The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith

As a reminder, my church's weekly reading for 2021 was all about the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about this church I've belonged to for decades. Even though I thought I had known everything, there is evidently always more to learn.

In December, toward the end of our reading, we revisited the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. As you can see in the picture above, he was killed by an angry mob. As he and his colleagues were being held on the second floor of Carthage Jail awaiting trial, an angry mob was allowed to storm and attack.

The man lying in the middle was Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph. He died instantly when the mobsters entered the room. Off to the left in front of the bed was John Taylor, who was shot several times. A watch in his breast pocket stopped a fatal shot, and he survived to later become a president of the church. Behind the door in front of the fireplace would be Willard Richards, who didn't get hit at all -- supposedly because he was out of the line of sight of the mobsters.

And Joseph Smith was the man jumping out of the window. He reportedly died from his wounds before he hit the ground.

Those of you who do not belong to this church may wonder: was this murder, or was it justified? Did Joseph Smith bring this upon himself? 

John Taylor claims in Doctrine and Covenants 135, verse 7:

... their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to "Mormonism" that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations;

So, innocent blood on the "banner of liberty" and the "magna charta of the United States"? Is it really appropriate to go that far? Or is this more of a hyperbole?

To answer this last question, the actions and lack thereof from officials at every level of government speak for themselves. The "Mormons" (as they were called by their enemies) were kicked out of Ohio, and then kicked out of Missouri -- county by county until Governor Boggs ordered their expulsion from the state by threat of extermination. And then following the martyrdom of their prophet, they were kicked out of Illinois, and ultimately out into the unorganized territories.

And with each expulsion, the "Saints" (as the members called themselves) were forced to give up property without recompense, and were often killed and raped. And each time, the church leaders would reach out to governors and even the President of the United States, himself, and no one raised a finger to stop the illegal happenings.

No matter what one believes about the truthfulness of what Joseph Smith taught and what he claims, it should be as clear as day that due process had been thrown out the window. None of the protections that the Constitution guaranteed -- none of the Bill of Rights -- were allowed to apply to these Saints.

And it didn't stop until the Saints found a home in the middle of a desert that no one else wanted, which would later become Salt Lake City.

So, yes -- it was definitely innocent blood on the banner of liberty and on the United States. Not only because of Joseph Smith's unlawful murder, but also because of how the US allowed the followers of this religion to be driven out. All these events, which transpired for over a decade demonstrated a gross failure in the US Constitution.

And yes -- I know I'm a little biased in this matter. There is definitely more to the story -- how the Saints egged on some of their detractors. We got to learn a lot about that side as well this past year. It's very possible that had they behaved differently, our Church would still be centered in Independence, Missouri (the identified place of Zion). But we are where we are.

Joseph Smith definitely left in a blaze of glory, and his martyrdom has locked in a testament that has helped his Church to grow exponentially.

I hope you have enjoyed some of these explorations into Church History this past year. For 2022, we move on to the Old Testament. For being the largest book, that's going to be a lot of reading! We'll see what spiritual thoughts I can glean from it.