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.
2. Let them speak
The whistleblowers, the women, and the High Council witnesses are more compelling in their own words than in ours. Where possible, lyrics are verbatim quotations from the Preamble, Resolutions, or affidavits. Where direct quotation does not scan, we paraphrase tightly — and mark the paraphrase on the track page’s lyric-to-source mapping.
3. Full documentation per track
Every track page includes:
- Complete lyrics
- Source material — the Expositor passages that back each section
- Lyric-to-source mapping — a line-by-line table showing verbatim vs. paraphrased vs. implied
- Historical context — the setting and significance
- Producer notes — why this song exists and what it is trying to do
4. Charitable reading first
Before presenting a harsh reading, we consider the strongest sympathetic interpretation. The source document page steel-mans FAIR Latter-day Saints’ best arguments for dismissing the Expositor before responding to each one.
If a reading exists that lets the material off the hook, we acknowledge it — then show why the source material defeats that reading.
5. Their own standards
We hold the publishers and the subjects of the Expositor to the standards they set for themselves:
- Joseph Smith’s public statements about his own marital status (“I can only find one” wife, May 26, 1844) are held against the revelation Hyrum read to the High Council in August 1843 authorizing plural marriage.
- The Nauvoo City Council’s 1844 declaration of the Expositor as a “public nuisance” is evaluated against the law of the time — including by Dallin H. Oaks’s own 1965 analysis.
- The Church’s modern statements in the Gospel Topics essays are taken at face value, and measured against the contemporary denials of 1842–1844.
What we document
We work with content that has been:
| Category | Description | Example from Sudden Day |
|---|---|---|
| Contemporaneously sworn | Statements made under oath at or near the time of the events described | Jane Law’s affidavit on the penalty of damnation for refusing plural marriage (Under Condemnation) |
| Contemporaneously denied | Public denials that the Church now confirms were false | Joseph’s May 26, 1844 “seven wives” sermon (Seven Wives) |
| Subsequently acknowledged | Claims the Expositor made that the Church itself has later admitted | Plural marriage practice, “carefully worded denials,” Council of Fifty kingship vote |
| Physically documented | Events whose occurrence is not seriously in dispute | The destruction of the press, the Carthage killings |
Anticipating apologetic responses
For every major claim, we document the standard apologetic response and explain why the source material holds up. Common defenses we address:
- “The destruction was municipal-nuisance abatement, not a rights violation.” — Addressed on the source document page with Oaks’s own concession.
- “First Amendment framing is anachronistic.” — Addressed. The case still stands on state constitutional and common-law grounds, and more importantly, on the subsequent acknowledgments by the Church.
- “The publishers were embittered apostates.” — Addressed. William Law was the Second Counselor in the First Presidency in January 1844. “Apostate” is a label applied after the fact; the factual claim is what matters.
- “The tone was inflammatory, not journalistic.” — Addressed. Tone does not rebut evidence; the affidavits are either true or false on their own terms, and the 2014 Gospel Topics essay confirms the substance.
- “Specific doctrinal charges (many gods) are unverified.” — Addressed. The King Follett Discourse was delivered publicly at general conference two months before the Expositor.
We steel-man these arguments — present them in their strongest form — before showing why the source material defeats them.
Quality standards
Every quote must have
- Exact text with original spelling/punctuation preserved
- Precise citation (Expositor Preamble, Resolution number, or named affidavit)
- Speaker identification
- Context notes
Every track must have
- 100% source mapping (every lyric line traced)
- Historical context section
- At least one apologetic response addressed somewhere in the site (typically on the source document page)
- Accuracy verified against the Expositor’s full text
What we avoid
We do not:
- Quote out of context in ways that change meaning
- Rely on 20th-century summaries when the 1844 text itself is accessible
- Exaggerate claims beyond what the text supports
- Ignore charitable interpretations without addressing them
- Combine quotes from different sections of the Expositor as if they were one statement
We do:
- Let the material speak for itself
- Build the strongest case from the single strongest source
- Document thoroughly
- Acknowledge where the Church itself now agrees
Verification
All sources on this site are publicly accessible. We encourage readers to:
- Read the full Expositor — not just our excerpts — at FAIR Latter-day Saints’ hosted full text.
- Check lyric-to-source mappings against the original.
- Evaluate whether our characterizations are fair.
- Point out any errors for correction via the project’s GitHub repository.
“The remedy can never be applied, unless the disease is known.” — Nauvoo Expositor, June 7, 1844