Editor’s Note: the author of this blog is one of millions of Americans who feel that actions by President Trump & his Administration cross dangerous Constitutional and/or societal red lines including stopping people based on skin color, warrantless raids by masked police, “clawing back” duly appropriated Federal funds, directly threatening to turn the military on American citizens who oppose him, and refusing to seat a duly elected representative for almost a month because she will be the 218th vote to release the Epstein files. You may certainly disagree, but if you get nasty, you’re gone. No kings or tyrants in the USA, ever.
The second No Kings Day protests are scheduled across the state, nation, and even the world for this Saturday, October 18, 2025. You can check the map at NoKings.org or text #63033 for detailed information about protests near you. Also, they are asking that folks wear YELLOW because it is neither blue nor red
Dennis took these at the No Kings Day protests in Ann Arbor & Saline back in June. See more from the protests below, and more from these cities in his Ann Arbor Area gallery on Flickr.
I confess that when I started today’s post I had no idea that June 16, 1856 was the date when assassins mortally wounded Michigan’s only king. To be clear, this is a post about kings being a deeply stupid & un-American thing, not a post about killing them.
Michigan religious leader & politician James Jesse Strang was a major contender for leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after the death of founder Joseph Smith. Here are some excerpts of the wild ride of a Wikipedia that is the James Jesse Strang entry & chronicles his life as a lawyer, minister, prophet & politician who ultimately became something of a king. Please feel welcome to add your favorite tidbits in the comments!
Strang rested his claim to leadership on an ordination by an angel at the very moment Joseph Smith died (similar to the ordination of Smith), requirements that he claimed were set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants that the President had to be appointed by revelation and ordained by angels, and a “Letter of Appointment” from Smith, carrying a legitimate Nauvoo postmark. This letter was dated June 18, 1844, just nine days before Smith’s death. (he also claimed to have divine plates a la Smith that he discovered in Voree, Wisconsin)
…About 12,000 Latter Day Saints ultimately accepted Strang’s claims.[30] A second “Stake of Zion” was established on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, where Strang moved his church headquarters in 1848. Strang’s church had a high turnover rate … Many defections were due to Strang’s seemingly abrupt “about-face” on the turbulent subject of polygamy. Vehemently opposed to the practice at first, Strang reversed course in 1849 and became one of its strongest advocates, marrying five wives (including his original spouse, Mary) and fathering fourteen children. Strang defended his new tenet by claiming that, far from enslaving or demeaning women, polygamy would liberate and “elevate” them by allowing them to choose the best possible mate based upon any factors which were deemed important by them.
…Strang was crowned in 1850 by his counselor and Prime Minister, George J. Adams. About 300 people witnessed his coronation, for which he wore a bright red flannel robe which was topped by a white collar with black speckles. His crown was made of tin, rather than gold, and it is described in one account as being “a shiny metal ring with a cluster of glass stars in the front.
On Monday, June 16, 1856, Strang was waylaid on the dock at the harbor of St. James, the chief city on Beaver Island by former disciples who shot him in the back.
On July 8th, 1850, James Jesse Strang was crowned king of Beaver Island. Michigan History Magazine shared this article with me years ago:
Despite claiming to be “the perfect atheist,” Strang became a follower of Mormon leader Joseph Smith. When Smith was murdered in March 1844, Strang claimed to be the new Mormon leader, although most Mormons followed Brigham Young to Utah.
King James Strang (daguerreotype, 1856)
Strang’s followers settled on an uninhabited island in northern Lake Michigan they called Big Beaver. The island had everything Strang and his followers needed: virgin timber, tillable land, a deep and sheltered bay and exceptional offshore fishing. It also was twenty-five miles off the mainland-a perfect place to protect Strang’s followers from outside influences and beliefs.
By the mid-1850s, the Mormon colony on Beaver Island boasted more than 2,500 followers. Beaver Island replaced Mackinac Island as the principal refueling stop for steamers, and the annual value of the kingdom’s exports (fish, wood and potatoes) was considerable.
The growth of Strang’s kingdom was not without controversy. Non-Mormons, called Gentiles, took exception with the Mormon settlement. Driven from the area’s fishing spots, angry over the establishment of a kingdom and Strang’s adoption of the practice of polygamy, the Gentiles vowed revenge. At the bequest of President Millard Fillmore, the U.S. district attorney prosecuted Strang for an assortment of unfounded offenses that included murder and treason. However, Strang was acquitted on all charges, and a year later he was overwhelmingly elected to the state legislature.
Strang ruled Beaver Island as an autocrat; he even had himself crowned king. But regulating every aspect of his followers’ lives led to his downfall. Describing women’s clothes as impractical and unhealthy, Strang decreed female subjects needed to dress in loose, knee-length smocks worn over modest pantaloons. Most Beaver Island women accepted the change, but a few refused to comply. When two women refused to wear pantaloons, Strang had their husbands whipped. The two men sought revenge and on June 16, 1856, they ambushed and shot their king.
On July 9, 1856, James Jesse Strang died from his wounds. He was buried in Wisconsin.
With Strang gone, enraged Gentiles charged onto Beaver Island and evicted the Mormons. After taking control of the Mormon printing office, the attackers printed a manifesto that boasted, “The dominion of King Strang is at an end.”
Michigan in Pictures 