Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, which gave rise to Mormonism. At age twenty-four Smith published the Book of Mormon, and in the next fourteen years he gathered thousands of followers, built cities and temples, and created a religious culture that survived his death.
Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont; but by 1817, Smith's family had moved to western New York, an area repeatedly swept by religious revivals during the Second Great Awakening. Smith family members held divergent views about organized religion, but they believed in visions and prophecies and engaged in folk religious practices typical of the era. According to Smith, beginning in the early 1820s he had visions, in one of which an angel directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Christian history of ancient American civilizations. In 1830, he published what he said was an English translation of these plates as the Book of Mormon, and organized the Church of Christ as a restoration of the early Christian church. Church members were later called Latter Day Saints, Saints, or Mormons.
In 1831, Smith and his followers moved west to Kirtland, Ohio and also established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, where Smith planned to build a city called Zion. In 1837 a bank established by Smith and other church leaders collapsed causing widespread defections. The following year Smith joined his followers in northern Missouri, who had been expelled from Independence by Missourians alarmed at the rapid growth of Mormon communities. The following year conflicts again erupted between Mormons and earlier settlers of Missouri. The Mormons were expelled from the state, and Smith was imprisoned for several months. In 1839, Smith rejoined his followers to settle at Nauvoo, Illinois, where he served as both a spiritual and political leader. In 1844, disaffected Mormons published an exposé criticizing Smith's theocratic aspirations and his practice of polygamy. Three days later the Nauvoo City Council ordered the paper's destruction, precipitating a call to arms of non-Mormons who feared Smith's growing power. During the ensuing turmoil, Smith was imprisoned and killed in Carthage, Illinois.
During his lifetime Smith produced numerous revelations that are regarded as scripture by his followers. His teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. His followers regard him as a prophet of at least the stature of Moses and Elijah. Smith's legacy includes a number of religious denominations, including the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which claims a growing membership of more than 14 million worldwide.
Joseph Smith, Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph, a merchant and farmer.[1] After suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith hobbled around on crutches for three years.[2] In 1816–17, after an ill-fated business venture[3] and three years of crop failures,[4] the Smith family moved to the western New York village of Palmyra[5] and eventually took a mortgage on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in nearby Manchester town.[6]
During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm.[7] Between 1817 and 1825 there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area.[8] Although the Smith family was caught up in this excitement,[9] they disagreed about religion.[10] Joseph Smith became interested in religion at about the age of twelve,[11] and he participated in church classes,[12] read the Bible, and reportedly showed an interest in Methodism.[13] With his family, he also took part in religious folk magic,[14] a common practice at the time.[15] Like many people of that era,[16] both his parents and his maternal grandfather had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God.[17]
In 1832, Smith wrote that as a youth in about 1820,[18] while in the "attitude of calling upon the Lord,"[19] he had a vision in which God told him that his sins were forgiven and that the world had "turned aside from the gospel."[20] Although this experience was unknown to most early believers,[21] a later account of the event became known as Smith's First Vision, and its importance to the Mormon faith began to be emphasized during the last two decades of the 19th century.[22]
The Smith family supplemented its meager farm income by treasure-digging. Joseph claimed an ability to use seer stones for locating lost items and buried treasure.[23] To do so, Smith would put a stone in a white stovepipe hat and would then see the required information in reflections given off by the stone.[24]
In 1823, while praying for forgiveness from his sins,[25] Smith said he was visited at night by an angel named Moroni, who revealed the location of a buried book of golden plates as well as other artifacts, including a breastplate and a set of silver spectacles with lenses composed of seer stones, which had been hidden in a hill near his home.[26] Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him.[27]
During the next four years, Smith made annual visits to the hill, but each time returned without the plates.[28] Meanwhile, Smith continued traveling to western New York and Pennsylvania as a treasure seeker and a farmhand.[29] In 1826, he was brought before a court in Chenango County, New York, for "glass-looking," or pretending to find lost treasure.[30][31]
While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Smith met Emma Hale and began courting her.[32] When Smith asked for Emma's hand, her father, Isaac Hale, objected because Smith was "a stranger" and had no means of supporting his daughter other than money digging.[33] On January 18, 1827, Smith and Emma "eloped to marry" and the couple began boarding with Smith's parents in Manchester.[34]
On September 22, 1827, Smith made his last annual visit to the hill, taking Emma with him.[35] This time, he said, he retrieved the plates and placed them in a locked chest.[36] He said the angel commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else but to publish their translation, reputed to be the religious record of indigenous Americans.[37] Joseph later told Emma's parents that his treasure-seeking days were behind him.[38] Although Smith had left his treasure hunting company, his former associates believed he had double-crossed them by taking for himself what they considered joint property.[39] They ransacked places where a competing treasure-seer said the plates were hidden,[40] the occurrence of which caused Smith to claim he could not accomplish the translation in Palmyra.[41]
In October 1827, Smith and his pregnant[42] wife moved from Palmyra to Harmony (now Oakland), Pennsylvania,[43] aided by money from a comparatively prosperous neighbor Martin Harris.[44] Living near his in-laws,[45] Smith transcribed some of the characters (what he called "reformed Egyptian") engraved on the plates and then dictated a translation to his wife.[46]
In February 1828, Martin Harris arrived to assist with the translation.[47] Harris took a sample of the characters to a few prominent scholars,[48] including Charles Anthon, who Harris said initially authenticated the characters and their translation, then recanted upon hearing that Smith had received the plates from an angel.[49] Anthon later denied this claim[50] but Harris returned to Harmony in April 1828 motivated to act as Smith's scribe.[51]
Translation continued until mid-June 1828, until Harris began having doubts about the existence of the golden plates.[52] Harris importuned Smith to let him take the existing 116 pages of manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members.[53] Harris then lost the manuscript—of which there was no copy—at about the same time as Smith's wife Emma gave birth to a stillborn son.[54] Smith said the angel had taken away the plates and he had lost his ability to translate[55] until September 22, 1828, when Smith claimed that the plates were restored.[56]
Smith did not earnestly resume the translation again until April 1829, when he met Oliver Cowdery, who became Smith's scribe.[57] They worked full time on the translation between April and early June 1829,[58] and then moved to Fayette, New York where they continued to work at the home of Cowdery's friend Peter Whitmer. When the translation spoke of an institutional church and a requirement for baptism, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other,[59] with written documents five years later stating that John the Baptist had appeared and ordained them to a priesthood.[60] Translation was completed around July 1, 1829.[61] Knowing that potential converts to the planned church might find Smith's story of the plates incredible,[62] Smith asked a group of 11 witnesses, including Martin Harris and male members of the Whitmer and Smith families, to sign a statement testifying that they had seen the golden plates, and in the case of the latter eight witnesses, had actually hefted the plates.[63] According to Smith, the angel Moroni took back the plates after Smith was finished using them.[64]
The translation, known as the Book of Mormon, was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, by printer E. B. Grandin.[65] Martin Harris financed the publication by mortgaging his farm.[66] Soon thereafter on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ,[67] and small branches were established in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.[68] The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety,[69] but also strong opposition by those who remembered Smith's money-digging and his 1826 trial near Colesville.[70] After Cowdery baptized several new members (including Emma Smith), the Mormons began receiving threats of mob violence.[71] Before Smith could confirm the new members, he was arrested and brought to trial as a disorderly person.[72] Though Smith was acquitted, he and Cowdery had to flee Colesville to escape a gathering mob. Probably referring to this period of flight, Smith told years later of hearing the voices of Peter, James, and John who he said gave Smith and Cowdery an apostolic authority.[73]
When Oliver Cowdery and other church members attempted to exercise independent authority[74]—as when Book of Mormon witness Hiram Page used his seer stone to locate the American New Jerusalem prophesied by the Book of Mormon[75]—Smith responded by establishing himself as the sole prophet.[76] Smith disputed Page's location for the New Jerusalem,[77] but dispatched Cowdery to lead a mission to Missouri to find its true location[78] and to proselytize the Native Americans.[79] Smith also dictated a lost "Book of Enoch," telling how the biblical Enoch had established a city of Zion of such civic goodness that God had taken it to heaven.[80]
On their way to Missouri, Cowdery's party passed through the Kirtland, Ohio area and converted Sidney Rigdon and over a hundred members of his Disciples of Christ congregation,[81] more than doubling the size of the church.[82] Rigdon visited New York and quickly became second in command of the church,[83] to the discomfort of Smith's earlier followers.[84] In the face of acute and growing opposition in New York, Smith announced that Kirtland was the "eastern boundary" of the New Jerusalem,[85] and that the Saints must gather there.[86]
After moving to Kirtland, Ohio in January 1831, Smith mitigated the new converts' exuberant exhibition of spiritual gifts, bringing the Ohio congregation within his own religious authority.[87] Prior to conversion, the congregation had been practicing a form of Christian communism, and Smith adopted a communal system within his own church, calling it the United Order of Enoch.[88] At Rigdon's suggestion,[89] Smith promised the church's elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power,[90] and in the church's June 1831 general conference,[91] he introduced the greater authority of a High ("Melchizedek") Priesthood to the church hierarchy.[92]
The church grew as new converts poured into Kirtland.[93] By the summer of 1835, there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Mormons in the vicinity of Kirtland,[94] many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom.[95] Though Oliver Cowdery's mission to the Indians was a failure (halted by a Federal agent to the Indian tribes),[96] [97] he sent word he had found the site for the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri.[98] After he visited there in July 1831, Smith agreed and pronounced the county's rugged outpost[99] Independence to be the "center place" of Zion.[100] Rigdon, however, disapproved of the location, and for most of the 1830s, the church was divided between Ohio and Missouri.[101] Smith continued to live in Ohio but visited Missouri again in early 1832 in order to prevent a rebellion of prominent Saints, including Cowdery, who believed Zion was being neglected.[102] Smith's trip was hastened[103] by a mob of residents led by former Saints who were incensed over the United Order and Smith's political power.[104] The mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious and tarred and feathered them.[105]
The old Jackson Countians resented the Mormon newcomers for various political and religious reasons.[106] Mob attacks began in July 1833,[107] but Smith advised the Mormons to patiently bear them[108] until a fourth attack, which would permit vengeance to be taken.[109] Nevertheless, once they began to defend themselves,[110] the Mormons were brutally expelled from the county.[111] Under authority of revelations directing Smith to lead the church like a modern Moses to redeem Zion by power[112] and avenge God's enemies,[113] he led to Missouri a paramilitary expedition, later called Zion's Camp.[114] When the camp found itself without support from the governor of Missouri, suffering from cholera, and outnumbered,[115] Smith provided a revelation explaining that the church was unworthy to redeem Zion, in part because of the failure of the United Order,[116] and disbanded the expedition.[117] Redemption of Zion would have to wait until after the elders of the church could receive another endowment of heavenly power,[118] this time in the Kirtland Temple[119] then under construction.[120]
Zion's Camp failed to improve the situation in Jackson County, and was viewed as a failure,[121] but it also led to a transformation in Mormon leadership and culture,[122] and many future church leaders would come from the group.[123] Just before Zion's Camp left Kirtland, Smith disbanded the United Order[124] and changed the name of the church to "Church of Latter Day Saints."[125] After the Camp returned, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish five governing bodies in the church, all of equal authority to check one another.[126] The Saints built the Kirtland Temple at great cost,[127] and at the temple's dedication in March 1836, they participated in the prophesied endowment, a scene of visions, angelic visitations, prophesying, speaking and singing in tongues, and other spiritual experiences.[128] The period from 1834–1837 was one of relative peace for Joseph Smith.[129]
After the dedication of the Kirtland temple in late 1837, "Smith's life descended into a tangle of intrigue and conflict,"[130] and a series of internal disputes led to the collapse of the Kirtland Mormon community.[131] Smith was accused of false steps in promoting a church-sponsored bank[132] and of having a relationship with his serving girl, Fanny Alger.[133] Building the temple left the church deeply in debt, and Smith was hounded by creditors.[134] After Smith heard about treasure supposedly hidden in Salem, Massachusetts, he traveled there and received a revelation that God had "much treasure in this city."[135] After a month, he returned empty-handed.[136] Smith and others church leaders then set up a joint stock company to act as a quasi-bank, establishing the Kirtland Safety Society in January 1837, which issued bank notes capitalized in part by real estate.[137] Smith invested heavily in the notes[138] and encouraged the Saints to buy them as a religious duty.[139] The bank failed within a month.[140] As a result, the Kirtland Saints suffered intense pressure from debt collectors and severe price volatility.[141] Smith was held responsible for the failure, and there were widespread defections from the church,[142] including many of Smith's closest advisers.[143] After a warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud, Smith and Rigdon fled Kirtland for Missouri on the night of January 12, 1838.[144]
After leaving Jackson County, the Saints in Missouri established the town of Far West. Smith's plans to redeem Zion in Jackson County had lapsed by 1838,[145] and after Smith and Rigdon arrived in Missouri, Far West became the new Mormon "Zion."[146] In Missouri, the church also received a new name: the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,"[147] and construction began on a new temple.[148] Soon after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West, hundreds of disaffected Saints in Kirtland, suddenly realizing "the enormity of their loss," followed them to Missouri.[149] Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County, instituting a stake in Adam-ondi-Ahman.[150] Also during this time, a church council expelled many of the oldest and most prominent leaders of the church.[151] Prominent Mormons such as John Whitmer, David Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps were excommunicated for various reasons related to land purchases,[152] and in April 1838, Smith attended the trial of his close friend, Oliver Cowdery, who was charged with denying the faith, leaving his calling to make money, insinuating that Smith was guilty of adultery, and urging vexatious lawsuits against Mormons.[153]
Though Smith hated violence, his experiences led him to believe that his faith's survival required greater militancy against anti-Mormons and Mormon traitors.[154] Around June 1838, recent convert Sampson Avard formed a covert organization called the Danites[155] to intimidate Mormon dissenters and oppose anti-Mormon militia units.[156] Sidney Rigdon was working to restore the United Order, but lawsuits by Oliver Cowdery and other dissenters threatened that plan.[157] After Rigdon issued a thinly veiled threat in a sermon,[158] the Danites expelled the dissenters from the county.[159] While it is unclear how much Smith knew of the Danites,[160] he at least partially approved of their activities.[161] In a keynote speech at the town's Fourth of July celebration, Rigdon issued threats against non-Mormon aggressors, promising a "war of extermination" against mobs, should Mormons be attacked.[162] After Rigdon's oration, Smith allowed the speech to be published as a pamphlet.[163] Rigdon's July 4 oration produced a flood of anti-Mormon rhetoric in Missouri newspapers and stump speeches during the political campaign leading up to the 1838 Missouri elections.[164]
Violence erupted on August 6, 1838 in Daviess County, where Mormon influence was increasing because of their new settlement of Adam-ondi-Ahman,[165] when non-Mormons in Gallatin sought to prevent Mormons from voting. Although there were no immediate deaths,[166] the election-day scuffles initiated the 1838 Mormon War,[167] which quickly escalated as non-Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms.[168] Meanwhile, under Smith's general oversight and command,[169] the Danites and other Mormon forces pillaged non-Mormon towns.[170] During this time, Smith and other Mormon leaders helped inflame Mormon sentiment with militant rhetoric including a promise to "establish our religion with the sword" if molested.[171] His rhetoric perhaps produced greater militancy among Mormons than he had intended.[172] When Mormons attacked the Missouri state militia at the Battle of Crooked River in an attempt to rescue some captured Mormons,[173] Governor Boggs ordered that the Mormons be "exterminated or driven from the state."[174] Before word of this order got out, non-Mormon vigilantes surprised and killed about 18 Mormons in the Haun's Mill massacre, effectively ending the war.[175]
Smith was held for four months in Liberty jail.
