Week 2 Lab: Carthage Jail and the Vacuum

June 27, 1844 — what happened at Carthage, and why no single body could immediately fill the gap it left

1 March 2027

Before the lab#

Read a primary-source-depth account of the killing at Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844, and note who was where — Nauvoo, Carthage, and on the road between them. Bring one specific detail from your own splinter group’s founding story.

In the lab#

The immediate scramble: Sidney Rigdon’s return from Pittsburgh three weeks later to claim “guardianship” of the church, the Twelve’s return from an electioneering mission on the eastern seaboard, and the August 8 conference where the question gets settled in public, in front of thousands of people, in a single afternoon.

Afterwards#

Nothing graded this week. Week 3 covers the conference itself.