Polygamy In Nauvoo

In the middle of winter in Missouri 1838, eight thousand to ten thousand Mormons trekked through the belligerent weather conditions searching to find a place of refuge. They were compelled out of the state of Missouri due to the infamous Mormon Extermination Order. The Extermination Order, which at the time was thought to be a compromise, ended up causing even more conflict in the form of violent rhetoric, battles, fights, and mobs. The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Missourians had been struggling to find compromise. The Mormon Extermination Order was an attempt to create compromise for LDS members being persecuted in Missouri while ending the political and religious conflict the large numbers of Saints

This research will address the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, a sect of Mormonism based in Utah, Warren Jeffs and his cult of fear. Warren Jeffs had control over ten thousands of followers for nearly a decade. Warren Jeffs coerced young girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Jeffs is estimated to have over 70 wives. The media was shunned, and he created a hidden community where polygamy was prized above anything else. In 2007, after there was a two year FBI manhunt, Jeffs was convicted as an accomplice to rape. Warren Jeff's rise to power effort led to his fallout. Even after his conviction his followers believed that he was innocent and held onto his beliefs and practices.

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

Mormonism, the largest church to originate on American soil is not without its own burdens to bear. As one of the younger religions, one that strayed from the foundations of the other already established religions in the United States, it is often viewed with negativity and mockery. Modern day social media, television, news articles and movies often exploit Mormon beliefs. They twist and exaggerated certain facets of the Mormon way of life. This framing of their belief system by the media leads the public opinion toward viewing this representation as a true depiction of the Mormons. Some of the more extreme behaviors exhibited by members that have separated from the main group are used against the entire faith by the media, so in turn this extremist view has become a Mormon stereotype.

Joseph Smith believed the Laminites were the ancestors of the Native American Indians. “There are detailed descriptions of the land of the dead among almost all American tribes. Usually, the land of the dead is the reverse of the land of the living with day and night and seasons reversed. The dead live very much as they had while alive” . The various tribes of Native American Indians had their own rituals. When they prepared the bodies for burial, some painted the faces of the dead. Other clans put on the dead relative’s moccasins. The Pueblos cover the face of the dead with cloud masks of cotton. Others burned the dead’s property to supply to ensure ghosts of dead were released so they can proceed to the spiritual world. Bodies would be mummified, buried in caves, mounds, boxes, or even on scaffolds. Any cremated ashes are deposited into urns. They are buried on the surface of the ground, in boxes, placed in pits, scaffolds, trees, or in canoes. This sent the individual off into the spiritual world. They clearly were not adverse to cremation that was prevalent in the Mormon community. However, Jesus confirms, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). This implies only one soul per body. This is another misconception due to the limited understanding of humans over God’s divine nature. Perhaps, man was being too detailed in their interpretation of the soul.

Although the author of John Smith’s testimony is unknown, it seems that the author is possibly a government official who is trying to figure out what happened for the

Smith and Hickock chose money over human life. They came away from this with forty dollars and the blood of four people on their hands. Their crime resulted in the pain and grief of so many people for such a small sum of money. “These were strange, ferocious murders. Four of your fellow citizens were slaughtered like hogs in a pen. And for what reason? Not out of vengeance or hatred. But for money. Money. It was the cold and calculated weighing of so many ounces of silver against so many ounces of blood. And how cheaply those lives were bought! For forty dollars' worth of loot! Ten dollars a life! “ (Capote, In Cold Blood page 193) The murders decided that money had more value than human life and as a result murdered four people with no remorse.

Truman Capote was a literary genius and had quite the way with words. His book In Cold Blood was a true work of literary art that he created with various rhetorical strategies and the truthful stories told by Garden City’s people and the two murderers of The Clutter Family ,Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote’s use of imagery, tone, and syntax when describing Perry the murderer of the Clutters is undeniably ingenious and brings out a more fiction feel to the story. In this essay I will provide you with a means to see Perry smith as I do and as I believe Truman Capote did.

In the book In Cold Blood, Dr Jones, a psychiatrist, diagnosed Perry Smith with schizophrenia causing him to believe Smith had no control at scene of the murder of Clutter family. “I knelt down beside Mr. Clutter, and the pain of kneeling—I thought of that goddam dollar. Silver dollar. The shame. Disgust. And they’d told me never to come back to Kansas. But I didn’t realize what I’d done till I heard the sound” (Capote 244). Despite Smith’s acknowledgment of Dick’s plan, Smith has trouble fathoming of killing Mr. Clutter. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by withdrawal from reality caused by a combination of genetics and environment. Readers can infer mental illness runs in Smith’s family since two out of three of Smith’s siblings committed suicide.

