Ep 161 – The Mormon Seraglio

On this episode, we jump back into Nauvoo Mormonism. We begin with discussing the realm of politics in the 1840s. Jo’s political chess didn’t begin in Nauvoo, but Nauvoo was where he ramped up his game and moved to the ranks of political chess master. Jo had an incredible ability to curry the favor of powerful politicians and influential business owners who regarded Nauvoo as a tourist town on the Mississippi. Then we discuss how polygamy and the practice of “spiritual wifery” required a system of organization and ascendency for Nauvoo sex workers. The results are worthy of note and degrading to the women who were regarded as property.

Links:

The Prophet and the Presidency: Mormonism and Politics in Joseph Smith’s 1844 Presidential Campaign by Timothy L. Wood
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40193327?seq=12#metadata_info_tab_contents

History of Illinois by Governor Thomas Ford
https://archive.org/details/ahistoryillinoi00shiegoog/page/n232

Women’s Work and Sex Work in Nineteenth-Century America by Anya Jabour
http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/womens-work-and-sex-work-in-nineteenth-century-america/

Joseph H. Jackson 1844 expose
http://www.olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1840s/1844Jack.htm

Sexual Slander and Polygamy in Nauvoo by John S. Dinger
https://www.academia.edu/33512382/Sexual_Slander_and_Polygamy_in_Nauvoo_Journal_of_Mormon_History_Summer_2018_

History of the Saints by John C. Bennett
https://archive.org/details/historysaints00benngoog/page/n235

Godless Engineer “Was Joseph Smith a Convicted Con Man? || Mormonism Debunked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSCEF7-gAjU

Show links:

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