https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason#Treason_against_U.S._states


Only three persons are known to have been prosecuted for treason on the state level. Thomas Dorr was convicted for treason against the state of Rhode Island for his part in the Dorr Rebellion, but was eventually granted amnesty. John Brown was convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia for his part in the raid on Harpers Ferry, and was hanged. The Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, was charged with treason against Missouri, at first in front of a state military court, but escaped to Illinois after his case was transferred to a civilian court for trial on charges of treason, murder, robbery, and other crimes. Smith was then later imprisoned for trial on charges of treason against Illinois, but was murdered by a lynch mob while in jail awaiting trial.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2017 05:02AM by anybody.

Seems Dorr was eventually released from his prison sentence, by public demand - he obviously had wide public support. John Brown was an abolutionist so had 'good intentions' at heart and became a martyr, after his hanging, for the cause of abolition of slavery; which was a very long battle.

It would appear then that Joey boy was the only one to have the support of a small proportion of society and the only one to have his own fiefdom, complete with it's own organised and aggressive army, within the republic.

Of the 3 it would appear that joey was by far the most selfish and the biggest rogue, plus he was the only one to try to silence the press. He was also the only one not to be tried for treason. Was that god's will, or satan's? Mormons say god's will, non mormons say not.

In a nutshell, Dorr and Brown were after better rights for great swathes of the population; slaves and the poor respectively, whereas joey merely wished to consolidate and expand the power of his own 'god-directed' creation: the mormonites.

The difference between joey and the other two is vast indeed, especially by today's standards.

One wonders what would have been had Horny Joe actually stood trial for treason.

Odds are he would have been convicted and imprisoned.

He might have been able to run the church from jail the way his successor Jeffs currently does but it's unlikely it would have ever flourished.

Treason is a capital offense. If he'd been convicted, there likely wouldn't have been a need for an "evil" mob.

Dorr's story is very interesting - he was not executed, but he had the support of over half the population and had won an election that was declared illegal by the rhode island establishment.

Perhaps Dorr's antics - establishing a rival state government during May 1, 1842 – January 23, 1843 - inspired joey boy somewhat? The new mormon immigrants voted in unison in nauvoo the way their mormon leaders told them to, so joey might have assumed he had enough numbers to ensure his freedom to rule his fiefdom however he saw fit.

Also, in rhode island in 1843 a new state constitution was granted, giving all men in the state the right to vote, whether they had property or not, so Dorr's demands had been met. It was not until the next year that Dorr was tried and imprisoned for treason, gaining release the following year, long after joey boy was lynched.

After reading about Dorr, I think joey must have been influenced by him and his actions. The events are so close to joey's demise that they must have influenced and empowered his (joey's) narcissism and contributed to the draconian rule of 'the council'.