The Expositor

For years, Smith had been living a double-life, publicly pretending to be a monogamist, while in secret taking on scores of brides for himself, many of them teens, and many others already married to other men. He had likewise been encouraging select others, in his close group of high leadership, to do the same.

He’d also led church membership in Nauvoo to vote as a single block in election after election. This had a tendency to effectively disenfranchise non-member voters in the region.

And he’d long led the city in lawlessly writing writs of habeas corpus to wrongly protect himself and others from lawful arrests.

And he led a legion of some 5,000 Mormon soldiers, which legion was perceived as a potentially violent threat to others in the region.

Smith himself was the General.

Oh, and then there’s the fact that he was actively running for the Presidency of the United States. He and church members believed he had a real chance of winning.

Unsurprisingly, there were those who perceived Smith’s duplicitous embrace and endorsement of polygamy as a huge moral wrong, and as an outrage to the church, community and nation. Likewise, they perceived Smith as a man with megalomaniac tendencies who was out of control, with a large cadre of true-believer, never-to-be-dissuaded followers in his control — and, hence, as vile threat to morality and democracy (parallels to Donald Trump, anyone?).

A group of these opponents formed, hoping to do their best to combat the scourge. They purchased a press, and published the first issue of a newspaper that very cleverly exposed all that Smith had fought so hard to keep secret, along with much that had not been secret, but now was cataloged in an unflattering light.

There was no “hush money” solution for Smith. The paper was already published. The most that could be hoped for was to prevent the publication of more issues, and to gather up and destroy as many copies of that first issue, as possible.

Since Smith was, conveniently, also the Mayor of Nauvoo, he led the City Council in declaring the Nauvoo Expositor a “public nuisance,” and in directing the Sheriff to destroy the press and burn as many copies of that first (and, it turns out, only) issue, as could be found.

So much for freedom of speech.

This was the main precipitating factor that led to his arrest and removal to the jail in Carthage, Illinois, to face criminal charges for that act. It’s there that he was murdered (along with his brother Hyrum) by a very angry mob.:

Two

He was acting under the state charter of the city of Nauvoo as the mayor.

It was destroyed because the city council (including one who was not a member of the Church) ordered the city marshall to destroy it as a public nuisance.

Such acts were common in mid-XIX America.

Three

Well, your question shows your need for more information on this topic as you have already based it on false premises from the beginning. The Nauvoo Expositor printing press was destroyed by an order from the Nauvoo City Council through legal processes outlined by the Nauvoo City Charter, which had been approved by the government of the state of Illinois, which states that the City Council had the authority to destroy a public nuisance. By the laws of the day, this was a legal maneuver. Perhaps a better question would be to ask why the destruction of the Mormon printing press by a mob in Missouri a few years earlier, by illegal means, was not prosecuted by the state of Missouri. Or why the homes of the LDS members in Missouri were taken by the mob without compensation. Or why there were so many other atrocities experienced by LDS members by a mob that were never prosecuted, including murder and rape.

Four

According to the LDS official website, it was because the dissenters, all former members and leaders intended to:

“…stir up controversy over practices and teachings with which they strongly disagreed. Using inflammatory language, they voiced their discontent with the practice of plural marriage, Joseph Smith’s teachings on the nature of God from his recent King Follett sermon, and his mixing of religious and civic authority in Nauvoo”.

Once again, fudging the truth is far easier than facing it.

Nauvoo wasn't always Nauvoo. It was first named Quashquema, honoring the Native Chief who headed the Sauk and Meskwaki settlement of around 500 lodges. In 1827 white settlers built cabins in the area and by 1829 a ton was needed in what was now called Hancock County and by then (1832) the town was called Venus. Eventually, the town would be called Commerce, something the settlers felt suited their goal of becoming an area of commerce.

Late in 1838 then Apostle Brigham Young had an entourage leave Far West, Missouri to find a place for the 12,000 plus displaced Saints to find refuge. They were eventually welcomed to Commerce, which showed compassion to the homeless Saints. Properties were purchased in 1839 and the Saints gathered mainly along the Mississippi River at Commerce.

It has to be remembered that Smith and the Saints conflicted with the State of Missouri, so it wasn't like they were just homeless. They were pretty much on the lamb.

Now outnumbering the general population the city of Commerce was renamed Nauvoo by Smith.

The arguments of those in conflict with Smith were not merely doctrinal. They were economic and political as well. Smith was publicly denying polygamy despite it being known that he was practicing it with multiple women and Hyrum Smith had read the revelation before the Nauvoo High Council on August 12, 1843.

