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Joseph Smith

October 08, 2023

This article is about the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. For other persons, see Joseph Smith (disambiguation).

Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later. The religion he founded is followed to the present day by millions of global adherents and several churches, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Joseph Smith
Portrait, c. 1842
1st President of the Church of Christ[a]
April 6, 1830 (1830-04-06) – June 27, 1844 (1844-06-27)
SuccessorDisputed[b]
End reasonDeath
2nd Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois
In office
May 19, 1842 (1842-05-19)[4] – June 27, 1844 (1844-06-27)
PredecessorJohn C. Bennett
SuccessorChancy Robison[5]
Political partyIndependent
Personal details
BornJoseph Smith Jr.
(1805-12-23)December 23, 1805
Sharon, Vermont, U.S.
DiedJune 27, 1844(1844-06-27) (aged 38)
Carthage, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
Resting placeSmith Family Cemetery,
Nauvoo, Illinois, U.S.
40°32′26″N 91°23′33″W / 40.54052°N 91.39244°W / 40.54052; -91.39244 (Smith Family Cemetery)
Known ForFounding Mormonism
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1827)​
Children
Parents
Relatives
Signature 

Born in Sharon, Vermont, Smith moved with his family to the western region of New York State, following a series of crop failures in 1816. Living in an area of intense religious revivalism during the Second Great Awakening, Smith reported experiencing a series of visions. The first of these was in 1820, when he saw "two personages" (whom he eventually described as God the Father and Jesus Christ). In 1823, he said he was visited by an angel who directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization. In 1830, Smith published the Book of Mormon, which he described as an English translation of those plates. The same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian Church. Members of the church were later called "Latter Day Saints" or "Mormons".

In 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communal Zion in the American heartland. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, which was intended to be Zion's "center place". During the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the Kirtland Temple. Because of the collapse of the church-sponsored Kirtland Safety Society, violent skirmishes with non-Mormon Missourians, and the Mormon extermination order, Smith and his followers established a new settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois, of which he was the spiritual and political leader. In 1844, when the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith's power and his practice of polygamy, Smith and the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of its printing press, inflaming anti-Mormon sentiment. Fearing an invasion of Nauvoo, Smith rode to Carthage, Illinois, to stand trial, but was shot and killed by a mob that stormed the jailhouse.

During his ministry, Smith published numerous documents and texts, many of which he attributed to divine inspiration and revelation from God. He dictated the majority of these in the first-person, saying they were the writings of ancient prophets or expressed the voice of God. His followers accepted his teachings as prophetic and revelatory, and several of these texts were canonized by denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement, which continue to treat them as scripture. Smith's teachings discuss God's nature, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious community and authority. Mormons generally regard Smith as a prophet comparable to Moses and Elijah. Several religious denominations identify as the continuation of the church that he organized, including the LDS Church and the Community of Christ.

Life

Early years (1805–1827)

Main article: Early life of Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, in Vermont, on the border between the villages of South Royalton and Sharon, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Smith Sr., a merchant and farmer.[6] He was one of eleven children. At the age of seven, Smith suffered a crippling bone infection and, after receiving surgery, used crutches for three years.[7] After an ill-fated business venture and three successive years of crop failures culminating in the 1816 Year Without a Summer, the Smith family left Vermont and moved to the western region of New York State,[8] and took out a mortgage on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in the townships of Palmyra and Manchester.[9]

The region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm during the Second Great Awakening.[10][11] Between 1817 and 1825, there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area.[12] Smith's parents disagreed about religion, but the family was caught up in this excitement.[13] Smith later recounted that he had become interested in religion by age 12, and as a teenager, may have been sympathetic to Methodism.[14] With other family members, he also engaged in religious folk magic, a relatively common practice in that time and place.[15] Both his parents and his maternal grandfather reported having visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God.[16] Smith said that, although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, he was confused by the claims of competing religious denominations.[17]

Years later, Smith wrote that he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion.[18] He said that in 1820, while he had been praying in a wooded area near his home, God the Father and Jesus Christ together appeared to him, told him his sins were forgiven, and said that all contemporary churches had "turned aside from the gospel."[19] Smith said he recounted the experience to a Methodist minister, who dismissed the story "with great contempt".[20] According to historian Steven C. Harper, "There is no evidence in the historical record that Joseph Smith told anyone but the minister of his vision for at least a decade", and Smith might have kept it private because of how uncomfortable that first dismissal was.[21] During the 1830s, Smith orally described the vision to some of his followers, though it was not widely published among Mormons until the 1840s.[22] This vision later grew in importance to Smith's followers, who eventually regarded it as the first event in the restoration of Christ's church to Earth.[23] Smith himself may have originally considered the vision to be a personal conversion.[24]

 
Smith said he received golden plates from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah.

According to Smith's later accounts, while praying one night in 1823, he was visited by an angel named Moroni. Smith claimed this angel revealed the location of a buried book made of golden plates, as well as other artifacts including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame, which had been hidden in a hill near his home.[25] Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning, but was unsuccessful because Moroni returned and prevented him.[26] He reported that during the next four years he made annual visits to the hill, but, until the fourth and final visit, each time he returned without the plates.[27]

Meanwhile, Smith's family faced financial hardship, due in part to the death of his oldest brother Alvin.[28] Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers,[29] a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period.[30] Smith was said to have an ability to locate lost items by looking into a seer stone, which he also used in treasure hunting, including, beginning in 1825, several unsuccessful attempts to find buried treasure sponsored by Josiah Stowell, a wealthy farmer in Chenango County.[31] In 1826, Smith was brought before a Chenango County court for "glass-looking", or pretending to find lost treasure; Stowell's relatives accused Smith of tricking Stowell and faking an ability to perceive hidden treasure, though Stowell attested that he believed Smith had such abilities.[32] The result of the proceeding remains unclear because primary sources report conflicting outcomes.[33]

 
Emma Hale Smith, who married Joseph Smith in 1827.

While boarding at the Hale house, located in the township of Harmony (now Oakland) in Pennsylvania, Smith met and courted Emma Hale. When he proposed marriage, her father, Isaac Hale, objected; he believed Smith had no means to support his daughter.[34] Hale also considered Smith a stranger who appeared "careless" and "not very well educated."[35] Smith and Emma eloped and married on January 18, 1827, after which the couple began boarding with Smith's parents in Manchester. Later that year, when Smith promised to abandon treasure seeking, his father-in-law offered to let the couple live on his property in Harmony and help Smith get started in business.[36]

Smith made his last visit to the hill shortly after midnight on September 22, 1827, taking Emma with him.[37] This time, he said he successfully retrieved the plates.[38] Smith said Moroni commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else,[d] but to translate them and publish their translation. He also said the plates were a religious record of Middle-Eastern indigenous Americans and were engraved in an unknown language, called reformed Egyptian.[39] He told associates that he was capable of reading and translating them.[40]

Although Smith had abandoned treasure hunting, former associates believed he had double crossed them and had taken the golden plates for himself, property they believed should be jointly shared.[41] After they ransacked places where they believed the plates might have been hidden, Smith decided to leave Palmyra.[42]

Founding a church (1827–1830)

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith from 1827 to 1830

In October 1827, Smith and Emma permanently moved to Harmony, aided by a relatively prosperous neighbor, Martin Harris,[43] who began serving as Smith's scribe in April 1828.[44] Although he and his wife, Lucy, were early supporters of Smith, by June 1828 they began to have doubts about the existence of the golden plates. Harris persuaded Smith to let him take 116 pages of manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members, including his wife.[45] While Harris had the manuscript in his possession—of which there was no other copy—it was lost.[46] Smith was devastated by this loss, especially since it came at the same time as the death of his first son, who died shortly after birth.[47] Smith said that as punishment for his having lost the manuscript, Moroni returned, took away the plates, and revoked his ability to translate.[48] During this period, Smith briefly attended Methodist meetings with his wife, until a cousin of hers objected to inclusion of a "practicing necromancer" on the Methodist class roll.[49]

 
Cover page of the Book of Mormon, original 1830 edition

Smith said that Moroni returned the plates to him in September 1828,[50] and he then dictated some of the book to his wife Emma.[51] In April 1829 he met Oliver Cowdery, who had also dabbled in folk magic; and with Cowdery as scribe, Smith began a period of "rapid-fire translation".[51] Between April and early June 1829, the two worked full time on the manuscript, then moved to Fayette, New York, where they continued the work at the home of Cowdery's friend, Peter Whitmer.[52] When the narrative described an institutional church and a requirement for baptism, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other.[53] Dictation was completed about July 1, 1829.[54] According to Smith, Moroni took back the plates once Smith finished using them.[55]

The completed work, titled the Book of Mormon, was published in Palmyra by printer Egbert Bratt Grandin[56] and was first advertised for sale on March 26, 1830.[57] Less than two weeks later, on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ, and small branches were established in Manchester, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.[58] The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety and renewed the hostility of those who remembered the 1826 Chenango County trial.[59] After Cowdery baptized several new church members, Smith's followers were threatened with mob violence. Before Smith could confirm the newly baptized, he was arrested and charged with being a "disorderly person."[60] Although he was acquitted, both he and Cowdery fled to Colesville to escape a gathering mob. Smith later claimed that, probably around this time, Peter, James, and John had appeared to him and had ordained him and Cowdery to a higher priesthood.[61]

Smith's authority was undermined when Cowdery, Hiram Page, and other church members also claimed to receive revelations.[62] In response, Smith dictated a revelation which clarified his office as a prophet and an apostle, stating that only he had the ability to declare doctrine and scripture for the church.[63] Smith then dispatched Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and others on a mission to proselytize Native Americans.[64] Cowdery was also assigned the task of locating the site of the New Jerusalem, which was to be "on the borders" of the United States with what was then Indian territory.[65]

On their way to Missouri, Cowdery's party passed through northeastern Ohio, where Sidney Rigdon and over a hundred followers of his variety of Campbellite Restorationism converted to the Church of Christ, swelling the ranks of the new organization dramatically.[66] After Rigdon visited New York, he soon became Smith's primary assistant.[67] With growing opposition in New York, Smith announced a revelation that his followers should gather to Kirtland, Ohio, establish themselves as a people and await word from Cowdery's mission.[68]

Life in Ohio (1831–1838)

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith from 1831 to 1837

When Smith moved to Kirtland in January 1831, he encountered a religious culture that included enthusiastic demonstrations of spiritual gifts, including fits and trances, rolling on the ground, and speaking in tongues.[69] Rigdon's followers were practicing a form of communalism. Smith brought the Kirtland congregation under his authority and tamed ecstatic outbursts.[70] He had promised church elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power, and at the June 1831 general conference, he introduced the greater authority of a High ("Melchizedek") Priesthood to the church hierarchy.[71]

 
A mob tarred and feathered Smith in 1832.

