King-Men and Freemen Contend Forpower

Event 116

Reference: Alma 51:1-22

AND now it came to pass in the commencement of thetwenty and fifth year of the reign of the judges over thepeople of Nephi, they having established peace between thepeople of Lehi and the people of Morianton concerningtheir lands, and having commenced the twenty and fifthyear in peace; 2 Nevertheless, they did not long maintain anentire peace in the land, for there began to be a contentionamong the people concerning the chief judge Pahoran; forbehold, there were a part of the people who desired that afew particular points of the law should be altered. 3 Butbehold, Pahoran would not alter nor suffer the law to bealtered; therefore, he did not hearken to those who had sentin their voices with their petitions concerning the altering ofthe law. 4 Therefore, those who were desirous that the lawshould be altered were angry with him, and desired that heshould no longer be chief judge over the land; thereforethere arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but notunto bloodshed.MormonLand ofZarahemla67 B.C.5 And it came to pass that those who were desirous thatPahoran should be dethroned from the judgment-seat werecalled king-men, for they were desirous that the law shouldbe altered in a manner to overthrow the free governmentand to establish a king over the land. 6 And those who weredesirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over theland took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was thedivision among them, for the freemen had sworn orcovenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges oftheir religion by a free government.7 And it came to pass that this matter of their contentionwas settled by the voice of the people.And it came to pass that the voice of the people came infavor of the freemen, and Pahoran retained the judgment-seat, which caused much rejoicing among the brethren ofPahoran and also many of the people of liberty, who alsoput the king-men to silence, that they durst not oppose butwere obliged to maintain the cause of freedom. 8 Now those who were in favor of kings were those of high birth, andthey sought to be kings; and they were supported by thosewho sought power and authority over the people.MormonLand ofZarahemla67 B.C.9 But behold, this was a critical time for such contentions tobe among the people of Nephi; for behold, Amalickiah hadagain stirred up the hearts of the people of the Lamanitesagainst the people of the Nephites, and he was gatheringtogether soldiers from all parts of his land, and armingthem, and preparing for war with all diligence; for he hadsworn to drink the blood of Moroni.Near land ofZarahemla10 But behold, we shall see that his promise which he madewas rash; nevertheless, he did prepare himself and hisarmies to come to battle against the Nephites. 11 Now hisarmies were not so great as they had hitherto been, becauseof the many thousands who had been slain by the hand ofthe Nephites; but notwithstanding their great loss,Amalickiah had gathered together a wonderfully greatarmy, insomuch that he feared not to come down to the landof Zarahemla. 12 Yea, even Amalickiah did himself comedown, at the head of the Lamanites. And it was in thetwenty and fifth year of the reign of the judges; and it wasat the same time that they had begun to settle the affairs oftheir contentions concerning the chief judge, Pahoran.13 And it came to pass that when the men who were calledking-men had heard that the Lamanites were coming downto battle against them, they were glad in their hearts; andthey refused to take up arms, for they were so wroth withthe chief judge, and also with the people of liberty, that theywould not take up arms to defend their country.14 And it came to pass that when Moroni saw this, and alsosaw that the Lamanites were coming into the borders of theland, he was exceedingly wroth because of the stubbornnessof those people whom he had labored with so muchdiligence to preserve; yea, he was exceedingly wroth; hissoul was filled with anger against them.Borders of land ofZarahemla15 And it came to pass that he sent a petition, with the voiceof the people, unto the governor of the land, desiring that heshould read it, and give him (Moroni) power to compelthose dissenters to defend their country or to put them todeath. 16 For it was his first care to put an end to suchcontentions and dissensions among the people; for behold,this had been hitherto a cause of all their destruction. And it came to pass that it was granted according to thevoice of the people.MormonBorders of land ofZarahemla67 B.C.17 And it came to pass that Moroni commanded that hisarmy should go against those king-men, to pull down theirpride and their nobility and level them with the earth, orthey should take up arms and support the cause of liberty.18 And it came to pass that the armies did march forthagainst them; and they did pull down their pride and theirnobility, insomuch that as they did lift their weapons of warto fight against the men of Moroni they were hewn downand leveled to the earth.19 And it came to pass that there were four thousand ofthose dissenters who were hewn down by the sword; andthose of their leaders who were not slain in battle weretaken and cast into prison, for there was no time for theirtrials at this period. 20 And the remainder of thosedissenters, rather than be smitten down to the earth by thesword, yielded to the standard of liberty, and werecompelled to hoist the title of liberty upon their towers, andin their cities, and to take up arms in defence of theircountry. 21 And thus Moroni put an end to those king-men,that there were not any known by the appellation of king-men; and thus he put an end to the stubbornness and thepride of those people who professed the blood of nobility;but they were brought down to humble themselves like untotheir brethren, and to fight valiantly for their freedom frombondage.22 Behold, it came to pass that while Moroni was thusbreaking down the wars and contentions among his ownpeople, and subjecting them to peace and civilization, andmaking regulations to prepare for war against theLamanites, behold, the Lamanites had come into the land ofMoroni, which was in the borders by the seashore.Land of Moroni