William Law likely had the most concern as Smith had proposed marriage to Law's wife, Jane. Smith would have Law removed from the First Presidency and subsequently, both he and his wife were excommunicated for blocking Smith's attempts at wife stealing. Fearing the position of William Law's brother, Wilson, as a brigadier general in the Nauvoo Legion, Smith had him excommunicated as well along with several others.

It was after this that the Nauvoo Expositor was announced. Francis Higbee was excommunicated after suing Smith for slander. Other evidence against Smith involving polygamy was also obtained demonstrating that Smith had been living in "an open state of adultery" since October 12, 1843, with one Maria Lawrence.

The purpose of the Expositor, as its name implies, was to expose Smith.

The little four-page document had only one issue (June 7, 1844) and contained such things as announcements and poetry but also a statement by "Seceders from the Church at Nauvoo" with sworn statements from many individuals particularly focused on the plural wives issue.

All criticism was aimed mostly at the leadership, particularly Smith, while the Seceders maintained an existing belief in "...the religion of the Latter Day Saints, as originally taught by Joseph Smith".

But they were also critical of the false teaching of multiple gods and what was called an "inquisition" in terms of their excommunications.

This wasn't intended to be a one-time publication and it was that which bothered Smith more than anything else. The information, if believed, would bring to an end any, if not all, of the goodwill between the Gentiles and the Mormons and would no doubt have led to the Mormons once again being run out.

Smith called a meeting of the City Council, all Mormons by this time, where he "...put the Expositor and its editors on trial..." The trial lasted all of Saturday and part of Monday with Sunday off, of course.

[Members of the Nauvoo municipal government: Mayor Joseph Smith, Councilors Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Sylvester Emmons, "Johnson", Benjamin Warrington, "Hunter" and Aldermen Samuel C. Bennett and Elias Smith.]

At this point, Smith had control over every element of city life. City Marshall John P. Greene (also Mormon) accompanied a large posse to destroy the press under Smiths’ orders.

Other newspapers in the area would call for the arrest of the Mormon leaders once word got out about the Expositor's destruction. A Hancock County JoP (not a Mormon) ordered the arrests of Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B. Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, Jonathan Holmes, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W. Coolidge, Harvey D. Redfield, Porter Rockwell, and Levi Richards.

In other words the whole caboodle.

Rather than face the music, Smith petitioned the Municipal Court of Nauvoo to dismiss the charges. Gee, I wonder how that worked out? The Municipal Court there was Mormon-heavy, something pointed out by another newspaper:

"...repeated attempts have been made to arrest Smith, but he has been uniformly screened from the officers of Justice, by the aid of the Municipal Court [of Nauvoo], which is the tool and echo of himself" (Warsaw Signal).

Eventually, Smith would declare Marshall Law rather than surrender himself for trial outside of the Mormon-run community.

So, in answer to your question, the Expositor was destroyed because Joseph Smith Jr. had no respect for the Second Amendment.

Hick Five

You have your facts off base a little bit. Clearly, you’ve been looking at some cheesy anti-Mormon website. I’m going to send the question back to you. Do some real research. Go to the Joseph Smith Papers. Go to the Church section in the BYU website.

Just a few facts to tweak you a little bit… Joseph Smith as prophet did not order the destruction of the printing press. The order for the destruction of the press did not come from Joseph Smith. The First Amendment does not apply in this case. Joseph Smith was not arrested for the destruction of the press.

And let me ask you a question… Where did the Expositor printing press come from? Who provided it? One could not go to Walmart and buy a printing press.

To borrow a quote, a title of a book, from a Latter-day Saint author…..”None dare call it conspiracy.”

I know the answer to all these questions. Do you? Again, do some real research. Don’t insult us by asking the same old question over, and over, and over again. This has been answered over, and over, and over again.

Six
Because the Expositor was considered by Smith not to be Mormon friendly. The irony in Smith’s actions to demolish the printing press is that he showed his cowardice to any pushback against him of his movement. Smith ran around yammering about freedom of religion until folks were blue in the face. But when someone else looked to take advantage of that SAME 1st AMENDMENT, they were not given such consideration. Smith was afraid of the press in his time a lot like Trump is today. For it attempted to expose his fraud and his desire to have his Kate and Edith too.

