It is the purpose of this study to examine the political elements and issues in the United States from the latter part of 1838 to June 27, 1844, to determine their relationship to the death of Joseph Smith. This study includes an analysis of national, state and local issues and sentiment during that time, as they have a bearing upon the subject. The primary period of study is the Illinois era of Latter-day Saint history which includes the events that transpired from the winter of 1838-39 to June 27, 1844. A less intensive study includes events after June 1844, to determine the political situation and the consequences involved in the "martyrdom" of Joseph Smith. Personal diaries, journals, newspaper articles and books published around this period, as well as those published at later dates, were studied. The issues and problems of the Kirtland and Missouri periods were considered when they directly related to the Illinois period.

Thomas Ford was the governor of Illinois at the time of Joseph and Hyrum Smiths’ martyrdoms in Carthage Jail in 1844. Before his tenure as governor, Ford’s professional life included service as an attorney and judge throughout Illinois. His background in the legal field gave him a unique perspective which may have influenced his career as governor of Illinois from 1842-1846. Although Governor Ford is relatively well-known for his association with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its history, his background and the bearing it had on the martyrdom of the Smiths has received relatively little attention from scholars. In this thesis I contend that Governor Ford’s choices in Carthage, Illinois can be traced in some ways to his legal background. I also examine his earliest interactions with Joseph Smith in 1842-1843, and how those interactions may have also been influenced by Ford’s legalistic viewpoints. I suggest it is possible Ford’s legal background more than his political experience may have had the most bearing on those interactions. Chapter one summarizes some of the financial, political, and mobocratic difficulties citizens in Illinois dealt with in the late 1830s and early 1840s. This context shows that even before Ford’s election in 1842, Illinois had severe challenges that affected the Saints and their neighbors. Chapter two explores some of the legal cases Ford heard while serving on the Illinois bench and bar. This chapter investigates the unique balance Ford attempted to maintain between law and justice, while also suggesting Ford may have occasionally strayed from consistently following the law. In chapter three, Ford’s transition into a political figure in Illinois history, as well as his extensive interactions with Smith are analyzed. Throughout these interactions, Ford seemed to frequently rely on his background in law to help him make decisions about Smith. This analysis is continued in chapter four when Ford chose to intervene in Hancock County after the Nauvoo Expositor printing press was destroyed. This chapter systematically relates Ford’s previous legal cases to the specific choices he made in Carthage. As a conclusion, chapter five serves to summarize these findings, and also opens further opportunities for research that demonstrate how Ford’s interactions with the Saints in Illinois may have continued to be affected by his past. This thesis provides research suggesting Ford’s choices surrounding the Smiths in Hancock County can be traced to his past and should not necessarily be considered isolated events in 1844. Furthermore, it adds to our understanding of church history by giving another paradigm in which to examine the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in Carthage Jail.

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In her attempt to find a strictly human origin for certain doctrines contained in the Book of Abraham, and the later teachings of Joseph Smith, Mrs. Fawn M. Brodie relies upon the writings of one Thomas Dick. Dick was a nineteenth century Scottish scientist-theologian who wrote several volumes on religious and scientific subjects. It is known that at least two volumes were known to at least some of the early Latter-day Saints, for passages from them were quoted in the Messenger and Advocate. The purpose of this thesis has been to research the entire ten volumes of Dick's writings in order to determine the entirety of his theology. The paper first relates the life and general philosophy of Thomas Dick, and then investigates specifics of his theology under the general chapter headings of "God," "Man," and "Salvation." The final two chapters of the thesis deal with those specific aspects of Joseph Smith's theology which Mrs. Brodie claims were influenced by Dick's writings. The conclusion reached as a result of this study is: while it cannot be demonstrated that any of the Prophet's theology has any direct foundation in Thomas Dick's, there may have been impetus gained from Dick's writings in the direction Joseph Smith's theology took, but only if it could be demonstrated that Joseph Smith had read them, and this has not been done, by Mrs. Brodie, nor anyone else.

This dissertation is a transnational study that argues that a structure of mourning, spoken through and effected by the historical romance, underlies the narrative of national culture as it emerges in the Americas during the early nineteenth century. The writing, consumption and preservation of these texts reveal not only the psychic life of community but also the material basis for that psychic life. Writing and reading, the production and circulation of texts, plays a crucial role in developing this psychic life, and the historical romance was particularly important in the Americas for imagining a national legacy. Current criticism emphasizes the sexual coupling and generative romantic structure of the marriage plot around which many of these novels circulate. This criticism emphasizes the somatic nature of the genre, the corporeal language of romance that is read in the tears of joy and grief spilled by its characters as well as its readers. But while I agree that a libidinal energy is at the heart of both the narrative and its readers’ responses, I argue that the focus on sexual coupling neglects to consider another bodily discourse: that of death and mourning. Mourning enacts a simultaneous identification with and desire for a lost object, a fetishistic relationship that brings together the Freudian “to be” and “to have” and so invests the lost object with both narcissistic and communal attachments. These texts offer their readers the bodies within the narratives, as well as the texts themselves, as the material of a cultural heritage, constructing a nativism that ties the subjects to the land and to the community through a shared lost artifact, their history. Through mourning a common object, the subjects become citizens, native Americans that distance themselves from Europe while supplanting the Amerindian. In combining modern studies of material culture with post Freudian psychoanalytic criticism, the dissertation works to make explicit the relationship between death, citizenship and textuality in order to show the cultural work of fictional historiography in the making of the American nations. / text

This study seeks to answer a fundamental question facing missiologists and historians of Mormonism: given their sustained preoccupation with converting others to Mormonism and their thriving tradition of missionary work, how do Mormons conceive of their mission? By focusing on the theoretical frame in which Mormon missionaries imagined the non-Mormon world, prepared for missionary engagement, and derived their expectations for their mission work, this study aims to illuminate the development of Mormon missionary activities and explain the processes by which Mormons fashioned for themselves a missional character. Beginning with Joseph Smith and the emergence of his missional thought and ending with the institutional shifts of the Mormon Church toward mission programs, this thesis attempts to map the general arc of Mormon mission theory as it developed within the context of early American religious history.

Between 1830 and 1844, the Mormons slightly shifted their position on African-American slavery, but maintained the middle ground on the issue overall. When Mormons began gathering to Utah in 1847, Southern converts brought their black slaves with them to the Great Basin. In 1852 the first Utah Territorial legislature passed “An Act in Relation to Service" that legalized slavery in Utah. This action was prompted primarily by the need to regulate slavery and contextualize its practice within the Mormon belief system. Ironically, had Congress known of Utah's slave population, it may have never granted Utah the power to legislate on slavery. During the debates over the Compromise of 1850, which series of acts created Utah Territory without restriction on slavery, Utah lobbyist John M. Bernhisel hid Utah slavery from members of Congress. Several years later, when Utah's laws were under review by Congressional committees, the public announcement of polygamy overshadowed information that betrayed slavery's practice in Utah. The fact that slavery's practice in Utah was never widely known, especially by members of Congress, delayed for nearly four years the final sectional crisis that would culminate in civil war. Utah may have been a peculiar place for the “peculiar institution" of slavery, but its legalization in the territory, and Congress' failure to acknowledge it, provide a compelling case study of popular sovereignty in action in the antebellum West.

A personal mode of discourse is central to Latter-day Saint culture. This mode is both pervasive throughout the culture and significant within it. Two specific genres-the personal experience narrative and the personal testimony-illustrate the importance of this discourse mode in LDS culture. Understanding the LDS personal mode of discourse is essential to properly understanding Mormonism. The personal orientation in LDS discourse mirrors a tendency towards personal expression which has become common throughout Western culture. This tendency has important roots in the Protestant religious movement. In particular, Puritanism represents a significant point of origin for American personal expression. Such expression has been further encouraged by the democratic climate of America and has become an important part of American religious discourse. However, LDS personal discourse cannot be explained by merely reducing the Latter-day Saint tradition to outside influences. Latter-day Saints, while deriving influence from many points, have fashioned a tradition of using personal expression in their religious discourse which deserves independent consideration. Within Latter-day Saint culture, the LDS tradition of personal discourse has special significance because it draws upon a host of doctrinal and cultural associations that are religiously significant to Latter-day Saints. LDS doctrines about the necessity of personal revelation and the importance of pragmatic action legitimate a religious focus on personal experience. Likewise, cultural encouragements towards personal religious involvement and spiritual expression foster a culture of personal expression. Because of these philosophies and commitments, LDS audiences respond powerfully to personal discourse. A personal style of discourse is important in mediating authority in the LDS religion. Personal expression is a means through which official LDS doctrine is conveyed. This mode of expression also allows individual Latter-day Saints to locate their identities within the structure of the LDS religion. Culturally-encouraged genres of personal expression allow LDS speakers to enact their religious beliefs. These genres reinforce fundamental LDS doctrines and serve an acculturating function in LDS culture. They teach Latter-day Saints how to experience, interpret, and speak about the world in ways consistent with the Latter-day Saint community's doctrines and commitments.

The development of early Mormon religion is best viewed in the context of multiple discourses, each of which contained various competing symbols. These discourses shaped the mind and world-view of early Latter-day Saints and determined in part their behavior. Prophetic symbols existed simultaneously with other, more American symbols; and while neither discourse excluded the other, a prophetic discourse gradually came to dominate. At the same time, however, the American discourse in Mormon religion remained intact and continued to influence the behavior and actions of early Mormons.

The common elements which emerge from this study are: Melchizedek was a priest-king, ruling a small city-state and presiding over the cult. He lived among a people far advanced from the primitive. There is no consensus among scholars concerning the meaning of his name but "Sedeq (a name for God) is my King" is a possible translation. Melchizedek's city-state was named Salem and of the four plausible geographical locations postulated, the Salem-Shechem theory leaves fewer problems. Abraham and Melchizedek worshiped the same God who was known by several names, among which were 'El 'elyon, God Most High and Yahweh. All of these names point to a superlative god above all others. Jewish traditions identify Melchizedek with Shem and Salem with Jerusalem. They also subordinate Melchizedek to Abraham and see the priesthood lost by Melchizedek and passing to Abraham. The Christians claimed Melchizedek as the type for Christ and his priesthood, and thus forged their own link to antiquity. Joseph Smith's teachings parallel the early Christian traditions of Melchizedek as a type of Christ and other traditions on priestly kingship and ritual. He also defines orders in the priesthood.