View source for Question: Did Willard Richards violate the Word of Wisdom by using tobacco at Carthage Jail?

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==Question: Did Willard Richards violate the Word of Wisdom by using tobacco at Carthage Jail?==
Joseph Smith obtained some tobacco for a friend while in Carthage Jail prior to being martyred. Doesn't this make Joseph Smith a hypocrite for violating the Word of Wisdom?
===Willard Richards was a Thomsonian herbalist, a type of physician common in the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States===

We are sometimes guilty of "presentism"&mdash;judging historical figures by the standards of ''our'' day, instead of ''their'' day. The tobacco was intended for medicinal purposes.

Willard Richards was a Thomsonian herbalist, a type of physician common in the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Thomson Thomson] was the name of the founder of this school of practice, which differed from the practice of the "orthodox" medical doctors, who focused on balancing humors, purging, inducing diarrhea, and so forth.

===Neither the wine nor the tobacco was, for members at the time, seen as a violation of the Word of Wisdom--they were likely medicinal===

An aspect of Thomsonian medicine was Thomson's enthusiasm for the use of ''lobelia'', or wild Indian tobacco.  It was used as a cure-all, and was prominently used as an emetic to induce vomiting and restore health. This is the key to understanding the use of tobacco at Carthage Jail.

Neither the wine nor the tobacco was, for members at the time, seen as a violation of the Word of Wisdom--they were likely medicinal.

===Tobacco for Willard Richards===
Willard Richards, who was in jail with Joseph, was a Thomsonian physician. This was a branch of pre-modern medical practice which required minimal schooling. Thomson's followers' believed strongly in the use of ''lobelia'', or wild Indian tobacco.  It was used as a cure-all, and was prominently used as an emetic to induce vomiting and restore health. This is the key to understanding the use of tobacco at Carthage Jail.

Critics Gerald and Sandra Tanner (p. 33) make a great deal of Joseph asking for a "pipe and tobacco" for Willard Richards.  However, when we understand the circumstances, this action makes sense, and it has nothing to do with the Word of Wisdom.  In the first place, we must realize that Joseph and Willard were locked in Carthage Jail.

Joseph had sent Stephen Markham out, as previous text unquoted by the Tanners tells us: "'Brother Markham...go get the doctor [i.e., Richards] something to settle his stomach,' [said Joseph,] and Markham went out for medicine. When he got the remedies desired...[the] Carthage Greys gathered round him, put him on his horse, and forced him out of the town at the point of the bayonet." So, Markham could not return, and none of the remedies he had obtained reached the jail. <ref>{{HC1|vol=6|start=616}}</ref>

It is not clear which remedies Markham sought out&mdash;but he could not return.  A Thomsonian like Richards would have probably seen tobacco as a medicinal drug, however&mdash;especially in a pinch when he could get nothing else.  This would be particularly true if the tobacco was ''lobelia''&mdash;it was the Thomsonian cure-all, literally.

The Tanners complain elsewhere about how in the ''History of the Church'' the words "pipe and some tobacco" were replaced by the word "medicine" (p. 471).  But, this misses the point in a spectacular way&mdash;tobacco ''was'' considered a medicine at the time!  Modern editors would not make this type of change to a historical text, but one can understand why rather than bother to explain about Thomsonian beliefs and medical practices, the editors of earlier times decided to simply "translate" the reason for the tobacco.  The issue only becomes important, after all, when one is unfamiliar with early nineteenth century medicine.

There is further evidence that the tobacco was not seen as a problem by current or later leaders, since John Taylor's later account of the martyrdom in ''History of the Church'' mentions it very frankly and matter-of-factly:

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Before the jailer came in, his boy brought in some water, and said the guard wanted some wine. Joseph gave Dr. Richards two dollars to give the guard; but the guard said one was enough, and would take no more.

The guard immediately sent for a bottle of wine, pipes, and two small papers of tobacco; and one of the guards brought them into the jail soon after the jailer went out. Dr. Richards uncorked the bottle, and presented a glass to Joseph, who tasted, as also Brother Taylor and the doctor, and the bottle was then given to the guard, who turned to go out. When at the top of the stairs some one below called him two or three times, and he went down.<ref>{{HoC|vol=6|pages=616}}</ref>
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Since neither the wine nor the tobacco was, for members at the time, seen as a violation of the Word of Wisdom. Leaders would not include this information if it made Joseph look bad. This should be our first clue that something else is going on.<ref>{{HoC|vol=6|pages=616}}</ref> Some critics, however, have not sought to understand, but merely to condemn by trusting that their audience will not understand the fine points of early nineteenth century frontier medicine.

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