Hanging or imprisonment would not suffice for punishment or restitution.” (GILMORE 17 BOOK OF MORMON) Smith continues in the Book of Mormon to explain that to forgive an ultimate sin, the blood of the person who committed the sin must be spilled on the ground as an offer to God. In other words, these boys were taught by their own mother to fear God and that we, as human beings, are forever indebted to him. Rather than being taught to worship, the boys were taught to remember important parts of Mormon history such as the Mountain Meadow Massacre which led eventually to the division of Mormons into good or bad saints. Mormonism encouraged the killing of those who belonged to the “bad” saints. In this massacre, farms were burned, men and children were murdered and often women were raped, often by the direction of state militiamen. (17) While it was true that Bessie may have been contributing to the initial factors which may have sparked Gary’s desire or destiny to become a criminal, she was very hopeful when it came to her son, Gary in terms of the destiny he had in store, but as it turns out, this is likely for her own benefit. “Perhaps [Gary] was the one who might act out her rage for her, and avenge all the years of abuse and exclusion she had suffered during life in Utah. If ever a mother had a son who might pay back the legacies of her past, then that alliance was Bessie and Gary Gilmore.”

Capote illustrates the violent tear of Tex and Florence Smith’s marriage with polysyndeton: “[...] A final battle between the parents, a terrifying contest in which horsewhips and scalding water and kerosene lamps were used as weapons, had brought the marriage to a stop” (Capote 184). The pile-on of violent weapons alarms and educates the reader of the trauma Perry had to endure. It would be callous of the readers to expect a peaceful person to emerge from a family like Perry’s. A broken family. Capote uses this polysyndeton to explain where Perry’s brutality derives, excusing his behaviour and shifting the culpability. If only Perry had a loving, peaceful, supportive, positive family, then maybe he wouldn’t be driven towards his dark

Throughout Truman Capote’s narrative novel, In Cold Blood, Capote uses many different rhetorical strategies to illustrate an attitude that he has towards the character in his book. Specifically, amid the passage from pages 132 and 133, Capote writes about Perry’s life prior to committing the mass murder of the Clutter family. Capote, through his sympathetic tone, shows the readers that although Perry participated in a terrible act, the struggles during his early life should lessen the responsibility of Perry himself. Throughout this passage, Capote uses many different techniques and styles of rhetoric to show his elegiac and sympathetic attitude towards Perry Smith.

If this quote had been written by one of Smith's fellow settlers, we may regard it as substantial evidence. However, it was written by Smith, so he seems to be boasting about his selflessness and leadership ability. Furthermore, according to Egloff and Chief Crazy Horse, Smith did not even mention his attempted murder to his fellow settlers when he returned to the fort after the Indians released him. Furthermore, he did not include the incident in an account of his captivity, which he wrote immediately following his period of captivity (Vincent 1; Chief Crazy Horse 1). Thus, Smith's General History is not reliable.

On May 13, 1607 marks the date that English settlers arrived at a site they named Jamestown and established the first successful English settlement in the New World. Pocahontas, along with the leadership of Captain John Smith, was instrumental in this accomplishment. Pocahontas was a Native American (daughter of Powhatan, emperor of Werowocomoco) woman who became a fast friend of Smith and the colonists, helping the English colony in Tidewater area of Virginia to survive in its fragile early years. John Smith was a leader of the Virginia Colony. He was considered to have played an important part in the establishment of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

One of the stories that caught my attention was the Helzer brothers’ story because it happened locally. The older of the two Helzer brothers, Glenn (a.k.a. Taylor) Helzer, was the one that was in charge. He attended a “brainwashing” seminar known as “Harmony” training. After the training, he “decided that God had put him on earth to take over the Mormon church and become its true prophet” (Rich 32). Then he convinced Dawn Godman to attend a “Harmony” training. To illustrate, Dawn Godman, who was a roommate of the Helzer brothers, was “… a depressive, overweight woman …” (Rich 32). Godman was in a depressive state, which made her vulnerable and seeking a sense of purpose, which led to Taylor controlling her psychologically. The Helzer brothers and Godman abducted an elderly couple for money and killed them; in addition, killed several other people. Godman continued to follow the Helzer brothers and commit these heinous crimes because her life had purpose which was being a “disciple” to Taylor. Later, David Sullivan, an investigator, took part in the “Harmony” trainings to gain Godman’s trust. During Godman’s hearing, Sullivan showed her a hand signal which meant “… he was a trusted, heart connection” (Rich 36). Sullivan helped Godman finally realize that Taylor was not a prophet and her purpose was not to be his “disciple.” Godman, herself, ultimately, came back to reality and testified against the