Item Detail
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17099
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15
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16
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English
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Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry : Austin A. King's Quest for Hostages
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BYU Studies
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2004
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43
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4
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92-136
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In November 1838, a Criminal Court of Inquiry presided over by Judge Austin A. King resulted in Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and three others being held in Liberty Jail on charges of treason. Madsen reviews the events of the inquiry, particularly the absence of due process, the presentation of vague testimony failing to connect the defendants to specific criminal acts, and the charge of treason. Madsen explains the "Bollman," "Burr," and "Lynch" decisions that influenced the development of United States law defining treason, and then compares them to the trial and charges brought against Joseph Smith. He concludes that the order binding Joseph Smith over for treason fails for six reasons: 1) due process was ignored; 2) testimony attributed Smith with conspiratorial words, which is not a treasonable offense; 3) the absence of an armed assemblage; 4) some of the reported inflammatory language was spoken outside of the county in which the charges were made; 5) two corroborating witnesses were not produced; and 6), treason cannot be committed against a state. Madsen theorizes with Hyrum Smith that the intention of the treason charge was to hold Joseph Smith and the others on some non-bailable offense until all of the Saints had been removed from Missouri.
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"Dictated by Christ" : Joseph Smith and the Politics of Revelation
Documents, Volume 6: February 1838-August 1839
Joseph Smith Papers : Histories, 1832-1844, Vol. 1
Kingdom of Nauvoo : The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier
Mormon Land Rights in Caldwell and Daviess Counties and the Mormon Conflict of 1838 : New Findings and New Understandings
Persecution, Memory, and Mormon Identity in Parley Pratt's Autobiography
Road to Martyrdom : Joseph Smith's Last Legal Cases
Saints : The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days. The Standard of Truth 1815–1846.
The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Vol. 12: March 1843 - July 1843
The Joseph Smith Papers : Documents, Volume 6 : February 1838–August 1839
The Joseph Smith Papers : Histories. Volume 2, Assigned Histories, 1831-1847
The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism
Toward a Mormon Jurisprudence
'We Took Our Change of Venue to the State of Illinois' : The Gallatin Hearing and the Escape of Joseph Smith and the Mormon Prisoners from Missouri, April 1839 -
A Call to Arms : The 1838 Defense of Northern Missouri
Atchison's Letters and the Causes of Mormon Expulsion from Missouri
Danites
Documents Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &c. In Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons
Encyclopedia of Mormonism : The History, Scripture, Doctrine, and Procedures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Exiles in a Land of Liberty : Mormons in America, 1830-1846
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period II : From the Manuscript History of Brigham Young and Other Original Documents
History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri Upon the Mormons
Judge Austin A. King's Preliminary Hearing : Joseph Smith and the Mormons on Trial
Missouri Conflict
Missouri Mormon Manuscripts : Sources in Selected Societies
Mormon Redress Petitions : Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict
Smith, Joseph : Legal Trials of Joseph Smith
The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri
The Book of Daniel in Early Mormon Thought
The Missouri Persecutions