In Missouri in 1838 Sidney Rigdon gave at least two intemperate speeches that helped inflame tensions between Latter-day Saints and their adversaries. On 17 June 1838 in Far West, Rigdon drew on Matthew 5:13 to liken dissident Latter-day Saints to salt that had lost its savor and was “henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men.” In a Fourth of July sermon in Far West two and a half weeks after this “Salt Sermon,” Rigdon stated that if the Latter-day Saints again faced violence in Missouri, they would defend themselves and wage “between us and them a war of extermination.” In late 1844, in response to Rigdon’s leadership claims, Jedediah M. Grant, Orson Hyde, Brigham Young, and Wilford Woodruff all published statements identifying Rigdon’s sermons as “the prime cause of trouble in Missouri.” (Grant, Collection of Facts, relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon, 10–12; “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1844, 5:651; “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1844, 5:667; Wilford Woodruff, Salem, MA, to “the Church of Jesus Christ,” 11 Oct. 1844, in Prophet, 19 Oct. 1844, [3]; see also Editorial Note before JS, Journal, 4–5 June 1838.)

Grant, Jedediah M. A Collection of Facts, Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon, in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking and Guilbert, 1844.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.