"It Seems Like Heaven Began on Earth":
Joseph Smith and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God
Thy
Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth
as
it is in heaven.
Andrew F. Ehat
In the last
issue of "BYU Studies", D. Michael Quinn presented for the first time
a chronology of the Council of Fifty that annihilates the previously held
theory that this Council was one of the most important institutions in
nineteenth-century Mormon history.(l)
Formally organized by Joseph Smith on ll March l844, just three months
before he was murdered at Carthage, Illinois, the Council of Fifty was his
concrete description of the millennial government of God. In his article, Quinn gave an overview of
the organization, officers, activity, and meaning of the Prophet's Council of Fifty
and presented
insight into some of the internal
political doctrine that guided Council meetings. However, he did not present or analyze the governing directive of
the Council: The Constitution of the
Kingdom of God. Nor did he discuss all
the parliamentary procedures of the Kingdom that illustrate the theoretical
rights, powers, and limitations of its officers and members. The purpose of this article then is to show
that internal nature, role, and organization of Joseph Smith's "Kingdom of
God." Admittedly, this study will
appear more like a theological treatise, but considering Quinn's research,
there seems little else significant to say about the external chronology of the
Council of Fifty. Using materials Quinn apparently did not see, I will do three
things in this article that he did not do
in his. First, I will provide an answer
to the question he raised in his article:
Why did Joseph Smith wait two years after he received the revelation
authorizing the existence of the Council of Fifty to actually organize it?(2)
Second, although Quinn discussed the importance of 7 April l842, the date the
Lord revealed the official name of the Council, as well as the dates various
Council members gave for its formal organization two years later (namely, l0,
ll and l3 March l844), there is one date he did not discuss. I will show that the l8 April l844 meeting
of the
Council of Fifty was, without any
question, the most important one in its organizational development, because it
was on that date Joseph Smith finalized all the theoretical features of the
Kingdom of God. And, third, I will
present excerpts from William Clayton's journals to demonstrate the essentially
spiritual, theological, and nonmilitant role of the Council of Fifty.
WHY DID JOSEPH SMITH WAIT
FROM 7 APRIL 1842 UNTIL 18 APRIL 1844?
According to Daniel 2:44-45, the Lord must
take the first step in establishing his Kingdom: the stone that is to roll forth and consume all other nations has
to be cut out of the mountain without hands--that is, by God. The first step to coalesce the randomly
scattered and partially developed themes of the Kingdom fostered within the
Church priesthood organization appears to be the revelation to Joseph Smith on
7 April l842.(3) On this date the full title of the Kingdom was revealed.
Verily thus saith the
Lord, This is the name by which
you shall be called,The
Kingdom of God and His Laws,
with the Keys and power
thereof, and judgment
in
the
hands of his servants,
Ahman Christ. (4)
No other government has had such a
prestigious title. Furthermore, to show
the stark contrast between the ideals of government hinted at in this title and
those operating upon the earth, Joseph Smith began to teach that man's attempts
at government had come woefully short both in principle and practice.
In July
l842, three months after receiving this revelation, Joseph Smith published an
essay in the "Times and Seasons" entitled "The Government of
God."(5) In it he said the
governments of men "have failed in all their attempts to promote eternal
power, peace
and happiness.... [Even] our nation, which
possesses greater resources than any other, is rent, from center to
circumference, with party strife, political intrigues, and sectional
interest."(6) Joseph Smith called
Isaiah 33:22 the political motto of ancient Israel
(and note how unmistakably close to the
revealed name of the Council of Fifty this motto
is):
"The Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our
King; and He
shall reign over us."(7) To bring about this ideal state of things,
the Prophet said
great confusion and destruction would have
to occur throughout the world.
"The world has had a fair trial for six thousand years; the Lord
will try the seventh thousand Himself."(8) Though he did not give many details of the ancient government of
God, Joseph Smith did say the following:
The government was a theocracy; they had
God to make their laws, and men chosen
by Him to administer them.... [They were led] in both civil and
ecclesiastical affairs.... So will it be when the purposes of God shall be
accomplished: when "The Lord shall
be King over the whole earth" and "Jerusalem His throne." "The
law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem."(9)
This is a preciously limited description
of Joseph Smith's precise ideas of the nature of the Kingdom and he knew it,
for he said a month later: "I have
the whole plan of the Kingdom before me, and no other person has."(l0)
Other
theological developments that year have a specific bearing on the organization
of the Kingdom of God. In May of l842 Joseph Smith introduced the
"temple endowment" and anointed nine men to become hereafter kings and priests (ll) Consistent with John the Revelator, Joseph
Smith anointed them "Kings and priests...[who] shall reign on the earth [during
the Millennium](l2) However, in
September of l843, a year later, Joseph Smith did attend to the temple
ordinances that actually made mortals "kings and priests.' Joseph Smith on
27 August l843, a month before first administering these ordinances, taught
that this ordination as a "king and priest" conferred the ultimate,
legitimate power of government.
Those holding the fullness of the
Melchizedek Priesthood are kings and priests of the Most High God, holding the keys
of power and blessings. In fact, that
Priesthood is a perfect law of theocracy and stands as God to give laws to the
people.(l3)
Joseph Smith
in this discourse also indicated that he had not as yet conferred on any man in
the Church the fullness of the priesthood ordinances whereby they were made
kings and priests.(l4)
On 28
September l843 Joseph Smith inaugurated these higher ordinances in which he ordained
men kings and priests.(l5) And in the
ensuing five months he conferred them on twenty other men.(l6) For it was the "dispensation of the
fullness of the priesthood" that Joseph Smith felt was the mission he was
to accomplish.(l7) Hence, it should not
be surprising that with one exception all the men upon whom the fullness had
been conferred by February l844 were initiated into the original Council of
Fifty on ll March of that year.(l8)
Therefore, in the period between May l84 (and more particularly
September l843) and February l844, the organization of the Kingdom of God
awaited Joseph Smith's unfolding of temple theology. Thus the two-year lapse
between 7 April l842 (the date the founding revelation ofthe Council was
received) and ll March l844 (the date the Council was actually organized) exists
because Joseph Smith delayed organizing this Council until after he had
unfolded all temple ordinances. These
ordinances he claimed conferred ultimate priesthood authority upon men. When men were ordained kings and priests and
thereby received the fullness of the priesthood, they were "given...all that
could be given to man on the earth"(l9)
With the restoration of this fundamental source of legitimacy, the
Kingdom of God could be reestablished. For,
from the Mormon point of view, governments which had apostatized from that
dominion the Lord gave Adam had usurped authority and annulled their
priesthood. Hence, worldly kings
anointed by priests who had no priesthood power ultimately did not have
legitimate
right to reign.(20) It is no wonder then that the official name
of the Council, "The
Kingdom of God and His Laws...." when
condensed to its "Key Word" -- "Ahman Christ" --means,
according to the Mormon lexicon, "God Anointed Ones" (see D&C
95:l7; ll6).
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE 18TH 1844 MEETING?
With
this theological overview, we are ready to discuss the meaning of the l8 April l844
meeting of the Kingdom of God.
Regarding this meeting, William Clayton records in his journal that the
individuals "who have been called upon to form the grand K. of G." were
called by revelation. This principle
was echoed in a revelation to John Taylor 27 June l882:
And now I speak unto you who are members
of this Council and my Kingdom. I
say unto you, as I said unto my
disciples of old, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I called you by my servant, Joseph [Smith],
and by my servant, Brigham [Young], and by my servant, John [Taylor](2l) (D&C 8l:20-2l added)
This calling included the three nonmembers
of the Church who were members of the Council of Fifty: Uriah Brown, Edward Bonney, and Merinus G. Eaton. For, according to the above revelation given
to John Taylor, the Lord said: "I
moved upon [Joseph Smith] to introduce into my Kingdom certain parties not in
my Church." (22) With the ultimate
source of representation of God on earth inherent in the priesthood, having
only Church members rule would not be fair in a plural society unless, as
stated in this l882 revelation, nonmembers of the Church "be admitted to
the right of representation... and have full and free opportunity of presenting
their views, interests and principles, and enjoying all the freedom and rights
of the Council."(23) The leaders of the Council of Fifty did not consider
the presence of nonmembers of the Church as members of the Council to be a
dilution of its priesthood undergirdings. Rather, they accepted what Joseph
Smith had taught them, namely, that in the initial stages of the Millennium the
Council would participate in concert with men of differing religious and
political persuasions. Apparently the
highest ranking representative(s) of non-Mormon political systems would be
invited to come and present the "views, interests and principles" of
their constituency. In December l842,
the Prophet had interpolated the Book of Revelation phrase "reign on
earth" to mean "reign over the earth." He explained that immortal men, including Christ, would not dwell
permanently on the earth but
would only visit it during the
Millennium. Day-to-day government would
therefore be left to mortals.