On November 1, 1838, the Saints surrendered to 2,500 state troops, and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state.[176] Smith was immediately court-martialed for treason, and nearly executed, but militiaman Alexander Doniphan, who was also the Saints' attorney, probably saved Smith's life, arguing that Smith was a civilian.[177] Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing,[178] where several of his former allies, including Danite commander Sampson Avard, testified against him.[179] Smith and five others, including Rigdon, were charged with "overt acts of treason,"[180] and transferred to the jail at Liberty, Missouri to await trial.[181]
Smith's months in prison with Rigdon strained their relationship,[182] and Brigham Young rose in prominence as Smith's defender.[183] Under Young's leadership, about 14,000 Saints[184] made their way to Illinois and searched for land to purchase.[185] Smith bade his time writing contemplative statements directed mainly to Mormons.[186] He did not deny responsibility for the Danites, but he said he had been ignorant of Avard's extreme militancy.[187] Many Saints now considered Smith a fallen prophet, but he assured them he still had the heavenly keys.[188] He directed the Saints to collect and publish all their stories of persecution, and to moderate their antagonism to non-Mormons.[189] On April 6, 1839, after a grand jury hearing in Davis County, Smith and his companions escaped custody, perhaps with the guards' connivance, while they were being escorted to Boone County.[190]
Newspapers throughout the country criticized Missouri for expelling the Mormons,[191] and Illinois accepted the refugees[192] who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi.[193] Smith purchased high-priced swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce[194] and urged his followers to move there.[195] Promoting the image of the Saints as an oppressed minority,[196] he unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations.[197] In the summer of 1839 the Saints suffered from a terrible plague of malaria and the next two summers were even worse.[198] Also that summer, Smith sent off Brigham Young and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve to missions in Europe[199] where they found many willing converts, often factory workers, poor even by the standards of American Saints.[200]
The religion also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts, including John C. Bennett, M.D., the Illinois quartermaster general.[201] Bennett used his connections in the Illinois legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city,[202] which Smith named "Nauvoo" (Hebrew נָאווּ, meaning "to be beautiful").[203] The charter granted the city virtual autonomy, authorized a university, and granted Nauvoo habeas corpus power—which saved Smith's life by allowing him to fend off extradition to Missouri[204] Though Mormon general authorities controlled Nauvoo's civil government, the city promised an unusually liberal guarantee of religious freedom.[205] The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion an autonomous militia[206] with actions limited only by state and federal constitutions.[207] "Lieutenant General" Smith and "Major General" Bennett became its commanders,[208] thereby controlling by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois.[209] Smith, who was often a poor judge of character,[210] made Bennett Assistant President of the church,[211] and Bennett was elected Nauvoo's first mayor.[212] In 1841, Smith began revealing the doctrine of plural marriage to a few of his closest male associates,[213] including Bennett, who began using it as a license for free love.[214] When embarrassing rumors of "spiritual wifery" got abroad, Smith forced Bennett's resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett wrote "lurid exposés of life in Nauvoo."[215]
Smith planned the construction of the
Nauvoo Temple, but it was not completed until after his death.
The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation. Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840,[216] and in 1841, construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge.[217] An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the "fulness of the priesthood,"[218] and in May 1842, Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or "first anointing."[219] The endowment resembled rites of freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge.[220] At first the endowment was open only to men, who once initiated became part of the Anointed Quorum. For women, Smith introduced the Relief Society, a service club and sorority within which Smith predicted women would receive "the keys of the kingdom."[221] Smith also elaborated on his plan for a millennial kingdom, no longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo.[222] He now viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America,[223] all Mormon settlements being "stakes"[224] of Zion's metaphorical tent.[225] Zion also became less a refuge from an impending Tribulation than a great building project.[226] In the summer of 1842, Smith revealed a plan to establish the millennial Kingdom of God, which would eventually establish theocratic rule over the whole earth.[227]
By mid-1842, popular opinion had turned against the Saints.[228] In particular, Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal, criticized the Saints' political and military aspirations.[229] After an unknown assailant shot at Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs on May 6, 1842, anti-Mormons in Illinois reported rumors that Smith had predicted Boggs's death.[230] Circumstantial evidence suggested that the shooter was Smith's bodyguard, Porter Rockwell,[231] who was later tried and acquitted.[232] Boggs ordered Smith's extradition, and Smith went into hiding, believing that if he went to Missouri he would be murdered.[233] Smith ultimately avoided extradition when a US district attorney for Illinois passed along his opinion that the extradition was unconstitutional.[234] Another extradition attempt was made in June 1843, when Illinois Governor Thomas Ford reluctantly agreed to turn Smith over to Missouri on the old charge of treason.[235] Two Missourian officers arrested Smith, but failed to bring him to Missouri when Smith was released on a writ of habeas corpus.[236] While this ended the Missourians' attempts at extradition, it caused significant political fallout in Illinois.[237]
In December 1843, under the authority of the Anointed Quorum,[238] Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense.[239] Smith then wrote the leading presidential candidates and asked them what they would do to protect the Mormons. After receiving noncommittal or negative responses, Smith announced his own third-party candidacy for President of the United States, suspending regular proselytizing[240] and sending out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries.[241] In March 1844, following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat,[242] Smith organized the secret Council of Fifty[243] with authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey.[244] The Council was also to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in Texas, California, or Oregon,[245] where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond other governmental control.[245] In effect, the Council was a shadow world government,[246] a first step toward creating a global "theodemocracy".[247] One of the Council's first acts was to elect Smith as "prophet, priest and king" of the millennial monarchy.[248]
A 19th-century painting depicting the mob attack inside Carthage Jail.
By the spring of 1844, a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates.[249] Most notably William Law, Smith's trusted counsellor, and Robert Foster, a general of the Nauvoo Legion,[250] disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo's economy. Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives.[251] Believing the dissidents were plotting against his life,[252] Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844.[253] The dissidents formed a competing church[253] and the following month, at Carthage, the county seat, they procured grand jury indictments against Smith for polygamy and other crimes.[254][255]
On June 7, 1844, the dissidents published the first (and only) issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, calling for reform within the church.[256] The paper decried polygamy and Smith's new "doctrines of many Gods,"[257] and it alluded to Smith's kingship[258] and theocratic aspirations, promising to present evidence of its allegations in succeeding issues.[259] Fearing the newspaper might bring the countryside down on the Mormons,[260] the Nauvoo city council declared the Expositer a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy the press.[261] In the words of historian Richard Bushman, Smith "failed to see that suppression of the paper was far more likely to arouse a mob than the libels. It was a fatal mistake."[262]
By some accounts, Smith's body was shot repeatedly and nearly decapitated after he fell from the window.
[263]
Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms by Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal.[264] Fearing an uprising, Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law. Carthage responded by mobilizing its small detachment of the state militia, and Illinois Governor Thomas Ford appeared, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves.[265] Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River, but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford.[266] On June 23, Smith and his brother Hyrum were taken to Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot.[267] Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to treason against Illinois.[268]
On June 27, 1844, an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail where Smith and Hyrum were being held.[269] Hyrum, who was trying to hold the door, was killed instantly with a shot to the face.[270] Smith fired a pepper-box pistol that had been smuggled into the prison, then sprang for the window.[271] He was shot multiple times before falling out the window, crying "Oh Lord my God!"[269] He died shortly after hitting the ground.[269] Smith was buried in Nauvoo.[272] Five men were later tried for his murder, but all were acquitted.[273]
According to Richard Bushman, the "signal feature" of Smith's life was "his sense of being guided by revelation."[274] Smith never presented his ideas in a clear, logical order or engaged in formal debate.[275] Instead, he dictated authoritative revelations and let people decide whether to believe or not.[276] Smith's teachings came primarily through his revelations, which, like other forms of scripture, are epigrammatic and oracular. Even Smith's followers disagree about the implications of his teachings.[275] Smith and his followers viewed his revelations as being above teachings or opinions,[277] and Smith's actions seemed to indicate that he believed in his revelations as much as his most loyal followers.[278]
As a youth, Smith was known as a boy with a gift for seeing in a stone, however in 1828 he "found his prophetic voice."[279] Smith's first recorded revelation was a rebuke from God for having let Martin Harris lose 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript, chastising him for "fearing man more than God."[280] Smith, as a speaker, was absent from the revelation. Subsequent revelations would take on a similar style, "imperious but never argumentative," making no appeal to reason or scripture.[281] A typical revelation might begin with words like "Hearken O ye people which profess my name, saith the Lord your God."[282]
The Book of Mormon has been called the longest and most complex of Smith's revelations.[283] The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a religious civilization beginning around 600 BC and ending in 421 AD.[284] The story begins with a family that leaves Jerusalem, just before the Babylonian captivity.[285] They eventually construct a ship and sail to a "promised land" in the Western Hemisphere.[286] There, they are divided into two factions: Nephites and Lamanites. The Nephites become a righteous people who build a temple and live the law of Moses, though their prophets teach a gospel that is explicitly Christian.[286] The Lamantites battle the Nephites year after year,[286] and after a thousand years, succeed in destroying the Nephites. The book explains itself to be largely the work of Mormon, a Nephite prophet and military figure who leads his people in the twilight of their existence, and whose son, Moroni, buries the records written on golden plates.[286]
Early Mormons understood the Book of Mormon to be a religious history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Smith's followers view it as an extension of the Bible, somewhat like a mammoth apocryphal work, while some academics have called it a response to pressing cultural and environmental issues of Joseph's times,[287] or sometimes autobiographical.[288] Critics hypothesize that Smith drew from scraps of information available to him, calling the work fiction.[287] Christian themes, however, permeate the work.[289] For instance, Nephite prophets teach of Christ's coming, and tell of the star that will appear at his birth. After the crucifixion and resurrection, Christ appears in the New World, repeats the Sermon on the Mount, blesses children, and appoints twelve disciples.[286] The book ends with Moroni's exhortation to "come unto Christ"[290]
Smith never said how he translated the golden plates, implying only that he transcribed the words.[291] For at least some of the earliest translation, Smith is said to have used the "Urim and Thummim",[292] a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates.[293] Later, however, he used the single chocolate-colored stone he had found in 1822 and used for treasure hunting.[294] Joseph Knight said that Smith saw the words of the translation while he gazed at the stone or stones in the bottom of his hat, excluding all light,[295] a process similar to divining the location of treasure.[296] The plates themselves were not directly consulted.[297] Smith did this in full view of witnesses, but sometimes concealed the process by raising a curtain or dictating from another room.[298] After completing the translation, Smith gave the stone to Cowdery,[299] but continued to receive revelations through the Urim and Thummim until about 1833 when he said he no longer needed it.[300]
The Book of Mormon drew many converts to the church,[301] but as Fawn Brodie noted, "The book lives today because of the prophet, not he because of the book."[302] Smith had assumed a role as prophet, seer, and apostle of Jesus Christ,[303] and by early 1831, he was introducing himself as "Joseph the Prophet."[304] The language of authority in Smith's revelations was appealing to converts,[305] and the revelations were given with the confidence of an Old Testament prophet.[306]
In June 1830 Smith received a "revelation of Moses" in which Moses saw "the world and the ends thereof" and asked God questions about the purpose of creation, the destiny of man, and the relationship of man to God.[307] This revelation initiated a revision of the Bible on which Smith worked sporadically until 1833 and which remained unpublished at his death.[308] Unlike traditional translations, Smith's revision added long passages rewritten "according to his inspiration."[309] Smith believed that the original text had been corrupted in its descent through the ages, and he proposed to strengthen biblical authority by restoring the original.[309] While many changes involved straightening out seeming contradictions or making small clarifications, other changes added large "lost" portions to the text.[310] For instance, Smith nearly tripled the length of the first five chapters of Genesis in writing what would become the Book of Moses.[311]
The Book of Moses begins with the "cosmic inquiry" of Moses, who learns that God made the earth and heavens to bring humans to eternal life.[312] The book also provides an enlarged account of the Genesis creation narrative and greatly expands the story of Enoch, the ancestor of Noah, saying he spoke with God, received a prophetic calling, and eventually built city of Zion so righteous that it is taken to heaven.[313] The book also elaborates and expands upon foreshadowing and "types" of Christ, in effect Christianizing the Old Testament.[314]
In 1835 Smith encouraged some of the Kirtland Saints to purchase rolls of ancient Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor. Over the next several years Smith worked off and on as events allowed, producing a translation of one of these rolls which he published in 1842 as the Book of Abraham.[315] The Book of Abraham told of the founding of the Abrahamic nation, spoke of astronomy, cosmology, lineage and priesthood, and gave another account of the creation story.[316]
Parly Pratt once described how Joseph received revelations. "Each sentence was uttered slowly and very distinctly, and with a pause between each, sufficiently long for it to be recorded, by an ordinary writer, in long hand. This was the manner in which all his revelations were dictated and written. There was never any hesitation, reviewing, or reading back, in order to keep the run of the subject; neither did any of these communications undergo revisions, interlinings, or corrections. As he dictated them so they stood, so far as I have witnessed."[317] Revelations were immediately copied, and then circulated among church members.[317] Smith's revelations often came in response to specific questions. He described the revelatory process as having "pure Intelligence" flowing into him. "It may give you sudden strokes of ideas," he said "so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass."[318] Smith, however, never viewed the wording to be infallible.[319] The revelations were not God's words verbatim, but "couched in language suitable to Joseph's time."[319] In 1833 Smith edited and expanded many of the previous revelations, publishing them as the Book of Commandments which later became part of the Doctrine and Covenants.[320]
Smith gave varying types of revelations. Some were temporal, while others were spiritual or doctrinal;[321] some were received for a specific individual, while others were directed at the whole church.[322] Notable revelations include an 1831 revelation called "The Law" containing directions for missionary work, rules for organizing society in Zion, a reiteration of the Ten Commandments, an injunction to "administer to the poor & needy," and an outline for the Law of consecration.[323] An 1832 revelation called "The Vision" added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement, introduced doctrines of life after salvation, the theme of Exaltation,[321] and a heaven with degrees of glory.[324] Another 1832 revelation "on Priesthood" was the first to explain priesthood doctrine.[325] Three months later, Smith gave a lengthy revelation called the "Olive Leaf" containing themes of cosmology and eschatology, and discussing subjects such as light, truth, intelligence, and sanctification,[326] and a related revelation given in 1833 put Christ at the center of salvation.[327] Another 1833 revelation called the "Word of Wisdom," was framed not as a commandment, but a recommendation. Coming at a time of temperance agitation,[328] it counseled a diet of wholesome herbs, fruits, grains, a sparing use of meat, and recommended that Saints avoid "strong" alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and "hot drinks" (later interpreted to mean tea and coffee).[329] Smith and other Saints did not strictly follow this counsel,[330] though later generations would turn it into a measuring rod of obedience.[331] In 1835 Smith gave the "great revelation" that organized the priesthood into quorums and councils, and served as a complex blueprint for church structure.[332] Smith's last revelation on the "New and Everlasting Covenant" was recorded in 1843, and dealt with the theology of family, the doctrine of sealing, and plural marriage.[333]
Before 1832, most of Smith's revelations dealt with establishing the church, gathering the saints, and building the City of Zion,[321] while later revelations dealt with the priesthood, endowment, and exaltation.[334] The revelations slowed in Kirtland during the autumn of 1833,[335] and again after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, as Smith relied more heavily on his own teachings.[336] Smith moved away from written revelations opening with "verily thus saith the Lord" and taught more in sermons, conversations, and letters.[337] For instance, the doctrines of baptism for the dead[338] and the nature of God were introduced in sermons,[337] and one of Smith's most famed statements about there being "no such thing as immaterial matter" was recorded from a casual conversation with a Methodist preacher.[337]
Smith's later theology described Jesus and God the Father as two distinct physical beings.