Converts poured into Kirtland. By the summer of 1835, there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Latter Day Saints in the vicinity,[72] many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom.[73] Though his mission to the Native Americans had been a failure,[74][75] Cowdery and the other missionaries with him were charged with finding a site for "a holy city". They found Jackson County, Missouri. After Smith visited in July 1831, he pronounced the frontier hamlet of Independence the "center place" of Zion.[76]

For most of the 1830s, the church was effectively based in Ohio.[72] Smith lived there, though he visited Missouri again in early 1832 to prevent a rebellion of prominent church members who believed the church in Missouri was being neglected.[77] Smith's trip was hastened by a mob of Ohio residents who were incensed over the church's presence and Smith's political power. The mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious, tarred and feathered them, and left them for dead.[78]

In Jackson County, existing Missouri residents resented the Latter Day Saint newcomers for both political and religious reasons.[79] Additionally, their rapid growth aroused fears that they would soon constitute a majority in local elections, and thus "rule the county."[80] Tension increased until July 1833, when non-Mormons forcibly evicted the Mormons and destroyed their property. Smith advised his followers to bear the violence patiently until after they had been attacked multiple times, after which they could fight back.[81] Armed bands exchanged fire, killing one Mormon and two non-Mormons, until the old settlers forcibly expelled the Latter Day Saints from the county.[82]

In response, Smith first petitioned Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin for redress; these efforts were unsuccessful.[83] Smith then organized and led a small paramilitary expedition, called Zion's Camp, to aid the Latter Day Saints in Missouri.[84] As a military endeavor, the expedition was a failure. The men of the expedition were disorganized, suffered from a cholera outbreak and were severely outnumbered. By the end of June, Smith deescalated the confrontation, sought peace with Jackson County's residents, and disbanded Zion's Camp.[85] Nevertheless, Zion's Camp transformed Latter Day Saint leadership because many future church leaders came from among the participants.[86]

After the Camp returned to Ohio, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish various governing bodies in the church.[87] He gave a revelation announcing that in order to redeem Zion, his followers would have to receive an endowment in the Kirtland Temple,[88] which he and his followers constructed. In March 1836, at the temple's dedication, many who received the endowment reported seeing visions of angels and engaged in prophesying and speaking in tongues.[89]

 
Smith dedicated the Kirtland Temple in 1836.

In January 1837, Smith and other churchleaders created a joint stock company, called the Kirtland Safety Society, to act as a quasi-bank; the company issued banknotes partly capitalized by real estate. Smith encouraged his followers to buy the notes, in which he invested heavily himself. The bank failed within a month.[90] As a result, Latter Day Saints in Kirtland suffered extreme high volatility and intense pressure from debt collectors. Smith was held responsible for the failure, and there were widespread defections from the church, including many of Smith's closest advisers.[91]

The failure of the bank was but one part a series of internal disputes led to the demise of the Kirtland community.[92] Cowdery had accused Smith of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage servant in his home, Fanny Alger.[93] Construction of the Kirtland Temple had only added to the church's debt, and Smith was hounded by creditors.[94] After a warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud, he and Rigdon fled for Missouri in January 1838.[95]

Life in Missouri (1838–39)

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith from 1838 to 1839

By 1838, Smith had abandoned plans to redeem Zion in Jackson County, and instead declared the town of Far West, Missouri, in Caldwell County, as the new "Zion".[96] In Missouri, the church also took the name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", and construction began on a new temple.[97] In the weeks and months after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West, thousands of Latter Day Saints followed them from Kirtland.[98] Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County, instituting a settlement in Adam-ondi-Ahman, in Daviess County.[99]

Political and religious differences between old Missourians and newly arriving Latter Day Saint settlers provoked tensions between the two groups, much as they had in Jackson County. By this time, Smith's experiences with mob violence led him to believe that his faith's survival required greater militancy against anti-Mormons.[100] Tensions between the Mormons and the native Missourians escalated quickly until, on August 6, 1838, non-Mormons in Gallatin, Missouri, tried to prevent Mormons from voting.[101] The election day scuffles initiated the 1838 Mormon War. Non-Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms, while Danites and other Mormons pillaged non-Mormon towns.[102] In the Battle of Crooked River, a group of Mormons attacked the Missouri state militia, mistakenly believing them to be anti-Mormon vigilantes. Governor Lilburn Boggs then ordered that the Mormons be "exterminated or driven from the state".[103] On October 30, a party of Missourians surprised and killed seventeen Mormons in the Haun's Mill massacre.[104]

 
Smith was held for four months in Liberty jail.

The following day, the Mormons surrendered to 2,500 state troops and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state.[105] Smith was immediately brought before a military court, accused of treason, and sentenced to be executed the next morning, but Alexander Doniphan, who was Smith's former attorney and a brigadier general in the Missouri militia, refused to carry out the order.[106] Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing, where several of his former allies testified against him.[107] Smith and five others, including Rigdon, were charged with treason, and transferred to the jail at Liberty, Missouri, to await trial.[108]

Smith bore his imprisonment stoically. Understanding that he was effectively on trial before his own people, many of whom considered him a fallen prophet, he wrote a personal defense and an apology for the activities of his followers. "The keys of the kingdom", he wrote, "have not been taken away from us".[109] Though he directed his followers to collect and publish their stories of persecution, he also urged them to moderate their antagonism toward non-Mormons.[110] On April 6, 1839, after a grand jury hearing in Daviess County, Smith and his companions escaped custody, almost certainly with the connivance of the sheriff and guards.[111]

Life in Nauvoo, Illinois (1839–1844)

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith from 1839 to 1844

Many American newspapers criticized Missouri for the Haun's Mill massacre and the state's expulsion of the Mormons.[112] Illinois then accepted Mormon refugees who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi River,[113] where Smith purchased high-priced, swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce.[114] He attempted to portray the Mormons as an oppressed minority and unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations.[115] During the summer of 1839, while Mormons in Illinois suffered from a malaria epidemic, Smith sent Young and other apostles to missions in Europe, where they made numerous converts, many of them poor factory workers.[116]

 
Depiction of Smith at head of the Nauvoo Legion

Smith also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts, including John C. Bennett, the Illinois quartermaster general.[117] Bennett used his connections in the Illinois state legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city, which Smith renamed "Nauvoo".[118] The charter granted the city virtual autonomy, authorized a university, and granted Nauvoo habeas corpus power—which allowed Smith to fend off extradition to Missouri. Though Latter Day Saint authorities controlled Nauvoo's civil government, the city guaranteed religious freedom for its residents.[119] The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion, a militia whose actions were limited only by state and federal constitutions. Smith and Bennett became its commanders, and were styled Lieutenant General and Major General respectively. As such, they controlled by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois.[120] Smith appointed Bennett as Assistant President of the Church, and Bennett was elected Nauvoo's first mayor.[121]

 
Smith planned the construction of the Nauvoo Temple, which was completed after his death.

The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation. Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840, and in 1841 construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge.[122] An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the "fullness of the priesthood"; and in May 1842, Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or "first anointing".[123] The endowment resembled the rites of Freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated "at sight" into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge.[124] At first, the endowment was open only to men, who were initiated into a special group called 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".[125] Smith also elaborated on his plan for a Millennial kingdom; no longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo, he viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America, with Mormon settlements being "stakes" of Zion's metaphorical tent.[126] Zion also became less a refuge from an impending tribulation than a great building project.[127] 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.[128]

It was around this time that Smith began secretly marrying additional wives, a practice called plural marriage.[129] He introduced the doctrine to a few of his closest associates, including Bennett, who used it as an excuse to seduce numerous women, wed and unwed.[130] When rumors of polygamy (called "spiritual wifery" by Bennett) got abroad, Smith forced Bennett's resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett left Nauvoo and began publishing sensational accusations against Smith and his followers.[131]

By mid-1842, popular opinion in Illinois had turned against the Mormons. After an unknown assailant shot and wounded Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs in May 1842, anti-Mormons circulated rumors that Smith's bodyguard, Porter Rockwell, was the gunman.[132] Though the evidence was circumstantial, Boggs ordered Smith's extradition. Certain he would be killed if he ever returned to Missouri, Smith went into hiding twice during the next five months, until the U.S. Attorney for Illinois argued that his extradition would be unconstitutional.[133] (Rockwell was later tried and acquitted.) In June 1843, enemies of Smith convinced a reluctant Illinois Governor Thomas Ford to extradite Smith to Missouri on an old charge of treason. Two law officers arrested Smith but were intercepted by a party of Mormons before they could reach Missouri. Smith was then released on a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo municipal court.[134] While this ended the Missourians' attempts at extradition, it caused significant political fallout in Illinois.[135]

 
According to researchers Ronald Romig and Lachlan Mackay, Smith posed for a daguerreotype by Lucian R. Foster sometime in 1844; the photograph was published in 2022 in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal.[136][137]

In December 1843, Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense.[138] Smith then wrote to the leading presidential candidates, asking what they would do to protect the Mormons. After receiving noncommittal or negative responses, he announced his own independent candidacy for president of the United States, suspended regular proselytizing, and sent out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries.[139] In March 1844 – following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat – he organized the secret Council of Fifty, which was given the authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey, as well as establish its own government for Mormons.[140] Before his death the Council also voted unanimously to elect Smith "Prophet, Priest, and King."[141] The Council was likewise appointed to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in the Republic of Texas, Oregon, or California (then controlled by Mexico), where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond the control of other governments.[142]

