The Pursuit of Excitement

This is the ninth volume of an epic series on family and Mormon history, covering the year 1843. Joseph Smith Jr. secretly married at least eighteen more wives (many of them teenagers), bringing the total to near forty. He persuaded many Mormon brethren to secretly follow suit, though he publicly denied the Church was practicing this illegal marital institution. In July he issued a secret revelation calling for polygamy, but when his brother Hyrum read it in the city council, it...
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This is the ninth volume of an epic series on family and Mormon history, covering the year 1843. Joseph Smith Jr. secretly married at least eighteen more wives (many of them teenagers), bringing the total to near forty. He persuaded many Mormon brethren to secretly follow suit, though he publicly denied the Church was practicing this illegal marital institution. In July he issued a secret revelation calling for polygamy, but when his brother Hyrum read it in the city council, it greatly upset many Mormons. An economic rift also developed between some wealthy Mormons living on "the hill" and Joseph Jr. living on "the flat" near the river. In addition to building a huge temple, he attempted to construct a large hotel for non-Mormon visitors, and when this "Nauvoo House" failed, he constructed a large "Mansion House: for his residence, turning part of it into an inn. He managed again to escape extradition to Missouri, but the way he did so greatly angered non-Mormons. Also, his wielding of a bloc-Mormon vote in a state election, breaking a pledge to the Whig candidate, incensed the Whigs, who constituted a majority in the region. Threatened by the Nauvoo "Kingdom of God"-where the Prophet/Mayor held all the important civic offices and commanded a huge Mormon army--non-Mormons in Hancock County began to engage in violent anti-Mormon action, intending to drive the Mormons from Illinois.