[The Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records 01] • The Joseph Smith Papers · Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846

On 11 March 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith organized a council that he and his closest associates saw as the beginning of the government of the literal kingdom of God on earth. The council, known both as the Council of the Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty (it had roughly fifty members), operated under Smith's leadership until his murder less than four months later. Following Smith's death, the council met in Nauvoo under Brigham Young's leadership from February 1845 to January1846. The minutes of the council's meetings, kept primarily by William Clayton, have never been publicly available. This volume of The Joseph Smith Papers publishes them for the first time.

Participants saw the council as distinct from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and anticipated that the council would "govern men in civil matters." According to Joseph Smith, the council "was designed to be got up for the safety and salvation of the saints by protecting them in their religious rights and worship." Nevertheless, because Smith and Young were leaders of both the church and the council, ecclesiastical concerns were frequently reflected in the council's discussions.

The minutes reveal much about early Mormon thought on earthly and heavenly governments as council members wrestled with what it meant to establish the kingdom of God on earth and how that kingdom related to the church and to existing civil governments. Though council members generally used the term "theocracy" to describe the ideal form of government for the kingdom of God, their model also incorporated democratic elements. They believed that a "theodemocratic" government would protect the rights of all citizens, promote free discussion, involve Latter-day Saints and others, and increase righteousness in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ.