Without Disclosing My True Identity
Missed Opportunity for President, Queen, and Prince
Joseph’s time was drawing short. In an effort to put the onus on the “kings of the
earth”^39 and to leave them without excuse, Joseph instructed Brigham Young to ensure that
a Book of Mormon was delivered to both U.S. President John Tyler and Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert of England. President Tyler never saw the book. One of his aids burned it at
his home as firewood before the President saw it. Queen Victoria was informed of the book,
which was delivered to Sir Henry Wheatley by Lorenzo Snow,^40 but neither she nor Prince
Albert had any desire to read it, and never did.
Contention and Strife Abound
The Church was in a very precarious situation in 1844. The faith of the members
was faltering considerably, as they were repeatedly stumbling, being led to and fro with
every wind of priesthood doctrine, and with their desires for the things of the world.
Rampant paranoia exploded in Nauvoo. From the disillusioned Saints imagining threats
against them, to the people in the surrounding communities fearing Joseph and the
Saints, people’s minds filled with vain imaginations. There were threats throughout on
both sides. Courts were overwhelmed with suits and complaints addressing the
accusations and rumors.
Joseph’s enemies outside of Nauvoo were secretly conspiring, while his enemies
within the city were rising up against him. With William Law’s departure from Joseph’s
graces, the emboldened group of LDS/Mormon men who already opposed Joseph in
Nauvoo and Kirtland, Ohio, found a strong advocate for their cause in Law. The group
eventually created an anti-Joseph newspaper in Nauvoo and called it the Nauvoo Expositor.^41
Joseph used his position as Nauvoo’s mayor to have the press shut down^42 on the legal
precedent that the paper was a nuisance to public order and safety.^43 Many believe that
when Joseph ordered the paper destroyed, it constituted the finality of an act of treason that
consequently justified the Illinois Governor to issue a strong order that Joseph should be
arrested.^44 This is far from the truth.
Ford Becomes Joseph’s Pontius Pilate
Governor Ford had Joseph arrested at the end of 1843, and would have carried
out his plan to shut down Nauvoo and expel the Mormons had Joseph not used the writ
of habeas corpus to get out of custody. Ford wanted to do everything legally; that is why
he granted Joseph the opportunity to present a writ that legally freed him. The truth is,
Ford did not want people to die; nor did he want Joseph killed.
His Lieutenant Governor, John Moore, was a different story, as he was in
collusion with John C. Bennett. When Joseph filed his bid to become the United States
President, Moore called to Ford’s attention the veracity of Bennett’s claims that Joseph
wanted to take over the United States, beginning with the State of Illinois. Having forced
the nomination for the presidency upon Joseph, the LDS people tightened the noose
around his neck.
When Governor Ford became apprised of the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor,
with the exaggerated reports and facts given to him by Moore, he acted for the safety of