Smith taught that all existence was material,[339] including a world of "spirit matter" so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes.[340] Matter, in Smith's view, could neither be created nor destroyed;[341] the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter.[342] Like matter, "intelligence" was co-eternal with God, and human spirits had been drawn from a pre-existent pool of eternal intelligences.[343] Nevertheless, spirits were incapable of experiencing a "fullness of joy" unless joined with corporeal bodies.[344] The work and glory of God was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied.[345]
Though Smith initially viewed God the Father as a spirit,[346] he eventually began teaching that God was an advanced and glorified man,[347] embodied within time and space.[348] Both God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies, but the Holy Spirit was a "personage of Spirit."[349] Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge,[350] those who received exaltation could eventually become coequal with God.[351] The ability of humans to progress to godhood implied a vast hierarchy of gods,[352] with God himself having a father.[353] Those who became gods would reign, unified in purpose and will, leading inferior intelligences to share immortality and eternal life.[354]
The opportunity to achieve exaltation extended to all humanity; those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them vicariously in the afterlife through ordinances such as baptism for the dead.[355] Children who died in their innocence were guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation.[356] Apart from those who committed the eternal sin, Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a degree of glory in the afterlife.[357]
Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism.[358] He taught that the Church of Christ restored through him was a latter-day restoration of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in a great apostasy.[359] At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, Smith's religious authority being derived from visions and revelations.[360] Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood,[361] an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as Moses."[362] This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, he temporarily instituted a form of religious communism, called the United Order, requiring Saints to consecrate all their property to the church.[363] He also envisioned that theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the world-wide political organization of the Millennium.[364]
By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods (Melchizedek, Aaronic, and Patriarchal),[365] each of them a continuation of biblical priesthoods through patrilineal succession or ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions.[366] Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831,[367] Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high," thus fulfilling a need for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles.[368] This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s,[369] until in 1842, the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing elements similar to Freemasonry and the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah.[370] The endowment was extended to women in 1843,[371] though Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices.[372]
Smith taught that the High Priesthood's endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah, allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife.[373] For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead[374] and priesthood marriages that would be effective into the afterlife.[375] Elijah's sealing powers also enabled the second anointing, or "fulness [sic] of the priesthood"[376] which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their exaltation.[377]
During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the "New and Everlasting Covenant"[378] that superseded all earthly bonds.[379] He taught that outside the Covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract,[380] and that in the afterlife Mormons outside the Covenant would be limited in their progression.[381] To fully enter the Covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "first anointing", a "sealing" ceremony, and a "second anointing", or sealing by the "Holy Spirit of Promise."[382] When fully sealed into the Covenant, Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy (other than the eternal sin) could keep them from their "exaltation" in the afterlife.[383] According to Smith, only one person on earth at a time—in this case, Smith—could possess this power of sealing.[384]
Smith taught that the highest exaltation could be achieved through "plural marriage" (polygamy),[385] which was the ultimate manifestation of this New and Everlasting Covenant.[386] Plural marriage allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god,[387] accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.[388]
Smith had by some accounts been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831,[389] and there is evidence that Smith was a polygamist by 1835.[390] Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy,[391] in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Oliver Cowdery over the issue.[392] Cowdery suspected that Smith had engaged in a relationship with his serving girl Fanny Alger.[393] Smith never denied a relationship, but insisted it was not adulterous, presumably because he had taken Alger as a plural wife.[394]
In April 1841, Smith wed Louisa Beaman, and during the next two and a half years he may have married or been sealed to 30 additional women,[395] ten of them already married to other men, though this was generally done with the knowledge and consent of their husbands.[396] Ten of Smith's wives were under the age of twenty, while others were widows over fifty.[397] The practice of plural marriage was kept a secret.[398][399]
Polygamy (or plural marriage) caused a breach between Smith and his first wife, Emma.[400] Although Emma knew of some of her husband's marriages, she almost certainly did not know the extent of his polygamous activities.[401] In 1843, Emma temporarily accepted Smith's marriage to four women boarded in the Smith household,[402] but she soon regretted her decision and demanded that the other wives leave.[403] In July, Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept plural marriage,[404] but the two were not reconciled until September, after Emma began participating in temple rituals and received an "endowment."[405][406]
While campaigning for President of the United States in 1844, Smith had opportunity to take political positions on issues of the day.[407] Smith considered the United States Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, to be inspired by God and "the Saints' best and perhaps only defense."[408] He believed a strong central government crucial to the nation's well-being but thought democracy better than tyranny—although he also taught that a theocratic monarchy was the ideal form of government.[409] In foreign affairs, Smith was an expansionist, though he viewed "expansionism as brotherhood."[410]
Smith favored a strong central bank and high tariffs to protect American business and agriculture. He disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder, preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor; he also opposed courts-martial for military deserters. He supported capital punishment but opposed hanging,[411] preferring execution by firing squad or beheading in order to "spill [the criminal's] blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God."[412]
Despite having published a pro-slavery essay in 1836,[413] Smith later strongly opposed slavery.[414] During his presidential campaign, he proposed abolishing slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders[415] through sale of public lands.[416] Smith did not believe blacks to be genetically inferior to whites;[417] he welcomed both freemen and slaves into the church.[418] But he opposed baptizing slaves without permission of their masters, and he opposed miscegenation.[419]
Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision in the Book of Daniel: that secular government would be destroyed without "sword or gun",[420] and would be replaced with a "theodemocratic" Kingdom of God.[421] Smith taught that this kingdom would be multidenominational and democratic so long as the people chose wisely.[422]
A succinct statement of ethics by Smith is found in his 13th Article of Faith:
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.[423]
Smith said his ethical rule was, "When the Lord commands, do it";[424] meaning that revelation from God supersedes all else, including earthly law.[425]
He also taught:
that which is wrong under one circumstance, may be and often is, right under another. God said thou shalt not kill—at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the elders of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right...even things which may be considered abominable to all those who do not understand the order of heaven.[426]
Beginning in the mid-1830s and into the 1840s, as the Mormon people became involved in conflicts with the Missouri and Illinois state governments, Smith taught that "congress has no power to make a law that would abridge the rights of my religion," and that they were not under the obligation to follow laws they deemed as being contrary to their "religious privilege."[427] Smith may have thus felt justified in promoting polygamy despite its violation of some traditional ethical standards.[428]
Smith attracted thousands of devoted followers before his death in 1844[429] and millions within a century.[430] Smith's role in the Latter Day Saint religion was comparable to that of Muhammad in early Islam.[431] He is regarded as a prophet and apostle on par with Moses, Elijah, Peter or Paul,[432] second in importance within the faith only to Jesus.[433]
It is unlikely, though, that there will ever be consensus on Smith's character and achievements.[434] Mormons and Ex-Mormons have produced a large amount of scholarly work about Smith, and while Mormons tend to shield their prophet's reputation, those who have broken away from the faith have to justify their decision to leave.[434] Interpretations range from viewing Smith as a prophet who restored the true faith,[435] to a "pious fraud" who believed he was called of God to preach repentance, and felt justified inventing visions in order to convert people,[436] to a gifted "mythmaker" who was the product of his Yankee environment.[437] Most agree though that Smith was one of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history.[438]
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Buildings named in honor of Joseph Smith
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Smith's teachings and practices aroused considerable antagonism, with newspapers as early as 1829 dismissing him as a fraud[439] (a view still held by many evangelical Christians).[440] He was twice imprisoned for alleged treason,[441] the second time falling victim to an angry mob that stormed the jail.[442] After his death at age thirty eight, the Saints believed he had died as a martyr to seal the testimony of his faith.[443] Smith himself made no claims to perfection, comparing himself to a "rough stone", speaking of his impetuosity and lack of polish.[434]
Of all Smith's visions, Saints gradually came to regard his First Vision as the most important[444] because it inaugurated his prophetic calling and character.[445] Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Joseph Smith Building on the campus of Brigham Young University.
Smith's death resulted in a succession crisis.[446] Smith had proposed several ways to choose his successor,[447] but had never clarified his preference.[448] Smith's brother Hyrum, had he survived, would have had the strongest claim,[449] followed by Joseph's brother Samuel, who died mysteriously a month after his brothers.[450] Another brother, William, was unable to attract a sufficient following.[451] Smith's sons Joseph III and David also had claims, but Joseph III was too young and David was yet unborn.[452] The Council of Fifty had a theoretical claim to succession, but it was a secret organization.[453] Some of Smith's ordained successors, such as Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, had left the church.[454]
The two strongest succession candidates were Brigham Young, senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Sidney Rigdon, the senior member of the First Presidency. In a conference on August 8, most of the Saints elected Young,[455] who led them to the Utah Territory and incorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose membership surpassed 14 million members in 2010.[456] Smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon[457] and James J. Strang,[458] who had based his claim on a forged letter of appointment.[459] Other Saints followed Lyman Wight[460] and Alpheus Cutler.[461] Many members of these smaller groups, including most of Smith's family, eventually coalesced in 1860 under the leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed what was known for more than a century as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ), which now has about 250,000 members. As of 2010[update], adherents of the denominations originating from Joseph Smith's teachings number approximately 14 million.
Smith wed Emma Hale Smith in January 1827. She gave birth to seven children, the first three of whom (a boy Alvin in 1828 and twins Thaddeus and Louisa on April 30, 1831) died shortly after birth. When the twins died, the Smiths adopted twins, Julia and Joseph,[462] whose mother had recently died in childbirth. (Joseph died of measles in 1832.)[463] Joseph and Emma Smith had four sons who lived to maturity: Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832), Frederick Granger Williams Smith (June 29, 1836), Alexander Hale Smith (June 2, 1838), and David Hyrum Smith (November 17, 1844, born after Joseph's death). As of 2011[update], DNA testing had provided no evidence that Smith had fathered any children by women other than Emma.[464]
Throughout her life and on her deathbed, Emma Smith frequently denied that her husband had ever taken additional wives.[465] Emma claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Joseph by Mormons was when she read about it in Orson Pratt's booklet The Seer in 1853.[466] Emma campaigned publicly against polygamy and also authorized and was the main signatory of a petition in Summer 1842, with a thousand female signatures, denying that Joseph was connected with polygamy,[467] and as president of the Ladies' Relief Society, Emma authorized publishing a certificate in October 1842 denouncing polygamy and denying her husband as its creator or participant.[468]
After Smith's death, Emma Smith quickly became alienated from Brigham Young and the church leadership.[469] Young, whom Emma feared and despised, was suspicious of her desire to preserve the family's assets from inclusion with those of the church,[470] and thought she would be even more troublesome because she openly opposed plural marriage.[471] When most Latter Day Saints moved west, she stayed in Nauvoo, married a non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon,[472] and withdrew from religion until 1860, when she affiliated with what became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ), first headed by her son, Joseph Smith III. Emma never denied Joseph Smith's prophetic gift or repudiated her belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 9, 30); Smith (1832, p. 1).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 21).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 18–19) (Joseph Smith Sr. had entered a business venture shipping ginseng root to China. His partner informed him that the venture had failed, keeping the profit for himself, leaving Smith Sr. with a mountain of debt)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 27) (citing crop failures in 1814, 1815, and 1816, the last as a result of the Year Without a Summer)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 30).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 32–33). From about 1818 until after the July 1820 purchase, the Smiths lived in a log home adjacent to the property. Id.
- ^ Shipps (1985, p. 7); Remini (2002, p. 1).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 36–37) (noting the great revival of 1816 and 1817); Vogel (2004, pp. 27, 30) (noting Palmyra revivals in 1817 and 1824–5); Quinn (1998, p. 136) (evidence of religious revivals during 1819–20 in Palmyra and surrounding communities).
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 129) ("Long before the 1820s, the Smiths were caught up in the dialectic of spiritual mystery and secular fraud framed in the hostile symbiosis of divining and counterfeiting and in the diffusion of Masonic culture in an era of sectarian fervor and profound millenarian expectation.").
- ^ Vogel (2004, p. xx) (Smith family was "marked by religious conflict".); Hill (1989, pp. 10–11) (noting "tension between [Smith's] mother and his father regarding religion").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 37) (pointing to the aftereffects of the 1817 revival); Vogel (2004, pp. 26–7) (that around 1817 Smith was beginning to feel his own religious stirrings); D. Michael Quinn (December 20, 2006). "Joseph Smith's Experience of a Methodist "Camp-Meeting" in 1820". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. p. 3. http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/QuinnPaperless.pdf. (arguing that a Methodist camp meeting in June 1818 provided a local context for the statement from Smith's "earliest autobiography").
