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| + | #REDIRECT[[Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Expositor#Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?]] |
| − | |title=Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?
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| − | |category=Nauvoo Expositor
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| − | <onlyinclude>
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| − | ==Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?==
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| − | ===The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor led directly to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum===
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| − | It is claimed by one critic of the Church that Joseph "could not allow the Expositor to publish the secret international negotiations masterminded by Mormonism’s earthly king." <ref>{{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=16}}</ref> Another claimed that "When the Laws (with others) purchased a printing press in an attempt to hold Joseph Smith accountable for his polygamy (which he was denying publicly), Joseph ordered the destruction of the printing press, which was both a violation of the 1st Amendment, and which ultimately led to Joseph’s assassination." <ref>{{CriticalWork:Dehlin:Questions and Answers:25 June 2014}}</ref>
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| − | The ''Expositor'' incident led directly to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum, but it was preceded by a long period of non-Mormon distrust of Joseph Smith, and attempts to extradite him on questionable basis.
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| − | The destruction of the ''Expositor'' issue was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed.
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| − | Joseph seems to have believed—or, his followers believed after his death—that the decision, while 'unwise' for Joseph, may have been in the ''Saints''' interest to have Joseph killed. For a time, this diffused much of the tension and may have prevented an outbreak of generalized violence against the Saints, as occurred in Missouri.
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| − | ===The destruction of the first issue was legal, but it was not legal to destroy the printer's type===
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| − | It is claimed that "When the Laws (with others) purchased a printing press in an attempt to hold Joseph Smith accountable for his polygamy (which he was denying publicly), Joseph ordered the destruction of the printing press, which was both a violation of the 1st Amendment, and which ultimately led to Joseph’s assassination." <ref>{{CriticalWork:Dehlin:Questions and Answers:25 June 2014}}</ref>
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| − | The destruction of the ''Expositor'' issue (i.e., the paper itself) was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed.
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| − | ''Joseph'' did not order the action against the ''Expositor''—it was the ''Nauvoo City Council'' (which included non-Mormons) which reached the unanimous decision and took the action they did.
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| − | The First Amendment is irrelevant to this discussion. In 1844, the First Amendment only applied to federal law; it had no application to state or local law until the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War.
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| − | </onlyinclude>
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| − | {{endnotes sources}}
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| | [[Category:American Massacre]] | | [[Category:American Massacre]] |
| | [[Category:John Dehlin's "Questions and Answers"]] | | [[Category:John Dehlin's "Questions and Answers"]] |
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| | [[Category:One Nation Under Gods]] | | [[Category:One Nation Under Gods]] |
| | [[Category:The Changing World of Mormonism]] | | [[Category:The Changing World of Mormonism]] |
| | + | [[Category:Questions]] |
