Public denials and the Nauvoo Expositor

Joseph denied polygamy in public while practicing it, then destroyed the newspaper that told the truth.

What the Church claims

Joseph was an honest man persecuted by apostates who published lies; the Expositor was a libellous nuisance lawfully abated.

Once the evidence is in, this claim: Untenable. The denials, the truth of what was denied and the destruction of the press are all documented and conceded; only the moral gloss is disputed.

The record

  • The Church's official marriage article, 'one man should have one wife', was adopted 1835-08-17 (Joseph absent), printed as D&C section 101, and stayed in the canon until 1876 - through the whole period of Joseph's plural marriages.
  • On 1844-05-26, days after William Law's adultery complaint concerning Maria Lawrence, Joseph said publicly: 'What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one', and 'I can prove them all perjurers'. He then had over 30 plural wives.
  • The Church concedes leaders 'issued carefully worded denials that denounced spiritual wifery and polygamy' while remaining 'silent about' celestial plural marriage.
  • The Expositor's single issue (1844-06-07) printed sworn affidavits from William Law, Jane Law and Austin Cowles that Hyrum had shown or read them a written revelation authorizing 'more wives than one at a time' - an accurate description of what is now D&C 132.
  • It also attacked the 'plurality of Gods', the union of church and state, and acknowledging 'any man as king or law-giver to the church', and called for repeal of the Nauvoo charter. Its preamble's lurid account of how women were approached is rhetorical and unsourced.
  • The city council, with Joseph presiding as mayor, met on 8 and 10 June, declared the paper a public nuisance, and about 100 Legion members destroyed the press and type that evening.
  • Dallin Oaks's legal study, cited by the Church, concluded the council could lawfully suppress the printed copies but 'may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself'.
  • Joseph was arrested for riot over the destruction, then charged with treason for declaring martial law, and was killed in custody on 1844-06-27.

The moving target

  • 1844: The Expositor was libel and a nuisance; the polygamy affidavits were false.
  • 1852-08: Plural marriage publicly announced in Utah in 1852, eight years after Joseph's death.
  • 2014-10: Describes the denials as 'carefully worded' and implicitly leaving room for authorized plural marriage.
  • current: Summarizes the paper's charges neutrally and reports Oaks's conclusion about the press.

The exchange

FAIR; Hales; Gospel Topics essay

Joseph denied 'spiritual wifery' and 'adultery' - John C. Bennett's system and William Law's criminal charge - not divinely authorized celestial marriage; he 'was refuting the charge of adultery, not the fact that he had seven wives'. Secrecy protected the Saints from violence.

The answer: A statement crafted so that listeners will believe something false is a lie in the ordinary sense; 'I can only find one' had no purpose other than to make the audience believe he had one wife. The congregation, his own legal wife and the Relief Society were the deceived parties, not merely hostile outsiders. And the denial was not only verbal: D&C 101 stood as binding scripture while he violated it.

What they get right: The safety motive was real - disclosure did help get him killed - and Bennett's accusations did include fabrications, so not every denial was of a true charge.

Dallin H. Oaks (Utah Law Review 1965); Church History Topics

Suppressing a nuisance paper had legal precedent; the First Amendment did not then bind cities; the council acted after deliberation and out of fear of mob violence.

The answer: Even the Church's chosen authority says destroying the press probably exceeded the council's power. More basically, the core factual claim the council branded libel - that Joseph taught and practiced plural marriage by a written revelation - was true, and Joseph knew it was true when he presided over the vote.

What they get right: Critics who present the destruction as simply lawless ignore that contemporaries did abate presses as nuisances; the legal question was arguable, the honesty question is not.

Both cases at full strength

The skeptics' case

For at least three years Joseph lived one marital system and publicly swore to another, with a canonized statement of monogamy in force and explicit pulpit denials. When former counselor William Law published sworn, accurate testimony about the revelation, Joseph used civic office to have the press destroyed. The Church now concedes every underlying fact; the sequence leads directly to Carthage.

The apologetic case

Joseph believed God had commanded a practice that would have got his people attacked if announced; he drew a sincere distinction between seduction under the name of 'spiritual wifery' and covenant marriage by priesthood authority. The Expositor's publishers wanted the city charter repealed at a moment when anti-Mormon vigilantes were organizing, and the council reasonably feared what the paper would unleash.

What would change this

Nothing plausible on the facts; the argument is about whether the deception was justified.

Closely related

Sources

An independent project. Not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or with any organization cited here. Summaries are written here; short quotations are attributed and linked. Every page names its sources so that it can be corrected, and every page can be challenged.