- ^ Smith is known to have attended Sunday school at the Western Presbyterian Church in Palmyra (Matzko 2007). Smith also attended and spoke at a Methodist probationary class in the early 1820s, but never officially joined (Turner 1852, p. 214; Tucker 1876, p. 18).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 37) ("His confusion did not prevent him from trying to find a religious home...Joseph himself said he was 'somewhat partial to the Methodist sect.' "); Vogel (2004, pp. 59–63) (arguing that Smith's interest in Methodism came after the first vision during the revival of 1824–25); D. Michael Quinn (December 20, 2006). "Joseph Smith's Experience of a Methodist "Camp-Meeting" in 1820". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/QuinnPaperless.pdf. (arguing that revivals and camp meetings occurred in and around Palmyra during 1819–20)
- ^ Quinn (1998, p. 30)("Joseph Smith's family was typical of many early Americans who practiced various forms of Christian folk magic."); Bushman (2005, p. 51) ("Magic and religion melded in the Smith family culture."); Shipps (1985, pp. 7–8); Remini (2002, pp. 16, 33).
- ^ Quinn (1998, p. 31); Hill (1977, p. 53) ("Even the more vivid manifestations of religious experience, such as dreams, visions and revelations, were not uncommon in Joseph's day, neither were they generally viewed with scorn.").
- ^ Quinn (1988, pp. 14–16, 137).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 26, 36); Brooke (, p. 1994); (Mack 1811, p. 25); Smith (1853, pp. 54–59, 70–74).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 39) (dating the vision to about 1820); Brodie (1971, p. 21) (when he was fourteen years old); Vogel (2004, p. 30) (dating the vision to 1820–21 and rejecting the suggestion that the story was invented later); Quinn (1998, p. 136) (dating the first vision to 1820)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 38–9) (Saying that Smith had two questions on his mind: which church was right, and how to be saved); Vogel (2004, p. 30) ("Joseph's first vision is preceded by Bible reading and a sudden awareness of his sins"); Quinn (1998, p. 136) (saying that Joseph was concerned with obtaining a forgiveness of sins); Brodie (1971, p. 21) (Smith wrote that he was troubled by religious revivals and went into the woods to seek guidance of the Lord); Remini (2002, p. 37).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 39) (When Smith first described the vision twelve years after the event, "[h]e explained the vision as he must have first understood it, as a personal conversion"); Brodie (1971, p. 21) (that all the churches were wrong); Vogel (2004, p. 30) (confirmed to Joseph that the world was spiritually dead).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 23, 25)(Noting that there is no evidence that Smith told anyone of his vision. Though Smith reported feeling persecuted by clergy over his vision, Palmyra newspapers took no notice of Joseph's vision at the time it was supposed to have occurred); Bushman (2005, p. 41) (Saying that at first Joseph was reluctant to talk of his vision, though he did tell a preacher, who reacted quickly and negatively, widening the gulf between Joseph and the evangelical ministry); Remini (2002, p. 40) ("The clergyman, Joseph later reported, was aghast at what he was told and treated the story with contempt. He said that there were no such things as visions or revelations...that they ended with the Apostles); Quinn (1998, p. 137) ("As a young man, he confided the experience to a few"); Vogel (2004, p. 30); Roberts (1902, vol. 1, ch. 1, p. 5) (Smith said he told his mother he had learned that Presbyterianism was not true).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 39) Douglas J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 136; Kurt Widner, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1833-1915 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2000), 92-107; Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1985), 30-32. Mormon historian James B. Allen also argues that the First Vision "did not figure prominently in any evangelistic endeavors by the Church until the 1880s." Allen, 43-69, summarized in Kurt Widner, Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1833-1915 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2000), 103.
- ^ Quinn (1987, p. 173); Bushman (2005, pp. 49–51); Persuitte (2000, pp. 33–53).
- ^ Brooke (1994, pp. 152–53); Quinn (1998, pp. 43–44); Bushman (2005, pp. 45–52). See also the following primary sources: Harris (1833, pp. 253–54); Hale (1834, p. 265); Clark (1842, p. 225); Turner (1851, p. 216); Harris (1859, p. 164); Tucker (1867, pp. 20–21); Lapham (1870, p. 305); Lewis & Lewis (1879, p. 1); Mather (1880, p. 199).
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 5) (writing that he "displayed the weakness of youth and the
corruption foibles of human nature, which I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations to the gratification of many appetites offensive in the sight of God," deletions and interlineations in original); Quinn (1998, pp. 136–38) (arguing that Smith was praying for forgiveness for a sexual sin to maintain his power as a seer); Bushman (2005, p. 43) (noting that Smith did not specify which "appetites" he had gratified, and suggesting that one of them was that he "drank too much").
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 4).
- ^ Mormon historian Richard Bushman argues that "the visit of the angel and the discovery of the gold plates would have confirmed the belief in supernatural powers. For people in a magical frame of mind, Moroni sounded like one of the spirits who stood guard over treasure in the tales of treasure-seeking." Bushman (2005, p. 50).
- ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 163–64); Bushman (2005, p. 54) Stories circulated about Smith not bringing the "right person" required by the angel. Presumably the "right person" was originally Smith's brother Alvin, then when he died, someone else. "Other stories have the angel warning Joseph about greed, and the evildoings of the money-diggers, as if the messenger was moving him away from his treasure-hunting ways. The danger of treating the plates as treasure was underscored time after time."
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 47–53); Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 17); Quinn (1998, pp. 54–57)
- ^ Hill (1977, pp. 1–2); Bushman (2005, pp. 51–52); (state), New York; Butler, Benjamin Franklin; Spencer, John Canfield (1829), Revised Statutes of the State of New York, 1, Albany, NY: Packard and Van Benthuysen, p. 638: part I, title 5, § 1, http://books.google.com/?id=RX84AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA638 ("[A]ll persons pretending to tell fortunes, or where lost or stolen goods may be found,...shall be deemed disorderly persons.")
- ^ The result of the proceeding remains unclear. For a survey of the primary sources see Dan Vogel, "Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision", Mormon Scripture Studies.
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 53).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 53); Vogel (2004, p. 89) (Hale disapproved of Smith's moneydigging); Quinn (1998, p. 164) (Hale had formerly been an enthusiastic supporter of the treasure hunting quest, and his refusal undoubtedly perplexed Smith)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 53).
- ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 163–64) Smith had presumably learned from his stone that Emma was the key to obtaining the plates; Bushman (2005, p. 54) (noting accounts stating that Emma was the key).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 60).
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, pp. 5–6)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 54)
- ^ Harris (1859, p. 167); Bushman (2005, p. 61).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 54) (treasure seer Sally Chase attempted to find the plates using her seer stone).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 60–61); Remini (2002, p. 55).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 55).
- ^ Newell & Avery (1994, p. 2).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 62–63); Walker (1986, p. 35); Remini (2002, p. 55) (Harris' money allowed Smith to pay his debts); Smith (1853, p. 113); Howe (1834).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 56).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 63); Remini (2002, p. 56); Roberts (1902, p. 19);Howe (1834, pp. 270–71) (Smith sat behind a curtain and passed transcriptions to his wife or her brother).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 63) (Harris had a vision that he was to assist with a "marvelous work");Roberts (1902, p. 19) (Harris arrived in Harmony in February 1828); Booth (1831) (Harris had to convince Smith to continue translating, saying, "I have not come down here for nothing, and we will go on with it").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 63–64) (the plan to use a scholar to authenticate the characters was part of a vision received by Harris; author notes that Smith's mother said the plan to authenticate the characters was arranged between Smith and Harris before Harris left Palmyra); Remini (2002, pp. 57–58) (noting that the plan arose from a vision of Martin Harris). According to(Bushman 2005, p. 64), these scholars probably included at leastLuther Bradish in Albany, New York (Lapham 1870),Samuel L. Mitchill of New York City ((Hadley 1829); Jessee 1976, p. 3), and Charles Anthon of New York City(Howe 1834, pp. 269–272).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 64–65); Remini (2002, pp. 58–59).
- ^ Howe (1834, pp. 269–72) (Anthon's description of his meeting with Harris, claiming he tried to convince Harris that he was a victim of a fraud). But see Vogel (2004, p. 115) (arguing that Anthon's initial assessment was likely more positive than he would later admit).
- ^ Roberts (1902, p. 20).
- ^ These doubts were induced by his wife's deep skepticism. Bushman (, p. 66).
- ^ Smith (1853, pp. 117–18); Roberts (1902, p. 20).
- ^ During this dark period, Smith briefly attended his in-laws' Methodist church, but one of Emma's cousins "objected to the inclusion of a 'practicing necromancer' on the Methodist roll," and Smith voluntarily withdrew rather than face a disciplinary hearing. (Bushman 2005, pp. 69–70).
- ^ (Phelps 1833, sec. 2:4–5) (revelation dictated by Smith stating that his gift to translate was temporarily revoked); Smith (1832, p. 5) (stating that the angel had taken away the plates and the Urim and Thummim).
- ^ Smith (1853, p. 126).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 74) (Smith and Cowdery began translating where the narrative left off after the lost 116 pages, now representing the Book of Mosiah. A revelation would later direct them not to re-translate the lost text, to ensure that the lost pages could not later be found and compared to the re-translation); Bushman (2005, p. 71) (Cowdery was a school teacher who had previously boarded with the Smith family.) He may have also been a dowser Hill (1977, p. 86) (Cowdery had brought with him a "rod of nature," perhaps acquired while he was among his father's religious group in Vermont, who believed that certain rods had spiritual properties and could be used in divining."); Bushman (2005, p. 73) ("Cowdery was open to belief in Joseph's powers because he had come to Harmony the possessor of a supernatural gift alluded to in a revelation..." and his family had apparently engaged in treasure seeking and other magical practices); Quinn (1998, pp. 35–36, 121).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 70–74).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 5–6, 38) (contrasting the 1829 view with the churchless Mormonism of 1828); Bushman (2005, pp. 74–75).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 15–20) (noting that Mormon records and publications contain no mention of any angelic conferral of authority until 1834); Bushman (2005, p. 75).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 78).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 77) (Smith "began to seek converts the question of credibility had to be addressed again. Joseph knew his story was unbelievable.").
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 77–79). There were two statements, one by a set of Three Witnesses and another by a set of Eight Witnesses. The two testimonies are undated, and the exact dates on which the Witnesses are said to have seen the plates is unknown.
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 8).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 82).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 80) (noting that Harris' marriage dissolved in part because his wife refused to be a party, and he eventually sold his farm to pay the bill.
- ^ Scholars and eye-witnesses disagree whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer. Bushman (2005, p. 109); Marquardt (2005, pp. 223–23) (arguing that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements).
- ^ Phelps (1833, p. 55) (noting that by July 1830, the church was "in Colesville, Fayette, and Manchester").
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 80–82).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 117)(noting that area residents connected the discovery of the Book of Mormon with Smith's past career as a money digger);Brodie (1971) (discussing organized boycott of Book of Mormon by Palmyra residents, p. 80, and opposition by Colesville and Bainbridge residents who remembered the 1826 trial, p. 87).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 117)
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 116–17) (the nature of the charges are not entirely clear, and Smith had been receiving threats of mob violence); (Bushman 2005, pp. 117–18) ("Smith had no sooner heard the verdict than a constable from neighboring Broome County served a warrant for the same crimes." Smith was tried again the next day, and again acquitted.)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 24–26); (Bushman 2005, p. 118).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 120) ("Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmer family began to conceive of themselves as independent authorities with the right to correct Joseph and receive revelation.").
- ^ Roberts (1902, pp. 109–110).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 121); Phelps (1833, p. 67) ("[N]o one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph, for he receiveth them even as Moses.").
- ^ Phelps (1833, p. 68) ("[I]t is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city shall be built.").
- ^ Phelps (1833, p. 68) ("The New Jerusalem "shall be on the borders by the Lamanites."); Bushman (2005, p. 122) (church members knew that "on the borders by the Lamanites" referred to Western Missouri, and Cowdery's mission in part was to "locate the place of the New Jerusalem along this frontier").
- ^ Phelps (1833, pp. 67–68) (Cowdery "shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them".).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 96) (noting that this was the third time Smith had revealed "lost books" since the Book of Mormon, the first being the "parchment of John" produced in 1829, and the second the Book of Moses dictated in June 1830.
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 124); Roberts (1902, pp. 120–124).
- ^ F. Mark McKiernan, "The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 5 (Summer 1970): 77. Parley Pratt said that the Mormon mission baptized 127 within two or three weeks "and this number soon increased to one thousand." McKiernan argues that "Rigdon's conversion and the missionary effort which followed transformed Mormonism from a New York-based sect with about a hundred members into one which was a major threat to Protestantism in the Western Reserve."
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 96) ("When Rigdon read the Book of Enoch, the scholar in him fled and the evangelist stepped into the place of second in command of the millennial church.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 123–24); Brodie (1971, pp. 96–97).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 97) (citing letter by Smith to Kirtland converts, quoted in Howe (1833, p. 111)). In 1834, Smith designated Kirtland as one of the "stakes" of Zion, referring to the tent–stakes metaphor of Isaiah 54:2.
- ^ Phelps (1833, pp. 79–80) ("And again, a commandment I give unto the church, that it is expedient in me that they should assemble together in the Ohio, until the time that my servant Oliver Cowdery shall return unto them."); Bushman (2005, pp. 124–25); Brodie (1971, p. 96) (noting that Rigdon had urged Smith to return with him to Ohio).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 150–52); Brodie (1971, pp. 97–100) ( Smith first lived withNewel K. Whitney in Kirtland, then moved in with John Johnson in 1831 in the nearby town of Hiram, Ohio. the "gifts" included hysterical fits and trances, frenzied rolling on the floor, loud and extended glossalalia, grimacing, and visions taken from parchments hanging in the night sky); Smith "appealed as much to reason as to emotion," and referred to Smith's style as "autocratic" and "authoritarian," but noted that he was effective in utilizing members' inherent desire to preach as long as they subjected themselves to his ultimate authority); Remini (2002, p. 95) ("Joseph quickly settled in and assumed control of the Kirtland Church.").
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 104–108) (stating that the United Order of Enoch was Rigdon's conception (p. 108)); Bushman (2005, pp. 154–55); Hill (1977, p. 131) (Rigdon's communal group was called "the family"); see also Phelps (1833, p. 118) (revelation introducing the communal system, stating, "For behold the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth is ordained for the use of man, for food, and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance, but it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another.").
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 103) (stating that Rigdon suggested that Smith revise the Bible in response to an 1827 revision by Rigdon's former mentor Alexander Campbell).
- ^ Phelps (1833, p. 83); Bushman (2005, pp. 125, 156, 308).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 111–13) (describing this conference as "the first major failure of his life" because he made irresponsible prophesies and performed failed faith healings, requiring Rigdon to cut the conference short).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 111); Bushman (2005, pp. 156–60); Quinn (1994, pp. 31–32); Roberts (1902, pp. 175–76) (On June 3, 1831, "the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders." Annotation by Roberts gives an apologetic explanation.).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 101).
- ^ Arrington (1992, p. 21).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 101–02, 121).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 110) (describing the mission as a "flat failure").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 161) (Richard W. Cummins, U.S. Agent to the Shawnee and Delaware tribes issued an order to desist because the men had not received official permission to meet with and proselytize the tribes under his authority).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 108).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 162); Brodie (1971, p. 109).
- ^ Smith et al. (1835, p. 154).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 115).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 119–22).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 180); Brodie (1971, p. 119).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 178–79); Remini (2002, pp. 109–10).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 119) (noting that Smith may have narrowly escaped being castrated); Bushman (2005, pp. 178–79); Bruised and scarred, Smith preached the following day as if nothing happened (Brodie (1971, p. 120); 2002 (, pp. 110–11)).
- ^ These reasons included the settlers' understanding that the Saints' intended to appropriate their property and establish a Millennial political kingdom (Brodie (1971, pp. 130–31); Remini (2002, pp. 114)), the Saints' friendliness with the Indians (Brodie (1971, p. 130)); Remini (2002, pp. 114–15)), the Saints' perceived religious blasphemy (Remini 2002, p. 114), and especially the belief that the Saints were abolitionists (Brodie (1971, pp. 131–33); Remini (2002, pp. 113–14)).
- ^ Vigilantes tarred and feathered two church leaders, destroyed some Mormon homes, destroyed the Mormon press, then the westernmost American newspaper, including most copies of the unpublished Book of Commandments. (Bushman (2005, pp. 181–83); Brodie (1971, p. 115).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 135–36); Bushman (2005, p. 235).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 82–83) (Smith's August 1833 revelation said that after the fourth attack, "the Saints were "justified" by God in violence against any attack by any enemy "until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation.," citing Smith et al. (1835, p. 218)).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 83–84) (after the fourth attack on November 2, 1833, Saints began fighting back, leading to the Battle of Blue River on November 4, 1833).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 222–27); Brodie (1971, p. 137) (noting that the brutality of the Jackson Countians aroused sympathy for the Mormons and was almost universally deplored by the media).
- ^ Roberts (1904, p. 37) (February 1834 revelation: "[T]he redemption of Zion must needs come by power; [t]herefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel,...and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched out arm."); Brodie (1971, p. 146) ("Quick-springing visions of an army of liberation marching triumphantly into the promised land betrayed his sounder judgment."); Hill (1989, pp. 44–45) (suggesting that although members of the camp expected to do battle, Smith might have hoped they could merely intimidate the Missourians by a show of force).
- ^ Smith et al. (1835, p. 237) (December 1833 revelation: Smith must "get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls of mine enemies; throw down their tower, and scatter their watchmen. And inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge me of mine enemies, that by and by I may come with the residue of mine house and possess the land."); Quinn (1994, pp. 84–85) (arguing that as of February 1834, the Saints were "free to take 'vengeance' at will against any perceived enemy").
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 146–58); Remini (2002, p. 115).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 244-146) (The leaders learned that the "governor would not escort them back to their lands; they would have to fight their way into [Jackson] county," which made a campaign of "self defense" impossible).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 141).
- ^ Roberts (1904, p. 108) (quoting text of revelation); Hill (1989, pp. 44–45) (noting that in addition to failure to unite under the celestial order, God was displeased the church had failed to make Zion's army sufficiently strong).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 156–57); Roberts (1904, p. 109) (text of revelation).
- ^ Smith et al. (1835, p. 233) (Kirtland Temple "design[ed] to endow those whom [God] ha[s] chosen with power on high"); Prince (1995, p. 32 & n.104) (quoting revelation dated June 12, 1834 (Kirtland Revelation Book pp. 97–100) stating that the redemption of Zion "cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high; for, behold, I have prepared a greater endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them [than the 1831 endowment]").
- ^ Construction began in June 1833 (Remini 2002, p. 115), not long before the first attack on the Missouri Saints.
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 159–160) (describing it as Smith's "second major failure"); Bushman (2005, pp. 246–247); Quinn (1994, p. 87) (noting that in October 1834, Smith only gathered two votes in his failed election as Kirtland's coroner).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 85).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 247).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 141) ("In the Missouri debacle Joseph now saw a chance to erase the whole economic experiment—which in Kirtland had never yielded anything but trouble.").
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 147–48).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 161) (The five equal councils were "the presidency, the apostles, the seventies, and the two high councils of Kirtland and Missouri").
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 116) ("The ultimate cost came to approximately $50,000, an enormous sum for a people struggling to stay alive.").
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 310–19); (Brodie 1971, p. 178) ("Five years before...[Joseph] had found a spontaneous orgiastic revival in full progress and had ruthlessly stamped it out. Now he was intoxicating his followers with the same frenzy he had once so vigorously denounced.")
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 165–66).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 322).
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 221) ("Ultimately, the rituals and visions dedicating the Kirtland temple were not sufficient to hold the church together in the face of a mounting series of internal disputes," citing the failure of Zion's camp, the Alger "affair," and new theological innovations).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 322).
- ^ The relationship with Alger may have been an early plural marriage or a sexual indiscretion. Compton1997 (, pp. 25–42) (saying that Alger was "one of Joseph Smith's earliest plural wives"); Bushman (2005, p. 325) (saying that Smith felt innocent of adultery presumably because he had married Alger, citing and account by Mosiah Hancock saying that Hancock's father had married Smtih and Alger); Brodie (1979, p. 335) (listing Alger as Smith's plural wife, with an assumed marriage date of 1836, which would indicate that Alger was 17 years old at the time); Foster, Lawrence (2001), Review of Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, p. 33 (saying that "earlier sexual relationships may have been considered marriages, but we lack convincing contemporary evidence supporting such an interpretation.")
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 217, 329) The temple left a debt of $13,000, and Smith borrowed tens of thousands more to make land purchases and purchase inventory for a merchandise store. By 1837, Smith had run up a debt of over $100,000.
- ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 261–64); Brodie (1971, p. 192); Bushman (2005, p. 328).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 328); Brodie (1971, p. 193): "Joseph made no apology for this indiscretion. In his history he described the trip to Salem as an ordinary missionary tour, and the incident eventually was forgotten."
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 328).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 328) (Smith "had bought more stock than eighty-five percent of the investors.").
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 195–96); Bushman (2005, p. 334).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 330) (noting that business started on January 2, 1837, business was floundering within three weeks, and payment stopped on January 23, 1837).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 331–32).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 332, 336–38). Richard Bushman notes that Heber C. Kimball claimed that in June 1837, not more than 20 men in Kirtland believed Smith was a prophet, but argues that this was an exaggeration, and that there were still "hundreds and probably thousands of loyal followers" during this time (Bushman 2005, p. 332).
- ^ The fallout included an unseemly row in the temple where guns and knives were drawn (Bushman 2005, p. 339). When a leading apostle, David W. Patten, raised insulting questions, Smith slapped him in the face and kicked him into the yard (Bushman 2005, pp. 332, 337, 339). Even stalwarts Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt left the church for a few months (Bushman 2005, p. 332).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 207); Bushman (2005, pp. 339–40); Hill (1977, p. 216) (noting that Smith characterized the warrant as "mob violence...under the color of legal process").
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 157) (After Zion's Camp disbanded, Smith had predicted that Zion would be redeemed on September 11, 1836); Hill (1977, pp. 181–82) (noting an account that Smith predicted in 1834 that Jackson County would be redeemed "within three years"); Bushman (2005, p. 384) (noting that by 1839, Smith "was giving up the campaign to recover Jackson County").
- ^ Roberts (1905, p. 24) (referring to the Far West church as the "church in Zion"); (Bushman 2005, p. 345) (The revelation calling Far West "Zion" had the effect of "implying that Far West was to take the place of Independence.")
- ^ Roberts (1905, p. 24); Quinn (1994, p. 628) (noting that some Kirtland dissenters had claimed that Smith had become the anti-Christ in 1834 when he changed the church's name from "Church of Christ" to "Church of Latter Day Saints," deleting the name of Jesus).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 210, 222–23).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 125); Brodie (1971, p. 210) ("Joseph's going had left a void that they had found intolerable. With each passing week they remembered less of their prophet's financial ineptitude and more of his genial warmth and his magnetic presence in the pulpit.")
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 345–346) Settling outside of Caldwell County would soon prove to be disastrous.
- ^ Marquardt (2005, p. 463) (listing Oliver Cowdery (Assistant President of the Church), Frederick G. Williams (First Presidency), David and John Whitmer (Book of Mormon witnesses and presidency of Missouri), William Phelps (presidency of Missouri), [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|]], Hiram Page, and Jacob Whitmer (Book of Mormon witnesses), and Lyman E. Johnson, John F. Boynton, Luke S. Johnson, and William E. McLellin (Quorum of the Twelve)); Remini (2002, p. 128); Quinn (1994, p. 93).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 346)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 347–348); Bushman (2005, p. 324) (The adultery charge was undoubtedly a reference to Fanny Alger, though her name was never mentioned.
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 92); (Brodie 1971, p. 213) ("From the bottom of his heart Joseph hated violence, but his people were demanding something more than meekness and compromise. It was common gossip among the old settlers that the Mormons would never fight; and Joseph came to realize that in a country where a man's gun spoke faster than his wits, to be known as a pacifist was to invite plundering."); (Bushman 2005, p. 355).
- ^ There are two explanations for the name: (1) that it was a reference to the vision of Daniel of a stone cut out of a mountain in Dan. 2:44–45 (Quinn (1994, p. 93); Brodie (1097, p. 215) (quoting Smith)), and (2) that it was a reference to the biblical Danites of Judges 18 (Brodie 1971, p. 216) (quoting Smith).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 93); Brodie (1971, p. 213) ("They would not only defend the Saints against aggression from the old settlers, but also act as a bodyguard for the presidency and as a secret police for ferreting out dissenters."); Remini (2002, p. 129).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 217).
- ^ Rigdon said that "if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 218–19) (Danites issued a written death threat, and when that didn't work they surrounded the dissenters' homes and "ordered their wives to pack their blankets and leave the county immediately"); Quinn (1994, pp. 94–95).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 349–350) (The secrecy of the organization and obscurity of records hinder efforts determine whether Joseph or the "unscrupulous" Avard were responsible for the organization. The situation is further complicated because the keeper of Smith's journal was also a Danite supporter.)
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 93) (arguing that Smith and Rigdon were aware of the Danite organization and sanctioned their activities); Brodie (1971, pp. 215–16)(arguing that Sampson Avard had Smith's sanction); Hill (1977, p. 225) (concluding that Smith had at least peripheral involvement and gave early approval to Danite activities); (Bushman 2005, pp. 346–51) (Danites were under oath to be "completely submissive" to the First Presidency.); Bushman (2005, p. 352) ("Although Avard may have concealed the Danite oaths, Joseph certainly favored evicting dissenters and resisting mobs.")
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 222–23); Remini (2002, pp. 131–33); Bushman (2005, p. 355).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 223); Quinn (1994, p. 96) (noting that Smith also advertised the speech in the church periodical).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 133).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 357) (noting that in Daviess County, Missouri, non-Mormons "watched local government fall into the hands of people they saw as deluded fanatics.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 357); Brodie (1971, pp. 225–26).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 134); Quinn (1994, p. 96).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 227)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 98–99, 101).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 97–98) (Mormon forces, primarily the Danites, pillaged Millport and Gallatin, and when apostles Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde prepared an affidavit against these Mormon attacks, they were excommunicated); Brodie (1971, p. 232) (Wagons returned from Millport and Gallatin "piled high with 'consecrated property'".); Bushman (2005, p. 371) (Smith "believed his people could rightfully confiscate property in compensation for their own losses to the Missourians but no more".).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 230) (speech dated October 14, 1838 at the Far West town square); Bushman (2005, p. 352).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, pp. 370–72).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 364) ("Resisting a band of vigilantes was justifiable, but attacking a militia company was resistance to the state."); Quinn (1994, p. 100) (stating that the Extermination Order and the Haun's Mill massacre resulted from Mormon actions at the Battle of Crooked River); Brodie (1971, p. 234) (noting that Boggs was also told about Smith's "second Mohammed" speech and Mormon admissions that they had plundered Millport and Gallatin).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 367) (Boggs' executive order stated that the Mormon community had "made war upon the people of this State" and that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace"). In 1976, Missouri issued a formal apology for this order (Bushman 2005, p. 398).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 365–66); Quinn (1994, p. 97).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 366–67); Brodie (1971, p. 239).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 367) (noting that Smith was saved by Alexander Doniphan, a Missouri militia leader who had acted as the Saints legal council (pp. 242, 344)); Brodie & 1971 (241).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 369); Brodie (1971, pp. 243–45).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 369); (Brodie 1971, pp. 225–26).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 369).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 369–70).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 251). Smith bore his harsh imprisonment "stoically, almost cheerfully, for there was a serenity in his nature that enabled him to accept trouble along with glory," (Brodie (1971, p. 245); Bushman (2005, pp. 375–77)) whereas Rigdon was both sick and a whiner (Brodie 1971, p. 251).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 245–46).
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 138).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 248–50).
- ^ Remini (2002, pp. 136–37); (Brodie 1971, pp. 245).
- ^ (Brodie 1971, pp. 246) (noting, in addition, that Smith oddly denied the ubiquitous rumor of polygamy, which had not come up in his trial). The Danites dissolved in 1838, but their members formed the backbone of Smith's security forces in Nauvoo. (Quinn, pp. 101–02).
- ^ (Brodie 1971, pp. 245–46).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 377–78).
- ^ (Bushman 2005, p. 375); (Brodie 1971, pp. 250–51) Smith and his companions had tried to escape at least twice during their four-month imprisonment; Brodie (2005, pp. 253–55) They eventually succeeded, bribing the sheriff with a jug of honey whiskey brought by Smith's brother Hyrum, which the sheriff used to get drunk while the prisoners escaped. Young Joseph Smith III later said he remembered the sheriff coming to collect $800 from his father; (Bushman 2005, pp. 382, 635–36) (noting that the prisoners believed they were an embarrassment to Missouri officials, and that Bogg's Extermination Order would cause a scandal if widely publicized); Joseph I. Bentley. "Legal Trials of Joseph Smith". LightPlanet. http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/people/joseph_smith/legal_trials.html. Retrieved November 1, 2011. .
