The Crandall Printing Museum

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the Crandall Printing Museum located on Center Street in Provo. This was the second opportunity I had to attend the museum and I enjoyed it even more than I did on my first visit. I would highly recommend taking a tour of this museum to any one who is interested in the founding of our nation or church history.

The Museum is divided into four sections. The first section is dedicated to the invention of the Gutenberg press by Johannes Gutenberg in mid 15th century. The tour guides explain the process by which Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press. The process was absolutely painstaking and involved hours of work and tinkering. In order to make one single letter took Gutenberg hours of work and experimentation. The patience and genius of Gutenberg are evidenced by the demonstration of the printing process by the tour guides. The best part of the printing museum is the hands-on demonstrations that occur throughout the tour. Not only do the guides tell you about printing they actually show you how it was done. They show every detail from the casting of letters down to the actual printing. This tour helped me appreciate the art and science of printing much more. The museum has also accumulated many artifacts over the years including old bible pages and printing presses themselves. I was fascinated by the old bible page that they passed around the group. The intricacy of the writing and decorations evidence the years of copying that it took monks to complete just one bible. This definitely gave me a greater appreciation for Gutenberg’s invention. He truly was an inspired man. Without his inventions we could very well be stuck in the dark ages.

The next room was the colonial room. Here we were greeted by Benjamin Franklin. In this room we learned about the Benjamin Franklin and involvement with printing, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. It was interesting to see the differences between the printing presses. The press in the Franklin room was smaller and more streamlined. In this room we were also told about Thomas Paine and his book Common Sense. The literature that was produced during this time was just as important as the war itself. Without printing and documents like the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense there would be no America today.

The third room that we entered was a replica of the shop in which the Book of Mormon was printed; in fact the room is almost exactly the same size, down to the inch. The press in this room was produced at the same time as the actual press used in New York to print the Book of Mormon. Here we learned of the great difficulties of printing the Book of Mormon, including the punctuating of the book while setting the type. The most fascinating story told to us was by Brother Crandall, one of his guests of the museum was the binder at Colonial Williamsburg. When Brother Crandall asked how long it would take to bind 5,000 books, the guest politely asked, “Do you mean 500?” The guest was amazed that the book binders were able to bind over 5,000 books in such a short amount of time. There are many other stories that, to me, evidence the hand of God in the production of the Book of Mormon. It is Brother Crandall’s testimony and I would add mine to it, that the hand of God was involved in the printing of the book. The final room was the Deseret News room, we ran out of time and were not able to hear the full presentation but this press was much smaller and more streamlined than all of the other presses. It was amazing to see the evolution of the printing press and the way that printing has helped shape our history. I enjoyed my visit to the Crandall Printing Museum very much and plan on returning again soon.

Thoughts on American Government

I have recently been reviewing and rereading my notes and book for my American Government class at Brigham Young University. I have come a cross a theme from our notes, I have noticed that the awful institution of slavery is a part of our discussion on a recurring basis. Before taking this class I thought I knew about slavery and the horrible practices that went along with it but this class and our discussions on the topic have truly been eye-opening.

During our first discussion as a class we learned about ancient slavery. Slavery was the basis for ancient civilizations and their society. Slavery was ubiquitous, that is, every known civilization was involved in slavery in one way or another. Slavery was a necessity for ancient society. If we think to one of the earliest great societies, the Egyptians, our thoughts are often drawn to the pyramids. These truly magnificent structures were made practical by the appalling use of slavery. The Pharaoh’s and other leaders of ancient world were only able to construct the pyramids and many of the other wonders of the world through slavery. They could not possible afford to pay thousands of men for twenty or more years to work on such structures. No man could possible afford such a thing.

We then entered a discussion concerning the differences between modern slavery and ancient slavery. The difference is simple; there was no racism in the institutions of ancient slavery. Slaves were simply accumulated through the winning of wars and the paying of debts. Once you were enslaved in the ancient world your children were often set free. There were many types of slaves. Blacks were no the only ones who were enslaved in the ancient world, all manner of men were enslaved. Modern slavery is much more horrendous because it was exclusively based on race. I am not saying that ancient slavery was good or even acceptable, but relatively speaking was much better that the modern slavery that plagued the American continent for over 100 years. We were presented by some horrendous numbers, it is estimated that in the time the slave trade existed over 14 million Africans were enslaved. It is estimated that 1.8 million slaves died in Africa before they reached the salve ships. Another 1.8 million are estimated to have died on the journey across the Atlantic. Finally, over 1.5 million are estimated to have died within the first year on enslavement due to unspeakable conditions and disease. Dr. Holzapfel spoke of three themes of modern slavery, violence, terror, and death. It is hard to imagine the awful conditions that slaves endured not only on the middle passage but while in America, the lived in constant fear of the unknown. They were constantly subject to abuse and rape.

We then jump ahead to the late 18^th century during the time of the revolution. Many slaves and abolitionists saw the revolution as an opportunity for freedom. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” This however did not apply to slaves according to the founding fathers. By this time slavery had become an American tradition, it was deeply entrenched in American society. It was also the basis for the economy of the southern states. During the War for Independence many African Americans fought on both sides of the war. The British promised freedom to any slave that fought on their side, as did the Americans. Over 5,000 slaves gained freedom from the Americans. More gained freedom from the British. After the war the Constitution again contained rhetoric that was confusing, the preamble states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” This once again sounds like it promotes equality for all but this once again was no the case. The Virginia Plan for the constitution did contain words that would end slavery, but once again the southern economies depended so much on slavery that they threatened to succeed from the union. As we know slavery was not officially abolished until the Civil War.

