Being thus expelled from Missouri, they settled in Illinois, and in
1839, on the Mississippi, laid the foundation of their famous city,
Nauvoo, or _the Beautiful_, which was incorporated in 1840. Smith
dwells with great delight on this city, which he had seen rise up under
his presidency from a wild tract to be a place of "1,500 well-built
houses, and more than 15,000 inhabitants, all looking to him for
temporal as well as spiritual guidance." He describes as provided
for--"the University of Nauvoo, where all the arts and sciences will
grow with the growth and strengthen with the strength of this beloved
city of the Saints of the Last Days." But the grand feature of the
city was the Great Temple, which Smith thus sketches: "The Temple of
God, now in the course of erection, being already raised one story,
and which is 120 feet by 80 feet, of stone with polished pilasters,
of an entire new order of architecture, will be a splendid house for
the worship of God, as well as an unique wonder of the world, it being
built by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the
living and the dead."
The progress of Nauvoo was even more rapid than that of any of the
preceding places. Dangers of various kinds beset Smith, but he escaped
from them all; and by a provision in the city charter, formed an
independent civic militia, of which he was lieutenant-general: and he
consolidated his spiritual government, and made careful provision for
an ample succession of hardy as well as zealous missionaries. But Smith
becoming embroiled with the civil authority of the State, got up a sort
of social scheme of his own, and was actually in 1844 nominated for
President. The storm now gathered around him; the "gentile" inhabitants
of Nauvoo, who had always been most troublesome, supported by some of
the dissatisfied among the saints, established an opposition newspaper,
which denounced the morals of the Prophet, as well as his system of
government; the city council condemned the newspaper to silence; and a
mob broke into the office and destroyed the presses. The proprietors
charged some of the Mormon leaders with inciting the mob to this act,
and they were arrested, but set at liberty. The injured parties now
carried their complaint to the Governor of Illinois, who had long
been waiting for a legal opportunity to crush the power of Smith; he
was arrested on a charge of treason and sedition, June 24th, 1844. He
put Nauvoo into a state of defence, and his militia was drawn out;
but to avoid bloodshed, on the approach of the State troops, Smith
surrendered, on a promise of safety till his legal trial; and he, with
others, was committed to Carthage jail. A guard, small in number,
and purposely chosen from among Smith's declared enemies, was set
over them; but on the 27th of June, a mob of about two hundred armed
ruffians broke into the jail, and firing at the door of the room, shot
Smith's brother Hyram dead at once. Joseph Smith attempted to escape
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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