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 246–47, 259) (noting rebukes by Missouri and Illinois newspapers, and "press all over the country"); Bushman (2005, p. 398) (Mormons were depicted as a persecuted minority).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 248) ("There was chronic border friction between Missouri and Illinois, and the 'Suckers' welcomed the chance to demonstrate a nobility of character foreign to the despised 'Pukes'".).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 381) (Saints gathered near Quincy, Illinois.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 383–84) (noting that the land had strategic importance as a possible major port).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 384).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 398–99); Brodie (1971, p. 259) (Smith "saw to it that the sufferings of his people received national publicity.").
- ^ Smith traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Martin Van Buren and Congress (Bushman (2005, pp. 392–94); Brodie (1971, p. 260)).
- ^ During the widespread epidemic Smith was reported to have anointed the suffering with oil and blessed them Bushman (2005, p. 385); Brodie (1971, p. 257); In 1841 malaria would claim the lives of one of Smith's brothers and his son, who died within eight days of each other.(Bushman 2005, p. 425)
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 258) (arguing that Smith was eager to reclaim some of the prestige that had been ceded to Brigham Young while Smith was imprisoned); (Bushman 2005, p. 386) (Though many of the apostles had malaria, Smith required them to covertly slip into hostile Missouri so that Far West, now deserted, would be their point of departure on exactly April 26, 1838.); Roberts (1905, pp. 46–47) (Revelation given in Far West in 1838: "Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth day of April next, on the building-spot of my house, saith the Lord.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 409); Brodie (1971, pp. 258, 264–65).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 410–11).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 412); Brodie (1971, pp. 267–68).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 415). A similar Hebrew word appears in Isaiah 52: 7.
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 110); Brodie (1971, p. 273); Bushman (2005, p. 426). Prior to the charter, Smith had narrowly avoided two extradition attempts (Brodie (1971, pp. 272–73); Bushman (2005, pp. 425–26)).
- ^ Quinn (1995, pp. 106–08).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 267); Bushman (2005, p. 412).
- ^ Quinn (1995, p. 106).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 271) (Smith "frequently jested about his outranking every military officer in the United States".); Bushman (2005, p. 259) (noting that Bennett had effective command of the Legion).
- ^ Quinn (1995, p. 106) (The Legion had 2,000 troops in 1842, 3,000 by 1844, compared to less than 8,500 soldiers in the entire United States Army.)
- ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, pp. 11–12); Bushman (2005, p. 410) (Smith "had trouble distinguishing true friends from self-serving schemers," and incorrectly stated that Bennett was "calculated to be a great blessing to our community.").
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 268); Quinn (1995, p. 1067).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 411)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 438) (Smith approached Joseph Bates Noble about marrying his wife's sister, Smith asked Bates to "keep quiet": "In revealing this to you I have placed my life in your hands, therefore do not in an evil hour betray me to my enemies." Noble performed the ceremony "in a grove near Main Street with Louisa in man's clothing.")
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 311–12); Bushman (2005, p. 460) (Bennett told women he was seducing that illicit sex was acceptable among the Saints so long as it was kept secret). Bennett, a minimally trained doctor, also promised abortions to any who might became pregnant.
- ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 12); Bushman (2005, pp. 461–62); Brodie (1971, p. 314).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 421); Brodie (1971, p. 282).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 448–49).
- ^ D&C 124:28.
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 113).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 449); Quinn (1994, pp. 114–15).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 634).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 384) (Smith viewed Nauvoo as a compromise to his plan to build Zion).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 404).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 384).
- ^ The tent–stake metaphor was derived from Isaiah 54:2.
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 415) (noting that the time when the Millennium was to occur lengthened to "more than 40 years".)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 111–12).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 436).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 427–28). "To Sharp's mind, the militia was a sign of the Saints' essential militarism. What he most feared in Mormonism, and what he found, was militant fanaticism."
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 468); Brodie (1971, p. 323) (noting rumors that Smith had predicted in 1840 that Boggs would meet a violent death within a year, and that Smith offered a $500 reward for his death); Quinn (1994, p. 113) (noting that Smith held Boggs responsible for the Haun's Mill massacre). Boggs survived the attack.
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 113); Bushman (2005, p. 468) (stating the evidence was circumstantial).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 468). Rockwell later acquired "a reputation as a gunslinging lawman in Utah."
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 468)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 468–75) (United States district attorney Justin Butterfield argued that Smith was not a "fugitive from justice" because he was in Missouri when the crime occurred.)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 504) (the warrant this time was for the old charge of treason)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 504–08).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 508).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 115–16) ("Such decisions were made by the formality of 'a vote' after the 'true order of prayer' and the announcement of God's revelation on the subject.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 511); Brodie (1971, p. 356); Quinn (1994, pp. 115–116) (noting that the Anointed Quorum also authorized "a proclamation to the kings of the earth," but Smith never sent it). Smith also threatened Congress. The Millennial Star later quoted Smith as having said that "if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them—not even a grease spot." Quoted in Brodie, 356.
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 119)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 118–19) (the Anointed Quorum chose Sidney Rigdon as Smith's running mate);Bushman (2005, pp. 514–15); Brodie (1971, pp. 362–64).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 121) (The day before the Council was organized, word reached Smith that a U.S. Indian agent was interfering with acquisition of lumber needed for the Nauvoo Temple).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 120–22) (noting that the Council was authorized by a revelation, and members committed to keep what Smith said during the organizational meeting secret); Bushman (2005, p. 519).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 121).
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 517).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 521) (noting that in April, Smith prophesied "the entire overthrow of this nation in a few years," at which time his Kingdom of God would be prepared to take power); Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 13) (As if they had just organized an independent state, Smith and the Council sent ambassadors to England, France, Russia, and the Republic of Texas); Remini (2002, p. 166).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 521–22) (noting use of the term theodemocracy); Ostling & Ostling (1999, pp. 13, 15) The council included only three non-Mormons, two of whom were apparently counterfeiters.
- ^ "In an act shocking to democratic sensibilities, at the Council of Fifty meeting of April 11, 1844, 'Prest J[oseph] was voted our P[rophet] p[riest] and K[ing]...Monarchy did not repel Joseph as it did other Americans. A righteous king was the best kind of ruler, the Book of Mormon had taught. The office of king came out of temple rituals where other Saints were anointed 'kings and priests,' according to prescriptions in the Revelation of St. John, but here the title had overt political implications. Joseph was to be king in the Kingdom of God, or 'King and Ruler over Israel.' His election as king did not alter his behavior or give him additional power. . . but it did indicate Joseph’s frame of mind." Bushman (2005, p. 523)|Quinn (1994, p. 124). For a few months, the Council took over from the Anointed Quorum as the leading council of church government.Bushman (2005, p. 525).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 527–28).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 368) (noting that Law and Foster were also the chief city contractors); Bushman (2005, p. 528) (noting that Law had been was a member of the Anointed Quorum); Quinn (1994, p. 528) (Law was criticized in 1843 and then dropped from the Anointed Quorum in January 1844, but after being defended by Hiram Smith, he rejected an April 1844 offer by Joseph Smith to be restored to church positions if he ended his opposition to polygamy).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 368–69) (Law believed that Smith was misappropriating donations for the Nauvoo House hotel and neglecting other building projects despite the acute housing shortage, while Smith had no respect for building projects by Law and Foster.); Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 14); Brodie (1971) ("With sorrow and suspicion Law watched Joseph ever enlarging his circle of wives. Then the prophet tried to approach Law's own wife, Jane." (p. 369); Robert D. Foster came home and caught Smith having dinner alone with his wife, and after a confrontation in which weapons were drawn, Mrs. Foster fainted and on reviving said Smith had proposed to her (p. 371)); Van Wagoner (1992, p. 39); Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 14); Bushman (2005, pp. 660–61) (noting that Smith claimed that Jane Law had proposed to him (660–61), citing Journal of Alexander Neibaur, May 24, 1844 (Smith claimed that Jane Law lured him into her house alone, embraced him, and proposed to him, but that Smith resisted her advances); also noting that Smith confronted Mrs. Foster with two witnesses and got her to say that during their dinner, Smith had made no sexual advances and had not "preached the spiritual wife doctrine" (530–31).)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 549, 531) ("The dissenters troubled Joseph mainly because he feared plots to haul him away to certain death in Missouri"); Williams, A.B. (May 15, 1844), "Affidavit", Times and Seasons 5 (10): 541, http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n10.htm (Affidavit stating, "Joseph H. Jackson said that Doctor Foster, Chauncy Higbee and the Laws were red-hot for a conspiracy, and he should not be surprised if in two weeks there should be not one of the Smith family left in Nauvoo").
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 531).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 373);
- ^ Smith denied he had more than one wife. Brodie (1971, p. 373); Bushman (2005, p. 538) (arguing that Smith may have felt justified denying polygamy and "spiritual wifeism" because he thought it was based on a different principle than "plural marriage"); Roberts (1912, pp. 408–412) (Smith stated, "I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives....I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves....What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." "This new holy prophet [Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 539); Brodie (1971, pp. 374) (arguing that given its authors' intentions to reform the church, the paper was "extraordinarily restrained" given the explosive allegations it could have raised); Quinn (1994, p. 138) A prospectus for the newspaper was published on May 10, and referred to Smith as a "self-constituted monarch."
- ^ Smith had recently given his King Follet discourse, in which he taught that God was once a man, and that men and women could become gods. Bushman (2005, p. 539); Brodie (1971, pp. 374–75).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 375) (stating that the Expositor contained "an unmistakable allusion to Joseph's kingship"); Quinn (1994, pp. 139); Marquardt (2005);Marquardt (1999, p. 312).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 139) (noting that the publishers intended to emphasize the details of Smith's delectable plan of government" in later issues).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 340–41).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 540); Brodie (1971, p. 377); Marquardt (2005); Marquardt (1999, p. 312). At the city council meeting, Smith said the 1843 revelation on polygamy referred to in the Expositor "was in answer to a question concerning things which transpired in former days, and had no reference to the present time" Brodie (1971, p. 377).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 541).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 394)
- ^ Warsaw Signal, June 14, 1844. ("Citizens arise, one and all!!! Can you stand by, and suffer such Infernal Devils! to rob men of their property and rights without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. Let it be made with Powder and Ball!!!."
- ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 16).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 546)
- ^ Ostlings, 17; Bushman, 546. Eight Mormon leaders accompanied Smith to Carthage: Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Willard Richards, John P. Greene, Stephen Markham, Dan Jones, John S. Fullmer, Dr. Southwick, and Lorenzo D. Wasson. [1] All of Smith's associates left the jail, except his brother Hyrum, Richards and Taylor. (Richards and Taylor were not prisoners, but stayed voluntarily.)
- ^ See: Legal Trials of Joseph Smith
- ^ a b c Brodie (1971, pp. 393–94); Bushman (2005, pp. 549–50).
- ^ Joseph and Hyrum were accompanied by John Taylor and Willard Richards, who tried to deflect guns using their canes. Bushman (2005, p. 550) ("Hyrum was the first to fall. A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 393) ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); Bushman & 2005 (2005, p. 549) (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).
- ^ Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 552).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. xxi)
- ^ a b He never presented his ideas systematically in clear, logical order; they came in flashes and bursts. Nor did he engage in formal debate. His most powerful thoughts were assertions delivered as if from heaven. Assembling a coherent picture out of many bits and pieces leaves room for misinterpretations and forced logic. Even his loyal followers disagree about the implications of his teaching. Bushman (2005, p. xxi)
- ^ He did not defend his revelations or give reasons for belief. He dictated words and let people decide. Everything he taught and most of what he did originated in these revelations. Bushman (2005, p. xx)
- ^ Toward the end of his life, he told a Pittsburgh reporter that he could not always get a revelation when he needed one, but "he never gave anything to his people as revelation, unless it was a revelation." Bushman (2005, p. xxi)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 173) ("Judging by his actions, Joseph believed in the revelations more than anyone. From the beginning, he was his own best follower."); Vogel (2004, p. xvii) (saying that Smith's private beliefs were revealed through his revelations); Vogel (2004, p. viii) (arguing that Smith believed he was called of God, but occasionally engaged in fraudulent activities in order to preach God's word more effectively)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 69) ("Not two years earlier, he was entangled with the money-diggers and struggling to scrape together rent money for his family. In 1828, he dictated 116 pages of the Book of Mormon and received a revelation spoken in God's voice"); Brodie (1971, pp. 55–57) ("Although he may not have sensed their significance, these, Joseph's first revelations, marked a turning-point in his life. For they changed the Book of Mormon from what might have been merely an ingenious speculation into a genuinely religious book")
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 69) ("The revelation gave the first inkling of how Joseph would speak in his prophetic voice. The speaker speaker stands above and outside Joseph, sharply separated emotionally and intellectually"); Vogel (2004, pp. 128–129)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 129)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. xx); Bushman (2005, p. 129)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 105) "The Book of Mormon, the longest and most complex of Joseph Smith's revelations, by rights should have been written in his maturity, not when he was twenty-three."
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 84)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 85); Vogel (2004, p. 118)
- ^ a b c d e Bushman (2005, pp. 86–87)
- ^ a b Brodie (1971, pp. 57–73); Vogel (2004, pp. xviii–xix)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 106); Vogel (2004, pp. xviii–xix)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 108); Vogel (2004, pp. 122–23, 161, 311, 700)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 108)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 72) ("Joseph himself said almost nothing about his method but implied transcription when he said that "the Lord had prepared spectacles for to read the Book.")
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 9) (describing early translation with the Urim and Thummim from December 1827 to February 1828); Remini (2002, p. 57) (noting that Emma Smith said that Smith started translating with the Urim and Thummim and then eventually used his dark seer stone exclusively); Bushman (2005, p. 66); Quinn (1998, pp. 169–70) (noting that, according to witnesses, Smith's early translation with the two-stone Urim and Thummim spectacles involved placing the spectacles in his hat, and that the spectacles were too large to actually wear). In one 1842 statement, Smith said that "[t]hrough the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift, the power of God." (Smith 1842, p. 707). There is debate as to whether or not this statement is consistent with his known use of a seer stone other than the Urim and Thummim. (Quinn 1998, p. 175) argues that the term Urim and Thummim was a generic term early Mormons used to refer to all of Smith's seer stones. (Persuitte 2000, pp. 81–83) interprets Smith to say that he translated the entire Book of Mormon with the two stones found with the plates, which would be in flat contradiction with his documented use of the chocolate-colored seer stone.
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 4) (stating that deposited with the plates were "two stones in silver bows" and stating that "these stones fastened into a breastplate constituted what is called the Urim & Thummim...."); Smith (1842, p. 707) (describing "a curious instrument which the ancients called 'Urim and Thummim,' which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate.").