Death

Main article: Killing of Joseph Smith
 
A 19th-century painting depicting the mob attack inside Carthage Jail

By early 1844, a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates.[143] Most notably, William Law, his trusted counselor, and Robert Foster, a general of the Nauvoo Legion, disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo's economy.[144] Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives.[145] Believing these men were plotting against his life, Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844.[146] Law and Foster subsequently formed a competing "reform church", and in the following month, at the county seat in Carthage, they procured indictments against Smith for perjury (as Smith publicly denied having more than one wife) and polygamy.[147]

On June 7, the dissidents published the first (and only) issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, calling for reform within the church but also appealing politically to non-Mormons.[148] The paper alluded to Smith's theocratic aspirations, called for a repeal of the Nauvoo city charter, and decried his new "doctrines of many Gods". (Smith had recently given his King Follett discourse, in which he taught that God was once a man, and that men and women could become gods.)[149] It also attacked Smith's practice of polygamy, implying that he was using religion as a pretext to draw unassuming women to Nauvoo to seduce and marry them.[150]

Fearing the Expositor would provoke a new round of violence against the Mormons, the Nauvoo city council declared the newspaper a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy its printing press.[151] During the council debate, Smith vigorously urged the council to order the press destroyed,[152] not realizing that destroying a newspaper was more likely to incite an attack than any of the newspaper's accusations.[153]

 
Smith was shot multiple times before and after falling from the window.[154]

Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms from Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal and longtime critic of Smith.[155] Fearing mob violence, Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law.[156] Officials in Carthage responded by mobilizing a small detachment of the state militia, and Governor Ford intervened, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves.[157] Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River, but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford.[158] On June 25, Smith and his brother Hyrum arrived in Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot.[159] Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to treason, preventing them from posting bail.[160] John Taylor and Willard Richards voluntarily accompanied the Smiths in Carthage Jail.[161]

 
The death masks of Joseph Smith (left) and Hyrum Smith (right)

On June 27, 1844, an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum were being detained. Hyrum, who was trying to secure the door, was killed instantly with a shot to the face. Smith fired three shots from a pepper-box pistol that his friend, Cyrus H. Wheelock, had lent him, wounding three men,[162] before he sprang for the window.[163] (Smith and his companions were staying in the jailer's bedroom, which did not have bars on the windows.) He was shot multiple times before falling out the window, crying, "Oh Lord my God!" He died shortly after hitting the ground, but was shot several more times by an improvised firing squad before the mob dispersed.[164]

Legacy

Main article: Legacy of Joseph Smith
 
Gravesite of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith, in Nauvoo, Illinois

Immediate aftermath

Following Smith's death, non-Mormon newspapers were nearly unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic.[165] Conversely, within the Latter Day Saint community, Smith was viewed as a prophet, martyred to seal the testimony of his faith.[166]

After a public funeral and viewing of the deceased brothers, Smith's widow – who feared hostile non-Mormons might try to desecrate the bodies – had their remains buried at night in a secret location, with substitute coffins filled with sandbags interred in the publicly attested grave.[167][168] The bodies were later moved and reburied under an outbuilding on the Smith property off the Mississippi River.[169] Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), under the direction of then-RLDS Church president Frederick M. Smith (Smith's grandson) searched for, located, and disinterred the Smith brothers' remains in 1928 and reinterred them, along with Smith's wife, in Nauvoo at the Smith Family Cemetery.[167][169]

Impact and assessment

Modern biographers and scholars – Mormon and non-Mormon alike – agree that Smith was one of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history.[170] In a 2015 compilation of the 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, Smithsonian magazine ranked Smith first in the category of religious figures.[171] In popular opinion however, non-Mormons in the U.S. generally consider Smith a "charlatan, scoundrel, and heretic", while outside the U.S., he is "obscure".[172]

Within the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith's legacy varies between denominations:[173] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members consider Smith the founding prophet of their church,[174] on par with Moses and Elijah.[175] Meanwhile, Smith's reputation is ambivalent in the Community of Christ, which continues "honoring his role" in the church's founding history but deemphasizes his human leadership.[176] Conversely, Woolleyite Mormon fundamentalism has deified Smith within a cosmology of many gods.[177]

Buildings named in honor of Smith
 
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City
 
The Joseph Smith Building on the campus of Brigham Young University

Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah,[178] the former Joseph Smith Memorial building on the campus of Brigham Young University as well as the current Joseph Smith Building there,[179] a granite obelisk marking Smith's birthplace,[180] and a fifteen-foot-tall bronze statue of Smith in the World Peace Dome in Pune, India.[181]

Successors and denominations

See also: Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints) and List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement

Smith's death resulted in a succession crisis within the Latter Day Saint movement.[182] He had proposed several ways to choose his successor, but never clarified his preference.[183] The two strongest succession candidates were Young, senior member and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Rigdon, the senior remaining member of the First Presidency. In a church-wide conference on August 8, most of the Latter Day Saints present elected Young. They eventually left Nauvoo and settled the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory.[184] Nominal membership in Young's denomination, which became the LDS Church, surpassed 16 million in 2018.[185] Smaller groups followed Rigdon and James J. Strang, who had based his claim on a letter of appointment ostensibly written by Smith but which some scholars believe was forged.[186] Some hundreds followed Lyman Wight to establish a community in Texas.[187] Others followed Alpheus Cutler.[188] Many members of these smaller groups, including most of Smith's family,[189] eventually coalesced in 1860[190] under the leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed the RLDS Church, which now has about 250,000 members.[191]

Family and descendants

See also: List of Joseph Smith's wives and Children of Joseph Smith

The first of Smith's wives, Emma Hale, gave birth to nine children during their marriage, five of whom died before the age of two.[192] The eldest, Alvin (born in 1828), died within hours of birth, as did twins Thaddeus and Louisa (born in 1831).[193] When the twins died, the Smiths adopted another set of twins, Julia and Joseph Murdock, whose mother had recently died in childbirth; the adopted Smith died of measles in 1832.[194] In 1841, Don Carlos, who had been born a year earlier, died of malaria, and five months later, in 1842, Emma gave birth to a stillborn son.[195]

Joseph and Emma had five children who lived to maturity: adopted Julia Murdock, Joseph Smith III, David Hyrum Smith, Frederick Granger Williams Smith, and Alexander Hale Smith.[196] Some historians have speculated—based on journal entries and family stories—that Smith fathered children with his plural wives. However, in cases where DNA testing of potential Smith descendants from plural wives has been possible, results have been negative.[e]

After Smith's death, Emma was quickly alienated from Young and the LDS leadership.[197] Emma feared and despised Young, who in turn was suspicious of Emma's desire to preserve the family's assets from inclusion with those of the church. He also disliked her open opposition to plural marriage. Young excluded Emma from ecclesiastical meetings and from social gatherings.[198] When most Mormons moved west, Emma stayed in Nauvoo and married a non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon.[199] She withdrew from religion until 1860, when she affiliated with the RLDS Church headed by her son, Joseph III. Emma maintained her belief that Smith had been a prophet, and she never repudiated her belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.[200]

Polygamy

See also: Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy, Mormonism and polygamy, and List of Joseph Smith's wives

By some accounts, Smith had been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831, and there is evidence that he may have been a polygamist by 1835.[201] Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy, in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Cowdery over the issue.[202] Cowdery suspected Smith had engaged in a relationship with Fanny Alger, who worked in the Smith household as a serving girl.[203] Smith did not deny having a relationship, but he insisted that he had never admitted to adultery.[204] "Presumably," historian Bushman argues, "because he had married Alger" as a plural wife.[205]

In April 1841, Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman,[206] and during the next two-and-a-half years he secretly married or was sealed to about thirty or forty additional women.[c] Ten of his plural wives were between the ages of fourteen and twenty; others were over fifty.[207] Ten were already married to other men, though some of these polyandrous marriages were contracted with the consent of the first husbands.[208] Evidence for whether or not and to what degree Smith's polygamous marriages involved sex is ambiguous and varies between marriages.[209] Some polygamous marriages may have been considered solely religious marriages that would not take effect until after death.[210] In any case, during Smith's lifetime, the practice of polygamy was kept secret from both non-Mormons and most members of the church.[211] Polygamy caused a breach between Smith and his first wife, Emma;[212] historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich summarizes by stating that "Emma vacillated in her support for plural marriage, sometimes acquiescing to Joseph's sealings, sometimes resisting."[213]

Revelations

 
An artistic representation of the golden plates with the Urim and Thummim connected to a breastplate, based on descriptions by Smith and others

According to Bushman, the "signal feature" of Smith's life was "his sense of being guided by revelation". Instead of presenting his ideas with logical arguments, Smith dictated authoritative scripture-like "revelations" and let people decide whether to believe,[214] doing so with what Peter Coviello calls "beguiling offhandedness".[215] Smith and his followers treated his revelations as being above teachings or opinions, and he acted as though he believed in his revelations as much as his followers.[216][217] The revelations were written as if God himself were speaking through Smith, often opening with words such as, "Hearken O ye people which profess my name, saith the Lord your God."[218]

Book of Mormon

Main article: Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon has been called the longest and most complex of Smith's revelations.[219] Its language resembles the King James Version of the Bible, as does its organization as a compilation of smaller books, each named after prominent figures in the narrative.[220] It tells the story of the rise and fall of a Judeo-Christian religious civilization in the Western Hemisphere,[221] beginning about 600 BC and ending in the fifth century.[220][222] The book explains itself to be largely the work of Mormon, a Nephite prophet and military figure. Christian themes permeate the work.[223]

Some scholars have considered the Book of Mormon a response to pressing cultural and environmental issues in Smith's day.[224] Historian Dan Vogel regards the book as autobiographical in nature, reflecting Smith's life and perceptions.[225] Biographer Robert V. Remini calls the Book of Mormon "a typically American story" that "radiates the revivalist passion of the Second Great Awakening."[226] Brodie suggested that Smith composed the Book of Mormon by drawing on sources of information available to him, such as the 1823 book View of the Hebrews.[227] Other scholars argue the Book of Mormon is more biblical in inspiration than American. Bushman writes that "the Book of Mormon is not a conventional American book" and that its structure better resembles the Bible.[228] According to historian Daniel Walker Howe, the book's "dominant themes are biblical, prophetic, and patriarchal, not democratic or optimistic" like the prevailing American culture.[229] Shipps argues that the Book of Mormon's "complex set of religious claims" provided "the basis of a new mythos" or "story" which early converts accepted and lived in as their world, thus departing from "the early national period in America into a new dispensation of the fulness of times".[230]

 
According to some accounts, Smith dictated most of the Book of Mormon by looking into a seer stone placed in a stovepipe hat.

