E54: Nauvoo Expositor, Part 2

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:03)
In part one, we left you with this cliffhanger. Succeders from the Church at Nauvoo and sworn statements from multiple individuals attesting to the teaching of the plurality of wives.
I mean, listen, anytime a hook ends with succeders from the Church at Nauvoo, you know you're going to be in for a good time.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:19)
That's right, folks. This is part two of the seedy story of the Nauvoo Expositor. And full disclosure here, we plan to do a handful more episodes on Nauvoo and then get the hell out of the United States and into the lands of illegal encroachment.
We should have really lined up the Expositor as the last episode before the martyrdom, but we have a few things in store for you before we get to Carthage, so buckle up. Because stories like the Nauvoo Expositor are so deeply tied with other issues like the Council of 50 and Joseph Smith's bid for president, we plan to cover those a little bit more in depth as well.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:53)
We basically just wanted to give you an outline of what happened, bird's eye view of the conflict, then our next few episodes will go into the issues that sparked the flames of the Nauvoo Expositor debacle. But for now, cue the ominous voice, let's return to where we left off in part one, Succedors from the Church at Nauvoo.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:13)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:15)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:16)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:44)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:49)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:57)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:22)
Okey dokey, part one introduced you to the story of William Law, famed Mormon villain and his merry band of disaffectors.
The group was pissed at Joseph Smith and they were ready to talk about it. Spilled the tea they did, and in a very big way, they started a newspaper. Back then, back in my day, you just got on the blog, you just typed out what you had wrong, you didn't start your own newspaper. That's what the crazy kids were doing in Navu. First, they print their prospectus in which they advocate to repeal the Navu Charter and say they're going to print this new newspaper, which I love that they did that.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:56)
They're like, hey, we're gonna tell some secrets.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:58)
Guess what we're gonna do? We're gonna get you all riled up. We're gonna print it in this new newspaper, the Navu Expositor, which, you know, the prospectus that was printed, announcing it, believed would, quote, decry moral imperfections wherever found, whether in the plebeian, patrician, or self-constituted monarch. Wait, why did he say self-constituted monarch? Where did that phrase come from?

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:20)
I love 19th century newspaper language. It's kind of like letters. We've talked about this before. It's like those dudes, they just loved fancy lace covered Victorian phrases. They got a little over the top sometimes. As a refresher, Joseph Smith is making friends and enemies in this Henry Ford style assembly line, with maybe a little less anti-Semitism though.
Several of those enemies announce in this prospectus that they're about to spill the beans on all of Joseph Smith's dirty little secrets. This is the 1840s equivalent of being in the checkout line at the grocery store and reading the National Enquirer headlines. Hillary Clinton is really M&M in a pantsuit. I knew it. As promised, one of those enemies of Smith, William Law, publishes those secrets in a paper a month after announcing it in the prospectus titled The Navu Expositor. Though they only printed one issue, one was all they needed. Most say the singular issue was the reason Joseph Smith ends up getting murdered within a month of its printing. So why is this paper so significant? What secrets could they possibly spill that John C and other enemies of Smith didn't already know about?
Before we even get into it, here's the TLDR. The paper had several critiques. It said that Joseph Smith had too much power, it talked about the corruption and coercion of young women, and said that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet. Not that any of those are going to be a problem.
In our first part, we discussed how William Law was less of a wicked anti-Mormon and evil apostate, as he's framed to current LDS folks in the history, and more of a progressive Mormon. I get it. That's going to bug some people just hearing that.