Council of Fifty
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The Council of Fifty (also known as the Living Constitution) was a theocratic Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844 to prepare the way for a theocratic "Kingdom of God" that Smith thought would soon be established on the earth during the Millennium. The Council had a significant role in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1844 to the late 1800s.
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Establishment
In Mormonism, the Church of Christ is considered to be the "kingdom of God" represented in the Book of Daniel 2:44-45 as the stone "cut out of the mountain without hands" that will roll forth to fill the whole earth". In Daniel, this "kingdom" was never to "be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Daniel 2:44. Joseph Smith, Jr. and other early Latter Day Saint leaders believed this "kingdom" was not just the Church of Christ, but a political theocracy which Jesus would establish upon his Second Coming. See J.D. 1:202-203, 2:189, and 17:156-57.
Believing, as did many early Latter Day Saints and Restorationists in the mid-1800s, that the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent, Joseph Smith received a revelation on April 7, 1842, establishing an organization which the revelation called the "Living Constitution", which would serve as the foundation for the establishment of this Millennial theocracy. This organization was formally established in Nauvoo, Illinois on March 11, 1844.
Composition and organization
Unlike other organizations formed by Joseph Smith, members of the Council of Fifty were not necessarily Latter Day Saints. At its formation, there were at least three non-Latter Day Saint members. Smith was the president of the organization during his lifetime, after which Brigham Young presided, and then John Taylor.
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who each were members of the Council, had a special leadership role. However, all actions by the body were officially to be taken only after unanimous vote. During Smith's lifetime, meetings of the Council were held in secret.
Role of the Council in the Latter Day Saint movement
One duty of the Council was to assist in Joseph Smith's 1844 campaign for President of the United States. Smith ran the platform of eliminating slavery by financing the compensation of slave-owners by the sale of private lands, and reducing the salaries of members of Congress. Members of the Council campaigned throughout the United States. While Smith was never a serious candidate for President, this campaigning brought recognition to Smith and the Church.
Led by Brigham Young after Smith's death in 1844, the Council also assisted in the exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois and the eventual migration to the Great Basin area of what is now Utah. Young relied upon the results of scouting missions by members of the Council in choosing the Great Basin as a destination for their exodus from Nauvoo, over several alternate possibilities including Texas, California, and Oregon.
In Utah, the Council became a provisional legislative body in the government, until September 1850, when Congress organized the Territory of Utah. After Utah became a territory, the Constitutional requirements of separation between church and state sharply diminished the Council's official role in government. The Council then suspended meetings in October 1851.
Briefly, the Council resurfaced again in during the administration of John Taylor, in an advisory role on the issue of polygamy. The Council's last recorded meeting was in 1884.
External references
- Kenneth W. Godfrey, "Council of Fifty", Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Macmillan Publishing Co. 1992).
- Andrus, Hyrum L., Joseph Smith and World Government, (Salt Lake City 1958).
- Andrew F. Ehat, "It Seems Like Heaven Began on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God", 20 BYU Studies 253-79 (Spring 1980).
- Klaus J. Hansen, Quest for Empire, (East Lansing, Mich., 1967).
- D. Michael Quinn, "The Council of Fifty and Its Members, 1844 to 1945", 20 BYU Studies 163-97 (Winter 1980).