Smith never fully described how he produced the Book of Mormon, saying only that he translated by the power of God and implying that he had read its words.[231] The Book of Mormon itself states only that its text will "come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof".[232] Accordingly, there is considerable disagreement about the actual method used. For at least some of the earliest dictation, Smith's compatriots said he used the "Urim and Thummim", a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates.[233] However, people close to Smith said that later in the process of dictation, he used a chocolate-colored stone he had found in 1822 that he had used previously for treasure hunting.[f] Joseph Knight said that Smith saw the words of the translation while, after excluding all light, he gazed at the stone or stones in the bottom of his hat, a process similar to divining the location of treasure.[234] Sometimes, Smith concealed the process by raising a curtain or dictating from another room; at other times he dictated in full view of witnesses while the plates lay covered on the table or were hidden elsewhere.[235]

Bible revision

Main article: Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
See also: Book of Moses

In June 1830, Smith dictated a revelation in which Moses narrates a vision in which he sees "worlds without number" and speaks with God about the purpose of creation and the relation of humankind to deity.[236] This revelation initiated a revision of the Bible which Smith worked on sporadically until 1833 but which remained unpublished until after his death.[237] He may have considered it complete, though according to Emma Smith, the biblical revision was still unfinished when Joseph died.[238]

In the course of producing the Book of Mormon, Smith declared that the Bible was missing "the most plain and precious parts of the gospel".[239] He produced a "new translation" of the Bible, not by directly translating from manuscripts in another language, but by amending and appending to a King James Bible in a process which he and Latter Day Saints believed was guided by inspiration; Smith asserted his translation would correct lacuna and restore what the contemporary Bible was missing.[240] While many changes involved straightening out seeming contradictions or making small clarifications, other changes added large interpolations to the text.[241] For example, Smith's revision nearly tripled the length of the first five chapters of Genesis into a text called the Book of Moses.[242]

Book of Abraham

Main article: Book of Abraham

In 1835, Smith encouraged some Latter Day Saints in Kirtland to purchase rolls of ancient Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor. He said they contained the writings of the ancient patriarchs Abraham and Joseph. Over the next several years, Smith dictated to scribes what he reported was a revelatory translation of one of these rolls, which was published in 1842 as the Book of Abraham.[243] The Book of Abraham speaks of the founding of the Abrahamic nation, astronomy, cosmology, lineage and priesthood, and gives another account of the creation story.[244] The papyri associated with the Book of Abraham were thought to have been lost in the Great Chicago Fire, but several fragments were rediscovered in the 1960s. Egyptologists have subsequently determined them to be part of the Egyptian Book of Breathing with no connection to Abraham.[245][246]

Other revelations

See also: Book of Commandments and Doctrine and Covenants

[The Holy Spirit] may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass.

—Joseph Smith[247]

According to Pratt, Smith dictated his revelations, which were recorded by a scribe without revisions or corrections.[248] Revelations were immediately copied and then circulated among church members. Smith's revelations often came in response to specific questions. He described the revelatory process as having "pure Intelligence" flowing into him. Smith, however, never viewed the wording to be infallible. The revelations were not God's words verbatim, but "couched in language suitable to Joseph's time".[249] 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.[250]

Smith gave varying types of revelations. Some were temporal, while others were spiritual or doctrinal. Some were received for a specific individual, while others were directed at the whole church. An 1831 revelation called "The Law" contained directions for missionary work, rules for organizing society in Zion, a reiteration of the Ten Commandments, an injunction to "administer to the poor and needy" and an outline for the law of consecration.[251] An 1832 revelation called "The Vision" added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement, and introduced doctrines of life after salvation, exaltation, and a heaven with degrees of glory.[252] Another 1832 revelation was the first to explain priesthood doctrine.[253]

In 1833, at a time of temperance agitation, Smith delivered a revelation called the "Word of Wisdom", which counseled a diet of wholesome herbs, fruits, grains and a sparing use of meat. It also recommended that Latter Day Saints avoid "strong" alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and "hot drinks" (later interpreted to mean tea and coffee).[254] The Word of Wisdom was originally framed as a recommendation rather than a commandment and was not strictly followed by Smith and other early Latter Day Saints,[255] though it later became a requirement in the LDS Church.

Before 1832, most of Smith's revelations concerned establishing the church, gathering followers, and building the city of Zion. Later revelations dealt primarily with the priesthood, endowment, and exaltation.[256] The pace of formal revelations slowed during the autumn of 1833 and again after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple.[257] Smith moved away from formal written revelations spoken in God's voice, and instead taught more in sermons, conversations, and letters.[258] For instance, the doctrines of baptism for the dead and the nature of God were introduced in sermons, 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.[259]

Views and teachings

Main article: Teachings of Joseph Smith
 
Smith described Jesus and God the Father as two distinct physical beings.

Cosmology and theology

See also: Mormon cosmology and God in Mormonism

Smith taught that all existence was material, including a world of "spirit matter" so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes.[260] Matter, in Smith's view, could be neither created nor destroyed; the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter. Like matter, Smith saw "intelligence" as co-eternal with God, and he taught that human spirits had been drawn from a pre-existent pool of eternal intelligences.[261] Nevertheless, according to Smith, spirits could not experience a "fullness of joy" unless joined with corporeal bodies. Therefore, the work and glory of God was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied.[262]

Smith taught that God was an advanced and glorified man,[263] embodied within time and space.[264] He publicly taught that God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies.[265] Nevertheless, he conceived of the Holy Spirit as a "personage of Spirit".[266] Smith extended this materialist conception to all existence and taught that "all spirit is matter", meaning that a person's embodiment in flesh was not a sign of fallen carnality, but a divine quality that humans shared with deity. Humans are, therefore, not so much God's creations as they are God's "kin".[267] There is also considerable evidence that Smith taught, at least to limited audiences, that God the Father was accompanied by God the Mother.[268] In this conception, God fully understood is plural, embodied, gendered, and both male and female.[269]

Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge, according to Smith, those who received exaltation could eventually become like God.[270] These teachings implied a vast hierarchy of gods, with God himself having a father.[271] In Smith's cosmology, those who became gods would reign, unified in purpose and will, leading spirits of lesser capacity to share immortality and eternal life.[272]

In Smith's view, the opportunity to achieve godhood (also called exaltation) extended to all humanity. Those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them in the afterlife through proxy ordinances performed on their behalf.[273] Smith said that children who died in their innocence would be guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation. 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.[274]

Religious authority and ritual

See also: Priesthood (Latter Day Saints), Mormonism and Freemasonry, and Endowment (Latter Day Saints)

Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism.[275] 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 the Great Apostasy.[276] At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, and his religious authority was derived from his visions and revelations.[277] Though he did not claim exclusive prophethood, an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as Moses".[278] This religious authority included economic and political, as well as spiritual, matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, Smith temporarily instituted a form of religious communism, called the United Order, that required Latter Day Saints to give all their property to the church, to be divided among the faithful.[279] He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium.[280]

By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods—the Melchizedek, the Aaronic, and the Patriarchal.[281] Each priesthood was a continuation of biblical priesthoods through lineal succession or through ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions.[277] Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831, Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high", fulfilling a desire for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles.[282] This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s until, in 1842, the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing elements similar to those of Freemasonry[283] and the Jewish Kabbalah.[284] Although the endowment was extended to women in 1843, Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices.[285]

Smith taught that the High Priesthood's endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah, allowing High Priests to perform ceremonies with effects that continued after death.[286] For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and marriages that would last into eternity.[287] Elijah's sealing powers also enabled the second anointing, or "fulness [sic] of the priesthood", which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their exaltation.[288]

Theology of family

During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations, called the "New and Everlasting Covenant", that superseded all earthly bonds.[289] He taught that outside the covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract, and that in the afterlife, individuals who were unmarried or who married outside the covenant would be limited in their progression towards Godhood.[290] To fully enter the covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "first anointing", a "sealing" ceremony, and a "second anointing" (also called "sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise").[291] When fully sealed into the covenant, Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy (other than murder and apostasy[292]) could keep them from their exaltation in the afterlife.[293] According to a revelation Smith dictated, God appointed only one person on Earth at a time—in this case, Smith—to possess this power of sealing.[294] According to Smith, men and women needed to be sealed to each other in this new and everlasting covenant (also called "celestial marriage") in order to be exalted in heaven after death and that such celestial marriage, perpetuated across generations, could reunite extended families of ancestors and descendants in the afterlife.[295]