Furthermore, Joseph Smith explained the earth would still have a
pluralism of governments and religions in the early part of those thousand
years:
There
will be wicked men on the earth during the thousand years. The heathen nations
who will not come up [to Jerusalem] to worship will be visited with the judgments of God [e.g., "no
rain" (Zechariah l4:l7)] and must eventually be destroyed from the earth.(24)
Because the Kingdom of God was conceived
of God it could be a government of a plural society without prostituting its
principles. The way that such an
apparently unrealizable
ideal could be achieved was what Joseph
Smith made known during the l8 April l844 meeting.
When
the Prophet began the meeting, he initiated Joseph W. Coolidge and David S. Hollister
and then added Lyman Wight's name to the list of members. The Council then had a total of fifty men
sitting in the circle. With that
accomplished, Joseph Smith announced: "Now we have the number which the
Lord requires--[but] we will take a few more on our own hook."(25) The term "Council of Fifty" then
became the familiar name of "The Kingdom of God and His Laws..." when
it was mentioned in public. Although
the name "Council of Fifty" has been considered by scholars merely as
a nickname,(26) as seen here it was an essential feature of the Council to have
a particular size and hence this official title.
Joseph Smith
next asked the committee assigned the responsibility of drafting the
Constitution of the Kingdom of God to
report their progress. Although this
committee had not been organized until a week before the l8 April l844 meeting,
the Council from the very beginning had considered drafting a
constitution. At the first of two l0
March
l844 preliminary organizational meetings,
Joseph Smith had assigned the entire Council
the task of amending the Constitution of
the United States to become the "voice of Jehovah."(27) At the ll April meeting, Joseph Smith had
given the assignment to a committee of three.
During the week the committee had tried to draft the constitution.
Though the Prophet had not been at the
meeting of the "Committee of the council" in the
afternoon of l4 April, he too during the
week had attempted to help draft the document.(28) Committeeman John Taylor reported to the Council that the
committee had "worked & strove to get up such a constitution as would
suit our feelings" but could not do it. The Prophet then told the Council that he knew they could not
draft a constitution worthy of guiding the Kingdom of God,(29) and that he had
gone before the Lord and had received the Constitution by direct revelation:
Ye are my Constitution
and I am your God and ye are my spokesmen, therefore from henceforth keep my
commandments.(30)
Though
this statement may seem short and more on the order of a preamble to a constitution,
Council members viewed it quite differently.
John Taylor said:
These
words are pregnant with meaning & full of intelligence & point out our
position in regard to these matters--it is expected of us that [we] can act
right--that our interests [are] bound up in the K[ingdom] of God. That we should
consider we are not acting for ourselves, but that we are the Spokesmen of God
selected for that purpose in the interest of God & to bless & exalt all
humanity. We acknowledge him as our God
and all men who enter this body must acknowledge him here. There is a peculiary[sic] significance to
these things which needs some consideration.(3l)
Orson Pratt in regard to this has said:
In the Church we take
the Law of God & his Priesthood as the Constitution of his Church--here in this Council we have a living
constitution not a written one--which
we must conform to.(32)
The implicit
breadth of this constitution was staggering to Council members. The
Constitution of the Kingdom subsumes those
political principles of mankind consistent
with Judeo-Christian-Mormon
scriptures. Analogous to this is the
case of the strikingly
similar constitutional monarchy of Great
Britain. Its unwritten constitution is
the sum
total of all the basic legislation
developed over the centuries since the Magna Carta of
l2l5.
Joseph Smith was serious then when he said, "We should gather all
the good and
true principles in the world and treasure
them up, or we shall not come out true 'Mormons.'"(33) "One of the grand fundamental principles
of 'Mormonism' is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may."(34)
This
brief constitution may imply that the Council operated in loose and chaotic
fashion.
However, order in the Council was assured by certain parliamentary
procedures that were also finalized in the l8 April l844 meeting. Given the unwritten nature of the
Constitution of the Kingdom, these
parliamentary procedures consequently take on constitutional proportions.
THE RULES OF THE KINGDOM
l.
The Council is convened and organized by the president of the Church subject to
the rules of the Kingdom of God. He is
elected standing chairman upon convening of the Council.
2. Members of the
Council sit according to age, except the chairman.
3. According to the
order of voting in the Council, a recorder and a clerk of the Kingdom are
elected. The clerk takes the minutes of
the meeting and the recorder enters the approved minutes into the official
records of the Kingdom. They are voting members though they do not occupy a
seat in the circle.
4. All motions are
presented to the Council by or through the standing chairman. All motions must
be submitted in writing.
5. To pass, a motion
must be unanimous in the affirmative.
Voting is done after the ancient order: each person voting in turn from
the oldest to the youngest member of the Council, commencing with the standing
chairman. If any Council member has any
objections he is under covenant to fully and freely make them known to the
Council. But if he cannot be convinced
of the rightness of the course pursued by the Council he must either yield or
withdraw membership in the Council.
Thus a man will lose his place in the Council if he refuses to act in
accordance with righteous principles in the deliberations of the Council. After action is taken and a motion accepted,
no fault will be found or change sought for in regard to the motion.
6. Before a man can be
accepted as a member of the Council his name must be presented to the members
and voted upon unanimously in the affirmative.
When invited into the Council he must covenant by uplifted hand to
maintain all things of the Council inviolate agreeable to the order of the
Council. Before he accepts his seat he
must also agree to accept the name, constitution and rules of order and conduct
of the Council.
7. No member is to be
absent from any meeting unless sick or on Council business. If this were not the case, rule five could
be invoked to invalidate any action of the Council.
8. A member can be
assigned to only one committee of the Council at a time.
9. Adjournment and
specific date of reconvening the Council are determined byvote. The Council may be called together sooner at
the discretion of the chairman. If the
council adjourns without a specific meeting date (sine die), it next meets only
at the call of the standing chairman (or new President of the Church, if
applicable).(35)
Beginning
with rule number two, I shall discuss the implications of the most important
rules of order of the Council. The most
conspicuous feature of William Clayton's journal entry for l8 April l844 is
that he lists each of the members (except for the officers of the Council)
according to age. Joseph Smith
explained nearly a year before: "The way to get along in any important
matters was to gather unto yourself wise men, experienced & aged men to
assist in council in all times of trouble."(36) This rule of order seems to have followed precedent established
earlier by Joseph Smith in connection with the priesthood organization of the
Church. When the Council of the Twelve
Apostles was organized in l834, Joseph Smith instructed them "to take
their seats together according to age, the oldest to be seated at the
head."(37) They even spoke in
order from the oldest to the youngest.(38)
While seniority by ordination date eventually replaced seniority by age
in the Council of the Twelve, in the Council of Fifty seniority was determined
strictly by age. Ecclesiastical rank,
except in the case of the President of the Church, had no bearing on standing
in the Council. For example, the
President of the
Twelve Apostles, Brigham Young, was ranked
twenty-third in the Council of Fifty. Alphabetical
lists of the Council of Fifty do not suggest this rule of order which
gave rise to tensions within the
Council.(39) Of particular interest is
the case of
Lyman Wight. Eldest of the Twelve Apostles, he first took his seat in the
Council of
Fifty on 3 May l844. He was ranked sixteenth--ahead of all his
fellow apostles.(40)
When Brigham Young, after the martyrdom of
Joseph Smith, did not enthusiastically renew Wight's mission to Texas that had
been arranged by the l844 Council of Fifty, Lyman Wight rebelled and took a
company of Saints away anyway. So when
the Council appointed the President of the presiding quorum of the Church,
President Brigham Young, as Standing Chairman of the Council of Fifty on 4
February l845, Apostle Wight was on his way to Texas and was not present to
sanction the action. This may in part
explain why after August l846 following the death of Samuel Bent, who was
ranked second, Lyman Wight refused to accept Brigham Young's election as
standing chairman. He repeatedly stated
that "nobody under the light of the heavens except Joseph Smith or John
Smith, the president of the Fifty, could call him from Texas."(41) Since John Smith was ranked third in Joseph
Smith's Council, Lyman Wight considered John Smith and not Brigham Young
"president of the Fifty."
