The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes

Two incidents are particularly dramatic in this volume, thanks to the careful work of clerks who took the minutes, bringing to life some key moments in LDS history. One of the most memorable meetings of the city council occurred on June 10, 1844; the minutes capture the emotions as members debate whether to detroy the opposition newspaper, the"Nauvoo Expositor."The publisher of the paper, Sylvester Emmons, had been a councilman until his June 8 expulsion for having lifted his hand against the municipality of God Almighty. As the hawkish councilmen became increasingly agitated, they began shouting slogans, asking whether the others had the neve to do what was right and crush the newspaper. The answer was a sustained, raucous cheer.

Yes resounded from every quarter of the room, the clerk, Willard Richards, wrote. Are we offering to take away the right s] of anyone by] this action] to]day? one of the city councilmen, William Phelps, shouted. No was the answer from every quarter. Should they also tear down the barn of newspaper editor Robert Foster? Yes they said. By the time the meeting was over, the Nauvoo police, assisted by 100 soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion, had tumbled the press and materials into the street and set fire to them, and demolished the machinery with a sledge-hammer.

Another gripping event occurred on September 8, 1844, when the high council gathered outdoors to accommodate large crowds for the trial of Sidney Rigdon of the First Presidency. A behind-the-scenes power struggle became evident as Brigham Young stepped forward to take control of the meeting, culminating in a request for a vote from the audience. Young asked everyone to place themselves so that he] could see them, so he would know who goes for Sidney. There followed a flurry of denunciations of various Church members who were summarily excommunicated by acclimation rather than by trial in a meeting lasting six hours."