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< Joseph Smith | Polygamy
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{{draft}} | {{draft}} | ||
+ | {{PolygamyPortal}} | ||
==Criticism== | ==Criticism== | ||
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:NOTICE | :NOTICE | ||
− | :There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by Udney H. Jacobs, on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence [nonsense], folly, and trash. JOSEPH SMITH. {{ref| | + | :There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by Udney H. Jacobs, on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence [nonsense], folly, and trash. JOSEPH SMITH. {{ref|TS.32}} |
− | The pamphlet also contained a number of ideas which Joseph certainly would not have sanctioned, including the claim that Udney was the prophet Elijah (2), the person spoken of in {{s||Isaiah|66|7-8}} (25), and the prophet who would stop the mouth of kings (22). | + | The pamphlet also contained a number of ideas which Joseph certainly would not have sanctioned, including the claim that Udney was the prophet Elijah (2), the person spoken of in {{s||Isaiah|66|7-8}} (25), and the prophet who would stop the mouth of kings (22). There is little that parallels LDS ideas.{{ref|bushman.1}} |
===Udney Jacob's view of the Mormons=== | ===Udney Jacob's view of the Mormons=== | ||
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:I hope you will not consider this letter an intrusion—I have not to be sure the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you nor do I know that I am worthy of that favor; yet I believe that I am worth saving....{{ref|udney.2}} | :I hope you will not consider this letter an intrusion—I have not to be sure the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you nor do I know that I am worthy of that favor; yet I believe that I am worth saving....{{ref|udney.2}} | ||
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+ | Jacob would later join the Church, and in 1851 wrote Brigham Young about another matter: | ||
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+ | :I cannot imagine why you suspected me unless it was that ''I wrote a pamphlet'' some years since entitled the Peace Maker--you have certainly a wrong idea of that matter. I was not then a member of this Church, and that pamphlet was not written for this people but for the citizens of the United States who professed to believe the Bible.{{ref|udney.3}} | ||
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+ | This is a private letter, not written for public consumption. Jacob was trying to disabuse Brigham (now his priesthood leader) of suspicion in some matter, and he takes pains to assure Brigham that he is not guilty of the matter under consideration, and that he ''did'' write the Peace Maker—but hastens to add that this had nothing to do with the Church and (presumably) he is not now advancing those ideas. | ||
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+ | Brigham was in favor of polygamy—why would Jacob be trying to reassure him if the Church had been in on Joseph's "trial balloon" for polygamy all along? | ||
+ | |||
+ | And, why did these private letters go unpublished or unheralded if their intent was to throw us off the scent? Why were their contents not trumpeted by Joseph or Brigahm if Jacobs was involved in some complex plot to hide Joseph's involvement with ''The Peace Maker''? | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
− | + | ''The Peace Maker'''s doctrines are different from Joseph's, its creation dates to at least 1840, its author had a poor opinion of the Mormons initially, and a private letter makes it clear that Jacobs and Joseph had had no contact or introduction even after its publication. A later letter to Brigham Young makes it clear that Jacob wrote the pamphlet on his own for a non-LDS audience, and once a member of the Church considered it something best left in the past. There is little reason to think that Joseph Smith or the Church had anything to with the publication of ''The Peace Maker''. | |
+ | ==Endnotes== | ||
− | == | + | #{{note|TS.32}}{{TS1|author=Joseph Smith, Jr.|article=Notice|vol=4|num=2|start=32|date=1 December 1842}} |
+ | #{{note|bushman.1}} {{RSR1|start=445}} | ||
+ | #{{note|udney.1}} Udney H. Jacob to Martin Van Buren, president of the United States [March 19, 1840], Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois); cited by {{BYUS1|author=Kenneth W. Godfrey|article=A New Look at the Alleged Little Known Discourse by Joseph Smith|vol=9|num=1|date=Autumn 1968|start=52}} | ||
+ | #{{note|udney.2}} Original in LDS archives, cited by Godfrey, "A New Look," 53. See also discussion in Kenneth W. Godfrey, "Causes of Mormon Non-Mormon Conflict in Hancock County, Illinois, 1839-1846," PhD thesis, Brigham Young University (1967), 90–110 | ||
+ | #{{note|udney.3}} Udney H. Jacobs to Honorable Brigham Young, March 5, 1851, found in the LDS Church Historian's Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; cited by Godfrey, "A New Look," 53. Another Church source also rejected the idea that Joseph was involved: {{MS1|author=Eli B. Kelsey|article=A Base Calumny Refuted|vol=12|num=6|date=15 March 1850|start=92-93}} | ||
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==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
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===FAIR wiki articles=== | ===FAIR wiki articles=== | ||
+ | {{PolygamyWiki}} | ||
===FAIR web site=== | ===FAIR web site=== | ||
− | + | {{PolygamyFAIR}} | |
− | |||
===External links=== | ===External links=== | ||
− | + | {{PolygamyLinks}} | |
===Printed material=== | ===Printed material=== | ||
+ | {{PolygamyPrint}} |
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Joseph denied having anything to do with the pamphlet in a statement published in the Times and Seasons in December 1842:
The pamphlet also contained a number of ideas which Joseph certainly would not have sanctioned, including the claim that Udney was the prophet Elijah (2), the person spoken of in Isaiah 66꞉7-8 (25), and the prophet who would stop the mouth of kings (22). There is little that parallels LDS ideas.[2]
Furthermore, Udney would write to the President of the United States on 19 March 1840,
Jacobs clearly does not think much of the Mormons. When the president declined to help him publish, Jacobs seems to have turned to the Nauvoo press near the end of 1842.
There is also evidence that Jacob and Joseph had never met, even after publication of his pamphlet in 1842. In January 1844, Jacob wrote to Joseph:
Jacob would later join the Church, and in 1851 wrote Brigham Young about another matter:
This is a private letter, not written for public consumption. Jacob was trying to disabuse Brigham (now his priesthood leader) of suspicion in some matter, and he takes pains to assure Brigham that he is not guilty of the matter under consideration, and that he did write the Peace Maker—but hastens to add that this had nothing to do with the Church and (presumably) he is not now advancing those ideas.
Brigham was in favor of polygamy—why would Jacob be trying to reassure him if the Church had been in on Joseph's "trial balloon" for polygamy all along?
And, why did these private letters go unpublished or unheralded if their intent was to throw us off the scent? Why were their contents not trumpeted by Joseph or Brigahm if Jacobs was involved in some complex plot to hide Joseph's involvement with The Peace Maker?
The Peace Maker's doctrines are different from Joseph's, its creation dates to at least 1840, its author had a poor opinion of the Mormons initially, and a private letter makes it clear that Jacobs and Joseph had had no contact or introduction even after its publication. A later letter to Brigham Young makes it clear that Jacob wrote the pamphlet on his own for a non-LDS audience, and once a member of the Church considered it something best left in the past. There is little reason to think that Joseph Smith or the Church had anything to with the publication of The Peace Maker.
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