Wight's interpretation of succession in the Council was certainly Self-serving. For in the Council of the Twelve Apostles he
was responsible to President Brigham Young, but in the Council of Fifty he
thought his age gave him advantage, justifying his rebellion against Brigham
Young's authority. Because he attended
only at most three of the seventeen Council of Fifty meetings held during the
lifetime of Joseph Smith, possibly Lyman Wight did not know or forgot the rule
that age seniority did not determine who was to be standing chairman. That office was always to be filled by the President
of the Church. Wight's thinking carried
a step further could have made it possible for nonmember of the Church Uriah
Brown, ranked fifth, to have succeeded to the "presidency," leaving even
Lyman Wight in a quandary.
But this
seniority rule certainly is not the most important of the rules governing the
Council. Without any question rule
number five was the most important one to members of the Council. All the perplexing questions raised about
government in general and theocracy in particular were answered by this
rule. It eased their own anxiety
regarding Joseph Smith's intentions in establishing a theocracy. It qualified the meaning of the action of
the ll April l844 meeting when Joseph Smith was anointed "Prophet, Priest
and King" of the Council. Because
of this rule Council members did not feel that they were bound to the
"fanciful revelations of Joe Smith, whether right or wrong," as anti-Mormons
claimed. This rule satisfied members of
the Council that they were involved in a theo-(democratic) republican form of
government and not a theocratic tyranny.
Rule five was the unique answer to the inevitable clash between majority
and minority rights. It guaranteed
freedom of speech and encouraged the right of dissent. To them this rule blended divine sovereignty
and popular sovereignty.
As
in the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the Kingdom of
God empowers the "government of God" in its legislative capacity more
than in any other
branch of power. The standing chairman does have veto power, but no more than
other members. He too is subject to the
same rules of righteousness in exercising his franchise.
"If I esteem mankind to be in error,
shall I bear them down?" asked Joseph Smith. "No. I
will lift them up, and in their own way
too, if I cannot persuade them my way is better;
and I will not seek to compel any man to
believe as I do, only by the force of reasoning, for truth will cut its own
way."(42) Joseph Smith felt that
these liberal sentiments
could be enacted through the agency of the
Council of Fifty. The miracle of fifty
men
coming to a unanimous decision would make
them "spokesmen" of God. According
to the theory, if fifty men seek in candor and order to put self and
represented interest in perspective with all other points of view and are
committed to find the locus where the best interests of all converge, then the
Council will have found the will of God.
This unanimous decision clause in rule five is, as in the case of rule
number two, an obvious duplication of the parliamentary procedures of the
Church's leading councils.
Every decision made by either of these
quorums [the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles and the Quorum of Seventy] must
be by the unanimous voice of the
same; that is, every member in each quorum
must be agreed to its decisions in order to make their decisions of the same
power or validity one with the other ... Unless this is the case, their
decisions are not entitled to the same blessings which the decisions of a
quorum of three presidents anciently..... The decisions of these quorums... are
to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness
and long suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity; because the promise is, if
these things abound in them they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of
the Lord.(43)
Therefore the chairman would not resort to
"revelation" unless the Council was at a
stalemate. The desire of the nonmembers of the Church in the Council to avoid
revelation as the final say would certainly be a compelling force for
unanimity. It could then be argued that
the voting procedure in practice would merely be majority rule. Certainly this is so. The key, of course, is whether members of the
Council would seriously consider the interests of all in their deliberations.
As John Taylor saw it, only in seeking the good of all could they fulfill the
implications of their "constitution." One factor that would contribute to realization of this lofty
goal is the covenant (rule number
five) that if objections existed to any
legislation they had to be voiced.
Because the
leadership of the Church handpicked the men to fill the Council of
Fifty, one could argue that true freedom
of expression did not exist in the Council.
Yet
one cannot escape the impression of total
honesty and unintimidated expression actually
practiced in the meetings. For example, when, in l880, the Council
discussed the stand
the People's Party should take on the
question of taxes in support of the public school
system in Utah Territory, both George Q.
Cannon and Wilford Woodruff opposed the move because it would require the
removal of the Church's scriptures from the curriculum. (Taxes had not been
used to an appreciable extent in the territorial school system before
this.) It might be surprising to us
that Daniel H. Wells, former member of the First Presidency and then a
councilor to the Twelve Apostles, recommended rather liberal views. He
suggested that the latter-day Saint children receive a more secular education
and be taught the scriptures at home "without crowding them into the 6
hours of the school day." Echoing the fundamental principles of the
Council, Daniel H. Wells concluded, "This looks to me as good
statesmanship & be providing for all the people." There were no rebuttals to his
comments. John Taylor agreed that
"there does seem to be an unfairness in using other people's money for our
schools ... we can afford to do right."(44) This is only one example, but it confirms the whole tenor of the
Council minutes: the leaders of the Council of Fifty practiced what they
preached. The minutes breathe openness
and candor without vindictiveness or unkindness. If the Mormons felt so committed to this freedom of expression in
the Council, we can expect that the gentiles would feel even more so.
A
six percent representation of the overwhelming gentile population does not seem
to be good mathematics on the part of Joseph Smith if he expected the Council
soon to be in control of the world.
Having only three nonmembers in the original Council of Fifty seems a
poor representation. But Joseph Smith
told the younger members of the CouncilBenjamin F. Johnson, Erastus Snow, and
George A. Smith--always to remember the example he had set. Then when they were "hoary with
age" they would maintain alive the principle of gentile representation in
the Council of Fifty should the day come in their lifespan that the Kingdom of
God would be established in power and glory.(45) Given the Mormon expectation that at the beginning of the
Millennium a plural society will exist and that nonmembers of the Church will
have fair representation, theoretically the proportion of nonmembers in the
Council will then be considerably higher than it was in Nauvoo. Under such
conditions, gentiles in the Council of Fifty will not feel their position to be
so tenuous.(46)
Therefore,
it was not the specific projects of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty that so
excited its members. It was his
theories and doctrines that arrested their attention.
For it did not escape them that this form
of government was not possible under existing
world conditions. But an already well-developed apocalyptic
outlook helped keep the notions alive.
First, the Church would gain in influence and respect with the
world.(47)
Second, the chaos of a disintegrating
world would drive people to the Ensign of the
Latter-day Saints, saying: We don't care about your religion; but you
are a good people,
and you have a just and stable government
with which we would be willing to cooperate.
(48)
Then lastly, cataclysmic events would elect the Saints as governors of
the earth.
(49)With all these principles finalized on
l8 April l844, surely it is no wonder William
Clayton rejoiced: "Much precious instructions were given,
and it seems like heaven began on earth and the power of God is with
us." As will be seen in the
following entries from Clayton's journals, his childlike faith in the
revelations on the Council of Fifty to
Joseph Smith was implicit and
complete. They demonstrate the
spiritual other-worldly
orientation of Council proceedings and its
role when it came into contact with the world.
(50)
EXCERPTS FROM THE JOURNALS OF WILLIAM CLAYTON
Sunday, March l0 [l844]. ... Evening
attended Council with the First Presidency and
the Twelve on important business
arrising[sic] from a letter from the Pine Country. Bro., W. Richards was appointed Chairman and myself, was
appointed Clerk.
Monday, March ll. In Council again all day--as last night many
great and glorious
ideas were advanced, we had a very profitable time. We organized into a Council and I was admitted a member. I will here name whose names were put on the
list of members of this important organization: Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, W. Richards, P.P.Pratt,
O. Pratt, J. Taylor, H.C. Kimball, G.A. Smith, W.W. Phelps, L. Woodworth, G. Miller,
A. Badlam, P.Haws, Erastus Snow, R. Cahoon, Amos Fielding, A. Cutler, Levi Richards,
N.K. Whitney, J.M. Bernhisel, L.D. Wason
myself ...
Wednesday March l3. ... At ll the Council
was called together, ... p.m. in council
again, also in the evening O. Hyde, W.
Woodruff, and James Emmett were admitted members. The Pres. appointed W.
Richards Recorder, and me the Clerk of the Kingdom.
Thursday March l4. In Council all day
again.
