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Born: 23 December 1805
Ordained an Apostle: May-June 1829
First Elder: 6 April 1830
President of the Church: 25 January 1832-27 June 1844
Murdered by a Mob: 27 June 1844
1.
Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God
hath no need to break the laws of the land. (D&C 58:21)
2. And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that
principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all
mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify
you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the
constitutional law of the land. (D&C 98:5-6)
3. We think it would be wise in you to try to git [sic] influence
by offering to print a paper in favor of the government as you know we are
all friends to the Constitution yea true friends to that Country for which
our fathers bled. (PWJS 287)
4. And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their
enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress,
and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in
authority over you—
According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I [the Lord]
have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights
and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.
(D&C 101:76-77)
5. Have mercy, O Lord, upon all the nations of the earth; have mercy upon
the rulers of our land; may those principles, which were so honorably and
nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by our fathers, be
established forever. (D&C 109:54)
6. Be wise; let prudence dictate all your counsels; preserve peace with
all men, if possible; stand by the Constitution of your country; observe
its principles; and above all, show yourselves men of God, worthy
citizens. (MFP 1:74-75)
7. The Constitution of our country [was] formed by the Fathers of liberty.
. . . Exalt the standard of Democracy! Down with that of priestcraft, and
let all the people say Amen! that the blood of our fathers may not cry
from the ground against us. Sacred is the memory of that blood which
bought for us our liberty. (HC 3:9)
8. Blessed be the memory of those few brethren who contended so
strenuously for their constitutional rights and religious freedom, against
such an overwhelming force of desperadoes! (HC 3:59)
9. Hence we say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious
standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it
is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of liberty, like the
cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and
weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every
clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun. . . .
We
say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true;
that the Bible is true. (TPJS 147-48)
10. Your constitution guarantees to every citizen, even the humblest, the
enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. It promises to all, religious
freedom, the right to all to worship God beneath their own vine and fig
tree, according to the dictates of their conscience. It guarantees to all
the citizens of the several states the right to become citizens of any one
of the states, and to enjoy all the rights and immunities of the citizens
of the state of his adoption. (HC 4:37)
11. Even this Nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to peices [sic]
and tumbling to the ground and when the constitution is upon the brink of
ruin this people will be the Staff up [on] which the Nation shall lean and
they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction.
(WJS 416)
12. This people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and
they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of
destruction.—Then shall the Lord say: Go tell my servants who are the
strength of mine house, my young men and middleaged, etc., Come to the
land of my vineyard and fight the battle of the Lord. Then the Kings and
Queens shall come, yea the foreign saints shall come to fight for the land
of my vineyard, for in this thing shall be their safety and they will have
no power to choose but will come as a man fleeth from a sudden
destruction. I know these things by the visions of the Almighty. (Joseph
Smith Collection; from an address given 19 Jul 1840)
13. We may continue to expect the enjoyment of all the blessings of civil
and religious liberty, guaranteed by the Constitution. The citizens of
Illinois have done themselves honor, in throwing the mantle of the
Constitution over a persecuted and afflicted people. (TPJS 185)
14. I am tired of the misrepresentation, calumny and detraction, heaped
upon me by wicked men; and desire and claim, only those principles
guaranteed to all men by the Constitution and laws of the United States
and of Illinois. (HC 5:15)
15. The Constitution is not a law, but it empowers the people to make
laws. . . . The Constitution tells us what shall not be a lawful tender. .
. . The legislature has ceded up to us the privilege of enacting such laws
as are not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States. . . .
The different states, and even Congress itself, have passed many laws
diametrically contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
. . . Shall we be such fools as to be governed by its laws, which are
unconstitutional? No! . . . The Constitution acknowledges that the people
have all power not reserved to itself. I am a lawyer; I am a big lawyer
and comprehend heaven, earth and hell, to bring forth knowledge that shall
cover up all lawyers, doctors and other big bodies. This is the doctrine
of the Constitution, so help me God. The Constitution is not law to us,
but it makes provision for us whereby we can make laws. Where it provides
that no one shall be hindered from worshipping God according to his own
conscience, is a law. No legislature can enact a law to prohibit it. The
Constitution provides to regulate bodies of men and not individuals. (HC
5:289-90; also in TPJS 278)
16. In the month of May 1843. Several miles east of Nauvoo. The Nauvoo
Legion was on parade and review. At the close of which Joseph Smith made
some remarks upon our condition as a people and upon our future prospects
contrasting our present condition with our past trials and persecutions by
the hands of our enemies. Also upon the constitution and government of the
United States stating that the time would come when the Constitution and
Government would hand [sic] by a brittle thread and would be ready
to fall into other hands but this people the Latter-day Saints will step
forth and save it.
General Scott and part of his staff on the American Army was [sic]
present on the occasion.
I James Burgess was present and testify to the above. (WJS 279;
from James Burgess Notebook, LDS Church Archives)
17. If we have to give up our chartered rights, privileges, and freedom,
which our fathers fought, bled, and died for, and which the constitution
of the United States and of this state guarantee unto us, we will do it
only at the point of the sword and bayonet. (Discourses Delivered by
Presidents Joseph Smith and Brigham Young 4; also in HC 5:468; WJS
218-19)
18. Shall we longer bear these cruelties which have been heaped upon us
for the last ten years in the face of heaven, and in open violation of the
constitution and law of these United States and of this state? God forbid!
I will not bear it. If they take away my rights, I will fight for them
manfully and righteously until I am used up. We have done nothing against
the rights of others. (Discourses Delivered by Presidents Joseph Smith
and Brigham Young 5; also in HC 5:471; WJS 220)
19. The benefits of the constitution and laws are alike for all; and the
great Eloheim has given me the privilege of having the benefits of the
constitution and the writ of habeas corpus. (Discourses Delivered by
Presidents Joseph Smith and Brigham Young 5; also in HC 5:471; WJS
221)
20. [Governor Ford] is sworn to support the Constitution of the United
States and also of this State [Illinois], and these constitutions
guarantee religious as well as civil liberty to all religious societies
whatever. (TPJS 317)
21. I am the greatest advocate of the Constitution of the United States
there is on the earth. In my feelings I am always ready to die for the
protection of the weak and oppressed in their just rights. The only fault
I find with the Constitution is, it is not broad enough to cover the whole
ground.
Although it provides that all men shall enjoy religious freedom, yet it
does not provide the manner by which that freedom can be preserved, nor
for the punishment of Government officers who refuse to protect the people
in their religious rights, or punish those mobs, states, or communities
who interfere with the rights of the people on account of their religion.
Its sentiments are good, but it provides no means of enforcing them. It
has but this one fault. Under its provision, a man or a people who are
able to protect themselves can get along well enough; but those who have
the misfortune to be weak or unpopular are left to the merciless rage of
popular fury.
The Constitution should contain a provision that every officer of the
Government who should neglect or refuse to extend the protection
guaranteed in the Constitution should be subject to capital punishment;
and then the president of the United States would not say, "Your
cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." (HC 6:56-57;
also in TPJS 326-27)
22.
We believe in enjoying the constitutional privilege and right of
worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own consciences.
(HC 6:92)
23. I would admonish you, . . . to read in the 8th section and 1st article
of the Constitution of the United States, the first, fourteenth and
seventeenth "specific" and not very "limited
powers" of the Federal Government, what can be done to protect the
lives, property, and rights of a virtuous people, when the administrators
of the law and law-makers are unbought by bribes. . . . And God, who
cooled the heat of a Nebuchadnezzar's furnace or shut the mouths of lions
for the honor of a Daniel, will raise your mind above the narrow notion
that the General Government has no power, to the sublime idea that
Congress, with the President as Executor, is as almighty in its sphere as
Jehovah is in his. (HC 6:160)
24. The Constitution, when it says, "We, the people of the United
States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America," meant just what it said without reference to color or
condition, ad infinitum. (HC 6:198)
25.
The aspirations and expectations of a virtuous people, environed with so
wise, so liberal, so deep, so broad, and so high a charter of equal
rights as appears in said Constitution, ought to be treated by those
to whom the administration of the laws is entrusted with as much sanclity
as the prayers of the Saints are treated in heaven, that love, confidence,
and union, like the sun, moon, and stars, should bear witness,
"For ever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is Divine!". . .
I will adopt in part the language of Mr. Madison's inaugural address:
". . . to hold the union of the States as the basis of their peace
and happiness; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the
Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities." (Powers
and Policy of the Government 6, 10-11; also in HC 6:198, 201)
26.
If I lose my life in a good cause I am willing to be sacrificed on the
altar of virtue, righteousness and truth, in maintaining the laws and
Constitution of the United States, if need be, for the general good of
mankind. (HC 6:211; also in TPJS 332; WJS 320)
27. The constitution expects every man to do his duty; and when he fails
the law urges him; or should he do too much; the same master rebukes him.
