Who Is The Council Of Fifty?
Joseph Smith said he received a revelation on April 7, 1842 calling for the establishment of an organization called the Living Constitution, or later the Council of Fifty. This would serve as the foundation for the establishment of Christ's Millennial government. The organization was formally established by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois on March 11, 1844. The "clerk of the Kingdom", William Clayton, recorded that exactly one month later, Joseph Smith was "chosen as our Prophet, Priest, and King by Hosannas".
The Council of Fifty was not a strictly religious group.. When it was formed there were three non-Mormon members: Marenus G. Eaton, who had revealed a conspiracy against Smith by Nauvoo dissenters; Edward Bonney who later acted as prosecutor …show more content…
It was not meant to dominate, but it was believed that the system would be freely chosen by all (Mormons and non-Mormons alike) who survived calamities heaped upon the world. However, the Council did perform some actual duties.
One duty of the Council was to assist in Joseph Smith's 1844 campaign for President of the United States. Smith ran on a platform among church members of bringing restitution for land and property lost in Missouri, eliminating slavery, compensating slave-owners with the sale of private lands, reducing the salaries of members of Congress, eliminating debt imprisonment, etc. Members of the Council campaigned throughout the United States. Besides sending out hundreds of political missionaries to campaign for Smith throughout the U.S., they also appointed fellow members of the Fifty as political ambassadors to Russia, the Republic of Texas, Washington D.C., England, and France. Smith was murdered by a large mob in the midst of his presidential campaign. One goal of the campaign was to draw greater attention to the problems of the Mormons, who had received no state or federal restitution for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property lost to mob violence in relation to the 1838 Mormon War. All things considered, Smith's Presidential campaign, the Nauvoo Expositor …show more content…
Under Young, however, the Council continued to have relatively little
The Council of Fifty was not a strictly religious group.. When it was formed there were three non-Mormon members: Marenus G. Eaton, who had revealed a conspiracy against Smith by Nauvoo dissenters; Edward Bonney who later acted as prosecutor …show more content…
It was not meant to dominate, but it was believed that the system would be freely chosen by all (Mormons and non-Mormons alike) who survived calamities heaped upon the world. However, the Council did perform some actual duties.
One duty of the Council was to assist in Joseph Smith's 1844 campaign for President of the United States. Smith ran on a platform among church members of bringing restitution for land and property lost in Missouri, eliminating slavery, compensating slave-owners with the sale of private lands, reducing the salaries of members of Congress, eliminating debt imprisonment, etc. Members of the Council campaigned throughout the United States. Besides sending out hundreds of political missionaries to campaign for Smith throughout the U.S., they also appointed fellow members of the Fifty as political ambassadors to Russia, the Republic of Texas, Washington D.C., England, and France. Smith was murdered by a large mob in the midst of his presidential campaign. One goal of the campaign was to draw greater attention to the problems of the Mormons, who had received no state or federal restitution for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property lost to mob violence in relation to the 1838 Mormon War. All things considered, Smith's Presidential campaign, the Nauvoo Expositor …show more content…
Under Young, however, the Council continued to have relatively little