Tuesday, March l9. At the Council meeting, S. Bent, Uriah
Brown, Samuel James, John
D. Parker, O. P. Rockwell, Sidney Rigdon,
Wm. Marks and O. Spencer were admitted members.
Thursday, April 4. In Council of the Kingdom. Eleven Lamanites(5l) appeared and
wanted Council. We had a very pleasant and impressive interview.
Thursday, April ll. ... Afterwards in the
Council. We had a glorious interview.
Pres. J. was voted our P.P. & K.(52)
with loud Hosannas.
Thursday,
April l8. ... At 9 met in Council. This
day Pres. J. introduced J. W.Coolidge and D.S. Hollister and added L. Wight's
name, and then declared the council full. The names as they now stand of those
who have been called upon to form the grand K.of G. by revelation are as
follows:
l. Prest J. Smith, Standing Chairman
2. Samuel
Bent 65
27. P. B. Lewis
40
3. John
Smith 62
28. Elias Smith 39
4. Alpheus
Cutler 60 29. O. Hyde
39
5. Uriah
Brown 59
30. Saml James 38
6. Reynolds
Cahoon 54 31. W. Woodruff 37
7. Ezra
Thayre 53
32. P.P. Pratt
36
8. Wm.
W. Phelps 52 33. Edwd Bonny
36
9. Amos
Fielding 5l 34. D.D.
Yearsley 36
l0. Wm.
Marks 5l
35. D.S. Hollister 35
ll. Sidney
Rigdon 51
36. John Taylor 35
l2. John
P. Green 5l
37. Alex Badlam 35
l3. Geo
Miller 50
38. C.C. Rich 34
l4. N.K.
Whitney 49 39. G.J.
Adams 33
l5. Peter
Haws 48
40. Orson Pratt 33
l6. Jos.
Fielding 46 4l. M.G.
Eaton 32
l7. C.P.
Lott 45
42. A. Babbet 31
l8. Levi
Richards 44 43. A.
Lyman 30
l9. J.m.
Bernhisel 44 44. J.W.
Coolidge 30
20. J.D.
Parker 44
45. O.P. Rockwell 29
21. H.
Smith 44 46. G.A. Smith 26
22. I.
Woodworth 44 47. E.
Snow 25
23. B.
Young 42
48. L.D. Wason 24
24. H.C.
Kimball 42 49.B.F.Johnson 24
25. O.
Spencer 42 50. W.
Clayton Clerk
26. J.
Emmett 41
5l. W. Richards
Recorder.
52. L.
Wight
During the day much precious instructions
were given, and it seems like heaven began on
earth and the power of God is with us.
Thursday, April 25th. In Council all day. Adjourned sine die.
Saturday June 22. Joseph whispered and
told me either to put the r. of K. into the
hands of some faithful man and send them
away, or burn them, or bury them. I
concluded to bury them, which I did immediately on my return home.
Sunday. August l8. At the Office copying the Record of the
Kingdom.
Friday. Sept 6. At the Temple all day
copying Records of the Kingdom
Reflections. Jan. lst l845
...
The organization of the Kingdom of God on llth March last is one important
event.
This organization was called the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God, and
was
titled by revelation as follows,
"Verily thus saith the Lord, this is the name by which
you shall be called, the Kingdom of God
and his Laws, with the Keys and power thereof, and judgment in the hands of his
servants, Ahman Christ." In this
Council was the plan arranged for supporting Pres. Jos. Smith as a candidate
for the presidency of the U.S.
Prest Joseph was the standing chairman of
the council and myself the Clerk. In
this
Council was also devised the plan of
establishing an emigration to Texas, and plans laid
for the exaltation of the standard and
ensign of truth for the nations of the earth.
In
this council was the plan devised to
restore the Ancients(53) to the Knowledge of the truth and the restoration of
Union and peace amongst ourselves. In
this Council was
Prest. Joseph chosen our Prophet, Priest
and King by Hosannas. In this Council
was the
principles of eternal truth rolled forth
to the heavens without reserve and the hearts of the servants of God made to
rejoice exceedingly.
Tuesday Feby. 4, l845. Met at the 70s Hall
with the Council of the Kingdom. There
were only 25 members present viz: B.
Young, S. Bent, John Smith, Alpheus Cutler, R.
Cahoon, W.W. Phelps, G. Miller, P. Haws,
Joseph Fielding, Levi Richards, J.D. Parker,
L. Woodworth, H. C. Kimball, O. Spencer, P.B. Lewis, D.D. Yearsley, C.C. Rich,
O. Pratt, A. Lyman, J.W. Coolidge, O.P. Rockwell, G.A. Smith, E. Snow, and Wd
Richards and myself. This is the first time we met since the massacre of Pres.
Joseph & Hyrum Smith. The council
was reorganized and President B. Young appointed standing chairman as successor
to Prest Joseph Smith by unanimous vote.
The vote was then taken in ancient order on each one present and all
were received by unanimous vote. The
vote then passed for absent members according to their ages and stations and
resulted as follows, viz: Ezra Thayre,
Amos Fielding, N.K. Whitney, C.P. Lott, J.M. Bernhisel, Elias Smith, O. Hyde,
W. Woodruff, P.P. Pratt, D.S. Hollister, John Taylor, Wm Smith, A.W. Babbitt,
J.M. Grant, and B.F. Johnson were unanimously sustained and received into the
new organization. The following were
rejected and dropped from the Council:
Uriah Brown, Wm Marks, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, James Emmett, Samuel
James, Edward Bonny, Alexander Badlam, Geo. J. Adams, Merinus G. Eaton and
Lorenzo D. Wasson. President Joseph
& Hyrum two of the members were martyred for the truth and John P. Green is
dead, so that there is only 40 members left in the Council. It was voted to fill up the Council, at some
future time. The weather is extremely
cold and the Council adjourned at 2 l/2.
Thursday Feby 6, l845. At the office all day recording minutes of
Council &c.
Tuesday, Feb. ll, l845. At the office all day copying records of the
Kingdom.
Wednesday, Feb. l2, l845. At the office all day copying records of the
Kingdom
Saturday, March l, l845. At l0 a.m. met at the Seventies Hall in the
Council of
Fifty.
The following brethren were taken into fill up the Quorum viz: Joseph
Young, John E. page, David Fullmer, Theodore Turley, Albert P. Rockwood,
Jonathan Dunham, & Lucien R. Foster.
They subscribed to the laws of the Council and covenanted before God
with up-lifted hands to maintain all things inviolate agreeable to the order of
the Council. Bros. Daniel Spencer, Isaac Morley, and Shadrack Roundy were
selected to make up the number of 50, but they were absent and sick. Brother John Pack was admitted to sit in the
place of Wilford Woodruff, John D. Lee in the place of Ezra Thayer, and Lewis
Dana in place of Amos Fielding they being absent in on business. Lewis Dana is a Lamanite of the Oneida
nation, and the First Lamanite who has been admitted a member of any Quorum of
the Church.
The
object of the Council was to decide whether we shall send out a company of men with
Bro. Dana to fill Joseph's measures originally adopted in this Council by going
West to seek out a location and a home where the Saints can dwell in peace and
health, and where they can erect the ensign and standard of liberty of the
nations, and live by the
laws of God without being oppressed and
mobbed under a tyrannical government, without protection from the laws. Many
able speeches were made on the subject, and the Council finally agreed to send
out a company with Brother Dana to accomplish this important object. The following brethren were selected and
appointed by unanimous vote of the Council, for this mission, viz., Samuel Bent
to be the first man and president of the Mission, Jonathan Dunham next, Cyrus
Daniels, Daniel Spencer, John S. Fullmer, Charles Shumway, Albert Carrington,
and John W. Farnham. These brethren are
expected to start immediately after Conference and proceed from tribe to tribe,
to unite the Lamanites and find a home for the saints. The Council adjourned in the midst of the
best kind of feelings.
Tuesday 4 Mch l845. ...At 9 o'clock met
with the council of the Kingdom. We had
a very interesting meeting. The subject
being the Oregon Mission.
Tuesday March 6, l845. At the Office all
day copying records of the Kingdom.
Friday March 7, l845. As above.
Monday Mar. l0, l845. ... While writing
and copying the records of the Kingdom, I
was writing these words dropped by Er H.C.
Kimball in the council on the 4th inst., viz.
