[Hemidakota]

Part-3

after the exodus from nauvoo, recently appointed general authorities filled vacancies in the council of fifty. 62 president john taylor also admitted francis m. Lyman, john henry smith, george teasdale, and heber j. Grant to the council of fifty in apparent anticipation of his calling these men to the quorum of the twelve apostles within a few months. This is all consistent with the previous discussion of the subordination of the kingdom to the church and with brigham young's comment in 1855 that it was the lds church that produced the government of the kingdom of god. 63

the published "history of brigham young" stated that several members of the original 1844 council of fifty "were not members of the church." 64 this led historian klaus j. Hansen to suggest plausibly (but inaccurately) that daniel h. Wells was a member of the council while he was a non-mormon at nauvoo and that thomas l. Kane later became a friendly non-mormon member of the council during or after the exodus to utah. 65 moreover, mormon schismatic lorin c. Woolley circulated the wild claim that u.s.
Presidents theodore roosevelt and calvin coolidge were members of the council of fifty. 66 in reality, joseph smith admitted to the council only three non-mormons, all of whom were dropped from the council on 4 february 1845, after which date the lds leadership excluded non-mormons from the council of fifty. 67

the least is known about the youngest of the three non-mormons, marenus g. Eaton. He was thirty-two years old when he entered the council of fifty, an honor that the prophet may have conferred on him when he disclosed on 27 march 1844 the conspiracy against joseph smith by dissenters at nauvoo. Although marenus g. Eaton was among the proposed defense witnesses for joseph smith in june 1844, after the martyrdom he was no longer of service to the mormons. The state of new york on 5 september 1844 filed a requisition with the state of illinois to arrest him for counterfeiting, and it may have been for this personal disability that the council of fifty dropped marenus g. Eaton on 4 february 1845. 68

edward bonney's brother was a mormon, but edward at age thirty-six apparently was still a non-mormon when joseph smith admitted him to the council of fifty. Edward bonney is referred to several times in the history of the church as a supporter of joseph smith during the difficulties of may-june 1844, but he broke with the mormons over the destruction of the nauvoo expositor. When the city of nauvoo tried and discharged joseph smith on 17 june 1844 for the destruction of the press, edward bonney acted as prosecutor and seems to have been in earnest because he later referred to the dismissal of joseph smith by the nauvoo court as a "mock administration of law." at any rate, in 1845 he moved to montrose, iowa, became a bounty-hunter of criminals, and in 1850 published the banditti of the prairies with its unfavorable view of the nauvoo mormons. 69 since the council of fifty dropped him before he left nauvoo, disaffection was undoubtedly the reason for the council's action in bonney's case.

The third non-mormon in the council of fifty, uriah brown, had the longest association with the mormons. He had been a friend and confidant of joseph smith since 1842. Soon after entering the council of fifty at the age of fifty-nine, uriah brown served as chairman of the political convention at nauvoo that nominated joseph smith as candidate for the u.s. Presidency. Like eaton and bonney, he was dropped from the council of fifty on 4 february 1845, but the action in brown's case may have been taken only because he had moved away from nauvoo and was therefore of less value to the mormons. A letter from uriah brown to brigham young on 3 november 1845 indicates that joseph smith's interest in brown centered in his invention of destructive weapons that could be used to defend nauvoo. In this letter uriah brown expressed continued interest in the mormon situation and offered to give brigham young the secret of the weapon "for such just & equitable sum, as it may, perhaps, be in your power to dispose." whether brigham young answered the 1845 letter is not clear, but uriah brown was in salt lake city in 1851. The council of fifty on 25 august 1851 considered readmitting him to the council and investigating the purchase of his "invention of liquid fire to destroy an army or navy," but when uriah brown became too insistent and impatient, the council tabled the matter on 13 september 1851. 70 there had been no non-mormons in the council of fifty since 1845, and this brief reconsideration in 1851 was the only other instance in which non-mormon participation became an issue for the infrequently meeting council of fifty.

Earlier investigators have emphasized the active role of council members in political office, but these researchers have not commented on significant disparities in that public service. 71 first of all, more than seventeen percent of the total membership of the council of fifty have no discoverable record of public office. In part this can be accounted for by men who left the church (and thereby the council of fifty) prior to the settlement of utah. Yet even in utah, where political office was abundant for mormons, the following council members apparently held no civil office: Abraham h. Cannon, amos fielding, george f. Gibbs, george d. Grant, charles s. Kimball, david p. Kimball, and seymour b. Young. In addition, levi richards held no civil office in utah even though he had in nauvoo, and joseph fielding, philip b. Lewis, and john young held civil office only in the legislature of the provisional state of deseret (1849-1851) after which the three council members spent the last decades of their lives without civil office.

