The Peace Maker (pamphlet)

The Peace Maker
Cover page of The Peace Maker in the collection of the Harold B. Lee Library
AuthorUdney Hay Jacob
LanguageEnglish
PublisherJoseph Smith
Publication date
October 29, 1842
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePamphlet
Pages38
Mormonism and polygamy
Portrait of five caucasian Latter-day Saints, married to each other in nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint polygamy, against the backdrop of what may be a hedge. All seem to be posing; none face the camera. Leftmost is a woman, seated, her hair done in a high, braided bun, wearing a dress with buttons down the middle; in her hands are an open book. Center-left, standing furthest to the back (though still very much with the portraited group) is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, in a polka-dotted top and a scarf or ascot around her neck and a skirt. She carries a hat, held to her waist. Center is a woman, sort of kneeling or seated (perhaps there is an unseen stool she's sitting on?). She wears a white dress, her hair is done up in a high and large bun and she wears a headband. In her right arm she holds a hat, over her knees; her left arm rests on the lap of the man sitting center right. She may be leaning against his legs. Center-right is a man, wearing a suit jacket of some kind and a high-collared shirt. He is balded and bearded. His left hand is placed over the left arm of the center woman. Rightmost is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, sitting in a visibly wooden (likely handcrafted) chair. She wears a dress with buttons going down the middle. She holds a hat, which looks very like center's hat, over her knees.
A Mormon "Saint" and Wives by Charles Weitfle (c. 1878–1885)
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The Peace Maker is a thirty-six page pamphlet written by Udney Hay Jacob and published in Nauvoo on October 29, 1842 which rejected the growing rights of women on Biblical grounds.[1][2] Jacob claimed female power was growing, it was dangerous, and the way to curtail it was through polygamy and granting men the sole power of divorce.[1] The pamphlet was adapted from a longer Biblical treatise that Jacob had presented to President Martin Van Buren in 1840.[1]

The original two-chapter pamphlet The Peace Maker was published in Nauvoo, Illinois, with Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, listed as the printer. The pamphlet caused an uproar within Nauvoo, and was published the same month as an expose published by recently excommunicated John C. Bennett.[3] On December 1st, Smith printed a denial of any connection to the work, and stated that it had been published without his knowledge.[2] Historians continue to debate Smith's involvement and the possibility that some aspects of the pamphlet may have represented Smith's thought.[2]

Summary

The Peace Maker deals in substantial part with Biblical marriage laws, primarily divorce.[1] Jacob argues that just as property can not put away its owner, women should not be able to instigate divorce.[1] Furthermore, the only legitimate reason for divorce should be the refusal of a wife to submit to and revere her husband's authority.[1] The pamphlet advocates for polygamy as a way to undermine any sexual power a wife may use over her husband.[1]

The pamphlet ends with "the question is not now to be debated whether these things are so; neither is it a question of much importance who wrote this book? But the question, the momentous question is: will you now restore the law of God on this important subject, and keep it?"[2]

Authorship

Jacob was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when The Peace Maker was published. However, Jacob and his family had lived among the Latter Day Saints in Chautauqua County, New York, in the early 1830s and in the Latter Day Saint region of Hancock County, Illinois throughout the period of settlement there. Additionally, Jacob was baptized into the church in 1843, the year after his pamphlet appeared.[4][unreliable source?]

Reaction

Smith denounced the pamphlet in the December 1, 1842, issue of Times and Seasons, the official church newspaper, writing:

There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by Udney H. Jacob, on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence [sic], folly, and trash. JOSEPH SMITH.[5]

However, other sources raise the possibility that this statement may have been misleading. In particular, John D. Lee's 1877 "Confessions" states, speaking about the 1842–43 period:

During the winter Joseph, the Prophet, set a man by the name of Udney Hay Jacob to select from the Old Bible scriptures as pertained to polygamy, or celestial marriage, to write it in pamphlet form, and to advocate that doctrine. This he did as a feeler among the people, to pave the way for celestial marriage.[6]

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich notes that while both Jacob and Smith used Biblical arguments to justify polygamy (which Smith secretly practiced at the time), the beliefs about divorce espoused in The Peace Maker do not match Joseph Smith's teachings or practices on divorce.[1]

John Taylor, who helped manage the press that published The Peace Maker, also dismissed the pamphlet and felt William Smith was responsible for continuing its dissemination. [1]

The text offers several defenses of polygamy that were later used extensively by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Latter Day Saint sect which later migrated to Utah and defended the practice, arguing that polygamy produces greater marital unity than monogamy. The pamphlet also argues vigorously that male authority over females should be absolute and is of divine origin. The text has been influential in the development of 20th- and 21st-century Latter Day Saint polygamous movements.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ulrich, Lauren Thatcher (2017). A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 102, 107. ISBN 9780307594907.
  2. ^ a b c d Van Wagoner, Richard S. "Mormon Polygamy: A History" (p. 66). Signature Books. 1989
  3. ^ Smith, George D. "Nauvoo Polygamy '... but we called it celestial marriage'" Signature Books. 2008 e-book location 3533 of 12255
  4. ^ Smith History Vault, Udney Jacob's 1842 Peace Maker, Transcriber's Notes, http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1840s/1842Udny.htm#comments
  5. ^ Times and Seasons 4:2 (December 1, 1842), pg. 32, http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n02.htm
  6. ^ John D. Lee, 1877, Mormonism Unveiled: The Life and Confession of John D. Lee, Including the Life of Brigham Young.

References

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