"if a man step beyond his bounds
he will lose his kingdom as Lucifer did and it will be
given to others who are more worthy." This idea came to my
mind. It has been a doctrine taught by
this church that we were in the Grand Council amongst the Gods when the organization
of this world was contemplated and that the laws of government were all made
and sanctioned by all present and all the ordinances and ceremonies decreed
upon. Now is it not the case that the
Council of the Kingdom of God now organized upon this earth are making laws and
sanctioning principles which will in part govern the saints after the resurrection,
and after death will not these laws be made known by messengers and agents as the
gospel was made known to us. And is
there not a similarity between this grand council & the council which sat
previous to the organization of this world.
Tuesday March ll, l845. In the Council of Fifty all day. Cyrus Daniels was admitted a member. The subject of writing letters to the
Governor's and a number of other subjects were discussed. The subject of the movements of the mob was
talked over, and it was considered best for those who are hunted with writs to
go on Missions so that we may if possible evade the blow until we can finish
the Temple and the Nauvoo House. It was
also decided that the workmen on the walls of the Temple commence tomorrow.
Wednesday March l2. At the office all day copying Records of the
Kingdom.
Friday March l4. At the Office all day chiefly recording records of the Kingdom.
Saturday, March l5. A.M. at the Office copying
records of the Kingdom.
Monday l7. At the office all day chiefly copying records of the Kingdom.
Tuesday March l8, l845. In the Council of Fifty all day. D. Spencer was admitted a
member.
The subject of the Western mission was most on hand, and all seemed
interested fully in it.
Wednesday March l9, l845. P.M. copying
records of the Kingdom.
Thursday 20, At the office all day.
A.M. recording tithings, afterwards copying
records of the Kingdom.
Saturday March 22, l845. At the council of the Kingdom all day. The Western Mission occupied near all
day. The subject of the Nauvoo House, Printing
office, Church
History and organization of the City were
talked over.
Monday March 24, l845 ... Chiefly
recording the minutes of the Council of Fifty.
Tuesday, March 25--l845. At the Council of Fifty all day. The subject of the
Nauvoo House, and organization of the
City, were the principle topics of conversation.
Thursday March 27, l845 ... At the Office
all day copying records of the Kingdom.
Tuesday, April l, l845. At the office all
day, quite unwell, recording minutes of
the Kingdom.
Saturday April 5, l845. At 9 at the
Seventies Hall with the Council of Fifty but on
account of a multitude of business waiting
the Council adjourned until without doing
business, to next Friday at 8:45.
Friday April ll, l845.. With the Council
of Fifty all day taking minutes.
Pres.Young appointed J. Dunham, C. Shumway, Lorenzo Young to go with
Brother Dana on the Western Mission. It
was decided to move the printing Office into three lower stories of Masonic
Hall and commence the business on a larger scale. The Council all voting to do their utmost to sustain it.
Tuesday April l5, l845 ... Dined at l2
Oclock with Brother Miller and afterwards
rode with him to meet with the Kingdom of
God in the upper room of the Seventies Hall.
Phineas Young was received into the
Council and decided to go with Bros. Dana, Dunham and Shumway to the Indian
Council at Council Bluffs and thence if they think best to the Pacific
Ocean. It was also decided that Bro.
Solomon Zundal (Zendal) should go with them to his tribe the Delawares. A letter from Gov. Ford was read giving his
advice relative to our policy in organizing the City. He advises to organize the City into corporations of a mile
square so as to include the whole surface.
He also recommends to go and establish an independent government in
California.
Wednesday April l6, l845 ... P.M. at the
Office mostly copying records of the Kingdom.
Thursday April l7, l845 ... Part of the
day I was copying records of the Kingdom...
The following verses were composed by Er.
John Taylor, the Apostle, and revised by him at the Council of the Kingdom on
Friday llth inst. "The Upper
California. O thats the land for
me." &c (See p. 280.)
Monday April 2l, l845 ... Recording the
minutes of the Kingdom.
Tuesday April 22, l845. A.M. at the Office
recording the minutes of the Kingdom.
P.M. attended the Council of the
Kingdom. There was not much business
done. The
brethren are not yet gone west and will
probably not start for a day or two.
Thursday April 24, l845... At the Office
all day recording minutes of the Kingdom.
Monday April 28, l845 ... A.M. recording
minutes of the Kingdom.
Tuesday April 29, l845 at 6:30 met the
Council of Fifty at the Seventies Hall
Tuesday May 6, l845. ... Evening met with
the Council of Fifty in the Seventies
Hall. The principal topic of conversation
was the movements of the mob. It
appears their
determination is to get up an excitement
at the Court and they are already trying it by
reporting that the Saints are going en
masse to Carthage at the Court, and if the Court
does not execute the law on the murderers
that we intend to destroy the Court and citizens of the County. From reports which the brethren have brought
which have been at
Carthage the mob are laying deep plans to
bring us into collision with the State, so as to bring about our expulsion or
extermination forthwith. It was agreed
that none of the
brethren leave the City at the Court, only
those who are required to be there on business, so that we may prevent the mob
from coming into the City and committing depradations in the absence of the
brethren. An article was written by O.
Hyde & W. Richards to
publish in tomorrow's paper notifying the
public of the designs of the mob and also the
course we intend to pursue. The Council did not break up till l0 l/4.
Saturday l0 May l845 ... P.M. met with the
Council of Fifty and adjourned sine die.
The adjournment was about in consequence
of the Conduct of D.D. Yearsley of whom there is strong suspicions of
treachery.
Saturday Sept. 7, l845 ... Notified the
members of the Council of Fifty to meet next
Tuesday.
Tuesday Sept. 9 l845 ... At 2 P.M. met in
the upper room of the Seventies Hall with
the Council of Fifty. The subject of sending a company of Saints
to the West next spring
was talked over, and the following motion
of by W.W. Phelps-- "Moved that the President select such a portion of
this Council as he may choose to remove west, and they select and organize the
company subject to the final revision of the President," a vote was
taken and the motion was carried
unanimously. The following motion was
also put and carried unanimously
"That a Committee of five be appointed to gather all information
relative to integration and impact the same to this Council, and those about to
emigrate when called upon"
Thursday Sept ll, l845. A.M. at the Office recording minutes of the
Kingdom of God
... A selection has been made by Pres.
Young of those of the Council of Fifty who shall
start west next spring. My name is
included in the list.
Tuesday Sept. 30, l845. Met the Council of
Fifty at the Seventies Hall. Elders
Bent, Cutler & Cahoon presented their
lists of families selected by them to go west.
They have each got their companies nearly
made up of one hundred families each.
Pres.
Young also appointed S. Roundy, J.
Fielding, C.P. Lott, P. Haws and Daniel Spencer to
select and organize each a company. Isaac Morley has got his company about
full. While in Council report was
brought in that two officers had just rode into town and had come to the
Mansion. Pres. Young sent B.F. Johnson
to find out what they were after. He
soon returned and stated that they called for liquor but could get none. They then went to Packs but could get none
there. They finally got some at Clapps
and then went off in different directions.
Word was brought in that an armed company were outside the City. Pres.
Young sent C.C. Rich to see what they wanted.
He soon returned and reported that Gen. Hardin, Judge Douglas and the
troops had arrived on the Square near the Temple, and that Douglas was at Elder
Taylor's wanting to see the Twelve or the authorities of the place. The Council was immediately adjourned and
the Twelve with one or two others went over to Elder Taylor's ... P.M. at the
Office recording minutes of the Council of Fifty.
Saturday, October 4, l845 ... At 9 O'Clock met with the
Council of Fifty at the Seventies Hall and Kept minutes of the Council.
Sunday, October 5, l845. At the Office all day recording minutes of
the Council of
Fifty.
Tuesday January 6, l846 ... Evening went
to notify some of the Council of Fifty to
meet next Sunday morning.
Sunday January ll, l846 ... A.M. In the Temple with the Council of Fifty,
arranging
to make an early start West.
Sunday January l8, l846. In the Temple with the Council of Fifty and
also Captains
of Companies.
As of l
January l845 all the special projects of the pre-martyrdom Council of Fifty
had failed. The Council had not met in eight months. It had not revived itself to undertake any
of the "measures of Joseph."
No California, Oregon, or Texas scouting parties materialized. The campaign for the Presidency of the
United States was terminated not only before the election but even before a
national convention. The mission among the
Lamanites never got underway. William
Clayton mentions all these failures in his l845 New Year's day entry. Then why is he so buoyant?