- ^ (Quinn 1998, pp. 171–73) (witnesses said that Smith shifted from the Urim and Thummim to the single brown seer stone after the loss of the earliest 116 manuscript pages); Persuitte (2000, pp. 81–82) (none of the existing Book of Mormon transcript was created using the Urim and Thummim); Remini (2002, p. 57) (noting that Emma Smith said that after 1828, Smith used his dark seer stone exclusively).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–04); Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, pp. 52–53) (citing numerous witnesses of the translation process); Quinn (1998, pp. 169–70, 173) (describing similar methods for both the two-stone Urim and Thummim and the chocolate seer stone).
- ^ Quinn (1998, p. 173) ("[T]he actual translation process was strikingly similar to the way Smith used the same stone for treasure-hunting."); Bushman (2005) (In using the divining power of stones, Smith blended the magic culture of his upbringing with inspired translation.).
- ^ Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, p. 53) ("The plates could not have been used directly in the translation process."); Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72) (Joseph did not pretend to look at the 'reformed Egyptian' words, the language on the plates, according to the book's own description. The plates lay covered on the table, while Joseph's head was in the hat looking at the seerstone...."); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–04) ("When it came to translating the crucial plates, they were no more present in the room than was John the Beloved's ancient 'parchment', the words of which Joseph also dictated at the time.").
- ^ Cole (1831); Howe (1834, p. 14).
- ^ Quinn (1998, p. 242)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 142) (while making revisions to the Bible, Smith still "relied on inspiration to make the changes, but he gave up the Urim and Thumm, as Orson Pratt later explained, because he had become acquainted with 'the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation' and no longer needed it.")
- ^ {{Harvtxt}Bushman|2005|p=107}}
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 83) "The Book of Mormon was the catapult that flung Joseph Smith to a place in the sun. But it could not be responsible for his survival there. The book lives today because of the prophet, not he because of the book."
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 84)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 127)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 128)
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 57); Bushman (2005, p. xxi) ("He experienced revelation like George Fox, the early Quaker, who heard the Spirit as 'impersonal prophecy,' not from his own mind but as 'a word from the Lord as the prophets and the apostles had.'"); Bushman (2005, p. 388)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 133)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 142) (noting that though Smith declared the work finished in 1833, the church lacked funds to publish it during his lifetime); Brodie (1971, p. 103) (Brodie suggests that Rigdon may have prompted Smith to revise the Bible in response to an 1827 revision by Rigdon's former mentor Alexander Campbell); Hill (1977, p. 131) (although Smith described his work beginning in April 1831 as a "translation," "he obviously meant a revision by inspiration").
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 133) (Smith said later in life, "I believe the Bible, as it ought to be, as it came from the pen of the original writers.")
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 132, 142)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 138).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 137)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 138–41) (in Genesis, Enoch is summed up in 5 verses. Joseph Smith's revision extends this to 110 verses)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 133–34) ("Joseph Smith's Book of Moses fully Christianized the Old Testament. Rather than hinting of the coming of Christian truth, the Book of Moses presents the whole Gospel. God teaches Adam to believe, repent, 'and be baptized even by water'")
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 170–75); Bushman (2005, pp. 286, 289–290).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 157, 288–290)
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 130)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 388); Brodie (1971, p. 57) (arguing that Smith was describing his own alert, intuitive understanding and creative spirit)
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 174)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 5–6, 9, 15–17, 26, 30, 33, 35, 38–42, 49, 70–71, 88, 198); Brodie (1971, p. 141) (Smith "began to efface the communistic rubric of his young theology").
- ^ a b c Bushman (2005, p. 195) (in February 1832, a long revelation called "The Vision" returned to the questions of human destiny initially addressed in the 1830 Book of Moses)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 172) ("Brief revelations about personal callings intermingled with visions of the future and broad statements of belief and policy.")
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 152–155); Brodie (1971, pp. 106–7); "D&C 42". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/42?lang=eng.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 196–202); Brodie (1971, pp. 117–18); "D&C 76". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/76?lang=eng.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 202–205); "D&C 84". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/84?lang=eng.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 205–7, 210–12); "D&C 88". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/88?lang=eng.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 207–210); "D&C 93". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/93?lang=eng.
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 166); Bushman (2005, p. 212) (revelation "came at a time when temperance and food reforms were flourishing in the United States").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 212–213); "D&C 89". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/89?lang=eng.
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 289); Bushman (2005, p. 213) ("Joseph drank tea and a glass of wine from time to time."); Ostling (1999, pp. 177–78) (Smith "himself liked a nip every now and then, especially at weddings." The Mansion House, which operated a hotel, maintained a fully stocked barroom, and Nauvoo also had a brewery." According to Smith's fellow prisoner John Taylor, "the prophet requested and drank wine at Carthage Jail the night before his was murdered in 1844.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 213)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 253–60); "D&C 107". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/107?lang=eng.
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 340) (Polygamy revelation was the last and "most epoch making"); Bushman (2005, pp. 438–46); "D&C 132". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/132?lang=eng.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 193–194)
- ^ When the Saints were expelled from Jackson County in November of 1833, Smith said he wasn't able to receive a revelation until December. Bushman (2005, p. 229))
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 159–60) (comparing only 13 or so revelations after July 1834, several of them trivial, to the over 100 in the five years previous); Bushman (2005, pp. 310–322, 419) (After the temple dedication, Smith informed the Saints that he had completed the organization of the Church and had given them the instruction they needed. An April 3 vision signaled the coming of "incommunicable revelations.")
- ^ a b c Bushman (2005, p. 419) ("Joseph spoke like a witness or an initiate in heavenly mysteries, rather than a prophet delivering revelations from the Lord's mouth")
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 421–3) Joseph's first mention of Baptism for the dead was in a funeral sermon in August 1840. A letter on the subject is contained in "D&C 128". http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/128?lang=eng. .
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 419–20) (arguing that Smith may have been unaware of the other religious materialism arguments circulating in his day, such as those of Joseph Priestly).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 419); Brooke (1994, pp. 3–5); Smith (1830, p. 544) (story from the Book of Ether of Jesus revealing "the body of my spirit" to an especially faithful man, saying humanity was created in the image of his spirit body).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 420).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 421) (noting that Smith once taught the Earth was formed from broken-up pieces of prior planets).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 420–21); Widmer (2000, p. 119).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 420–21).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 421) (quoting Smith as saying, "God is Good & all his acts is for the benefit of infereir inteligences [sic]."); Bloom (1992, p. 101) ("Smith's God is hedged in by limitations and badly needs intelligences besides his own.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 420) (arguing that Smith's original view of a pure spirit God was traditionally Christian); Vogel, Dan, The Earliest Mormon Conception of God in Bergera (1989, pp. 17–33) (arguing that Smith's original view was modalism, Jesus being the embodied manifestation the spirit Father, and that by 1834 Smith shifted to a binitarian formulation favored by Sidney Rigdon, which also viewed the Father as a spirit); Alexander, Thomas, The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology in Bergera (1989, p. 53) (prior to 1835, Smith viewed God the Father as "an absolute personage of spirit").
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 119); Alexander, Thomas, The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology in Bergera (1989, p. 539) (describing Smith's doctrine as "material anthropomorphism"); Bloom (1992, p. 101) ("Smith's God, after all, began as a man, and struggled heroically in and with time and space, rather after the pattern of colonial and revolutionary Americans.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 421, 455) ("Joseph redefined the nature of God, giving Him a form and a body and locating Him in time and space" with a throne situated near a star or planet named Kolob); Bloom (1992, p. 101) ("Joseph Smith's God...is finite.... Exalted now into the heavens, God necessarily is still subject to the contingencies of time and space.").
- ^ Vogel (2004, p. 30); The change in theology is reflected in the various accounts Smith gave of his First vision; Roberts (1909, p. 325).
- ^ Larson (1978, p. 7 (online ver.)).
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 119).
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 119); Bushman (2005, p. 535).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 544).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 455–56, 535–37).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 422).
- ^ Larson (1978, p. 15 (online ver.)).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 199).
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 33).
- ^ Remini (2000, p. 84).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 7) (describing Smith's earliest earliest authority as charismatic authority).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 7–8).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 121, 175); Phelps (1833, p. 67) ("[N]o one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph, for he receiveth them even as Moses.").
- ^ Brodie (1972, pp. 106, 112, 121–22).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 111–12, 115) (describing the expected role of the Council of Fifty).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 27–34); Bushman (2005, pp. 264–65).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 7).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 111);Bushman (2005, pp. 156–60); Quinn (1994, pp. 31–32);Roberts (1902, pp. 175–76) (On June 3, 1831, "the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders.").
- ^ Prince (1995, pp. 19, 115–116, 119) (noting influence of Sidney Rigdon in developing this idea); Gospel of Luke 24:49 (Authorized King James Version) ("And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high.").
- ^ Prince (1995, pp. 31–32, 121–31) (outlining evolution of the endowment idea in 1833 and 1836).
- ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, pp. 194–95); Prince (1995, p. 146); Bushman (2005, p. 451) (that the Nauvoo endowment is more akin to aspects of the Kabbalah).
- ^ Prince (1995, p. 140).
- ^ Prince (1995, p. 201).
- ^ Brooke (1994, pp. 30, 194–95, 203, 208) (Smith introduced the sealing power in 1831 as part of the High Priesthood, and then attributed this power to Elijah after he appeared in an 1836 vision in the Kirtland Temple).
- ^ Brooke (1994, pp. 221, 242–43).
- ^ Brooke (1994, pp. 236).
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 256).
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 294) ("The ritual of the second anointing...granted a virtually unconditional promise of divinity in the celestial kingdom."); Bushman (2005, pp. 497–98) (The second anointing ceremony "was Joseph's attempt to deal with the theological problem of assurance" of one's eternal life).
- ^ Roberts (1909, pp. 502–07) (1842 revelation describing the New and Everlasting Covenant).
- ^ Foster (1981, pp. 161–62).
- ^ Foster (1981, pp. 161–62) (quoting a source stating that in Smith's view, sex within earthly marriages was not sinful if the marriage was cemented by bonds of love and affection, but sex could be sinful even within marriage if the partners were alienated from each other).
- ^ Foster (1981, p. 145).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 497–98) (those who were married eternally were then "sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise" through the second anointing); Brooke (1994, pp. 256–57).
- ^ Roberts (1909, pp. 502–03); Bushman (2005, pp. 497–98) (the second anointing provided a guarantee that participants would be exalted even if they sinned); Brooke (1994, p. 257).
- ^ Roberts (1909, pp. 501) ("I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred.")
- ^ Foster (1981, pp. 206–11); Compton (1997, pp. 11, 22–23); Smith (2008, pp. 356); Brooke (1994, p. 255); Brodie (1971, p. 300); Bushman (2005, p. 443) (noting that a modern Mormon interpretation of Smith's 1843 polygamy revelation ties both polygamy and monogamy to degrees of exaltation).
- ^ Bloom (1992, p. 108) (polygamy and consequent progression towards godhood were "the true essence of becoming a Latter-day Saint, the heart of Mormon religion making.").
- ^ Bloom (1992, p. 105).
- ^ Foster (1981, p. 145) ("[I]f marriage with one wife...could bring eternal progression and ultimate godhood for men, then multiple wives in this life and the next would accelerate the process, in line with God's promise to Abraham that his seed eventually would be as numerous as the sand on the sea shore."); Brodie (1971, p. 300) ("[I]f a man went to heaven with ten wives, he would have more than ten-fold the blessings of a mere monogamist, for all the children begotten through these wives would enhance his kingdom.").
- ^ Compton (1997, p. 27); Bushman (2005, p. 326); Hill (1977, p. 340).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 323)
- ^ Hill (1977, pp. 340–41) (noting that Smith confided to Brigham Young in Kirtland that "if I were to reveal to this people what the Lord has revealed to me, there is not a man or a woman that would stay with me.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 323–25); Hill (1977, p. 188) (noting that Benjamin F. Johnson "realized later that Joseph's polygamy was one cause of disruption and apostasy in Kirtland, although it was rarely discussed in public.").
- ^ Probably between 1833 and 1836 Bushman (2005, p. 323) (noting that Alger was fourteen in 1830 when she met Smith, and her involvement with Smith was between that date and 1836, and that the relationship may have begun as early as 1831). Compton (1997, p. 26); Bushman (2005, p. 326) (noting Compton's date and conclusion); Brodie (1971, pp. 181–82); Bushman (2005, pp. 323–25); Smith (2008, pp. 38–39 n.81) (Cowdery questioned whether Smith and Alger were actually married, and called it a "a dirty, nasty, filthy affair,").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 325): Smith "wanted it on record that he had never confessed to such a sin. Presumably, he felt innocent because he had married Alger." Cowdery, who was in the process of leaving the church was eventually charged with slander and excommunicated. Bushman (2005, pp. 323–25) ("In the contemporaneous documents, only one person, Cowdery, believed that Joseph had had an affair with Fanny Alger. Others may have heard the rumors, but none joined Cowdery in making accusations. David Patten, who made inquiries in Kirtland, concluded the rumors were untrue. No one proposed to put Joseph on trial for adultery. Only Cowdery, who was leaving the Church, asserted Joseph's involvement.") Bushman (2005, p. 324): "In 1838, [Cowdery] was charged with 'seeking to destroy the character of President Joseph Smith jr by falsly insinuating that he was guilty of adultry &c.' Fanny Alger's name was never mentioned, but doubtless she was the women in question."
- ^ Compton (1997, p. 11) (counting at least 33 total wives); Smith (1994, p. 14) (counting 42 wives); Brodie (1971, pp. 334–36) (counting 49 wives); Bushman (2005, pp. 437, 644) (accepting Compton's count, excepting one wife); Quinn (1994, pp. 587–88) (counting 46 wives); Remini (2002, p. 153) (noting that the exact figure is still debated).
- ^ Foster (1981); Quinn (1994); Compton (1997); Bushman (2005, p. 437); Launius (1988); Van Wagoner (1992); Newell & Avery (1994).
- ^ Compton (1997, p. 11); Remini (2002, p. 154); Brodie (1971, pp. 334–43); Bushman (2005, p. 492); Smith's last marriage was in November 1843 to Fanny Murray, a fifty-six year old widow. Bushman (2005, p. 498).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 491).
- ^ Roberts (1909, pp. 501, 507) ("[A]ll those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same;...and if ye abide not that covenant, then ye are damned." If a polygamist husband "teaches unto [his wife] the law of my Priesthood as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God, for I will destroy her."); Bushman (2005, p. 438) (noting the 1843 revelation about being "damned," and Smith's statements that unless he started to marry plural wives, an angel would slay him); Brodie (1971, p. 342) (The 1843 revelation "threatened destruction to any wife who refused to accept the new law".)
- ^ Bushman (2008, pp. 494–495)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 439).
