View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 6

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{{H1
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 6
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 6"
|S=
|L1=
|T=[[../../|Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage"]]
|A=George D. Smith
|<=[[../Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|>=[[../Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
}}
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{{H2
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 6
|H=Response to claims made in Nauvoo Polygamy, "Chapter 6"
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 356 - "Efforts to suppress the story" of polygamy in Nauvoo until the 1852 announcement "restricted the breadth and depth of the records that were kept"
|L2=Response to claim: 356 - After 1890 the church tried to "phase out a practice the prophet had mandated as essential to salvation"
|L3=Response to claim: 356 - "Official accounts" of plural marriage have been "redacted"
|L4=Response to claim: 364-365 - Joseph and Brigham are claimed to have admitted that the practice of polygamy meant they were "free to go beyond the normal 'bounds'"
|L5=Response to claim: 366 - "Elizabeth Whitney "was arranging conjugal visits between her daughter, Sarah Ann, and" Joseph Smith
|L6=Response to claim: 392 - The book has a subsection in "How Plural Marriage Worked," entitled "Female subordination"
|L7=Response to claim: 400 - Joseph Lee Robinson is claimed to have said: "There are some on this stand that would cut my throat or take my hearts blood"  if he told them what God had revealed to him
|L8=Response to claim: 408 - The author claims that Joseph fled from three states because he had been suspected of "suspicious relationships with young women"
|L9=Response to claim: 408 - The author claims that Joseph was arrested after the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' for violating "freedom of the press"
}}
</onlyinclude>

==Response to claim: 356 - "Efforts to suppress the story" of polygamy in Nauvoo until the 1852 announcement "restricted the breadth and depth of the records that were kept"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author assumes that "[e]fforts to suppress the story" of polygamy in Nauvoo until the 1852 announcement "restricted the breadth and depth of the records that were kept."
}}
{{misinformation|The author claims elsewhere that the History of the Church had material expurgated; we now learn that most of this material was not in the primary documents (such as Joseph's journals) because of secrecy concerns ''in the 1840s''.
}}
*[[Church history/Censorship and revision]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}

==Response to claim: 356 - After 1890 the church tried to "phase out a practice the prophet had mandated as essential to salvation"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=After 1890 the church tried to "phase out a practice the prophet had mandated as essential to salvation."
}}
{{misinformation|The author ignores the nuances of LDS thought on this, both before and after the Manifesto.
}}
{{:Question: If early Church leaders taught that plural marriage was required, does this mean that current members are not capable of achieving exaltation?}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Necessary_for_salvation}}

==Response to claim: 356 - "Official accounts" of plural marriage have been "redacted"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim="Official accounts" of plural marriage have been "redacted."
}}
{{misinformation|This assumes that "official accounts" existed to begin with.}}
*[[Polygamy/Requirement for exaltation]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}

==Response to claim: 364-365 - Joseph and Brigham are claimed to have admitted that the practice of polygamy meant they were "free to go beyond the normal 'bounds'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Joseph and Brigham are claimed to have admitted that the practice of polygamy meant they were "free to go beyond the normal 'bounds'" and "the normal rules governing social interaction had not applied to" Joseph.
|authorsources=<br>
#Brigham Young Manuscript History, Feb 16, 1849, LDS Archives.
}}
{{misinformation|The author misconstrues and misrepresents the statements cited.
}}
{{:Question: Did Brigham Young and Joseph Smith say that polygamists were allowed to go beyond normal bounds of social interaction?}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}

==Response to claim: 366 - "Elizabeth Whitney "was arranging conjugal visits between her daughter, Sarah Ann, and" Joseph Smith====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"Elizabeth [Whitney] was arranging conjugal visits between her daughter, Sarah Ann, and [Joseph]…."}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}
}}
{{propaganda|The Sarah Ann Whitney claim makes its appearance yet again.
}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?}}
{{:Question: How do critics of the Church portray Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family as a "love letter"?}}
{{:Question: What was the real purpose of the letter written by Joseph Smith to the parents of Sarah Ann Whitney?}}

==Response to claim: 392 - The book has a subsection in "How Plural Marriage Worked," entitled "Female subordination"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The book has a subsection in "How Plural Marriage Worked," entitled "Female subordination."
|authorsources=<br>
# No sources provided.
}}
{{propaganda|The author does nothing to compare the 19th-century LDS practice of marriage with Victorian marriage in general.
}}
*[[../../Presentism#.22Female_subordination.22|Female subordination in 19th century]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]

==Response to claim: 400 - Joseph Lee Robinson is claimed to have said: "There are some on this stand that would cut my throat or take my hearts blood"  if he told them what God had revealed to him==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Joseph Lee Robinson is claimed to have said: "There are some on this stand that would cut my throat or take my hearts blood"  if he told them what God had revealed to him.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{CitationError}} Robinson Journal, 24, Utah State Historical Society Library.
}}
{{misinformation|The statement comes from the Joseph Robinson journal, but the statement is not from Robinson—it is from Joseph Smith.  The author recognized this in an earlier article. <ref>{{Dialogue1|author=George D. Smith|article=Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report|vol=27|num=1|date=Spring 1994|start=26}}</ref>
}}

==Response to claim: 408 - The author claims that Joseph fled from three states because he had been suspected of "suspicious relationships with young women"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author claims that Joseph fled from three states because he had been suspected of "suspicious relationships with young women"
}}
{{misinformation|Fanny Alger certainly caused problems in Ohio.  There is no good evidence, however, that Joseph had "woman problems" in New York or Missouri.
}}

==Response to claim: 408 - The author claims that Joseph was arrested after the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' for violating "freedom of the press"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=
The author claims that Joseph was arrested after the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' for violating "freedom of the press."
}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Expositor}}
*[[../../Presentism#.22Freedom_of_the_press.22]]
{{:Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?}}

{{endnotes sources}}