As
important as each of these efforts by the Council were, they were, in Clayton's
mind, only secondary in importance to the
spiritual-religious organization conceived by
Joseph Smith. Clayton's implicit faith in the divine nature of the Prophet's
revelations
on the Council of Fifty overshadowed any
earthly policies that the Council may have developed. It was the love of the principles espoused by Joseph Smith,
principles the
Council applied to policies, that
enamoured William Clayton and bound him to the Prophet. The Council could
accommodate changes and he felt the divinity of the Council's principles were
confirmed when they met new circumstances.
The
Council of Fifty was frustrated in each of its attempts to prepare the way for
the unhurried, systematic removal of the
Saints from the presence of their enemies in and
around Nauvoo. However, after three years' struggle, the Council of Fifty
achieved the
"measures of Joseph" when
Brigham Young entered the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July l847. As William Clayton phrased it in his famous
hymn, they found "the place which God ... prepared, far away in the West,
where none [would] come to hurt or make afraid; [w]here the Saints [would] be
blessed." And the council achieved
its goal within the time limit Joseph Smith had originally given:
[I prophesy] that within
five years we [shall] be out of the power of our
old enemies, whether they were apostates or of the world,
and [I tell you] bre
thren
to record it, that when it comes to pass [you] need not say [that you]
had
forgotten the
saying.(54)
This then is
the legacy of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty.
Though it was conceived as the nucleus of a world government for the
Millennium, through the flexibility of its own Constitution the Council assumed
the less imposing role of locating the Saints in a less than ideal Zion. And when realities militated against the
Council's fulfilling all of its plans, only individuals like William Clayton
who remained as adaptable as the Council's Constitution could find consolation
despite all the failures.
A LISTING OF THE DATES OF COUNCIL OF FIFTY MEETINGS
The
following is a list of the l42 dates when the Council of Fifty met during its
seven distinct periods of activity. A bolded date means that the meeting is
verified by
the official attendance rolls of the
Kingdom of God. An asterisk indicates
the dates
during the periods two, three, and seven
of other meetings which are significant to but
are not meetings of the Council of Fifty.
l. l844--Joseph Smith
Council of Fifty Meetings
Joseph Smith
assigned the Twelve Apostles in February l844 to organize and supervise an
exploring party to the far West in order to find a new location for the
Saints. He learned on 8 March l844 that
Lyman Wight and George Miller (when they were hundreds of miles from Nauvoo)
had at the same time prepared letters suggesting that the Church move from
Nauvoo to Texas. Consequently, when the
Prophet decided to organize the Kingdom of God, he assigned these fifty men to
manage these two exploring efforts preparatory to a final decision regarding a
removal of the Church from Nauvoo. The
Council of Fifty also assumed other projects likewise previously undertaken by
Joseph Smith, namely, the campaign for the presidency of the United States and
appeals to Congress for redress of the Saints' grievances concerning the Missouri
expulsion in l839. However, when the
Prophet was killed on 27 June l844, all "measures of Joseph' considered by
the l844 Council were tabled until the Council was reorganized seven months
later on 4 February l845.
l0, ll, l2,
l3, l4 ["adjourned til Tuesday l9 9 am" (JS-WR)], l9, 2l, 26 March;
4, ll,
l8, 25 ["sine die" (WC, JS-WR,
and HC)] April; 3, 6 ["adjourned till to next Monday" (JS-WR)], l3,
25 ["adjrd to friday next" (JS-WR)], and 3l May l844--l7 meetings
during this period.
2.
l845-l846Post-Martyrdom Nauvoo Council of
Fifty Meetings
Although the Council was reorganized 4 February
l845, it adjourned that day with only the vague anticipation that "at some
future time" it would be filled up to its full complement of fifty
members. However, one month later, as
spring approached, Brigham Young reconvened the Council to fulfill his promise
to carry out the "measures of Joseph." Following the March and April l845 deliberations on the western
expedition, the exploring party finally got away from Nauvoo. The Council then adjourned for four
months. In September l845, after part
of the exploring party returned to give a preliminary report of their findings,
the Council met and decided to send a settling party to the valley of the Great
Salt Lake, after conducting this business if adjourned again. However, during the latter part of
September, the anti-Mormons of Hancock County issued an ultimatum to the Saints
requiring them to agree to leave the state in the spring of l846. Consequently, the Council reconvened and
planned for an organized evacuation of Nauvoo.
Then in January l846, after an adjournment of three months, when word
came from separate sources that Federal troops were on their way to prevent the
Saints from leaving Nauvoo, the Council met in emergency sessions to prepare
for an early move west. Because he believed this was a crisis situation,
Brigham Young on l3 January l846 invited the leaders of the wagon train
companies, even though they were not members of the Council, to meet with the
Council of Fifty in this emergency session.
Because so many of the members of the Council were scattered along the
trail leading west, Brigham Young convened several such "augmented"
Council meetings during the l846 trek west.
(Although these meetings were clearly based on precedent established in Nauvoo,
they were not Council of Fifty meetings.
Because they were held during the trek west, and because they were significant
"council" meetings, I have listed them during period three.) The Council last met in Nauvoo l8 January
l846 and, as shown on the single attendance roll that covers both the second
and third periods of activity of the Council, the Council of Fifty did not meet
again until l2 November l846.
4 ["This is the first time we met
since the massacre of Pres. Joseph...Smith" (WC); "It
was voted to fill up the Council, at some
future time" (WC)] February; l, 4, ll, l8, 22,
25 [AML says Council Adjourned to 5 April]
March; 5 [HCK says they adjourned to l2 April, WC says ll April, and WR says l0
April], ll ["adjourned to Tuesday next" (WR)], l5, l8, 22, 29 April;
6, l0 ["adjourned sine die" (WC)] May; 9, 30 September; 4
["adjourned at 2l/2 without date" (WR)] October l845; ll, l3* [First
"augmented" Council of Fifty meeting where at the conclusion of the
meeting Brigham Young says: "The 50 to meet on Sunday at l0 [l8 January
l846] and the whole [the "augmented" Council of Fifty to meet] on
Monday at l0" (Minutes)], l8, l9* January l84620 meetings during this period.
3.
l846--The Exodus Winter Quarters Council
of Fifty Meetings
Although Brigham Young convened the Council
of Fifty in November l846, he did not have any "business to lay before the
Council." However, at the 27
December l846 meeting, the important yet obvious decision was made to send a
pioneer company to the Salt Lake Valley in the spring of l847. The Council then adjourned sine die until
they could meet in the Valley. They did
not reconvene until 6 December l848, two months after Brigham Young's second
and final arrival in the Valley 20 September l848.
30* ["Council adjourned to Thursday
April 2nd" (WR). Members of the Council of Fifty are
identified in the proceedings of these
"Council" meetings] March; 2*
["council adjourned sine die" (WR and JDL)]. l8* ["meeting
adjourned Mon l0" (JDL)], 28*, 27*, 28* April; 20*, 2l* May; 2*, 7* August;
l2, l3 November; 25, 26, 27 [ "These three days
Council has been held ... consisting of 30 to 40 persons" (HCK);
"council having [sic] been adjourned sine die from Winter Quarters, and to
be at the call of the first Presidency in the Valley" (Orson Hyde during
trial of Peter Haws and Lucien Woodworth, 6 January l849, Pottawattomie High
Council Minute Book, p. l32); "adjourned sine die" (GM)] December
l846--5 meetings during this period.
4.
l848-l850--"Legislative Council"
or Provisional State of Deseret (Salt Lake City Council of Fifty Meetings
In terms of
concentration and involvement, no other period of activity of the Council of
Fifty rivals this golden era. Yet for
all its accomplishments during this "Provisional State of Deseret"
period, the Council of Fifty retired itself seven months before Brigham Young
took the oath of office as governor of Utah Territory on 3 February l85l and
fifteen months before the Territorial Legislature first officially sat in
session 22 September l85l.
6, 9, l6, 23December
l848; 6, 20January; 3, 9, l7, 24 February, 3, 4, l0, l7, 3l March; 5, l4, 28 April; l2, 26 May; 2, l6, 30 June; 2, 7, ll, l5, l9, 2l July; 4, ll, l8,
25, 29August; 6, 8, l2, 22, 29 September; 5, l0, l3,
20, 27 October; 3, l0 [There was probably a meeting of the
Council of Fifty on this date though I have no evidence for it.], l7 November;
22 December l849; l2 ["adjourned" (TB)], 26 January; 9, l6, 23
February; 30 ["adjourned to last Saturday in June at l P.M." (TB)]
March; and 29 ["l8 present adjourned until State House is ready, to meet
at call of B.Y." (TB)] June l850--56 meetings during this period.
5.
l85l--The l85l Utah Territory Council of
Fifty Meetings
On l January l845, William Clayton wrote
in his journal that Joseph Smith taught the Council of Fifty the ancient plan
of how the "restoration of Union and peace" amongst officials of the
Government of God could be achieved.
Theoretically, if members of the Council of Fifty could not fellowship
one another, their deliberations would be fruitless. If they were at odds one with another they would be unable to be
the "Spokesmen of God," even if they ostensibly followed the rules of
the Kingdom. The positive advantages of
strict privacy regarding Council of Fifty deliberations, then, provided
assurance to Council members that they could, without fear of exposure or public ridicule, freely and fully
express their hesitancy or bad feelings for other Council members. Joseph Smith's belief that such complete
fellowship had to exist between members of the legislature of the Kingdom of
God impelled him to institute what I call "Fellowship of the Council"
meetings. So while it may appear that
these l85l meetings were the Council's last gasp to return to its golden era, a
one last attempt to seize control of the Territory despite the presence of the
unwanted gentile officials, actually Utah Territorial business and tensions
regarding the first officials were completely ignored in these meetings. These l85l meetings were originally convened
to restore fellowship between certain Council members and not to discuss Utah
Territorial affairs. Following the 4 October l85l meeting, the Council
adjourned and did not meet until l867.
21, 22, 23 [these three meetings were Fellowship of the Council
meetings], 25, 30 August; l3 September; 4 [nine are present for A.M. session--no
quorum is available for the P.M. session: "on motion adjourned to the call
of the President" [Minutes provide the dates for all the meetings during
this period] October l85l7 meetings during this period.
6
l867-l868Utah Territory Council of Fifty Meetings: l867 Renewal
The l867 renewal of the Council of Fifty
after fifteen years of inactivity must be seen as a subset of Brigham Young's
renewal of Joseph Smith's many faceted program of "Zion." Apparently anticipating that with the completion
of the railroad in l869 Babylon would encroach itself on Zion in an
unprecedented way, Brigham Young not only renewed Joseph Smith's concept of the
Kingdom of God, but also he began to take steps to revitalize the School of the
Prophets, the Relief Society, and the United Order. He created Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Association (ZCMI), and
he performed again the Fulness of the Priesthood Ordinances. All these other elements of "Zion"
had not been functioning for at least twenty years. This resurgence was intended to fortify the Church from the
influences of forces without. Unlike
other programs receiving renaissance beginning with this new era of the Church
in l867, the Council of Fifty was not a substantive stabilizing force within
the Church. For example, even ZCMI,
commonly considered a product of the Council of Fifty, was a project adopted by
the Council three days after the Saints publicly accepted the program in general
conference. Since the Council of Fifty did
not meet again for nearly twelve years after the 9 October l868 meeting when it
"absorbed" this project, it was not the agency that implemented nor
managed ZCMI. Moreover, before the next
meeting of the Council in l880, the decline of the cooperative effort was
irreversibly set and the Council did nothing to prevent its extinction in l882.
23 ["The clerk reported thirteen
members died since the last meeting of the Council on
the 4th. October l85l; ... [Brigham Young]
stated that he was not aware of any particular
business to be brought before the Council,
further than to meet and renew our acquaintance with each other in this
capacity" (Minutes)], 25 January; 5 April; 5, l0 October l867; 4, 9 ["The Council of 50 Met but
adjourned without doing Business" (WW)] April; 9 October l868--8 meetings
held during this period of activity.
6.
l880-l884--Utah Territory Council of Fifty
Meetings: l880 Renewal
As seen by
this chronology, the Council of Fifty during the l880s was not a significant
catalyst of Church involvement in politics.
Furthermore, even when the Council operated as caucus of and private
political machinery behind the Church's political party--the People's
Party--the Council's efforts were narrow and limited. That the Church
leadership was the real power behind the People's Party is supported by the
fact that the party continued to function for nearly seven years after the last
meeting of the
Council of Fifty on 9 October l884.
l0 ["Meeting adj. until 2lst April
l880" (Minutes)]. 2l ["Adj. Oct. 5, l880" (Minutes)]
April; 5 ["Adjourned till next
Tuesday Morning at l0 Oclock" (Minutes)], l2 ["Adjourned
till April 5th l88l" (Minutes)]
October l880; 5, 8 April; l8 May; 4 October l88l; 4, 5,
April; 21, 22, 23 ["adjourned till l0
a.m. tomorrow" (Minutes)], 24, 26, 27 ["adjourned
till call of the President" (FDR and
JHS)] June, l0, ll ["adjourned till 9 April or till
Call" (FDR)]; l0, ll ["adjourned
till 27th June at 2 pm" (RTB)] April; 27, 28, 29
["adjourned to Oct. 3-2 p.m. unless
on call by the President" (FDR)] June; 6* [special
meeting of the First Presidency and the
members of the Council of Fifty who resided in
the Salt Lake County area]; 3
["adjourned till the l0th instant at l0-a.m." (FDR)], l0
["Council adjourned to Jan l2-l884-l0
a.m." (FDR) October l884; l2 ["adjourned till call
of the President" (FDR)] January; 8
["adjourned ... sine die or until called by the
President" (FDR)] April; 8, 9 October
l884; and, 4* February l885--29 meetings were held during this period.(55)
Andrew F. Ehat graduated from Brigham
Young University in mathematics in l973.
He is currently a graduate student in history, a researcher with the
Religious Studies Center and an editorial intern with "Brigham Young
University Studies.
1)D.
Michael Quinn, "The Council of Fifty and Its Members, l844 to l945," "BrighamYoung University Studies" 20 (Winter l980):
l63-97.
2)Ibid.pp.164-65.
3) Joseph F. Smith Minutes of the Council
of Fifty, l0 April l880, used by special
permission. Since l957, a typed version of these minutes has been available
at Special
Collections, Harold B. Lee Library,
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
The typescript does not give any source. Though there are minor errors in the typescript, the
date given for the revelation is correct.
4) See entry in William Clayton journal
for l January l845 included with this article.
There are many other sources for this text, but Clayton seems to be
copying from
the original minutes which were in his
possession.
5) This editorial is reprinted in full in
"Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith",
comp. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book Company, l967), pp. 248-54.
6) Ibid., p. 249.
7) Ibid., p. 252.
8) Ibid.
9) Ibid.
l0) Joseph Smith, "History of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", ed.
B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. rev., 7 vols. (Salt
Lake City: Deseret News, l932-l95l), 5:l39.
Hereafter referred to as HC.
ll) HC, 5:l-2.
12) Revelation 20:5-6, bolding added.
l3) Smith, "Teachings", p. 322.
l4) See undated entry in manuscript
entitled "Scriptural Items," which matches other
manuscript versions of Joseph Smith's 27
August l843 discourse found in the LibraryArchives of the Historical
Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Office
Building, Salt Lake City, Utah (hereafter referred to as Church Archives). I have determined that this manuscript is in
the hand of Franklin D. Richards, who in l849 became an apostle of the
Church. See also Doctrine and Covenants
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints, l968), l24:28 (hereafter referred to as D&C), and Brigham Young's
comments three weeks before Joseph Smith's discourse, found in HC, 5:527.
l5) Joseph Smith Diary, kept by Willard
Richards, 28 September l843, Church
Archives.
l6) The twenty men were Hyrum Smith,
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard
Richards, Newel K. Whitney, William Marks,
John Taylor, John Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, Alpheus Cutler, Orson Spencer, Orson
Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Levi Richards,
Cornelius P. Lott, William W. Phelps, Isaac Morley and Orson Pratt. This is based on my "Summary of Data on
the Individuals Who Received the Endowment Before Ordinance Work Began in the
Nauvoo Temple," privately distributed.
l7) HC, 5:l40, or Smith,
"Teachings", p. 258.
l8) The exception was Isaac Morley, who
was not initiated into the Council of Fifty
until l March l845. With only two exceptions, all the additional
men on whom Joseph
Smith conferred the Endowment but not the
Fullness of the Priesthood ordinances were also initiated into the Council of
Fifty. These men were as follows: George Miller, Amasa Lyman, Lucien
Woodworth, John M. Bernisel, Joseph Fielding, William Clayton, and John P.
Greene. The only exceptions are Samuel
H. Smith (who died in
August l844) and Joseph Young (who did not
become a member of the Council of Fifty until l March l845), Ehat,
"Endowment Data Summary."
l9) Heber C. Kimball Journal kept by
William Clayton, 26 December l845, Church
Archives.
20) In light of this it should be pointed
out that the Mormons, nevertheless, had
been cautioned by revelation to be content
with pluralism: "Be subject to the
powers
that be, until he reigns whose right it is
to reign" (D&C 58:22) To
Mormons this was not
evidence of a patronizing God. He had revealed that he had not only
countenanced but had also inspired the Constitution of the United States. There was to be no contradiction:
"For he that keepeth the laws of God
hath no need to break the laws of the land" (D&C
58:2l).
2l) Revelation dated 27 June l882 in
notebook collection of John Taylor revelations,
notebook given to Annie Taylor Hyde
(daughter of John Taylor) by Emma Smith Woodruff (wife of Wilford Woodruff),
xerox of holograph, Church Archives.
22) Ibid.
(See D&C 8l:4l added)
23) Ibid. (D&C 8l:44 added)
24) Smith, "Teachings", pp.
268-69.
25) Leonard John Nuttall Minutes of the
Council of Fifty, l2 October l880, used by
special permission; hereafter referred to
as Minutes followed by date. Subsequent
to the
l8 April l844 meeting, William Smith and
Jedediah M. Grant were included in the pre-martyrdom Council, much in the same
manner as alternates are called into the Church's priesthood organization--the
"High Council"; alternate councilors are officially called
in case regular members of the High
Council are absent.
26) Hyrum L. Andrus, "Joseph Smith
and World Government" (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company, l958), pp. 3-4;
Klaus J. Hansen, "Quest for Empire: The Political Kingdom of God and the
Council of Fifty in Mormon History" (Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University, l967), p. 6l; and
Quinn, "The Council of Fifty and Its Members, l844 tol945," p. l69.
27) Joseph Smith Diary, l0 March l844,
Church Archives.
28) Joseph Smith Diary, l4 April l844, and
HC, 6:333.
29) Minutes, 8 April l88l.
30) Joseph F. Smith Minutes of the Council
of Fifty, 21 April l880. See note 3.
3l) Minutes, 8 April l88l.
32) Minutes, l2 October l880.
33) Smith, "Teachings", p. 3l6.
34) Ibid., p. 3l3.
35) This is a compilation of descriptive
statements of the rules of order scattered
throughout the minutes of the Council of
Fifty. I have prepared a typescript of
these minutes and corresponding diary entries and expect to publish this
compilation in the future.
36) Wilford Woodruff Journal, l4 May
l843. Church Archives. See also Smith,
"Teachings", p. 299.
37) B. H. Roberts has observed "that
this arrangement had reference only to the
first organization of the quorum of the
Twelve. After this first arrangement,
the
brethren of that quorum held and now hold
their place in it and preside according to
seniority of ordination, not of
age." For further details see note
in HC 2:2l9-20. Cf.
D&C l24:l29.
38) "Times and Seasons" 6 (l5
April l845): 869.
39) For example, the Joseph F. Smith
Minutes of the Council of Fifty (referred to in
notes 3 and 30) for l0 and 2l April l880
included a listing of members. Joseph
F. Smith
originally listed them according to
age. The individual who typed the BYU
Special Collections copy of these minutes reshuffled the names into
alphabetical order. William
Clayton's lists for l8 April l844 and 4
February l845 are in order of age. So
are the
lists kept by Joseph F. Smith in his
journal under the dates of l0 April, l2 October and
3l December l880 and 8 April l88l, Church
Archives.
40) HC 6:35l; Joseph Smith Diary and
Willard Richards Diary, both for 3 May l844,
Church Archives.
4l) Heman Hale Smith, "The Lyman
Wight Colony in Texas, l846l858," p. 21, type-written manuscript, BYU
Special Collections. See Abraham H.
Cannon Journal, 4 April l894, BYU Special Collections.
42) Smith, "Teachings", p. 3l3
43) Joseph Smith on l2 February l834 said
he would explain "the order in which a
Council ought to be conducted" for
the first time since the organization of the Church.
He said, "In ancient days Councils
were conducted with such strict propriety, that no one
was allowed to whisper, be weary, leave
the room, or get uneasy in the least, until the
voice of the Lord, by revelation, or by
the voice of the council by the Spirit was obtained: which has not been [p. 28] observed in this church to the
present. It was understood in ancient
days that if one man could stay in Council another could, and if the president
could spend his time, the members could also.
But in our councils, generally, one would be uneasy, another sleep, one
praying another not; one's mind on the business of the council and another
thinking on something else &c." ("Kirtland Council Minute
Book." pp. 27-28. Church Archives;
published in Smith, "Teachings", p. 69.
44) Minutes, l2 October l880.
45)
"I Knew the Prophets--An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to
George
F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young", ed. Dean R.
Zimmerman (Bountiful Utah, Horizon
Publishers, l976) p. l9, and William Whittaker Taylor Minutes of the Council of
Fifty, 5 April l882, Church Archives.
46) Hansen, "Quest for Empire",
p. 37.
47) D&C l05:2332.
48) D&C 45:667l; "Journal of
Discourses", 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints' Book
Depot, l855l886), 2l:8
49) This theme is so abundant in
Judeo-Christian-Mormon scriptures that it is impossible to list here all the
passages dealing with the Apocalypse.
See Ezekiel 3739,
Zechariah l4 and Malachi 4 in the Old
Testament; Matthew 24 and Revelation in the New
Testament; l Nephi l3l4 and 3 Nephi 2l of
the Book of Mormon, and finally sections l,
43, 45, 77, 87 and l33 of the Doctrine and
Covenants.
50) William Clayton kept three volumes of
journal in Nauvoo, Illinois, covering the
years l842-l845, l843-l844, and l845-l846. The extracts used in this article were made
by L. John Nuttall in the l880s. L. John
Nuttall was William Clayton's successor as
"Clerk of the Kingdom," hence
Nuttall's interest in compiling these extracts. This
fifteen page manuscript is entitled,
"Extracts from the Journal of Elder Wm Clayton,
regarding the K. of G." and is
located in the Church Archives.
5l) The Book of Mormon term for the
American Indians.
52) Prophet, Priest and King. See Smith, "Teachings, p. 3l8 where
Joseph Fielding
Smith was the first to publish Joseph
Smith's Diary for the date of 23 July l843.
See
also HC, 5:5l0, 5l2 and 523.
53) Namely the "Lamanites" or
the American Indians.
54) Smith, "Teachings", p. 333,
the Wilford Woodruff Journal, 25 February l844, is
the original source for this prophecy
55)
The following is the key to the abbreviations used in the preceding
listing.
The abbreviations are arranged in
alphabetical order according to the first initial. The
following sources are available in the
Church Archives; AML--Amasa M. Lyman Journal; FDR--Franklin D. Richards Diary,
HC--Heber C. Kimball Diary; JDL--John D. Lee Diary; JS-WR--Joseph Smith Journal
kept by Willard Richards; PR--Phinehas Richards Journal; RTBRobert Taylor
Burton Journal; TB--Thomas Bullock Diary kept as the Historian's Office
Journal, WC--William Clayton Journal, WR--Willard Richards Diary, and
WW--Wilford Woodruff Journal. The
following source is available in the George A. Smith Family Papers, Western Americana, J. Willard Marriott
Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; JHS--John Henry Smith
Journal, photocopy of holograph.
Minutes--Minutes of the Council of Fifty. Two published sources were also referred to in this listing: HC--Joseph Smith, "History of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", and GM--Letter to George Miller
to the "Northern Islander", l July l855. The attendance rolls used in compiling this information are as
follows: "l845/Apl 22 to Dec 27
[l846] Roll--K.of G." in the hand of William Clayton, "Roll of Names
of members of the Kingdom of God, sitting from Decr 6, l848 to Mch 4 49
inc." in the hand of William Clayton; Roll in the hand of William Clayton
for the period of l0 March3 November l849; Roll in the hand of William Clayton
for the period of 23 January l8679 October l868, and "Roll of
Council" for 8 April l88l23 June l882 in the hand of L. John Nuttall.