- ^ (two of whom Smith had already married without her knowledge) Brodie (1971, p. 339); Bushman (2005, p. 494); Remini (2002, pp. 152–53).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 339).
- ^ Hill (1989, p. 119) ("By assuring Emma that her salvation would be virtually certain and all but the unpardonable sin would be merely visited 'with judgment in the flesh,' Smith placed enormous pressure on his reluctant wife to accept plural marriage."; Bushman (2005, pp. 495–96); Brodie (1971, pp. 340–341) (revelation indicated Emma would be "destroyed" if she refused polygamy); Roberts (1909, pp. 505–06) ("A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith,...[that she] receive all those [wives] that have been given unto my servant Joseph.... But if [Emma] will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law."); Bushman (2005, p. 496) (Emma abused Hyrum Smith when Joseph sent him to Emma with the revelation); Hill (1989, p. 119) (noting that according to William Clayton, Emma "did not believe a word of [the revelation] and appeared very rebellious.").
- ^ "Other occupations and Emma's involvement in the elaboration of temple rituals may have combined to soften her on plural marriage for the moment. Three weeks later, Joseph told Clayton, Emma 'was turned quite friendly & kind. She had been anointed.' By 'anointed' Joseph meant Emma had received an 'endowment,' the first woman to take part in the ceremony" Bushman (2005, p. 497).
- ^ Emma also participated with Smith in the first "sealing" ceremony, intended to bind their marriage for eternity. Quinn (1994, p. 638) (first Mormon sealing); Bushman (2005, p. 494).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 515)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 377).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 522).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 516): "If Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship; and refuse not the same friendly grip to Canada and Mexico."
- ^ Roberts (1902, p. 435).
- ^ Roberts (1909, p. 296).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 289, 327–28) (the essay "exhibited the conventional prejudiced of his day in asserting that blacks were cursed with servitude by a 'decree of Jehovah.'"); Hill (1977, p. 381) (noting that Smith did not want to be identified as an abolitionist, even when he disfavored slavery).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 289); Hill (1977, pp. 380, 383) (citing 1833 revelation stating that "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another").
- ^ Hill (1977, p. 384).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 516, 327–28). Smith also proposed cutting congressional pay from eight to two dollars per day and requiring only two representatives per million people, thus reducing the number of representatives in the House to forty.
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 289); Hill (1977, pp. 384–85).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 289); Hill (1977, pp. 381–82, 85).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 289); Hill (1977, p. 379).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 521).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 356–57); Bushman (2005, p. 521); Bloom (1992, p. 90)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 522–23).
- ^ See the Thirteenth Article of Faith.
- ^ Roberts (1904, p. 170).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 441)
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 112)(quoting a letter Smith wrote to the 19 year old daughter of Sidney Rigdon to justify Smith's polygamous proposal to her). "Smith invited Nancy into a private room at a printing office, locked the door behind them, and presented her with his proposal, including the unusual appeal that God had revealed to him that she was to be his wife. Nancy had been forewarned by Mayor John C. Bennett, who also found her attractive. (She did not respond to Bennett either.) Nancy threatened to raise a ruckus if Smith did not unlock the door and let her go. The next day Smith sent Nancy a letter attempting to coax her with the argument that 'happiness is the object and design of our existence.'....Nancy's story is corroborated not only by the letter and her father's testimony but by her brother John, her brother-in-law George W. Robinson, and Orson Pratt."Ostling (1999, p. 65).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 88).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 88–89).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 380).
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 15).
- ^ Weber, Max (1978), Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology, 1, University of California Press, p. 446, ISBN 0-520-03500-3 (In his role as the founder of Mormonism, Smith "resembled, even in matters of detail, Muhammad."); Brodie (1971, p. 230) (speech dated October 14, 1838 at the Far West town square, in which Smith called himself "a second Mohammed"); Bushman (2005, p. 352).
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 97); Shipps (1985, p. 37) (making comparisons withMoses (law-giver), Joshua (commander of the "armies of Israel"), and Solomon (king));Bushman (2005, p. xx) (describing Smith as "a biblical-style prophet—one who spoke for God with the authority of Moses or Isaiah."); Brodie (1971, p. vii) (noting that "[i]n official Mormon biographies he has been made a prophet of greater stature than Moses").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 558) (quoting a tribute to Smith, probably by Taylor, stating that Smith "has done more, (save Jesus only,) for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it."); Smith, Joseph Fielding (December 1941), "The Historical Background of the Prophet Joseph Smith", Improvement Era: 717 ("No prophet since the days of Adam, save, of course, our Redeemer, has been given a greater mission.").
- ^ a b c Bushman (2005, p. xii–xiii)
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 72–73, 116–17) (noting the "choice seer" prophecies in the Book of Mormon and Smith's revision of the Bible); Smith (1830, pp. 66–67) (claiming that the biblical Joseph prophesied, "A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins... And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.").
- ^ Vogel (2004, p. xxi)
- ^ {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=ix
- ^ Bloom (1992, pp. 96–99) (Smith "surpassed all Americans, before or since, in the possession and expression of what could be called the religion-making imagination," and had charisma "to a degree unsurpassed in American history".); Abanes (2003, p. 7) (noting that even Smith's harshest critics acknowledge his inventive genius); Persuitte (2000, p. 1) (calling Smith "one of the most controversial and enigmatic figures ever to appear in American history"); Remini (2002, p. ix) (Calling Smith "the most important reformer and innovator in American religious history).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 82–83, 88–89) (describing the editorial reaction to the publication of the Book of Mormon); Brodie (1971, pp. 16–17).
- ^ Richard J. Mouw, The Possibility of Joseph Smith: Some Evangelical Probings in Neilson & Givens (2008) at 189.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 369, 547); Brodie (1971, pp. 223, 248, 388).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 550).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 396–97).
- ^ Smith et al. (Richards, p. 3). This vision was generally unknown to early Latter Day Saints. See Bushman (2005, p. 39) (story was unknown to most early converts); Allen (1966, p. 30) (the first vision received only limited circulation in the 1830s). However, the vision story gained increasing theological importance within the Latter Day Saint movement beginning roughly a half century later. See Shipps (1985, pp. 30–32); Allen (1966, pp. 43–69); Quinn (1998, p. 176) ("Smith's first vision became a missionary tool for his followers only after Americans grew to regard modern visions of God as unusual.").
- ^ Allen (1966, pp. 43–44) ("Next to the resurrection of Christ, nothing holds a more central place in modern Mormon thought than" the First Vision.... The most sacred event in church history, a belief in its literal reality is fundamental to belief in Mormonism itself."); Shipps (1985, pp. 9, 32) (First Vision came to be regarded as the "initial episode in Mormon history," and "emerged as a symbol that could keep the slain Mormon leader at center stage"); Widmer (2000, p. 105).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 143); Brodie (1971, p. 398).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 143) ("He proposed more than one way for a member of the First Presidency to succeed him, left the relative priority of the founding quorums in an ambiguous balance, performed secret ordinations, and suggested more than one method by which a brother or son might succeed him."); Shipps (1985, pp. 83–84) (discussing several of the succession options).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 143).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 213) (after Smith was crowned king, Hyrum referred to himself as "President of the Church"), and Brigham Young agreed Hyrum would have been the natural successor.
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 152–54, 213); Bushman (2005, p. 555).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 213–26); Bushman (2005, p. 555) (William Smith "made a bid for the Church presidency, but his unstable character kept him from being a serious contender".).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 226–41) (outlining the sons' claims and noting, "Even Brigham Young acknowledged the claims of patrilineal succession and as a result never argued that the Quorum of Twelve had exclusive right of succession."); Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 42).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 192–98) (before his death, Smith had charged the Fifty with the responsibility of establishing the Millennial kingdom in his absence; the Quorum of Twelve would eventually claim this "charge" as their own).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 187–91).
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 556–57).
- ^ Michael De Groote (2011-01-23), 14 million Mormons and counting, Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700103390/14-million-Mormons-and-counting.html See also: Watson, F. Michael (April 2008), Statistical Report, 2007, http://www.lds.org, http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-9,00.html, retrieved 2008-04-14, "Total Membership: 13,193,999"
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 557). The largest existing Rigdonitechurch is the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 211); Bushman (2005, p. 556) (Strang followed Smith's example of producing revelations with a seer stone, saying an angel had ordained him, translating scripture from buried plates, having himself crowned as theocratic king, and practicing polygamy). Strang's current followers consist of the tiny Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite).
- ^ Strang's following largely dissipated after his assassination in 1856. Quinn (1994, pp. 210–211); Bushman (2005, p. 555); Bushman (2005, p. 556) (Strang followed Smith's example of producing revelations with a seer stone, saying an angel had ordained him, translating scripture from buried plates, having himself crowned as theocratic king, and practicing polygamy).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 198–203).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 203–09).
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 110–11).
- ^ The adopted twins were born of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock
- ^ "Research focuses on Smith family". Deseret News. 2005-05-28. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600137517,00.html. ; "DNA tests rule out 2 as Smith descendants: Scientific advances prove no genetic link". Deseret News. 2007-11-10. http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226318,00.html. ; name=Perego>Perego, Ugo A.; Myers, Natalie M.; Woodward, Scott R. (Summer 2005), "Reconstructing the Y-Chromosome of Joseph Smith, Jr.: Genealogical Applications" (PDF), Journal of Mormon History 32 (2), http://mha.wservers.com/pubs/TOC/05_July_Journal_TOC.pdf Although Bushman suggested that Smith had married twenty-seven other women, there is no DNA evidence that Smith fathered any children by any woman other than Emma. Bushman, 493; Compton, 4–7; Remini, 153-54; Brodie, "The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith," Appendix C in No Man Knows My History, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf, 1971), 457–88. Remini, 153. Brodie guessed that there might have been as many as 48 plural wives, but succeeding scholars have considered her numbers exaggerated. Remini said that the true number might have been as high as eighty-four, although many of these might have been "simply sacred sealings for eternity." Remini, 153. Smith's biography in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 3: 1337, says that Smith took at least twenty-eight plural wives. On her deathbed, Emma Smith denied that her husband had ever practiced polygamy.Church History, 3: 355–356.
- ^ Church History, 3: 355–356.
- ^ Saints' Herald 65:1044–1045
- ^ Times and Seasons 3 [August 1, 1842]: 869
- ^ Times and Seasons 3 [October 1, 1842]: 940. In March 1844, Emma said, "we raise our voices and hands against John C. Bennett's 'spiritual wife system', as a scheme of profligates to seduce women; and they that harp upon it, wish to make it popular for the convenience of their own cupidity; wherefore, while the marriage bed, undefiled is honorable, let polygamy, bigamy, fornication, adultery, and prostitution, be frowned out of the hearts of honest men to drop in the gulf of fallen nature". The document The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo. signed by Emma Smith as President of the Ladies' Relief Society, was published within the article Virtue Will Triumph, Nauvoo Neighbor, March 20, 1844 (LDS History of the Church 6:236, 241) including on her deathbed where she stated "No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband's death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of...He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have". Church History3: 355–356. Even when her sons Joseph III and Alexander presented her with specific written questions about polygamy, she continued to deny that their father had been a polygamist.Van Wagoner (1992, pp. 113–115) As Fawn Brodie has written, this denial was "her revenge and solace for all her heartache and humiliation." (Brodie, 399) "This was her slap at all the sly young girls in the Mansion House who had looked first so worshipfully and then so knowingly at Joseph. She had given them the lie. Whatever formal ceremony he might have gone through, Joseph had never acknowledged one of them before the world." Newell and Avery wrote of "the paradox of Emma's position," quoting her friend and lawyer Judge George Edmunds who stated "that's just the hell of it! I can't account for it or reconcile her statements." (Newell & Avery 1994, p. 308)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 554) ("Emma's alienation from the main body of the Church began almost immediately."); Brodie (1971, p. 399) (Emma Smith "came to fear and despise" Young); Avery & Newell (1980, p. 82) (noting that Young later stated that "to my certain knowledge Emma Smith is one of the damndest liars I know of on this earth.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 554).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 554) ("Her known opposition to plural marriage made her doubly troublesome.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 554–55). Emma Smith married Major Lewis Bidamon, an "enterprising man who made good use of Emma's property." Although Bidamon sired an illegitimate child when he was 62 (whom Emma reared), "the couple showed genuine affection for each" (Bushman 2005, pp. 554–55).
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- Shipps, Jan (1985), Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-01417-0 .
- Smith, George D. (1994), "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (1): 1, https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V27N01_13.pdf .
- Smith, George D (2008), Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage", Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, ISBN 978-1-56085-201-8 .
- Smith, Joseph, Jr. (1830), The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi, Palmyra, New York: E. B. Grandin, http://www.inephi.com/Search.htm . See Book of Mormon.
- Smith, Joseph, Jr. (1832), "History of the Life of Joseph Smith", in Jessee, Dean C, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002, ISBN 1-57345-787-6, http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Life_of_Joseph_Smith&oldid=314384 .
- Smith, Joseph, Jr.; Mulholland, James; Thompson, Robert B.; Phelps, William W.; Richards, Willard (1839–1843), "History of the Church, Ms. A–1", in Jessee, Dean C, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002, ISBN 1-57345-787-6, http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Church/A-1&oldid=399581 .
- Smith, Joseph, Jr.; Cowdery, Oliver; Rigdon, Sidney et al., eds. (1835), Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & Co, http://www.irr.org/mit/BOC/default.html . See Doctrine and Covenants.
- Smith, Joseph, Jr. (March 1, 1842), "Church History [Wentworth Letter"], Times and Seasons 3 (9): 706–10, http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v3n09.htm#706 . See Wentworth letter.
- Smith, Lucy Mack (1853), Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations, Liverpool: S.W. Richards, http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/NCMP1820-1846,17387 . See The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
- Tucker, Pomeroy (1867), Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism, New York: D. Appleton, http://books.google.com/?id=resQAAAAIAAJ .
- Turner, Orsamus (1852), History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and Morris' Reserve, Rochester, New York: William Alling, http://books.google.com/?id=TUX698v8KGkC .
- Van Wagoner, Richard S.; Walker, Steven C. (Summer 1982), "Joseph Smith: The Gift of Seeing", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (2): 48–68, https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V15N02_50.pdf .
- Van Wagoner, Richard S. (1992), Mormon Polygamy: A History (2 ed.), Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN 978-0-941214-79-7 .
- Vogel, Dan (1994), "The Locations of Joseph Smith's Early Treasure Quests", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (3): 197–231, https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V27N03_211.pdf .
- Vogel, Dan (2004), Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, ISBN 1-56085-179-1 .
- Widmer, Kurt (2000), Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland .
Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Smith, Joseph, Jr. |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Date of birth |
December 23, 1805 |
| Place of birth |
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| Date of death |
June 27, 1844 |
| Place of death |
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