Smith, leader of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had a practice of secretly marrying his followers, including other men's wives.

The Nauvoo Expositor, published on June 7, 1844, exposed Smith's practice of polygamy and accused him of promoting polytheism by teaching that church members can become gods.

[6] In response, Governor Ford raised a militia, peacefully entering Nauvoo to search for Joseph Smith, who had fled the state.

[7] In 1830, Joseph Smith, age 24, published the Book of Mormon, which he described as an English translation of ancient golden plates he received from an angel.

After the Nauvoo City Charter passed both houses of the state legislature, Illinois governor Thomas Carlin signed it into law on December 16, 1849.

[13] On June 30, 1842, Francis Higbee gave a sworn statement that "Joseph Smith told [him] that John C. Bennett could be easily put aside or drowned, and no person would be the wiser for it".

[25] On March 24, 1832, an Ohio mob stripped Smith naked with an eye to castrate him, but the doctor refused to carry out the procedure at the last minute; some suggest this incident may have stemmed from intimacies with a girl or woman not his wife.

[26] In January 1838, original Book of Mormon witness Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated, in part because he "seemed to insinuate" that Smith was guilty of adultery.

[50][51] On April 6,[better source needed] Law notified Smith and some members of the Twelve that he desired an investigation before the Church General Conference.

[52][53] On April 7, Smith addressed the Church's annual general conference in Nauvoo in a speech known as the King Follett sermon (named for a Mormon who had recently died in an accident).

[59] Joseph charged Foster with "immorality and apostasy", character defamation, lying, and endangering his life in the Nauvoo High Council.

[64] On May 1, Francis M. Higbee filed a legal complaint in the Fifth Judicial District of Illinois, suing Smith for slander and requesting damages of five thousand dollars.

[4] On May 4, William Law, his wife Jane, and Austin Cowles appeared before a Justice of the Peace and gave a sworn statement about Smith's polygamy.

[70][71] On May 23, a grand jury from the Hancock County Circuit Court issued a criminal indictment against Smith on the charges of perjury based on the statements of Joseph Jackson and Robert Foster.

Included were statements from women claiming he had committed adultery by telling them that Joseph Smith secretly preached the practice of polygamy.

[79] Seeking relief from the state courts, Francis M. Higbee, one of the Expositors publishers, gave a sworn statement about the events of June 10.

Non-Mormons in Hancock County were infuriated when they heard of the news of the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, believing that it was an example of Mormon disregard for their laws.

The meeting resolved to seek help from the Governor, writing:[87][88] And WHEREAS, Hiram Smith did in presence of the City Council, and the citizens of Nauvoo, offer a reward for the destruction of the printing press and materials of the Warsaw Signal, -- a newspaper also opposed to his interest.

[89][better source needed] The following day, the Warsaw Signal published the resolutions, editorializing that "[r]epeated attempts have been made to arrest Smith, but he has been uniformly screened from the officers of Justice, by the aid of the Municipal Court [of Nauvoo], which is the tool and echo of himself.

"[87][90] On June 14, Smith defended the destruction of the Expositor to Governor Thomas Ford, writing: In the investigation it appeared evident to the council that the proprietors were a set of unprincipled men, lawless, debouchees, counterfeiters, Bogus Makers, gamblers, peace disturbers, and that the grand object of said proprietors was to destroy our constitutional rights and chartered privileges; to overthrow all good and wholesome regulations in society; to strengthen themselves against the municipality; to fortify themselves against the church of which I am a member, and destroy all our religious rights and privileges, by libels, slanders, falsehoods, perjury & sticking at no corruption to accomplish their hellish purposes.

and that said paper of itself was libelous of the deepest dye, and very injurious as a vehicle of defamation,—tending to corrupt the morals, and disturb the peace, tranquillity and happiness of the whole community, and especially that of Nauvoo.

[94][95] On June 22, Ford wrote to the Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo, writing: I now express to you my opinion that your conduct in the destruction of the press was a very gross outrage upon the laws and the liberties of the people.

[115] In her 1945 biography of Smith, No Man Knows My History, dissident Mormon historian Fawn Brodie described the destruction of the press as a "violation of the holy Constitution", opining that "It was a greater breach of political and legal discipline than the anti-Mormons could have hoped for.

Oaks concludes it would have been legally permissible under the common law of the time for city officials to destroy, or "abate", the actual printed newspapers.

However, he notes that there "was no legal justification in 1844 for the destruction of the Expositor press as a nuisance" and that its owners could have sued for damages;[122] Oaks was president of Brigham Young University until 1980, when he was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court.

[123] In 1984, he resigned from the Court to be "called" to high levels of LDS Church leadership, as a member of both the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and, later, First Presidency.

The official church website cites the opinion of Oaks, asserting that "The Nauvoo City Council had reason to believe their actions were legal.

"[124] Other Mormon legal scholars, such as Edwin Firmage and R. Collin Mangrum, similarly concluded that "Whether or not the suppression of the Expositor was justified, such action may have exceeded the council's authority.

[126] Palmer argues that William and Jane Law opposed Joseph Smith because he ordered the death of his enemies, married other men's wives, and sought to establish a kingdom within the United States.

A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger's was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself."