On 2/26 in New Mormon History...

[New Mormon History]

Historic events in New Mormon History on 2/26

1859: Brigham Young tells the church historian that "there had not been a Judge in Utah, that had been so completely taken up and set down on his arse in the mud, and had his ears pissed into as Judge [Charles E.] Sinclair had been."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1887: Utah Supreme Court rules that a legal wife is required to testify against her polygamous husband. As a result several legal wives are imprisoned for refusing to testify against their polygamous husbands. U.S. Supreme Court waits to reverse this decision until 22 Dec. 1890, after the LDS church has publicly abandoned polygamy.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1969: BYU's president instructs all bishops and stake presidents of BYU's student stakes to report to campus authorities any students who confess unacceptable conduct. This is a way of "eliminating students who do not fit into the culture of BYU so that those [who] would fit into it might be admitted to the institution." This also ends the confidentiality of confessions to LDS leaders.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1980: Apostle Ezra Taft Benson instructs BYU students in a televised address his "Fourteen Fundamentals In Following the Prophets," including: "1. The Prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything. 2. The living Prophet is more vital to us than the standard works [of scripture]. 3. The living Prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet. 4. The Prophet will never lead the Church astray. 5. The Prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time. 6. The Prophet does not have to say 'Thus saith the Lord' to give us scripture... 11. The two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the proud who are learned and the proud who are rich." In the national publicity resulting from this talk, some Mormon academics interpret this as Benson's way of preparing for his own presidency over the LDS church. The First Presidency's spokesman publicly states that it is "simply not true" that the LDS president's "word is law on all issues-including politics." Privately, church president Spencer W. Kimball is "concerned" about Elder Benson's talk and wants "to protect the Church against being misunderstood as espousing ultra-conservative politics, or -in this case- espousing an unthinking 'follow the leader' mentality." However, those concerns have neither the circulation nor the publicity of Benson's original talk. The next week Kimball requires Benson to explain himself and his motives to a private meeting of all the general authorities.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1996: More than half of the LDS church's population resides outside the U.S.A. as of this date.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn



To see the whole database in chronological order, Click here. Note that I'm not done entering all the information. While most of these facts come from Quinn's book, I'm seeking the primary sources for each, but this will take a long time.