(HC 6:220)
28. Joseph Smith has offered and does hereby offer these United States, to
show his loyalty to our Confederate Union and the Constitution of our
Republic. (HC 6:276)
29. Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor's rod, loose the
iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign punishment all those who
trample under foot the glorious Constitution and the people's rights. (HC
6:499)
30. Genl. J. Smith . . . briefly explained the object of the mob and
showed that they waged a war of extermination upon us because of our
religion. He called upon all the volunteers who felt to support the
constitution from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean to come with
their arms, ammunition & defend the constitution. (WJS 383-84)
31. We have ever held ourselves amenable to the law. . . . I am ever ready
to conform to and support the laws and Constitution, even at the expense
of my life. I have never in the least offered any resistance to law or
lawful process, which is a well-known fact to the general public. (HC
6:526)
32. Will the Constitution be destroyed? No: it will be held inviolate by
this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The time will come when the
destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical
juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened
destruction." It will be so. (JD 7:15; quoted by Brigham
Young)
33.
We are friendly to our country, and when we speak of the flag of our
Union, we love it, and we love the rights the Constitution guarantees to
every citizen. What did the Prophet Joseph say? When the Constitution
shall be tottering we shall be the people to save it from the hand of the
foe. (Tyler 350; quoted by Jedediah M. Grant)
34.
My sisters, My remarks in conclusion will be brief. I heard the prophet
Joseph Smith say if the people rose up and mobbed us and the authorities
countenanced it, they would have mobs to their hearts' content. I heard
him say that the time would come when this nation would so far depart from
its original purity, its glory, and its love for freedom and its
protection of civil rights and religious rights, that the Constitution of
our country would hang as it were by a thread. He said, also, that this
people, the sons of Zion, would rise up and save the Constitution and bear
it off triumphantly. (Snow, Eliza R. 556)
35. Having an
opportunity of speaking to General Wilson, I inquired of him why I was
thus treated. I inquired of
him why I was thus treated. I
told him I was not aware of having done anything worthy of such treatment,
that I had always been a supporter of this Constitution and of democracy. His answer was, “I know it, and that is the reason why I
want to kill you, or have you killed.”
Prophet
Joseph Smith - History of the Church 3:191
36. And
that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that
principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all
mankind, and is justifiable before me.
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my
church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the
land; and as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than
this cometh of evil. D&C
98:5-7
37.
When the wicked rule, the people mourn. D & C 98:9
38. Read
all of D&C 123 regarding our responsibilities,
especially: Therefore, we should waste and ear out our
lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of
darkness ((CN: Footnote= Secret Combinations)),
wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest
from heaven. These
would then be attended to with
great earnestness. Let
no man count them as small
things; for there is much which lieth
in futurity,
pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these
things. Therefore,
dearly beloved brethren, let us
cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then
may we stand still, with
the utmost assurance, to see the
salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed.
D&C 123:13-17
39.
I say unto you that
the enemy in the secret chambers seeketh your lives.
Ye hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon
be great wars in far countries, but ye know not the hearts of men in your
own land. I tell these things
because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms,
lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their
wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder
than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not
fear. And that ye might
escape the power of the enemy, and be gathered unto me a righteous people
without spot and blameless.
D&C
38:28-31
40. The Church is warned against the secret
combination which shall seek to overthrow the freedom of all lands,
nations, and countries. ((CN: Chapter
Heading))
And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get
power and gain until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall
be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints,
which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for
vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.
Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things
should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and
suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, and the
work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword
of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow
and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things
come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation,
because of this secret combination which shall be among you, and wo be
unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain;
For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to
overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it
bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the
devil,. Who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who hath caused
man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of
men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them
out from the beginning. Wherefore,
I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things.
Ether
8:22-26
41.
He that does not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth
a commandment with a doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the
same is damned
D&C
58:29
42. And for this purpose have I established the
Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men
whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and
redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
Let not that which I have appointed be polluted by
mine
enemies, by the consent of those who call
themselves
after my name; For this is a very sore
and
grievous sin against me, and against my people,
in
consequence of those things which I have decreed
and which
are soon to befall the nations.
Jesus Christ - D&C 101:80,
97-98
43.
We believe that no government can exist in peace, except
such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to
each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right
and control of property, and the protection of life.
D&C 134:2
44.
The foreign saints shall come to fight for the land of my vineyard,
for in this thing shall be their safety and they will have no power to
choose, but will come as a man fleeth from a sudden destruction.
I know these things by the visions of the Almighty.
Prophet
Joseph Smith - Collection 19 July
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