 
Profile portrait of Smith, by Bathsheba W. Smith, created circa 1843

Plural marriage, or polygamy, was Smith's "most famous innovation", according to historian Matthew Bowman.[11] Once Smith introduced polygamy, it became part of his "Abrahamic project," in the phrasing of historian Benjamin Park, wherein the solution to humanity's chaos would be found through accepting the divine order of the cosmos, under God's authority, in a "fusion of ecclesiastical and civic authority".[296] Smith also taught that the highest level of exaltation could be achieved through polygamy, the ultimate manifestation of the New and Everlasting Covenant.[297] In Smith's theology, marrying in polygamy made it possible for practitioners to unlearn the Christian tradition which identified the physical body as carnal, and to instead recognize their embodied joy as sacred.[298] Smith also taught that the practice allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god, accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.[299]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Church of Christ was the official name on April 6, 1830.[1] In 1834, the official name was changed to Church of the Latter Day Saints[2] and then in 1838 to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The spelling "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" was adopted by the LDS Church in Utah in 1851, after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, and is today specified in Doctrine and Covenants.[3]
  2. ^ Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith III, and at least four others each claimed succession.
  3. ^ a b Remini (2002, p. 153) notes the exact figure is debated. Smith (1994, p. 14) counts 42 polygamous wives; Quinn (1994, pp. 587–88) counts 46; Compton (1997, p. 11) counts at least 33 total; Bushman (2005, pp. 437, 644) accepts Compton's count, excepting one, resulting in a total of 32; Davenport (2022, p. 139) counts 37.
  4. ^ However, eventually a total of eleven others published statements affirming having been shown the plates. See Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses.
  5. ^ Perego, Ugo. "Joseph Smith, the Question of Polygamous Offspring, and DNA Analysis". Persistence of Polygamy, in Bringhurst & Foster (2010, pp. 233–256){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) Perego's summary of alleged children of Smith by polygamous wives lists fourteen (236). His chapter discusses six cases of DNA analysis in detail. Successful analyses disconfirmed paternity for Smith. However, Perego notes that for other alleged cases, issues such as insufficient data and "genealogical noise" make confident conclusions impossible. For more on DNA research and Smith's alleged paternity of children of women other than Emma Smith, also see: . Deseret News. May 28, 2005. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006.; . Deseret News. November 10, 2007. Archived from the original on November 13, 2007.; Perego, Ugo A.; Myers, Natalie M.; Woodward, Scott R. (Summer 2005). (PDF). Journal of Mormon History. 32 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2006.
  6. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 171–73) writes that 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; Bushman (2005, pp. 70, 578n46) notes that "Lucy Smith said that Joseph received the interpreters again on September 22, 1828" but that "Although the assertion clashes with other accounts, David Whitmer said Moroni did not return the Urim and Thummum… Instead Joseph used a seerstone for the remaining translation"; Jortner (2022, p. 42) follows Lucy Smith's account and writes of "the removal and subsequent restoration of the Urim and Thummum by an angel".

