Hey y'all: today's the 176th anniversary of Joseph Smith's death at Carthage Jail. It's a pretty important date for members of the LDS Church, but allow me to argue, drawing from my #KingdomOfNauvoo book, why it's also an important part of America's history of democracy. /1

By 1844, the Mormons had been settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, their own city-state on the Illinois banks of the Mississippi River, for five years. The city housed around 12,000 citizens, with thousands more in outlying communities. It was larger than even Chicago. /2

For Joseph Smith and his followers, Nauvoo was an outpost from a fallen world, the final refuge in a society that had become too wicked and anarchic. They had already been forcibly removed from New York, Ohio, and Missouri. They felt democracy failed them. /3

They therefore tried to implement safeguards they believed necessary to protect their rights. They wrote a city charter that granted them substantial autonomy, including a local militia called the Nauvoo Legion. Mormon leaders, like Smith, were then put in charge. /4

But two activities really enraged Nauvoo's neighbors: first, a majority of saints voted according to the dictates of ecclesiastical leaders; second, they interpreted laws in a way that shielded Smith from external arrests. These appeared anti-democratic. /5

This conflict climaxed in 1843, when Joseph Smith was, for a third time, able to escape an extradition order to Missouri, this time based on a sketchy Nauvoo ruling, and in part aided by politicians who wanted the Mormon vote. Nauvoo seemed "above the law." /6

Things grew worse in 1844, when both political parties lost faith they could work with Nauvoo, and the Mormons in turn grew more desperate. Joseph Smith simultaneously ran for the US presidency as well as organized a secret theocratic council to rule the world. /7

Then, in June, after a group of dissenters created their own newspaper to expose Smith's activities, including polygamy, city leaders declared the paper a nuisance and destroyed the press. To opponents, this was tyranny. The already-existing embers soon turned into a flame. /8

After a week of furious activities, including Joseph Smith declaring martial law in Nauvoo, Smith and other church leaders were imprisoned in Carthage, the county seat. Originally charged with riot, Smith was then held for treason, and held without bail. /9

But residents of the county were not satisfied. They had seen Joseph Smith "evade" justice before, either through political intervention or judicial jiu-jitsu. Many, especially in the nearby town of Warsaw, like Thomas Sharp, decided to take things in their own hands. /10

They formed the Warsaw Committee of Safety--a group that borrowed its name from the vigilante groups from the revolutionary period, which fought for their rights in the face of external threats--and marched to Carthage, where they stormed the jail and killed Smith. /11

So why is this important to American democracy? Because it demonstrates how tenuous the democratic system was, even in 1840, especially on the American frontier. To Mormons, the nation's political system had failed them; to their neighbors, Nauvoo was its greatest threat. /12

At issue was the very nature of democratic authority and majority rule. Mormons saw themselves as an oppressed minority overrun by bigoted populism, & therefore took measures to preserve their rights & voice; their neighbors believed those very measures disrupted the system. /13

In the end, both sides determined that America's democratic order, as currently constructed, did not work. Mormons envisioned a theocratic redemption, while their neighbors turned to extralegal violence. Democracy, in other words, failed. /14

In America, "democracy" has become an enshrined principle, one of the hallmarks of our political ideals. But Mormonism's Nauvoo sojourn, culminating in Smith's death and the forced expulsion of thousands of citizens, demonstrates its tenuous past. /15

Of course, you can read all about this story in my book, #KingdomOfNauvoo! https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Nauvoo-Religious-American-Frontier/dp/1631494864