Jedediah Rogers discusses the history of Joseph Smith's "Council of 50" with J. Nelson-Seawright. Jed is a co-editor of the Utah Historical Quarterly and the Senior State Historian at the Utah Division of State History. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and received his doctorate at Arizona State University in 2011. Recently, Jed was the editor of the Signature Book documentary, The Council of 50 - A Documentary History.
The Council of 50 was formed in Nauvoo in 1844 by Joseph Smith Jr. The council provided a pattern for political government through priesthood authority and revelation. “It was, to its members, the nucleus or focus of God’s latter-day kingdom”