I am Ryan McKnight.

I'm Kara Santa Maria.

I am Christopher Smith.

Hi, I'm Andrew Torres.

This is Naked Mormonism.

The Serial Mormon History Podcast.

We've spent the last few weeks discussing a lot of, I don't know, like seemingly disconnected aspects of

Navu Mormonism. We hit on criminality and how it was enforced or was covered up. We discussed

the rising tensions between Carthage and Navu, touched on the overwhelming financial trouble

plaguing the empire, introduced Joe's military aspirations

in hoping to align his Navu Legion with other independent militias. And then we parsed the

confusion rising from competitors for religious succession rights, and we met two of the

largest enemies of the Holy King, a Brutus and a Judas in inner circles, and then we've also stood

dumbstruck by the chaos caused by polygamy, and the tension of keeping it under wraps,

while still practicing it among initiates.

While each of these topics has been separated topically throughout our chronology, what I'm getting at is this was a very chaotic

time in Mormon history when we take it all together. There's this common misconception that all

of these pressures built up for 14 years under Joseph Smith's leadership and when he died,

somehow all of it ended. But that wasn't the case.

Joe's death, this upcoming June of 1844, wasn't a crescendo. It was a vantage point from which

to view the true insanity of the future of Mormonism in all its forms. Mormonism out from under

the leadership of the almighty Joseph Smith,

...