Seven

What the critics often fail to admit is that, in addition to the more or less true accusations that the Nauvoo Expositor made against Joseph Smith and other Church leaders, it also made numerous other false and libelous accusations. On top of that, it openly encouraged people to murder them. Neither of these things are protected constitutionally, and government authorities - which Joseph Smith was - are within their power in taking certain measures against such excesses.

If I were to take to the Internet openly calling for the murder of the Mayor of Houston, I could face legal consequences. And rightly so.

There had actually been several prior instances in that state in which civil authorities had similarly destroyed printing presses, but Joseph Smith’s case was the first to result in prosecution. Obviously, this was because there were people who wanted his blood.

Now, why did Joseph Smith go on the run?

Well, let’s note what happened after that.

His friends tried to persuade him to turn himself in and face the charges against him. When he expressed his concern that he would be murdered if he did so, his friends told him that such would not be the case, and the governor even guaranteed his safety.

So he turned himself in.

At this point, Joseph Smith said the following:

    I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning…

The governor did not fulfill his promise to protect Joseph Smith. A mob stormed the jail where he was being held, and he and his brother Hyrum were murdered.

Now. Let me ask you. Why do you think he decided to “go on the run”? Could it be because he was afraid of being murdered due to collusion between armed mobs and the state government? And could it be that this fear was well founded?

Seven

This is yet another Thomas Hunter “innocent” question that’s intended to be a “gotcha.”

When the “Expositor,” a scandal-rag that would make the “National Enquirer” look like quality journalism, printed its first and only issue, the enemies of the Church were delightedly outraged, while Church members were seriously alarmed. Every sentence in it was inflammatory, and that was intentional. It was all very well for the editors to piously disclaim any intention of provoking violence against the Saints; that disclaimer was a mere fig-leaf that not only fails to convince anyone, it actually shows that they knew that the material they were printing was inflammatory; but they went ahead and printed it anyway.

Consequently, the Nauvoo City Council held an urgent meeting to decide what should be done about it. They consulted Blackstone on the legality of suppressing a nuisance; a decision was reached and Joseph Smith, who was the mayor of Nauvoo, authorised the destruction of the Expositor. Consequently, the marshal raided the building, carried the paper sheets and the type out into the street, piled them up and burned them.

In after years, legal experts have opined that the city was within its legal rights to destroy the newspaper; it exceeded those rights when it destroyed the type.

It is known that this incident ultimately led to the murder of Joseph Smith, by devout American Protestants, while he was in Carthage Jail awaiting trial. There are those who try to deny that he died as a martyr, on the silly pretext that he tried to defend himself. This denial is a flat-out lie. The word “martyr” doesn’t entail or imply passivity; its only meaning is “witness.”

Hick Eight

The Nauvoo Expositor published only one issue on June 7, 1844. This issue contained articles that were highly critical of Joseph Smith, the Latter-day Saint movement, and its practices at the time, including plural marriage (polygamy), allegations of Joseph Smith's consolidation of power, and other criticisms of the Church and its leadership.

Joseph Smith, then both the mayor of Nauvoo and the Prophet of the Church, and the Nauvoo City Council declared the newspaper a public nuisance, arguing that its publications could incite violence against the community and were slanderous. On June 10, 1844, acting under this declaration, the City Council ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor's printing press. This act was carried out by local law enforcement.

This event escalated tensions between the Latter-day Saints and non-Mormon residents of the surrounding areas. It played a significant role in the chain of events that led to the arrest of Joseph Smith and subsequently to his martyrdom at the hands of a mob in the Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844.

The decision to destroy the printing press has been the subject of much discussion and historical analysis. From the perspective of Joseph Smith and the Church leaders, it was an attempt to protect the Latter-day Saint community from what they saw as incendiary and misleading accusations that could provoke additional persecution. From the perspective of critics, it was seen as an infringement on the freedom of the press and speech.

This event underscores the complex and often tense relationship between the early Latter-day Saints and broader American society during this period, capturing a moment where issues of religious freedom, public safety, and the limits of free speech were in direct contention.

Understanding these events can help us appreciate the challenges faced by the early Church and its leaders as they sought to establish a community and religious movement amid significant opposition.

Nine

What happened before the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor is key to understanding why the press was destroyed and why Joseph Smith was murdered. The Expositor issue that caused all the trouble starts by testifying that the Book of Mormon and everything about the Church was true up until plural marriages began:

    “As for our acquaintance with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we know, no man or set of men can be more thoroughly acquainted with its rise, its organization, and its history, than we have every reason to believe we are. We all verily believe, and many of us know of a surety, that the religion of the Latter Day Saints, as originally taught by Joseph Smith, which is contained in the Old and New Testaments, Book of Covenants, and Book of Mormon, is verily true; and that the pure principles set forth in those books, are the immutable and eternal principles of Heaven, and speaks a language which, when spoken in truth and virtue, sinks deep into the heart of every honest man.”

The Expositor writers clearly believed Joseph Smith was a true prophet but a prophet who had fallen.

Two years prior to the Expositor's first and only issue, John C. Bennett, the Mayor of Nauvoo and member of the Church's First Presidency, used his position to seduce several women and girls. Bennett was promptly excommunicated when his behavior was discovered. He became an aggressive enemy of the Church and spread many falsehoods projecting his own faults onto Joseph Smith. The Expositor writers, troubled by the doctrine of plural marriage, eagerly parroted everything Bennett said about Joseph Smith and the practice of polygamy in the Church.

Joseph Smith was sealed to many women and girls (all of whom were of age according to the laws of the time). That is a fact. However, he did not have any children by anyone other than his first wife Emma as proven by DNA testing.

If Smith was abusing his position to have sex with numerous women, where are the descendants from those relationships?

The truth is that most of Smith's sealings were for eternity only. They were ceremonies meant to link Joseph Smith to certain families in the afterlife. Helen Mar Kimball, one of the most frequently cited "underage" marriages, was just 14 when she was sealed to Smith. However, the sealing was done at the request of Helen's parents. She continued to live with her parents and only saw Smith on occasion while accompanied by her parents. Her sealing to Joseph was not a conventional marriage and was never consummated.

The eternity only sealings are difficult to understand as nothing like that has been practiced since. Members of the Church in those days believed Joseph Smith was the Abraham of the latter days. Through the priesthood authority conferred upon him all the world would be blessed--now and in the eternities. Church members believed they would receive special blessings if a member of their family was sealed to Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith was understandably enraged by the Nauvoo Expositor's claim that he was a prophet turned sex predator. He had already been falsely accused and falsely imprisoned many times, but to be falsely accused by former friends was especially galling. The Church's printing presses had been destroyed multiple times by mobs, so the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor was not without precedent. There was actually nothing unusual about destroying a printing press in those days. It was done frequently in response to defamatory publications. In this case, the Nauvoo City Council legally authorized the removal and destruction of the press whereas the Church's presses were destroyed in orgies of mob violence.

Enemies of the Church had been trying to kill Joseph Smith for years. In Missouri, Smith was captured and scheduled for execution without trial. But the noble General Alexander Doniphan defied the order and rebuked his commanding officer saying, “It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at 8 o’clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God.”

Even though the Nauvoo Expositor press was disposed of legally, Joseph Smith should have known his enemies would use it to come after him. Constitutional protections that had never been enforced to protect the Church suddenly became sacrosanct. "Freedom of the press has been violated! Joseph Smith must be arrested!" Why wasn't the whole city council arrested? Why not arrest those who actually destroyed the press? Because the target was Joseph Smith. They didn't care about the printing press. They wanted Joseph Smith trapped in a prison cell where they could kill him. Violent threats were made against the entire city of Nauvoo, so Joseph Smith agreed to turn himself in to protect the city. Governor Ford of Illinois guaranteed his safety. Ford lied. Guards at Carthage Jail mysteriously disappeared shortly before a mob of 150 men with painted faces materialized. They broke into the jail and murdered Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum on the evening of June 27, 1844.

Not content with killing Joseph Smith, mobs continued to harass the Saints until they were forced to leave Illinois and take refuge in Iowa where they arranged their escape to the Rocky Mountains. Thus ended one of the most despicable chapters in US History. No. No, actually it still wasn't over. The US government sent an army to Utah. They seized Church property and imprisoned polygamous fathers leaving many families with no means of support. The Church was left destitute for generations. Ironically, the Church is now reviled for wisely managing its finances and accumulating a sizable rainy-day fund. The American motto when it comes to “Mormons” seems to be “kick ‘em when they’re down and when they’re up.”

Hick Eleven

The answers Brad and Glade have given both make good points, but I think Brad’s points are more pertinent because Joseph Smith was not jailed for the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. Thus, freedom of the press is not the key to the argument. By the way Glade, consistently referring to those on the Nauvoo city council as “cronies” (5 times) indicates to me that you are not an unbiased observer here.

