Joseph Smith/Polygamy/The Peace Maker

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Criticism

• Joseph Smith is claimed to have written a pro-polygamy pamphlet called "The Peace Maker" in 1842, despite the fact that he denied doing so.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 299. ( Index of claims )
• Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (Anchor, 2004), 88-90, 115-116.
• Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 50.

Reference source

• The Peace Maker (BYU Digital Collections)

Response

Joseph denied having anything to do with the pamphlet in a statement published in the Times and Seasons in December 1842:

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. ^[1]

Conclusion

 ^{[needs work]}

Endnotes

[note] Joseph Smith, Jr., Times and Seasons, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 32

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: