Nauvoo Expositor

Nauvoo Expositor
Name	Nauvoo Expositor
Type	Whistleblower weekly
Foundation	1844
Ceased publication	1844
Language	English
Headquarters	Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo Expositor

The Nauvoo Expositor was a single-issue newspaper published in June 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois that criticized leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and provoked a crisis involving local, state, and national figures. Its destruction by Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Legion precipitated legal actions that engaged officials such as Thomas Ford and influenced debates in the Illinois General Assembly, the United States Congress, and among national newspapers like the New York Herald and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The episode connected to broader themes in antebellum America including religious dissent, press freedom, and territorial politics involving actors from Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.

Background and founding

Dissent within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois followed tensions after the deaths of early leaders like Joseph Smith and during controversies involving the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency. Expositors comprised defectors linked to figures such as William Law, Wilson Law, and Francis M. Higbee, who sought to publish criticisms drawing on prior disputes involving Sidney Rigdon, Almon W. Babbitt, John C. Bennett, and Oliver Cowdery's earlier conflicts. The founders obtained printing equipment and allied with printers familiar with presses used in cities including Kirtland, Painesville, and Springfield, Illinois, aiming to reach audiences in Chicago and among itinerant preachers who traveled through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River corridors.

Publication content and editors

The single broadsheet issue carried hard-hitting allegations about plural marriage, accusations against Joseph Smith and members of the First Presidency, and critiques of institutions including the Nauvoo Legion and the Municipal Court of Nauvoo. Editors and publishers associated with the issue included William Law as a primary instigator, with technical work by printers linked to regional networks in Missouri and Iowa. Contributors drew on testimonies from disaffected members such as William W. Phelps and legal complaints resembling filings before magistrates like John Reynolds and prosecutors in Carroll County, Illinois. The broadsheet referenced doctrinal disputes earlier voiced by leaders in Kirtland Temple controversies and legal precedents from cases in Jackson County, Missouri.

Reaction and controversy in Nauvoo

Nauvoo officials, including Joseph Smith as mayor, Hyrum Smith in church leadership roles, and militia commanders of the Nauvoo Legion perceived the paper as a threat to public order and municipal authority. Meetings invoked municipal charters debated in the Illinois General Assembly and engaged attorneys who had argued before courts in Sangamon County, Illinois and Carroll County. Local newspapers in Quincy, Illinois, Warsaw, Illinois, and Keokuk, Iowa reported on tensions that drew comment from national figures like Horace Greeley and editors from the New York Tribune. Anti-Mormon activists in Fayette County and supporters in Pottawattamie County weighed in as militia movements and political alignments mirrored sectional controversies seen in debates over Slavery and territorial governance during the presidency of John Tyler and the impending administration of James K. Polk.

Destruction of the press and legal aftermath

Officials in Nauvoo ordered the destruction of the press; the action was carried out by a group including members of the Nauvoo Legion and municipal officers. The incident sparked immediate legal fallout: criminal complaints, writs of habeas corpus in courts presided over by judges from Carrollton to Carroll County, and intervention by Illinois Governor Thomas Ford. The case engaged attorneys who had practiced before the Illinois Supreme Court and drew attention from the United States Attorney General and newspapers in Boston and Baltimore. Proceedings raised constitutional questions heard in public fora and in the chambers of the Illinois General Assembly, prompting fugitives and dissenters to seek refuge in Iowa and Missouri.

Role in the death of Joseph Smith

The destruction of the press intensified hostility toward Joseph Smith and led to his arrest on charges related to riot and treason against the State of Illinois. Detained in the Carthage, Illinois jail, Smith, along with Hyrum Smith, faced a mob attack that resulted in their deaths. The events drew reactions from national leaders, impacting Congressional discussion and eliciting commentary from politicians such as Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and editors from papers like the Albany Evening Journal. The deaths influenced messianic and schismatic developments within Latter Day Saint movements and prompted migrations toward destinations including Salt Lake Valley and settlements in Iowa Territory.

Legacy and historical interpretations

Historians have debated the Expositor episode in studies by scholars affiliated with institutions like Brigham Young University, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, University of Chicago, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Interpretations range from portrayals emphasizing free-press protections referenced in decisions such as those later discussed in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan to analyses centered on communal authority, religious liberty, and frontier violence considered in works by historians like Fawn M. Brodie, Stanley B. Kimball, Jan Shipps, Richard Lyman Bushman, and R. Laurence Moore. The single issue remains important to researchers consulting archival collections in Salt Lake City, Nauvoo Historic District, and repositories in Springfield, Illinois and Washington, D.C., and it continues to feature in public history at sites connected to the Latter Day Saint movement and 19th-century American print culture.

Category:Newspapers published in Illinois Category:History of Illinois Category:Latter Day Saint movement