Citations

  1. ^ Shields, Steven (1990). Divergent Paths of the Restoration (Fourth ed.). Independence, Missouri: Restoration Research. ISBN 0-942284-00-3.
  2. ^ Joseph Smith. "Minutes of a Conference". Evening and Morning Star. Vol. 2, no. 20. Kirtland, OH. p. 160. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  3. ^ "D&C 115:4".
  4. ^ Garr, Arnold K. (Spring 2002). "Joseph Smith: Mayor of Nauvoo" (PDF). Mormon Historical Studies. 1 (1): 5–6.
  5. ^ Jenson, Andrew, ed. (1888). The Historical Record: A Monthly Periodical. Salt Lake City. p. 843. Retrieved July 23, 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 9, 30); Smith (1832, p. 1)
  7. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 21)
  8. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 27–32)
  9. ^ "Smith Family Log Home, Palmyra, New York". Ensign Peak Foundation. from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  10. ^ Martin, John H. (2005). "An Overview of the Burned-Over District". Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited, published in the Crooked Lake Review. No. 137. Fall 2005.
  11. ^ a b Bowman, Matthew (March 3, 2016). Butler, Jon (ed.). "Mormonism". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.326. ISBN 978-0-19-932917-5.
  12. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 36–37); Quinn (1998, p. 136)
  13. ^ Vogel (2004, p. xx); Hill (1989, pp. 10–11); Brooke (1994, p. 129)
  14. ^ Vogel (2004, pp. 26–7); D. Michael Quinn (July 12, 2006). (PDF). Dialogue Paperless. p. 3. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 30–31); Bushman (2005, p. 51); Shipps (1985, pp. 7–8); Remini (2002, pp. 16, 33); Hill (1977, p. 53)
  16. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 14–16, 137); Bushman (2005, pp. 26, 36); Brooke (1994, pp. 150–51); Mack (1811, p. 25); Smith (1853, pp. 54–59, 70–74)
  17. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 38–9); Vogel (2004, p. 30); Quinn (1998, p. 136); Remini (2002, p. 37)
  18. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 39); Vogel (2004, p. 30); Quinn (1998, p. 136)
  19. ^ Remini (2002, pp. 37–38); Bushman (2005, p. 39); Vogel (2004, p. 30)
  20. ^ Vogel (2004, p. 30); Remini (2002, p. 40); Harper (2019, p. 9)
  21. ^ Harper (2019, pp. 10–12)
  22. ^ Harper (2019, pp. 1, 51–55)
  23. ^ Allen, James B. (Autumn 1966). "The Significance of Joseph Smith's "First Vision" in Mormon Thought". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 1 (3): 29–46. doi:10.2307/45223817. JSTOR 45223817. S2CID 222223353.
  24. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 39); Vogel (2004, p. 30); Remini (2002, p. 39)
  25. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 136–38); Bushman (2005, p. 43); Shipps (1985, pp. 151–152)
  26. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 50); Jortner (2022, p. 38)
  27. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 163–64); Bushman (2005, p. 54)
  28. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 42)
  29. ^ Bushman (2008, p. 21); Bushman (2005, pp. 33, 48)
  30. ^ Taylor, Alan (Spring 1986). "The Early Republic's Supernatural Economy: Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast, 1780–1830". American Quarterly. 38 (1): 6–34. doi:10.2307/2712591. JSTOR 2712591.
  31. ^ Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 17); Brooke (1994, pp. 152–53); Quinn (1998, pp. 43–44, 54–57); , Persuitte (2000, pp. 33–53); Bushman (2005, pp. 45–53); Jortner (2022, p. 29)
  32. ^ Jortner (2022, pp. 29–31)
  33. ^ Jortner (2022, p. 33); Vogel, Dan. . Mormon Scripture Studies: An e-Journal of Critical Thought. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011.; "Introduction to State of New York v. JS–A". The Joseph Smith Papers. from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022,
  34. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 53); Vogel (2004, p. 89); Quinn (1998, p. 164)
  35. ^ Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 17–18)
  36. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 53–54)
  37. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 12); Quinn (1998, pp. 163–64); Bushman (2005, pp. 54, 59); Easton-Flake & Cope (2020, p. 126)
  38. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 59–60); Shipps (1985, p. 153)
  39. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 9); Bushman (2005, p. 54); Howe (2007, pp. 313–314); Jortner (2022, p. 41)
  40. ^ Bushman (2004, pp. 238–242); Howe (2007, p. 313)
  41. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 61); Howe (2007, p. 315); Jortner (2022, pp. 36–38)
  42. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 12); Remini (2002, p. 55); Bushman (2005, pp. 60–61)
  43. ^ Remini (2002, pp. 55–56); Newell & Avery (1994, p. 2); Bushman (2005, pp. 62–63)
  44. ^ Easton-Flake & Cope (2020, p. 129)
  45. ^ Shipps (1985, pp. 15–16); Easton-Flake & Cope (2020, pp. 117–119); Smith (1853, pp. 117–18)
  46. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 16);Easton-Flake & Cope (2020, pp. 117–118)
  47. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 67–68)
  48. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 17)
  49. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 68–70)
  50. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 18); Bushman (2005, pp. 70, 578n46); Phelps (1833, sec. 2:4–5); Smith (1853, p. 126)
  51. ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 70)
  52. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 70–74)
  53. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 5–6, 15–20); Bushman (2005, pp. 74–75)
  54. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 78)
  55. ^ Remini (2002, p. 68)
  56. ^ Jortner (2022, p. 43)
  57. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 154)
  58. ^ For the April 6 establishment of a church organization, see Shipps (1985, p. 154); for Fayette and Manchester (and some ambiguity over a Palmyra presence), see Hill (1989, pp. 27, 201n84); for the Colesville congregation, see Jortner (2022, p. 57);
  59. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 117); Vogel (2004, pp. 484–486, 510–512)
  60. ^ Hill (1989, p. 28); Bushman (2005, pp. 116–18)
  61. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 24–26); Bushman (2005, p. 118)
  62. ^ Hill (1989, p. 27); Bushman (2005, p. 120)
  63. ^ Hill (1989, pp. 27–28); Bushman (2005, p. 121); Phelps (1833, p. 67)
  64. ^ Hill (1989, p. 28); Bushman (2005, p. 112); Jortner (2022, pp. 59–60, 93, 95)
  65. ^ Phelps (1833, p. 68); Bushman (2005, p. 122)
  66. ^ Parley Pratt said that the Mormon mission baptized 127 within two or three weeks "and this number soon increased to one thousand". See McKiernan, F. Mark (Summer 1970). "The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 5 (2): 71–78. doi:10.2307/45224203. JSTOR 45224203. S2CID 254399092; Bushman (2005, p. 124); Jortner (2022, pp. 60–61)
  67. ^ McKiernan, F. Mark (Summer 1970). "The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 5 (2): 71–78. doi:10.2307/45224203. JSTOR 45224203. S2CID 254399092
    Bushman (2005, p. 124)
  68. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 124–25); Howe (2007, p. 315)
  69. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 150–52); Remini (2002, p. 95)
  70. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 154–55); Hill (1977, p. 131)
  71. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 31–32); Bushman (2005, pp. 125, 156–60)
  72. ^ a b Arrington & Bitton (1979, p. 21)
  73. ^ Shipps (1985, p. 81)
  74. ^ Turner (2012, p. 41)
  75. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 161)
  76. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 162–163); Smith et al. (1835, p. 154)
  77. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 180–182)
  78. ^ Remini (2002, pp. 109–10); Bushman (2005, pp. 178–80)
  79. ^ See Remini (2002, pp. 113–15); Arrington & Bitton (1979, p. 61))
  80. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 222)
  81. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 181–83, 235); Quinn (1994, pp. 82–83)
  82. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 83–84); Bushman (2005, pp. 222–27)
  83. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 227–8); Bruce A. Van Orden, "Importuning The Government" in We'll Sing and We'll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018), 123–134.
  84. ^ Remini (2002, p. 115)
  85. ^ Hill (1989, pp. 44–46) (for Smith deescalating and disbanding the camp); Bushman (2005, pp. 235–46) (for the numerical limitations, social tension, and cholera outbreak in the camp).
  86. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 246–247); Quinn (1994, p. 85)
  87. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 247); see also Remini (2002, pp. 100–104) for a timeline of Smith introducing the new organizational entities.
  88. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 156–57); Smith et al. (1835, p. 233); Prince (1995, p. 32 & n.104).
  89. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 310–19)
  90. ^ Remini (2002, pp. 122–123); Bushman (2005, pp. 328–334)
  91. ^ Remini (2002, p. 124); Bushman (2005, pp. 331–32, 336–39)
  92. ^ Brooke (1994, p. 221)
  93. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 322); Compton1997, pp. 25–42)
  94. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 217, 329)
  95. ^ Remini (2002, p. 125); Bushman (2005, pp. 339–40); Hill (1977, p. 216)
  96. ^ Hill (1977, pp. 181–82); Bushman (2005, pp. 345, 384)
  97. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 210, 222–23); Quinn (1994, p. 628); Remini (2002, p. 131)
  98. ^ Remini (2002, p. 125); Bushman (2005, pp. 341–46)
  99. ^ Walker, Jeffrey N. (2008). "Mormon Land Rights in Caldwell and Daviess Counties and the Mormon Conflict of 1838: New Findings and New Understandings". BYU Studies. 47 (1): 4–55. JSTOR 43044611 – via JSTOR; LeSueur, Stephen C. (Fall 2005). "Missouri's Failed Compromise: The Creation of Caldwell County for the Mormons". Journal of Mormon History. 31 (2): 113–144. JSTOR 23289934 – via JSTOR
  100. ^ Quinn (1994, p. 92); Brodie (1971, p. 213); Bushman (2005, p. 355)
  101. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 357)
  102. ^ Remini (2002, p. 134); Quinn (1994, pp. 96–99, 101); Bushman (2005, p. 363)
  103. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 364–65); Quinn (1994, p. 100)
  104. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 365–66); Quinn (1994, p. 97)
  105. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 366–67); Brodie (1971, p. 239)
  106. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 242, 344, 367); Brodie (1971, p. 241)
  107. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 369); Brodie (1971, pp. 225–26, 243–45)
  108. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 369–70)
  109. ^ Remini (2002, pp. 136–37); Brodie (1971, pp. 245–46);Quinn (1998, pp. 101–02)
  110. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 377–78)
  111. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 375); Brodie (1971, pp. 253–55); Bushman (2005, pp. 382, 635–36); Bentley, Joseph I. (1992). "Smith, Joseph: Legal Trials of Joseph Smith". In Ludlow, Daniel H (ed.). Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan Publishing. pp. 1346–1348. ISBN 0-02-879602-0. OCLC 24502140. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  112. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 246–47, 259); Bushman (2005, p. 398)
  113. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 381)
  114. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 383–4)
  115. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 392–94, 398–99); Brodie (1971, pp. 259–60)
  116. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 386, 409); Brodie (1971, pp. 258, 264–65)
  117. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 410–11)
  118. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 267–68); Bushman (2005, p. 412,415)
  119. ^ Quinn (1998, pp. 106–08)
  120. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 271)
  121. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 410–411)
  122. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 448–49); Park (2020, pp. 57–61)
  123. ^ Quinn (1994, p. 113)
  124. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 449); Quinn (1994, pp. 114–15)
  125. ^ Quinn (1994, p. 634)
  126. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 384,404)
  127. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 415)
  128. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 111–12)
  129. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 427–28)
  130. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 460)Brodie (1971, pp. 311–12)
