On this episode, we begin our deep-dive series into the Council of Fifty. Joseph Smith’s theocracy required organizational structure; the Council of Fifty is how he planned on implementing it. William Clayton was called as scribe for the Council and we discuss his life and role in early Mormonism. Clayton’s journals have been a source of controversy and clandestine institutional secrecy for over a century and a half. We dive into why that is, the journals he kept, and the inner-workings of the controversy. This episode is a classic Naked Mormonism deep-dive and the length was required to do the issue proper justice. We have a quick guest appearance from Sandra Tanner to discuss the lawsuit filed by Andrew Ehat in the early 1980s. Links: Council of Fifty Minutes https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/council-of-fifty-minutes-march-1844-january-1846-volume-1-10-march-1844-1-march-1845/389#full-transcript Council of Fifty Minutes press release https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/council-of-fifty-minutes-to-be-published-in-joseph-smith-papers-release?lang=eng https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/news/joseph-smith-papers-council-of-fifty-minutes-released?lang=eng William Clayton https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/william-clayton Andrew Ehat v. Tanners https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/780/876/148179/ Andrew Ehat v. Tanners conclusion http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no60.htm#LAWSUIT%20OVER An Intimate Chronicle; the Journals of William Clayton by George D. Smith http://www.signaturebooks.com/product/an-intimate-chronicle/ James Allen/George Smith exchange https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V30N02_141.pdf Show links:                                                                                                                                        Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com Twitter @NakedMormonism Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311 Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/ Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/ Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/