067 The Carthage Decision: Why Joseph and Hyrum Chose to Go

Church History Matters

Scripture Central

Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

In the wake of Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo City Council’s fateful decision to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor press several things unfolded in rapid succession. Charges were pressed against them for riot, brazen calls to violence against them were published in Tom Sharp’s Warsaw Signal, and Missourians began eagerly gathering to Illinois with a vow to exterminate the “Mormons;” meanwhile, Joseph wrote urgent letters to Illinois Governor Thomas Ford and US President John Tyler outlining what was unfolding and asking for their aid. Joseph had very good reason to fear for his safety and that of the saints. In an effort to diffuse the danger of the situation for all involved he and Hyrum and a few others secretly slipped away across the river intending to go either to Washington DC, the West among the native americans, or both. However,he and they ultimately decided to return to Nauvoo and to voluntarily go to Carthage—the hotbed of their enemies—to be tried for the charge of riot. In this episode of Church History Matters, we dive headlong into the drama that unfolded between June 10 and June 24, 1844. In particularly, we try to answer the question: Why did Joseph and Hyrum choose to go to Carthage, when it seemed that certain danger awaited them there? For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the wake of Joseph Smith and the Navu City Council's fateful decision to destroy the
0:10.2	Navu Expositor Press, several things unfolded in rapid succession.
0:15.0	Charges were pressed against them for Riot.
0:17.0	Bresen calls to violence against them were published in Tom Sharpe's Warsaw Signal,
0:22.0	and Missourians began eagerly gathering to Illinois
0:25.3	with a vow to help exterminate the Mormons.
0:28.5	Meanwhile, Joseph wrote urgent letters to Illinois Governor Thomas Ford and U.S. President John Tyler
0:35.0	outlining what was then unfolding and asking for their aid.
0:38.5	Joseph had very good reason to fear for his safety and that of the Saints. In an effort to diffuse the
0:45.0	danger of the situation for all involved, he and Hiram and a few others secretly
0:50.0	slipped away across the river intending to go either to Washington DC the west among the Native Americans or both.
0:58.5	However, he and they ultimately decided to return to Navu and to voluntarily go to Carthage the hotbed of their
1:06.0	enemies to be tried for the charge of Riot.
1:09.7	In today's episode of Church History Matters, we dive headlong into all of this drama
1:14.1	that unfolded between June 10th and June 24th, 1844. In particular, we try to
1:20.7	answer the question, why did Joseph and Hiram choose to go to Carthage when it seemed that certain danger awaited them there?
1:28.0	I'm Scott Woodward and my co-host is Casey Griffiths.
1:32.0	And today Casey and I dive into our fourth episode in this
1:34.5	series about the martyrdom of Joseph and Hiram Smith. Now let. We're back. The story's getting twistier and twistier as we go. Yes. I mean one of the things we've got to
1:59.0	acknowledge is this is a hot potato. This is an emotional story for everybody that cares about
2:05.7	Joseph Smith whether you love him or you hate him. This is hotly contested ground and
2:11.5	there's a lot of sources to go through. I think you and I were just barely saying,
	...

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