  131. ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 12); Bushman (2005, pp. 461–62); Brodie (1971, p. 314)
  132. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 468); Brodie (1971, p. 323); Quinn (1994, p. 113)
  133. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 468–75)
  134. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 504–08)
  135. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 508)
  136. ^ Romig, Ronald; Mackay, Lachlan (Spring–Summer 2022). "Hidden Things Shall Come to Light: The Visual Image of Joseph Smith Jr". John Whitmer Historical Association Journal. 42 (1): 28–60. ISSN 0739-7852.
  137. ^ There is disagreement among historians about the identification and provenance of this daguerrotype; for an overview of arguments and positions for and against, see Stack, Peggy Fletcher (July 29, 2022). "'The Whole Affect Feels Off to Me' — Why Some Historians Doubt That's a Photo of Joseph Smith". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  138. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 356); Quinn (1994, pp. 115–116)
  139. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 118–19); Bushman (2005, pp. 514–15); Brodie (1971, pp. 362–64)
  140. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 519); Quinn (1994, pp. 120–22)
  141. ^ "How Joseph Smith and the Early Mormons Challenged American Democracy". The New Yorker. March 20, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  142. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 517)
  143. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 527–28)
  144. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 368–9); Quinn (1994, p. 528)
  145. ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 14); Brodie (1971, pp. 369–371); Van Wagoner (1992, p. 39); Bushman (2005, pp. 660–61)
  146. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 549, 531)
  147. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 373); Bushman (2005, pp. 531, 538); Park (2020, p. 227)
  148. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 539); Brodie (1971, pp. 374); Quinn (1994, p. 138)
  149. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 539); Brodie (1971, pp. 375); Marquardt (1999, p. 312); Ulrich (2017, pp. 113–114)
  150. ^ Oaks & Hill (1975, p. 14); Davenport (2022, pp. 147–148). The text of the Nauvoo Expositor is available on Wikisource.
  151. ^ Park (2020, pp. 228–230); Marquardt (1999, p. 312)
  152. ^ Park (2020, pp. 229–230)
  153. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 541)
  154. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 394)
  155. ^ Ulrich (2017, p. 114); Park (2020, p. 230)
  156. ^ Park (2020, pp. 231–232); McBride (2021, pp. 186–187)
  157. ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 16)
  158. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 546); Park (2020, p. 233)
  159. ^ Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 17); Park (2020, p. 234); McBride (2021, p. 191)
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  161. ^ McBride (2021, p. 192)
  162. ^ Oaks & Hill (1975, p. 52); Brodie (1971, p. 393)
  163. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 549)
  164. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 393–94); Bushman (2005, pp. 549–50)
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  170. ^ Bloom (1992, pp. 96–99); Persuitte (2000, p. 1); Remini (2002, p. ix)
  171. ^ Lloyd, R. Scott (January 9, 2015). "Joseph Smith, Brigham Young Rank First and Third in Magazine's List of Significant Religious Figures". Church News.
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  174. ^ Oaks, Dallin H. (2005). "Joseph Smith in a Personal World". The Worlds of Joseph Smith: A Bicentennial Conference at the Library of Congress. Brigham Young University Studies. 44 (4): 153–172. JSTOR 43045057 – via JSTOR
  175. ^ Brodie (1971, p. vii); Shipps (1985, p. 37); Bushman (2005, p. xx); Widmer (2000, p. 97)
  176. ^ Moore, Richard G. (Spring 2014). "LDS Misconceptions about the Community of Christ" (PDF). Mormon Historical Studies. 15 (1): 1–23. (PDF) from the original on November 20, 2021.
  177. ^ Rosetti, Cristina (Fall 2021). "Praise to the Man: The Development of Joseph Smith Deification in Woolleyite Mormonism, 1929–1977". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 54 (3): 41–65. doi:10.5406/dialjmormthou.54.3.0041. S2CID 246647004
  178. ^ Rockwell, Ken; Neatrour, Anna; Muir-Jones, James (2018). "Repurposing Secular Buildings". Religious Diversity in Salt Lake City. University of Utah.
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  180. ^ Erekson, Keith A. (Summer–Fall 2005). "The Joseph Smith Memorial Monument and Royalton's 'Mormon Affair': Religion, Community, Memory, and Politics in Progressive Vermont" (PDF). Vermont History. 73: 118–151.
  181. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (November 26, 2022). "What's a Giant Statue of Mormonism's Joseph Smith Doing in India?". Salt Lake Tribune.
  182. ^ Quinn (1994, p. 143); Brodie (1971, p. 398)
  183. ^ Shipps (1985, pp. 83–84); Quinn (1994, p. 143); Davenport (2022, p. 159)
  184. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 556–57); Davenport (2022, p. 163)
  185. ^ Walsh, Tad (March 31, 2018). "LDS Church Membership Officially Surpasses 16 Million". Deseret News.
  186. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 555–557)
  187. ^ McBride (2021, p. 205)
  188. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 198–09)
  189. ^ Peter, Karin; Mackay, Lachlan; Chvala-Smith, Tony (October 14, 2022). "Theo-History: Plano Period". Cuppa Joe (Podcast). Project Zion Podcast. Event occurs at 1:52 and 9:47.
  190. ^ Howlett, David J. (December 11, 2022). "Community of Christ". World Religions and Spirituality Project. from the original on January 10, 2023
  191. ^ "Community of Christ". Encyclopædia Britannica. April 15, 2004. from the original on January 23, 2023
  192. ^ Posterity tree in Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 12–13)
  193. ^ Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 27, 39)
  194. ^ Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 39, 43); Jortner (2022, p. 88); "Smith, Joseph Murdock". The Joseph Smith Papers. from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  195. ^ Newell & Avery (1994, pp. 102–103); Rappleye, Christine (March 19, 2021). "Remembering Emma Hale Smith, the First President of the Relief Society". Church Newsroom. from the original on January 5, 2023
  196. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 554)
  197. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 554); Avery & Newell (1980, p. 82)
  198. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 554)
  199. ^ Newell, Linda King (Fall–Winter 2011). "Emma's Legacy: Life After Joseph". 2010 Sterling M. McMurrin Lecture. John Whitmer Historical Association Journal. 31 (2): 1–22. JSTOR 43200523 – via JSTOR.; Bushman (2005, pp. 554–55)
  200. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 555)
  201. ^ Hill (1977, p. 340); Compton (1997, p. 27); Bushman (2005, pp. 323, 326); Ulrich (2017, pp. 16, 404n48); Davenport (2022, p. 138)
  202. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 323–25); Hill (1977, p. 188)
  203. ^ Ulrich (2017, p. 404n48); Compton (1997, p. 26); Bushman (2005, pp. 323–326); Smith (2008, pp. 38–39 n.81)
  204. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 325)
  205. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 323–25). See also Bradley, Don. "Mormon Polygamy Before Nauvoo? The Relationship of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger". Persistence of Polygamy, in Bringhurst & Foster (2010, pp. 14–58){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) and Park (2020, pp. 62–63) for other perspectives on the Smith-Alger relationship.
  206. ^ Park (2020, pp. 61–62)
  207. ^ Compton (1997, p. 11); Remini (2002, p. 154); Brodie (1971, pp. 334–43); Bushman (2005, pp. 492–498)
  208. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 439)
  209. ^ Van Wagoner (1992, p. 73n3); Bushman (2005, pp. 418–419); Park (2020, pp. 67, 104–105)
  210. ^ Foster (1981, p. 159); Compton (1997, pp. 171–179, 558); Hales, Brian C. "Joseph Smith and the Puzzlement of 'Polyandry'". Persistence of Polygamy. pp. 129–130, in Bringhurst & Foster (2010, pp. 99–152){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) as well as Hales (2013, pp. 1:418–425, 2:282); Park (2020, p. 67)
  211. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 491); Park (2020, pp. 61, 67); Davenport (2022, pp. 131, 136–137)
  212. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 494–495)
  213. ^ Ulrich (2017, p. 89); see Park (2020, pp. 193–194) for a concurring assessment.
  214. ^ Bushman (2005, p. xxi)
  215. ^ Coviello (2019, p. 59)
  216. ^ Bushman (2005, p. xxi,173)
  217. ^ Vogel (2004, p. viii, xvii)
  218. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. xx, 129)
  219. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 105)
  220. ^ a b Maffly-Kipp, Laurie (2008). "Introduction". The Book of Mormon. Penguin Classics. New York: Penguin. pp. vi–xxxii. ISBN 978-0-14-310553-4.
  221. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 85–87); Jortner (2022, p. 48)
  222. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 85)
  223. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 108); Vogel (2004, pp. 122–23, 161, 311, 700)
  224. ^ Bushman (2004, p. 48) 
  225. ^ Vogel (2004, pp. xviii–xix)
  226. ^ Remini, Robert V. (2005). "Biographical Reflections on the American Joseph Smith". The Worlds of Joseph Smith: A Bicentennial Conference at the Library of Congress. Brigham Young University Studies. 44 (4): 21–30. ISSN 0007-0106. JSTOR 43045047.
  227. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 46–48, 57–73).
  228. ^ Bushman (2004, pp. 58–59)
  229. ^ Howe (2007, p. 314)
  230. ^ Shipps (1985, pp. 35–36)
  231. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 72)
  232. ^ Book of Mormon, title page.
  233. ^ Remini (2002, p. 57); Bushman (2005, p. 66); Quinn (1998, pp. 169–70)
  234. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–04); Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, pp. 52–53)
  235. ^ Remini (2002, p. 62); Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, p. 53); Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–04)
  236. ^ Givens & Hauglid (2019, p. 37), quoting Moses 1:3
  237. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 132, 142); Givens & Hauglid (2019, p. 32)
  238. ^ Givens & Hauglid (2019, pp. 32–33)
  239. ^ Givens & Hauglid (2019, p. 31)
  240. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 133); Givens & Hauglid (2019, pp. 31–32)
  241. ^ Hill (1977, p. 131); Givens & Hauglid (2019, p. 32)
  242. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 138)
  243. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 170–75); Bushman (2005, pp. 286, 289–290)
  244. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 157, 288–290)
  245. ^ Wilson, John A. (Summer 1968). "A Summary Report". The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: Translations and Interpretations. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 3 (2): 67–88. doi:10.2307/45227259. JSTOR 45227259. S2CID 254343491.
  246. ^ Ritner, Robert K. "Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham: A Response" (PDF). University of Chicago. (PDF) from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  247. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 388)
  248. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 130)
  249. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 174)
  250. ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 5–6, 9, 15–17, 26, 30, 33, 35, 38–42, 49, 70–71, 88, 198); Brodie (1971, p. 141)
  251. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 106–7); "D&C 42".
  252. ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 117–18); "D&C 76".
  253. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 202–205); "D&C 84".
  254. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 166); Bushman (2005, pp. 212–213); "D&C 89".
  255. ^ Brodie (1971, p. 289); Bushman (2005, p. 213); Ostling & Ostling (1999, pp. 177–78)
  256. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 193–195)
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  258. ^ Bushman (2005, p. 419)
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  260. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 419–20); Brooke (1994, pp. 3–5)
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  264. ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 421); Bloom (1992, p. 101)
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References

