of 1838 became insolvent. Judicial procedure against the prophet and others was begun. At this moment, however, Smith and Rigdon in obedience to a revelation went to Missouri. The colony there had been having troublous times since 1834, when the prophet had removed various difficulties. Now, however, internal dissensions became serious, while the Gentiles' opposition grew increasingly fierce. From the beginning the people of Missouri had resented the attitude of the Mormons as expressed (for example) in a passage in the Book of Commandments (1833) calling that state the " land of your inheritance, which is now the land of your enemies." Already border-ruffianism had been manifested against the Mormons. A popular demand for the removal of the Mormons was met with temporizing on their part, and, as the governor's attempt to call out the militia to protect them was futile, a mob drove at least 1,500 of them northward across the Missouri River. These settled chiefly in Clay, Caldwell, and Daviess counties. Negotiations for pecuniary redress proved fruitless; for conviction for violence committed against a Mormon could not be had in Jackson county. While the Mormons had been guilty of various offenses, non-Mormons were disposed to lay upon them the blame for any depredations when the authors were unknown, and so the Mormons suffered beyond their deserts. Notwithstanding, the town of Far West itself was, until 1838, materially prosperous and on fairly good terms with the neighboring Gentiles. About this time, however, the presidency was charged with
misappropriating trust funds, and several prominent leaders forsook the church. About the same time there was formed an organization later called the Danite Band or the " Avenging Angels." Its members were bound by blood oaths to obey any behest of the church against property or life. In the same year also the tithing system was established, which ever since has been so important for Mormonism.
The climax of the civil strife in Missouri seems
to have been occasioned largely by a sermon of
Rigdon's on July 4, 1838, which pre-
11. Nauvoo dieted a war of extermination between
Period; Saints and Gentiles. Upon complaint Polygamy; to the governor that the Mormons in
Smith's Caldwell and Daviess counties resisted
Death, the execution of justice, a regiment of militia was called out; but the soldiery for the most part disbanded. Nevertheless there were serious conflicts between the Mormons and the Gentiles, which culminated in the massacre of twenty Mormons at Hawn's Mill. In the autumn the state authorities demanded the expulsion of the Mormons, except the leaders, who were to be held for trial. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were imprisoned at Liberty, but on the way to trial effected their escape, probably by bribery. The two brothers rode to Quincy, 111. To this state most of the Mormons, to the number of about 15,000, had already fled. The prophet bought large tracts of land in Hancock County and beyonc" the Mississippi in Iowa. On the eastern bank of the river the Mormons began to build a city to which by revelation the name Nauvoo was given. The Mormon propaganda was meanwhile vigorously at work in the United States and abroad, and (1840-43) converts flocked to Nauvoo to the estimated number of 3,758. Smith procured from the state legislature a charter for the city which made it almost independent of state control. The prophet now organized a military body under the name of the Nauvoo legion, himself assuming the command with the title of general. In Apr., 1841, the foundation of a new temple was laid; it was dedicated May 1, 1846. Smith began now to take interest in state and national politics. He appealed to President Van Buren for help to recover losses of property in Missouri; but as neither the president nor Congress would take action, and as Clay and Calhoun, presidential aspirants, gave non-committal answers to his inquiries concerning their attitude toward the Mormons' claims, he announced himself in the organ of the church a candidate for the presidency of the United States. As Smith's power increased, his profligacy also grew. In order to quiet the indignation of his wife the prophet in 1843 imparted to a select few a revelation which permitted himself and (with his sanction) others to have more than one wife. This revelation was openly promulgated first in 1852 by Brigham Young. In Nauvoo the polygamous practises occasioned serious dissensions. A Dr. Foster and two others started an independent newspaper, called the Expositor. Its first — and only — number condemned various church practises and doctrines including that of the plurality of wives. At Smith's behest the
Mormons