Common Council of The Church - Trial of Sidney Rigdon

Trial of Sidney Rigdon

The Common Council of the Church has only been formally convened once since Joseph Smith's trial. On September 8, 1844, Presiding Bishop Newel K. Whitney convened a public meeting of the council with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Amasa M. Lyman, William W. Phelps, William Marks, Charles C. Rich, and Ezra T. Benson acting as the twelve counselors. The purpose of the council was to discuss possible discipline for Sidney Rigdon, who was a counselor to Joseph Smith in the First Presidency prior to Smith's death in June 1844. Since Smith's death, Rigdon had claimed the right to lead the church and be its "guardian" until a new First Presidency could be organized. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, led by Brigham Young, had also been claiming the right to lead the Latter Day Saints. At the trial,

"Very serious charges were made against Elder Rigdon for insubordination, for claiming to hold keys and authority above any man or set of men in the church, even superior authority and keys thereof than those held by the Twelve; and likewise he had ordained men to positions—places and offices not recognized as properly belonging to this church. Among other things he somewhere about this time predicted that the building of the Temple would cease and prophesied that there would not be another stone raised upon the walls of the Temple."

Rigdon had been asked to appear before the council but had refused to appear. After a discussion of Rigdon's behavior by the members of the council, Whitney presented a motion to excommunicate Rigdon from the church "and deliver over to the buffetings of satan until he repents". The motion was unanimously carried. The Latter Day Saints in attendance at the public meeting were then invited by Young to ratify the decision of the council. The vote was "nearly unanimous", with ten individuals voting in favor of Rigdon's cause.