Succession Crisis and Break With Brigham Young
Upon hearing about the death of Joseph Smith, Miller returned to Nauvoo. A succession crisis ensued whereby a variety of men vied for the leadership of the Latter Day Saints. The majority of Latter Day Saints accepted the leadership of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve, and Miller provided luke-warm support for this decision. Because he was one of two bishops in the church, Miller was appointed by Young to be a legal trustee-in-trust for the church on 9 August 1844, Miller was sustained as the president of Nauvoo high priests quorum and the "Second Bishop of the Church" on 7 October 1844.
In 1845, Miller submitted to Young a proposal to construct a building for the high priests quorum in Nauvoo. Young, who by then had plans to lead the Latter Day Saints away from Nauvoo, rejected Miller's plan outright. This signalled the start of cool relations between Miller and Young which eventually led to Miller's abandonment of the organization led by Young. Although Miller left Nauvoo under Young's instructions in 1846 and came as far as Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Miller informed Young in January 1847 that he would not follow him to the Salt Lake Valley, as Young had planned. Rather, Miller accepted the leadership claims of Apostle Lyman Wight and emigrated with Wight and his followers to the Republic of Texas. Brigham Young disfellowshipped Miller from the church on 3 December 1848, but he was never formally excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Read more about this topic: George Miller (Latter Day Saints)
Famous quotes containing the words succession, crisis, break, brigham and/or young:
“Life is measured by the rapidity of change, the succession of influences that modify the being.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones, is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim. It is seemingly instantaneous at last.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How the mother is to be pitied who hath handsome daughters! Locks, bolts, bars, and lectures of morality are nothing to them: they break through them all. They have as much pleasure in cheating a father and mother, as in cheating at cards.”
—John Gay (1685–1732)
“John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave,
His soul is marching on.”
—Thomas Brigham Bishop (1835–1905)
“Too many existing classrooms for young children have this overriding goal: To get the children ready for first grade. This goal is unworthy. It is hurtful. This goal has had the most distorting impact on five-year-olds. It causes kindergartens to be merely the handmaidens of first grade.... Kindergarten teachers cannot look at their own children and plan for their present needs as five-year-olds.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)