Would JS had been killed without polygamy?

[katherine the great]

I think polygamy had it's greatest impact on the size of Utah.

[USU78]

Yes.

It has been argued that, had the Saints' petition for redress not taunted Missouri's Governor Boggs for allowing JSJr and party to escape jail rather than face trial, that the Missourians might have been satisfied with driving the Mormons out. They were all pretty much gone when the "escape" was contrived anyway.

It was the Saints' inability to counter the political machinations of Missouri officers in Illinois who were trying to rearrest JSJr, Hyrum, et al. that turned public opinion against the Mormons. That turning predated the Expositor incident, but was certainly aggravated by it.

Polygyny, in my view, was merely a pretext from Illinois' perspective: it was the issue from the Laws' perspective.

[UteFan]

I think I'm in agreement with The Dude.

I don't believe Joseph was killed because he practiced polygamy. But I believe this was the catalyst (led to destruction of the press) that frenzied the mob and directly led to his death.

Without the destruction of the mob, who knows, he had been living with angry mobs for many years. Maybe he could have lived many more. I believe the saints still would have been kicked out of Illinois but maybe JS survives.

[Dale]

My understanding is that Joseph smith, and the city council were within the law for shutting down the press. But that they broke the law by physically destroying it also. Joseph smith was innocent under U.S. law until conviced. He had the right not to face those serious charges in court not in some angry get even tell all publication.

It was physically destroying the press not polygamy that got him killed. Polygamy was the issue they used as an issue to build some of the publication around.

[Scott Lloyd]

I think I'm in agreement with The Dude.

[Pokatator]

I think polygamy had it's greatest impact on the size of Utah. Utah would have become a state decades sooner, and probably would have included parts of Nevada, Idaho and Arizona. (I don't think Brigham Young would have gotten Southern California though either way...)

Thanks be to God, from us Idahoans.

[Pokatator]

After reading this thread, I am confused to a much higher level.

I voted NO, because I feel that the catalyst idea with the printing press was the incident that got him killed at that time. I also feel that without that catalyst incident he would still have been killed for a slew of other reasons, if he didn't flee first.

So maybe, my vote should have been YES???

Anyway on the plus side, I have learned a few things on this thread.