Slavery within the United States constitutes a large shameful part of our history. It is unfortunate that the founding fathers were not willing to take steps to end the practice. This would have indeed saved thousands of lives, if not millions.

The Founding of America

I have recently read chapters 12-14 of 1^st Nephi in the Book of Mormon. In these chapters Nephi is shown a vision of the History of the Americas and the events leading up to the restoration of the Gospel. I was amazed to read how both accurate and detailed this vision is. It begins with Jesus coming to the Americas. Nephi writes that that the Lord ordained twelve apostles. Nephi sees the passing away of three generations, the destruction of the Nephite nation, and the preservation of the record which had been kept from Nephi down to Moroni. The dream then jumps to the discovery of the Americas by the explorer Columbus. Nephi writes, “And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went fourth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the Promised Land.” I was amazed to learn that the great Christopher Columbus himself credited his discovery to God in his journals he wrote, “Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?”

The next event that Nephi sees is the colonization of America by the Europeans. He sees the revolutionary war. He writes that, “their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle with them.” Nephi writes that God was with the Americans and that they were, “delivered by the power of God” from the British. After the war he sees the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith and the coming fourth of the Book of Mormon and many other books including the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price.

Many opponents of the Book of Mormon often think that Joseph Smith simply wrote down a history of the Americas as he knew it, but it is important to note many differences between the vision of history and what Joseph Smith knew to happen. One difference occurs in the part of the vision of the Revolutionary War. During the time that Joseph Smith was translating the record it was the opinion of Americans that the founding fathers were heroes who were able to fight the mighty British and win through their own genius. This is not the case in the Book of Mormon, Nephi writes that they were delivered by the hand of God. This is a common theme throughout all scripture. The Israelites were delivered from the Egyptians by the hand of God just as the Americans were from the British. Recent research shows that the Americans narrowly escaped defeat numerous times, each time they were saved by an unexpected storm, heavy fog, or an error on the behalf of the British. I have a firm belief that they were truly delivered by the hand of God.

I have a firm testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon; I know it to be true with all my heart. Joseph did not simply write down a story, he translated the record through the power of God, of which I have a testimony. I am grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith and his great sacrifice. I know that it was through the power of God that the America was founded and because of its founding Joseph could restore the only true Church to the Earth.

The Revolution of Sober Expectations

I recently read a speech delivered by Martin Diamond entitled The Revolution of Sober Expectations. This speech was given at Independence Square, on October 24, 1973. It is an excellent speech and I would recommend the reading of it to all, especially in these times of great bipartisanship and economic turmoil.

In this speech he highlights the importance of the Declaration of Independence which was penned in 1776 which in essence began the revolution for the colonies as a whole. He also speaks on the importance of the Constitution which he argues was the second part of the revolution. He begins his oration with a quote from Lincoln that he believes highlights his own personal feelings personally. He says, “I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live.” Although his great respect and love of both of the sacred documents are important perhaps the more interesting aspect of the article comes from the title of the speech-The Revolution of Sober Expectations.

Diamond argues that for three reasons the Revolution is not as glorious as we sometimes make it out to be. The first reason is that although the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution itself did overthrow the British government, “They soberly and moderately left open the question of institution of government.” That is although they overthrew the British they did not outline what kind of government should replace it. Diamond makes himself clear however, he states that although it may seem like the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War may seem only like half a revolution they were, “nonetheless revolution indeed and revolution enough.”
The Second reason why Diamond believes the Revolution to be one of sober expectations is because the revolution was dedicated to the principle of liberty, an ideal that he argues is abstract and undignified. He draws on examples of what he sees as grand examples of revolutions that tried to establish utopias and equality for all. He states that civil liberty requires it followers to be constrained to, “moderation, legality, and rootedness in regular institutions.” Compared to the revolutions of Lenin and Robespierre’s which were rooted in grand ideas, but ideas that could never have been achieved. The Revolution was one of sober expectations because the founders wanted very little, compared to other revolutions, but it was because of this mindset that they were able to achieve their goals. They wanted only the “sober and moderate” goals of unalienable right sand free government.

The final reason why Diamond believes that the Revolution was a revolution of sober expectations is because of the founders approach to democracy. He believes that the founders were “cool headed and cautious,” when they accepted the new form of government. Compared to our glorious views of democracy, we often see any other form of government as tyrannical; the founders realized that there were many problems with democracy and realized its weaknesses. They tried to make it a decent form of government “even though [it was] democratic.” He also states that only a revolution that was sober could be brought to a conclusion in such a silent way (the revolution had been over for several years before the constitution was signed).

For these three reasons Martin Diamond argues that the American Revolution was one of sobriety. I would have to agree, although it was one of the most important and influential revolutions it truly was one of great soberness. It was one with out all of the glory and fanfare, but “nonetheless revolution indeed and revolution enough.”