The claim that the council of fifty was a channel to political power becomes even less convincing when one examines the lives of council members who held public office. Nearly sixty-three percent of the politically active members of the council of fifty at nauvoo and in utah began civil service before they entered the council, and some men served more than a decade in public office before entering. These men had loyally served the interests of the church in public office for years, and the council of fifty gave them no added political power nor did it alter their previous pattern of political devotion to the interests of mormonism as directed by the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve. Although the council of fifty introduced a minority of its members to political life, it seems obvious that for a much larger number of men their membership in the council came as an honorary reward for long service on behalf of the church and the kingdom in public office. For these reasons, tabulating the number of council of fifty members in governmental office gives a misleading impression of the council's political impact.

Although the religious history of some members of the council of fifty is sketchy, it appears that twenty-two percent of the lds members of the council had a serious (and usually permanent) break with the church. The rupture manifested itself through either excommunication, disfellowshipping, being dropped from church office, or going permanently inactive. After the church authorities disciplined a council of fifty member, the council usually dropped him at its next meeting. 72 for most of these men the problem seemed to be centered in the church itself--i.e., their loss of faith, violations of church rules of conduct, religious schism, or their unwillingness to follow the religious leadership of a new church president.

In several cases, however, the problem was centered in the council of fifty itself. Alpheus cutler, james emmett, peter haws, george miller, lyman wight, and lucien woodworth all felt that brigham young blocked their personal missions in the council of fifty, missions they claimed came from joseph smith. They did not agree that the council of fifty derived its authority from the church and was subject to church leadership and, therefore, dissented from the church in order to preserve what they felt were their missions in the kingdom of god. 73 by contrast, a couple of members of the council of fifty felt devotion to the church but found themselves in opposition to the kingdom of god to which they had been privately admitted. William marks as president of the nauvoo stake and moses thatcher of the quorum of the twelve apostles both manifested dissent against the same element of the latter-day kingdom of god: The anointing and ordination of the lds president as king, priest, and ruler on earth. 74 although these two disaffected groups within the council of fifty were divided into dissenters for the kingdom and dissenters against the kingdom, both had one thing in common: They accepted the role and rites of the kingdom of god in literal terms and did not perceive or accept the essentially symbolic nature of everything connected with the council of fifty. In view of what is now know about the council of fifty, the experiences of these men have a special pathos.

officers
within the organization of the council of fifty, there were committees, but most were temporary in nature and did not comprise any set number of committeemen. 75 there was, however, an executive committee within the council of fifty that consisted of seven members whenever it was formed. Alpheus cutler, who claimed to be a member of such a committee during the lifetime of joseph smith, called it the "quorum of seven." 76 although the functions of this committee are presently unclear, the published history of the church referred to its meeting of 14 april 1844: "committee of the council met in the afternoon at my office." 77 in 1882-1884, franklin d. Richards also reported the actions of a "committee of 7." 78 although the purposes of the 1844 executive committee are still uncertain, franklin d. Richards clearly described the committee of seven when it was established on 23 june 1882:

1842 sessions in council of the kingdom. Committees were appointed to see after election affairs in idaho territory in nevada state--and seven john sharp, wm. Jennings, w. Hooper, r.t. Burton, j.r. Winder, a.m. Cannon & moses thatcher--for an executive committee to meet the commissioners with lists of names from each county for registration of officers, judges of elections & any & all other duties. 79

since john taylor had reestablished the council of fifty more than two years prior to the date of the organization of this committee, it is obvious that the "quorum of seven" or "committee of seven" was not a permanent, self-perpetuating body in the kingdom of god. Moreover, in 1882 the committee of seven was a lobbying body for the church of a routine political nature and did not have any extraordinary religious or theocratic powers. 80

