Matt Grow's “We, the People of the Kingdom of God”: Insights into the Minutes of the Council of Fifty, 1844-1846

[Calm]

I know there has been a lot of speculation over the years on the Council of Fifty minutes.  For those who prefer documentation...

http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2016-fairmormon-conference/people-kingdom-god

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It’s my privilege today to provide a sneak peek into a book that will be released to the public in about five weeks: the latest volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, which contains the minutes of the Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois. Joseph Smith formed this council in March 1844. The council met fairly regularly from then until January 1846, and then functioned intermittently during a handful of years in Utah until the 1880s. The publication of the Nauvoo-era minutes of this council is another step in the project’s ongoing effort to publish all of Joseph Smith’s papers. Because the minutes have never been open to research, the Council of Fifty has been the subject of tremendous speculation over the years.

The views expressed in the council’s minutes represent the thinking of Church leaders in the mid-1840s, a particularly turbulent moment in both Mormon and American history, not what the Church teaches today about topics such as theocracy. Today, the Church makes every effort to be politically neutral, even during the past presidential election featuring a Church member. The content of these minutes reminds us of another era in which the Church was decidedly not politically neutral....

 

 

[Calm]

Parts I am finding interesting:

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The immediate impetus for the formation of the council was two letters that Joseph Smith received in Nauvoo on March 10, 1844, from Church members involved with logging operations in Wisconsin Territory up the Mississippi River. Their assignment to produce lumber for the Nauvoo Temple and the Nauvoo House (a hotel) nearing an end, these members proposed that they would relocate elsewhere, possibly in Texas, which was then an independent republic and not part of the United States. The Wisconsin Saints hoped to raise money for the Church in Texas and spread the gospel among American Indian tribes.

After discussing the letters on March 10, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders met again on March 11 and formally organized a council with twenty-three initial members. Though the March 11 minutes are unfortunately lacking in detail, it appears that the proposal to establish a settlement in Texas led to discussions about the desire to create a theocracy—a government in which Church leaders would also have political power.[6]

According to the minutes, “All seemed agreed to look to some place where we can go and establish a Theocracy either in Texas or Oregon or somewhere in California.” The council was formed not only to plan for a new settlement, however. The members of the council saw its formation as the beginning of the literal kingdom of God on earth and anticipated that the council would “govern men in civil matters.”[7]

 

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After failing to receive assurances from any of the expected main candidates in the upcoming presidential election that the Saints’ rights would be protected, in January 1844 Joseph Smith declared his candidacy for president of the United States. His platform emphasized, as do his remarks in the Council of Fifty, a commitment to protect the minority rights of all, not just Latter-day Saints, against the tyranny of the majority.[9]

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Council participants understood that this action would have no immediate political consequences, but it symbolized their desire to prepare for the millennial kingdom of God. Joseph Smith and others in the council emphasized that leaders in the kingdom of God would govern by fostering free discussion, by respecting the people, and by serving as a conduit for revelation and God’s law.

 

[UtahTexan]

Should be interesting.......

[Calm]

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Council members believed they had an obligation to offer candid commentary on issues before the council and that their collective deliberations would lead them to correct decisions. From the beginning of the council, Joseph Smith urged participants to “speak their minds” and “to say what was in their hearts whether good or bad.” He said he “did not want to be forever surrounded by a set of ‘dough heads’ [unintelligent people] and if they did not rise up and shake themselves and exercise themselves in discussing these important matters he should consider them nothing better than ‘dough heads.’”[46]

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The object we have in view is not to save a man alone or a nation, but to call down the power of God and let all be blessed, protected, saved and made happy—burst of the chains of oppression. This is a kingdom worth having.”

 

[Calm]

More news on Council of Fifty:

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/council-of-fifty-minutes-featured-new-joseph-smith-papers-volume

"A new volume of never-before-published documents offers a candid view on how early Mormon leaders handled the temporal affairs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Joseph Smith Papers feature the minutes from the Council of Fifty meetings held in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s. The book is being released on September 26, 2016, by the Church Historian’s Press, an imprint of the Church History Department.

“The Council of Fifty was involved in matters such as exploring sites in the American West where the Saints could settle,” said Matthew J. Grow, one of the editors of the volume titled “Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846.” Possible locations for the migration included Texas, California, Wisconsin, Oregon and the Rocky Mountains.

The council was also involved in Church founder Joseph Smith’s 1844 presidential campaign. “This came about because efforts to get commitments out of the expected major candidates for the election of 1844 failed to find anybody who would stand up for Mormon rights,” explained editor Ronald K. Esplin. “The Council of Fifty became a forum for discussing Mormon and minority rights of every sort.”

The council was also involved in a variety of matters in Nauvoo, including the building of the Nauvoo Temple and in governing the city after the Illinois government took the city charter away from the Latter-day Saints...."