Joseph Smith did not act on his own. The Nauvoo city council declared the Nauvoo Expositor libelous and a public nuisance endangering civil order. The council directed the city marshal to destroy that issue of the paper and the press itself and not the printing office as is often alleged. The city council, which included at least one non-Mormon, concurred that the paper was "exciting the Spirit of mobocracy... and bringing death and destruction" upon Mormons (The Mormon Experience, Leonard Arrington and Davis Bitton, Vintage Books, New York, New York: 1980, p. 78.). The fact that there were then many vigilante groups, dedicated to the destruction of Mormonism and looking for excuses to carry out their violent intentions, should weigh heavily in any judgment about this act of the council. Under the circumstances, it appears that this action should not be called treason but rather self-defense. The murder of the prophet and his brother less than three weeks later by an armed mob, further substantiates the fact that their fears were well-founded and not unjustified. Even today, courts are making judgments against libelous statements made in the press. Can this also be called treason?

Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination. He said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and toward all men. I SHALL DIE INNOCENT AND IT SHALL YET BE SAID OF ME - HE WAS MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD." (D&C 135:4) An impossible prophecy for a false prophet but not for a true prophet.

It seems to me that murder by a mob of anti-Mormons for both religious and political reasons should be the act that is roundly condemned here, not religious sealings or destruction of a proven libelous press run by political and religious extremist. That was what the original questioner was asking, not whether murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum by a zealous mob was justified by the somewhat legal or illegal actions of a city council.

By the way, Gale Boyd has indicated on a similar question that “Plural marriage was not the big issue with the mobs. Their focus was more on the slavery issue and the voting power of the Latter-day Saints.” I suspect she’s right.

Twelve

The questioner considers himself an expert in Mormon history. So, I’d appreciate his answer to the following questions:

Was anyone arrested or indicted when the Mormon printing presses were destroyed in Missouri and Ohio? Was anyone arrested or indicted in Missouri where the Mormons were beaten, raped, murdered and “exterminated” from the state?

Was anyone convicted in Illinois when a mob of cowards murdered Joseph Smith and his brother while they were cornered in a jail cell? Did the state of Illinois or federal authorities intervene when mobs forced the Mormons to leave their beloved city of Nauvoo?

Were the Mormons ever compensated for property destroyed or stolen from them in New York, Ohio, Missouri, or Illinois?

Why were Mormons subject to so much violence and persecution in the early days of the Church?

Was Joseph Smith ever falsely arrested or falsely imprisoned?

Was Joseph Smith ever convicted of a serious crime?

Are there parallels between the persecution of the early Mormon Church and the early Christian Church?

Edit: The point is that Joseph Smith and the “Mormons” were subject to all manner of violence, persecution and injustice. When they did try to defend themselves, as in the case of the Nauvoo Expositor printing press, the Mormons were hypocritically accused of crimes like treason, inciting a riot, etc.

The printing press in question was for the Nauvoo Expositor. Some of the information in the Expositor was factual. But it also contained many libelous falsehoods meant to stir up animosity against the Mormon leadership. The Expositor quoted the Warsaw Signal, a blatantly bigoted publication filled with anti-Mormon rhetoric and calls for violence against the Mormons. The Nauvoo city council recognized the murderous intent behind the Expositor and its counterpart the Warsaw Signal. The Nauvoo city council, which was comprised of both Mormons and non-Mormons, decided that the Expositor posed a threat to the peace and safety of the city. Therefore, the city council ordered the removal of the press. Free speech rights do not protect libel or murderous threats.

Joseph Smith was blamed for the incident and was arrested along with his brother Hyrum and other leaders of the church. Joseph and Hyrum were murdered in their jail cell by a well-organized mob. William Law, the publisher of the Nauvoo Expositor, and Thomas Sharp, the editor of the Warsaw Signal, were both conspirators in Joseph Smith’s murder. Despite overwhelming evidence against them, all of the conspirators were acquitted.

Thirteen

Because the Expositor was inflaming anti-Mormon mobs who were already attacking Latter-day Saints who lived at the outer edges of Nauvoo. A group of leaders, including Joseph Smith, felt like it was legal and necessary to destroy the press. No one in modern times would agree.

Those who view Joseph Smith’s plural marriages to be simply an excuse for lechery are mistaken. It took him over ten years to introduce the practice once he had been commanded to do it by God, and he had already worried that everyone would leave the Church when he introduced the “Word of Wisdom” which counseled avoiding coffee, tea, tobacco, and alcohol. Plural marriage was a much bigger pill to swallow.

Plural marriage was not the big issue with the mobs. Their focus was more on the slavery issue and the voting power of the Latter-day Saints.