among the officers of the council of fifty were the recorder, historian, clerk, and reporters. Despite the name, the historian was actually the recorder of the council of fifty, and the terms were used interchangeably to describe the men who were responsible for the records of the council but who did not actually take the minutes of meetings. Willard richards was appointed historian--recorder of the council on 13 march 1844 and served until his death in 1854. 81 when the council of fifty next met on 23 january 1867, it admitted george q. Cannon and appointed him recorder. 82 the council did not convene after 1884 and therefore did not choose a recorder as successor to george q. Cannon after his death in 1901. William clayton, who was appointed clerk at the provisional meeting of 10 march 1884, was officially appointed "clerk of the kingdom" on 13 march 1844 and served to his death in 1879. 83 when the council of fifty reconvened on 10 april 1880, it elected l. John nuttall to be william clayton's successor as clerk of the kingdom. Nuttall also died without a successor. 84 whether or not there was a formal office of assistant clerk in the council of fifty prior to 1880 is unclear, but on 10 april 1880, president taylor's son william w. Taylor was elected assistant clerk and served until his death in 1884. 85 although the clerk of the kingdom was officially responsible for taking minutes of the council of fifty meetings, the council appointed "reporters" to keep minutes: At least as early as december 1848, thomas bullock and albert carrington took minutes in addition to william clayton who was the clerk of the kingdom. 86 due to thomas bullock's infirmities of age, john taylor appointed george f. Gibbs a reporter on 5 april 1882, even though the council did not admit elder gibbs as a member until 24 june 1882 when it released thomas bullock due to old age. 87 although the records of the council of fifty had been in the personal custody of william clayton as clerk of the kingdom in the 1840s, in utah the custody passed among various officers: In 1857 president brigham young had them in his personal custody and gave them to the church historian's office, by 1880 the recorder george q. Cannon had them locked in a box in utah and took the key with him wherever he went, and in 1884 the records were in the possession of reporter george f. Gibbs. 88

the senior administrative officer of the council of fifty was the standing chairman. Although willard richards served as temporary chairman at the provisional meeting on 10 march 1844, from 13 march 1844 onward the lds president was always standing chairman of the council of fifty. Joseph smith served as standing chairman in 1844, brigham young from 1845 to 1877 (although the council did not meet after 1868), and john taylor from 1880 to 1887 (although the council did not meet after 1884). 89 the president of the church as standing chairman of the council of fifty was not simply senior member of the council (where seniority was determined by age) but was its chief executive. Similar to a curia regis (king's council) in a monarchy, the council of fifty convened only at the request of its earthly sovereign, the president of the church, who was the standing chairman of the council. 90

this leads to the final office in the symbolic kingdom of god on earth as embodied in the council of fifty. William clayton recorded in his journal that in the 11 april 1844 meeting of the council of fifty, "was prest. Joseph chosen as our prophet priest, & king by hosannas." 91 william marks, who participated in this action, later stated that the council of fifty conducted this as an ordinance "in which joseph suffered himself to be ordained a king, to reign over the house of israel forever." 92 although it has been suggested that william mark's statements referred to conventional lds temple rites rather than to a theocratic ceremony, 93 the evidence does not support this objection. Aside from the contemporary account of william clayton and some reminiscent descriptions by william marks, the revelation to the council of fifty on 27 june 1882 also stated that god called joseph smith, jr., "to be a prophet, seer and revelator to my church and kingdom; and kingdom; and to be a king and ruler over israel." 94

when the council of fifty was reestablished in 1880, one of the items brought up was filling the theocratic office to which joseph smith had been anointed and ordained in nauvoo. That not all council members favored such an appointment is evidenced in george q. Cannon's note that the disaffection of apostle moses thatcher from the church began "when the council of fifty met in the old city hall [1880-1882], and moses opposed the proposition to anoint john taylor as prophet, priest and king, and moses's opposition prevailed at that time." 95 not until 1885, just days after the federal crusade against polygamy forced president john taylor into exile, was this ceremony performed for him. Franklin d. Richards, among others, described the event:

Wednesday feb 4 th 1885--
prests. John taylor & geo. Q. Cannon having been secluded since sunday evening word had been given to l. Snow, e. Snow f. D. Richards, a. Carrington, f. M. Lyman, h. J. Grant, john w. Taylor, to meet in council this evening--prests. W. Woodruff--george teasdale moses thatcher were oblivious to prevent arrest--b.y. [jr.] & j.h. Smith in n. York & europe--

soon after 8. P.m. Prests taylor & cannon met the seven of the 12 first named at[end[owment] house secretaries geo. Reynolds and l. John nuttall were present. After listening to some current items of news, president taylor stated the object of the council. Directed br nuttall to read a revelation which he said he received more than a year ago requiring him to be anointed & set apart as a king priest and ruler over israel on the earth--over zion & the kingdom of christ our king of kings. He also read some extracts from minutes of the council of the kingdom after which the president called for any remarks when several spoke their mind and f.m.l. Motioned that we proceed to obey the requirement of the revelation. When we clothed in our priestly attire. E snow offered prayer, when after the usual ceremony f.m. Lyman prayed in the circle. L. Snow consecrated a bottle of oil. Counselor cannon anointed president john taylor and we all laid hands on the prest. & geo. Q. Sealed the anointing according to a written form which had been prepared. 96

although only the first presidency, seven apostles, and two secretaries to the first presidency attended the meeting, they told enough people about this ceremony that the salt lake tribune soon reported that george q. Cannon had "assisted at the coronation of john taylor as king" of the mormon commonwealth. 97