Counselor turned Expositor publisher
William Law
1809–1892
2 topics · 4 dated events · 1 source
Their part in each topic
Joseph Smith's Plural Marriage
Counselor turned dissenter
Second counselor in the First Presidency until April 1844, when he and his wife Jane were excommunicated. He demanded that Joseph Smith publicly acknowledge plural marriage and disown it as from hell, then published the plural-marriage revelation's substance in the single issue of the Nauvoo Expositor on 7 June 1844. Its destruction three days later led directly to Carthage.
Violence and the Mormon Conflict
Counselor turned Expositor publisher
Law was Joseph Smith's counselor in the First Presidency until he broke with him over plural marriage and the concentration of power in Nauvoo. With his brother Wilson, the Higbees, the Fosters and Charles Ivins he published the single issue of the Nauvoo Expositor on 7 June 1844, printing his own sworn affidavit that Hyrum Smith had read him a revelation authorizing plural marriage.
In the timeline
4 events across 2 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
William and Jane Law excommunicated; a rival church organised
A council of thirty-two leaders excommunicated William and Jane Law and Robert Foster for unchristian conduct without summoning them. Three days later William Law held a public meeting denouncing Joseph as a fallen prophet and organised the True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Law said he would reconcile only if Joseph would acknowledge publicly that he had taught and practised the doctrine of plurality of wives and own the whole system to be from Hell.
Joseph Smith denies polygamy in public
Days after a Hancock County grand jury indicted him for adultery and fornication on the Laws' complaint concerning Maria Lawrence, Joseph Smith addressed the Saints in Nauvoo: What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers. He had by then been sealed to roughly thirty women.
The Nauvoo Expositor prints the secrethinge
The single issue of the dissenters' paper carried affidavits from Austin Cowles, William Law and Jane Law describing the plural-marriage revelation, including the provision granting a man the privilege of marrying ten virgins. It also charged Joseph with attempting to unite church and state and called him a demon in human shape. Three days later the city council, with Joseph presiding as mayor, declared the press a public nuisance and ordered it destroyed; it was smashed and the papers burned the same evening.
The Nauvoo Expositor publishes its only issue
William Law, his brother Wilson, Charles Ivins, the Higbee brothers and the Foster brothers issued a four-page paper carrying a preamble, fifteen resolutions and sworn affidavits. It called for "the UNCONDITIONAL REPEAL OF THE NAUVOO CITY CHARTER," advocated "unmitigated disobedience to Political Revelations," resolved that "we will not acknowledge any man as king or law-giver to the church," and printed Law's affidavit that Hyrum Smith had read him a revelation authorizing plural marriage.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844 (the single issue)
William Law, Wilson Law, Charles Ivins, Francis M. Higbee, Chauncey L. Higbee, Robert D. Foster, Charles A. Foster
The public exposure of the plural-marriage revelation by dissenters, including affidavits from Austin Cowles and William and Jane Law.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with William Law.
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