Sudden Day

Before You Listen

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On June 7, 1844, a group of insiders published a single issue of a newspaper. Three days later, it was destroyed by order of the man it exposed. Seventeen days after that, he was dead.

The newspaper was the Nauvoo Expositor. The man was Joseph Smith.

This album tells that story.

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO HEAR

Every lyric on this album is drawn from primary sources - the actual words of the people who lived this story. We didn’t embellish. We didn’t dramatize. We amplified.

Track 01 — June 7, 1844

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The press runs for the first and last time. Insiders break their silence. The truth will out.

Album Analysis

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sudden Day: Songs from the Nauvoo Expositor is a 16-track concept album drawing entirely from the Nauvoo Expositor, published June 7, 1844. The album tells the complete story of the whistleblowers who exposed Joseph Smith’s secret practices - and what it cost them.

Mission: Don’t let the Expositor die in history. Give voice to the silenced. Make the disease known so the remedy can be applied.

Methodology: Every lyric traceable to primary sources. Historical accuracy over dramatic embellishment. Sympathetic approach over confrontational messaging. Singability over clever wordplay.

Track 02 — Forbearance

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They begged him to repent. He said he'd rather be damned. Now forbearance has ceased to be a virtue.

After You Listen

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You’ve just heard the voices of people who have been dead for 180 years.

And a woman whose name we never knew - “a departed spirit, once the resident of St. Louis” - who finally got to cry aloud.

WHAT WE DIDN’T DO

We didn’t attack. We didn’t preach. We didn’t embellish.

We amplified.

The Expositor writers did the work in 1844. They documented everything. They signed sworn affidavits knowing it could cost them their lives. William Law had been Joseph Smith’s right hand. Jane Law had refused the Prophet’s advances. Austin Cowles had heard the secret revelation read aloud in the High Council.

Track 03 — Seven Wives

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"What a thing it is for a man to be accused of having seven wives, when I can only find one." He stood at the pulpit and lied.

Companion Essay

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SUDDEN DAY: A Companion Essay

Songs from the Nauvoo Expositor

Walking Through the Album for Those Who Cannot Hear

“The remedy can never be applied, unless the disease is known.” â€” Nauvoo Expositor, June 7, 1844

Introduction: One Newspaper, One Day, One Story

On June 7, 1844, a group of former believers published a single issue of a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois. Three days later, it was destroyed by order of the man it exposed. Seventeen days after that, he was dead. The newspaper was the Nauvoo Expositor. The man was Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Track 04 — Ten Thousand Miles

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She crossed the ocean to find God. She left everything behind. She didn't know what waited.

Track 05 — Positively No Admittance

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A room with a warning on the door. An oath sworn under penalty of death. "God has revealed that you are mine."

Track 06 — The Tender Tree

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Sent away until the talk died down. Robbed of what only death can restore. Dry sorrow drinks her blood.

Track 07 — Under Condemnation

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The revelation said wives who refused would stand condemned before God. Obey or be damned. There was no escape.

Track 08 — The Revelation

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Austin Cowles sat in the High Council when Hyrum read the revelation. Plural wives. Sealing against all sins. He could not teach such laws.

Track 09 — Many Gods

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They taught there were innumerable gods above our God. That He could fall. That we could rise. They called it progression. The Expositor called it blasphemy.

Track 10 — The Great Throat

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They preached sacrifice. They preached gathering. The wealth flowed in and was swallowed by one great throat, from whence there was no return.

Track 11 — King and Lawgiver

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Prophet. Mayor. General. Presidential candidate. "We will not acknowledge any man as king or lawgiver to the church. Christ is our only king."

Track 12 — The Inquisition

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April 18th. A council called in secret. Tried, condemned, and cut off. They never knew until it was done. Our law condemns no man until he is heard.

Track 13 — Habeas Corpus

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Fugitives fled to Nauvoo and found protection. The Mayor's court overruled federal warrants. "A sink of refuge for every offender who can carry in spoils enough to buy protection."

Track 14 — Citizens of Hancock County

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Francis Higbee's letter to his neighbors. Arise in the majesty of your strength. The August election approaches. This is the dreadful conflict.

Track 15 — The Burning

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One hundred men. Scattered type. The flames consuming truth. Three days later, they printed their last word with fire. Seventeen days later, Carthage.

Track 16 — Sudden Day

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They burned the press but not the truth. Lo, it is sudden day. The dark deeds of foul fiends shall be exposed from the house-tops. A departed spirit cries for vengeance.

1890

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Epilogue / bonus track — a modern coda asking what hasn't changed.

Act I — The Awakening

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The whistleblowers find their voice

Track 01 — June 7, 1844

The press runs for the first and last time. Insiders break their silence. The truth will out.

Track 02 — Forbearance

They begged him to repent. He said he’d rather be damned. Now forbearance has ceased to be a virtue.

Track 03 — Seven Wives

“What a thing it is for a man to be accused of having seven wives, when I can only find one.” He stood at the pulpit and lied.

Act II — The Women

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The hidden victims speak

Track 04 — Ten Thousand Miles

She crossed the ocean to find God. She left everything behind. She didn’t know what waited.

Track 05 — Positively No Admittance

A room with a warning on the door. An oath sworn under penalty of death. “God has revealed that you are mine.”

Track 06 — The Tender Tree

Sent away until the talk died down. Robbed of what only death can restore. Dry sorrow drinks her blood.

Act III — The Revelations

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What was taught in secret

Track 08 — The Revelation

Austin Cowles sat in the High Council when Hyrum read the revelation. Plural wives. Sealing against all sins. He could not teach such laws.

Track 09 — Many Gods

They taught there were innumerable gods above our God. That He could fall. That we could rise. They called it progression. The Expositor called it blasphemy.

Track 10 — The Great Throat

They preached sacrifice. They preached gathering. The wealth flowed in and was swallowed by one great throat, from whence there was no return.

Act IV — The Power

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The machinery of control

Track 11 — King and Lawgiver

Prophet. Mayor. General. Presidential candidate. “We will not acknowledge any man as king or lawgiver to the church. Christ is our only king.”

Track 12 — The Inquisition

April 18th. A council called in secret. Tried, condemned, and cut off. They never knew until it was done. Our law condemns no man until he is heard.

Track 13 — Habeas Corpus

Fugitives fled to Nauvoo and found protection. The Mayor’s court overruled federal warrants. “A sink of refuge for every offender who can carry in spoils enough to buy protection.”

Act V — The Reckoning

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The silencing that wasn’t

Track 14 — Citizens of Hancock County

Francis Higbee’s letter to his neighbors. Arise in the majesty of your strength. The August election approaches. This is the dreadful conflict.

Track 15 — The Burning

One hundred men. Scattered type. The flames consuming truth. Three days later, they printed their last word with fire. Seventeen days later, Carthage.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is this project?

Sudden Day: Songs from the Nauvoo Expositor is a 16-track song cycle and companion website documenting the contents of a single historical newspaper — the Nauvoo Expositor, Volume 1, Number 1, June 7, 1844. The paper was printed by William Law (then Second Counselor in the LDS First Presidency) and seven other senior insiders, destroyed by order of Joseph Smith three days later, and has been partially vindicated by the LDS Church’s own historical essays in the 21st century.

Methodology

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This project follows a rigorous methodology to ensure accuracy, fairness, and intellectual honesty. We document our approach so readers can evaluate our work on its merits.

Core principles

1. One primary source, fully worked

Every claim on this site traces to one of:

The Nauvoo Expositor, Vol. 1, No. 1 — June 7, 1844, Nauvoo, Illinois.
The sworn affidavits printed within the Expositor (William Law, Jane Law, Austin Cowles).
Directly contemporaneous documents cited or quoted by the Expositor (e.g., the Nauvoo High Council minutes of April 1844, Joseph Smith’s May 26, 1844 sermon).
LDS-published materials when used as corroboration — the Joseph Smith Papers (Council of Fifty minutes), the canonized Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 132), and the Gospel Topics essays (2014 Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo).

We do not work from secondhand characterizations or polemical summaries. If a source is later than June 1844 and was not written by the Expositor’s original authors, we cite it specifically and only as corroboration of what the 1844 document already said.

Our Mission

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We do not endorse what this album documents

Let us be clear: we do not endorse the coercion, theological manipulation, financial exploitation, or extra-judicial power documented in the Nauvoo Expositor. We do not endorse the abuse of the women whose affidavits the paper carried. We document these things because they happened, because contemporaneous insiders swore to them, and because the historical record deserves to be preserved rather than quietly revised.

Source Document

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The primary source for the entire album is:

Nauvoo Expositor — Volume 1, Number 1 · Friday, June 7, 1844 · Nauvoo, Illinois

Four-page broadsheet. Single issue. Destroyed by order of Joseph Smith three days after publication.

Contents of the issue

Preamble — the publishers’ statement of purpose and the album’s thesis: “The remedy can never be applied, unless the disease is known.”
Resolutions (1–15) — public positions on theology, church governance, and the separation of church and state
Affidavits — sworn testimony from William Law, Jane Law, and Austin Cowles
“Citizens of Hancock County” — Francis M. Higbee’s letter to his neighbors
Editorial content — exposing specific abuses

Full text online

The full text of the Expositor is preserved at:

Terms of Use

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Purpose

Sudden Day is an educational and documentary project. Its purpose is to preserve and make accessible the contents of a specific 1844 primary source — the Nauvoo Expositor — together with original creative and analytical work that traces each claim on this site to that source.

Public-domain source

The Nauvoo Expositor was published on June 7, 1844. Under United States copyright law, works published before 1928 are in the public domain. All quotations from the Expositor (including the affidavits, the “Citizens of Hancock County” letter, and the Preamble and Resolutions) are taken from public-domain materials.