Two chapters earlier, Mormon described a peaceful and righteous people. One chapter earlier, a single city rebelled, but Moroni quashed it without serious repercussions. Things are now going to get a lot worse. The first problem is even more serious than a city’s defection, because it is an internal contention that could tear the entire polity apart.
It begins with a political disagreement—not, apparently, in the same category as Amalickiah’s attempt to overthrow the system of judges and establish himself as a king but rather an attack against the laws of the land. Mormon does not record what those laws were; but we can deduce that they encompassed some changes in social structure, particularly given the pattern of Nephite history up to this point and most particularly whenever the word “king” is bandied about.