External links

  • Works by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Project Gutenberg
  • Works by or about Joseph Smith at Internet Archive
  • Works by Joseph Smith at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)  
  • Official LDS Church site about Joseph Smith
  • JosephSmithPapers.org—An LDS Church project compiling primary documents relating to Joseph Smith
  • Recently-discovered photo of Smith

October 08, 2023
joseph, smith, this, article, about, founder, latter, saint, movement, other, persons, disambiguation, december, 1805, june, 1844, american, religious, leader, founder, mormonism, latter, saint, movement, publishing, book, mormon, smith, attracted, tens, thous. This article is about the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement For other persons see Joseph Smith disambiguation Joseph Smith Jr December 23 1805 June 27 1844 was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24 Smith attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later The religion he founded is followed to the present day by millions of global adherents and several churches the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church Joseph SmithPortrait c 18421st President of the Church of Christ a April 6 1830 1830 04 06 June 27 1844 1844 06 27 SuccessorDisputed b End reasonDeath2nd Mayor of Nauvoo IllinoisIn officeMay 19 1842 1842 05 19 4 June 27 1844 1844 06 27 PredecessorJohn C BennettSuccessorChancy Robison 5 Political partyIndependentPersonal detailsBornJoseph Smith Jr 1805 12 23 December 23 1805Sharon Vermont U S DiedJune 27 1844 1844 06 27 aged 38 Carthage Illinois U S Cause of deathGunshot woundsResting placeSmith Family Cemetery Nauvoo Illinois U S 40 32 26 N 91 23 33 W 40 54052 N 91 39244 W 40 54052 91 39244 Smith Family Cemetery Known ForFounding MormonismSpouse s Emma Smith m 1827 wbr Multiple others c ChildrenJuliaJoseph IIIAlexanderDavidothersParentsJoseph Smith Sr father Lucy Mack Smith mother RelativesAlvin Smith brother Hyrum Smith brother Sophronia Smith sister Samuel H Smith brother Ephraim Smith brother William Smith brother Katharine Smith sister Don Carlos Smith brother Lucy Smith sister Signature Born in Sharon Vermont Smith moved with his family to the western region of New York State following a series of crop failures in 1816 Living in an area of intense religious revivalism during the Second Great Awakening Smith reported experiencing a series of visions The first of these was in 1820 when he saw two personages whom he eventually described as God the Father and Jesus Christ In 1823 he said he was visited by an angel who directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo Christian history of an ancient American civilization In 1830 Smith published the Book of Mormon which he described as an English translation of those plates The same year he organized the Church of Christ calling it a restoration of the early Christian Church Members of the church were later called Latter Day Saints or Mormons In 1831 Smith and his followers moved west planning to build a communal Zion in the American heartland They first gathered in Kirtland Ohio and established an outpost in Independence Missouri which was intended to be Zion s center place During the 1830s Smith sent out missionaries published revelations and supervised construction of the Kirtland Temple Because of the collapse of the church sponsored Kirtland Safety Society violent skirmishes with non Mormon Missourians and the Mormon extermination order Smith and his followers established a new settlement at Nauvoo Illinois of which he was the spiritual and political leader In 1844 when the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith s power and his practice of polygamy Smith and the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of its printing press inflaming anti Mormon sentiment Fearing an invasion of Nauvoo Smith rode to Carthage Illinois to stand trial but was shot and killed by a mob that stormed the jailhouse During his ministry Smith published numerous documents and texts many of which he attributed to divine inspiration and revelation from God He dictated the majority of these in the first person saying they were the writings of ancient prophets or expressed the voice of God His followers accepted his teachings as prophetic and revelatory and several of these texts were canonized by denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement which continue to treat them as scripture Smith s teachings discuss God s nature cosmology family structures political organization and religious community and authority Mormons generally regard Smith as a prophet comparable to Moses and Elijah Several religious denominations identify as the continuation of the church that he organized including the LDS Church and the Community of Christ Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early years 1805 1827 1 2 Founding a church 1827 1830 1 3 Life in Ohio 1831 1838 1 4 Life in Missouri 1838 39 1 5 Life in Nauvoo Illinois 1839 1844 1 6 Death 2 Legacy 2 1 Immediate aftermath 2 2 Impact and assessment 2 3 Successors and denominations 3 Family and descendants 3 1 Polygamy 4 Revelations 4 1 Book of Mormon 4 2 Bible revision 4 3 Book of Abraham 4 4 Other revelations 5 Views and teachings 5 1 Cosmology and theology 5 2 Religious authority and ritual 5 3 Theology of family 6 See also 7 Notes 8 Citations 9 References 10 External linksLifeEarly years 1805 1827 Main article Early life of Joseph Smith Joseph Smith was born on December 23 1805 in Vermont on the border between the villages of South Royalton and Sharon to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Smith Sr a merchant and farmer 6 He was one of eleven children At the age of seven Smith suffered a crippling bone infection and after receiving surgery used crutches for three years 7 After an ill fated business venture and three successive years of crop failures culminating in the 1816 Year Without a Summer the Smith family left Vermont and moved to the western region of New York State 8 and took out a mortgage on a 100 acre 40 ha farm in the townships of Palmyra and Manchester 9 The region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm during the Second Great Awakening 10 11 Between 1817 and 1825 there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area 12 Smith s parents disagreed about religion but the family was caught up in this excitement 13 Smith later recounted that he had become interested in religion by age 12 and as a teenager may have been sympathetic to Methodism 14 With other family members he also engaged in religious folk magic a relatively common practice in that time and place 15 Both his parents and his maternal grandfather reported having visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God 16 Smith said that although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul he was confused by the claims of competing religious denominations 17 Years later Smith wrote that he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion 18 He said that in 1820 while he had been praying in a wooded area near his home God the Father and Jesus Christ together appeared to him told him his sins were forgiven and said that all contemporary churches had turned aside from the gospel 19 Smith said he recounted the experience to a Methodist minister who dismissed the story with great contempt 20 According to historian Steven C Harper There is no evidence in the historical record that Joseph Smith told anyone but the minister of his vision for at least a decade and Smith might have kept it private because of how uncomfortable that first dismissal was 21 During the 1830s Smith orally described the vision to some of his followers though it was not widely published among Mormons until the 1840s 22 This vision later grew in importance to Smith s followers who eventually regarded it as the first event in the restoration of Christ s church to Earth 23 Smith himself may have originally considered the vision to be a personal conversion 24 nbsp Smith said he received golden plates from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah According to Smith s later accounts while praying one night in 1823 he was visited by an angel named Moroni Smith claimed this angel revealed the location of a buried book made of golden plates as well as other artifacts including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame which had been hidden in a hill near his home 25 Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because Moroni returned and prevented him 26 He reported that during the next four years he made annual visits to the hill but until the fourth and final visit each time he returned without the plates 27 Meanwhile Smith s family faced financial hardship due in part to the death of his oldest brother Alvin 28 Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers 29 a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period 30 Smith was said to have an ability to locate lost items by looking into a seer stone which he also used in treasure hunting including beginning in 1825 several unsuccessful attempts to find buried treasure sponsored by Josiah Stowell a wealthy farmer in Chenango County 31 In 1826 Smith was brought before a Chenango County court for glass looking or pretending to find lost treasure Stowell s relatives accused Smith of tricking Stowell and faking an ability to perceive hidden treasure though Stowell attested that he believed Smith had such abilities 32 The result of the proceeding remains unclear because primary sources report conflicting outcomes 33 nbsp Emma Hale Smith who married Joseph Smith in 1827 While boarding at the Hale house located in the township of Harmony now Oakland in Pennsylvania Smith met and courted Emma Hale When he proposed marriage her father Isaac Hale objected he believed Smith had no means to support his daughter 34 Hale also considered Smith a stranger who appeared careless and not very well educated 35 Smith and Emma eloped and married on January 18 1827 after which the couple began boarding with Smith s parents in Manchester Later that year when Smith promised to abandon treasure seeking his father in law offered to let the couple live on his property in Harmony and help Smith get started in business 36 Smith made his last visit to the hill shortly after midnight on September 22 1827 taking Emma with him 37 This time he said he successfully retrieved the plates 38 Smith said Moroni commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else d but to translate them and publish their translation He also said the plates were a religious record of Middle Eastern indigenous Americans and were engraved in an unknown language called reformed Egyptian 39 He told associates that he was capable of reading and translating them 40 Although Smith had abandoned treasure hunting former associates believed he had double crossed them and had taken the golden plates for himself property they believed should be jointly shared 41 After they ransacked places where they believed the plates might have been hidden Smith decided to leave Palmyra 42 Founding a church 1827 1830 Main article Life of Joseph Smith from 1827 to 1830 In October 1827 Smith and Emma permanently moved to Harmony aided by a relatively prosperous neighbor Martin Harris 43 who began serving as Smith s scribe in April 1828 44 Although he and his wife Lucy were early supporters of Smith by June 1828 they began to have doubts about the existence of the golden plates Harris persuaded Smith to let him take 116 pages of manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members including his wife 45 While Harris had the manuscript in his possession of which there was no other copy it was lost 46 Smith was devastated by this loss especially since it came at the same time as the death of his first son who died shortly after birth 47 Smith said that as punishment for his having lost the manuscript Moroni returned took away the plates and revoked his ability to translate 48 During this period Smith briefly attended Methodist meetings with his wife until a cousin of hers objected to inclusion of a practicing necromancer on the Methodist class roll 49 nbsp Cover page of the Book of Mormon original 1830 editionSmith said that Moroni returned the plates to him in September 1828 50 and he then dictated some of the book to his wife Emma 51 In April 1829 he met Oliver Cowdery who had also dabbled in folk magic and with Cowdery as scribe Smith began a period of rapid fire translation 51 Between April and early June 1829 the two worked full time on the manuscript then moved to Fayette New York where they continued the work at the home of Cowdery s friend Peter Whitmer 52 When the narrative described an institutional church and a requirement for baptism Smith and Cowdery baptized each other 53 Dictation was completed about July 1 1829 54 According to Smith Moroni took back the plates once Smith finished using them 55 The completed work titled the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra by printer Egbert Bratt Grandin 56 and was first advertised for sale on March 26 1830 57 Less than two weeks later on April 6 1830 Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ and small branches were established in Manchester Fayette and Colesville New York 58 The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety and renewed the hostility of those who remembered the 1826 Chenango County trial 59 After Cowdery baptized several new church members Smith s followers were threatened with mob violence Before Smith could confirm the newly baptized he was arrested and charged with being a disorderly person 60 Although he was acquitted both he and Cowdery fled to Colesville to escape a gathering mob Smith later claimed that probably around this time Peter James and John had appeared to him and had ordained him and Cowdery to a higher priesthood 61 Smith s authority was undermined when Cowdery Hiram Page and other church members also claimed to receive revelations 62 In response Smith dictated a revelation which clarified his office as a prophet and an apostle stating that only he had the ability to declare doctrine and scripture for the church 63 Smith then dispatched Cowdery Peter Whitmer and others on a mission to proselytize Native Americans 64 Cowdery was also assigned the task of locating the site of the New Jerusalem which was to be on the borders of the United States with what was then Indian territory 65 On their way to Missouri Cowdery s party passed through northeastern Ohio where Sidney Rigdon and over a hundred followers of his variety of Campbellite Restorationism converted to the Church of Christ swelling the ranks of the new organization dramatically 66 After Rigdon visited New York he soon became Smith s primary assistant 67 With growing opposition in New York Smith announced a revelation that his followers should gather to Kirtland Ohio establish themselves as a people and await word from Cowdery s mission 68 Life in Ohio 1831 1838 Main article Life of Joseph Smith from 1831 to 1837 When Smith moved to Kirtland in January 1831 he encountered a religious culture that included enthusiastic demonstrations of spiritual gifts including fits and trances rolling on the ground and speaking in tongues 69 Rigdon s followers were practicing a form of communalism Smith brought the Kirtland congregation under his authority and tamed ecstatic outbursts 70 He had promised church elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power and at the June 1831 general conference he introduced the greater authority of a High Melchizedek Priesthood to the church hierarchy 71 nbsp A mob tarred and feathered Smith in 1832 Converts poured into Kirtland By the summer of 1835 there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Latter Day Saints in the vicinity 72 many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom 73 Though his mission to the Native Americans had been a failure 74 75 Cowdery and the other missionaries with him were charged with finding a site for a holy city They found Jackson County Missouri After Smith visited in July 1831 he pronounced the frontier hamlet of Independence the center place of Zion 76 For most of the 1830s the church was effectively based in Ohio 72 Smith lived there though he visited Missouri again in early 1832 to prevent a rebellion of prominent church members who believed the church in Missouri was being neglected 77 Smith s trip was hastened by a mob of Ohio residents who were incensed over the church s presence and Smith s political power The mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious tarred and feathered them and left them for dead 78 In Jackson County existing Missouri residents resented the Latter Day Saint newcomers for both political and religious reasons 79 Additionally their rapid growth aroused fears that they would soon constitute a majority in local elections and thus rule the county 80 Tension increased until July 1833 when non Mormons forcibly evicted the Mormons and destroyed their property Smith advised his followers to bear the violence patiently until after they had been attacked multiple times after which they could fight back 81 Armed bands exchanged fire killing one Mormon and two non Mormons until the old settlers forcibly expelled the Latter Day Saints from the county 82 In response Smith first petitioned Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin for redress these efforts were unsuccessful 83 Smith then organized and led a small paramilitary expedition called Zion s Camp to aid the Latter Day Saints in Missouri 84 As a military endeavor the expedition was a failure The men of the expedition were disorganized suffered from a cholera outbreak and were severely outnumbered By the end of June Smith deescalated the confrontation sought peace with Jackson County s residents and disbanded Zion s Camp 85 Nevertheless Zion s Camp transformed Latter Day Saint leadership because many future church leaders came from among the participants 86 After the Camp returned to Ohio Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish various governing bodies in the church 87 He gave a revelation announcing that in order to redeem Zion his followers would have to receive an endowment in the Kirtland Temple 88 which he and his followers constructed In March 1836 at the temple s dedication many who received the endowment reported seeing visions of angels and engaged in prophesying and speaking in tongues 89 nbsp Smith dedicated the Kirtland Temple in 1836 In January 1837 Smith and other churchleaders created a joint stock company called the Kirtland Safety Society to act as a quasi bank the company issued banknotes partly capitalized by real estate Smith encouraged his followers to buy the notes in which he invested heavily himself The bank failed within a month 90 As a result Latter Day Saints in Kirtland suffered extreme high volatility and intense pressure from debt collectors Smith was held responsible for the failure and there were widespread defections from the church including many of Smith s closest advisers 91 The failure of the bank was but one part a series of internal disputes led to the demise of the Kirtland community 92 Cowdery had accused Smith of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage servant in his home Fanny Alger 93 Construction of the Kirtland Temple had only added to the church s debt and Smith was hounded by creditors 94 After a warrant was issued for Smith s arrest on a charge of banking fraud he and Rigdon fled for Missouri in January 1838 95 Life in Missouri 1838 39 Main article Life of Joseph Smith from 1838 to 1839 By 1838 Smith had abandoned plans to redeem Zion in Jackson County and instead declared the town of Far West Missouri in Caldwell County as the new Zion 96 In Missouri the church also took the name Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and construction began on a new temple 97 In the weeks and months after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West thousands of Latter Day Saints followed them from Kirtland 98 Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County instituting a settlement in Adam ondi Ahman in Daviess County 99 Political and religious differences between old Missourians and newly arriving Latter Day Saint settlers provoked tensions between the two groups much as they had in Jackson County By this time Smith s experiences with mob violence led him to believe that his faith s survival required greater militancy against anti Mormons 100 Tensions between the Mormons and the native Missourians escalated quickly until on August 6 1838 non Mormons in Gallatin Missouri tried to prevent Mormons from voting 101 The election day scuffles initiated the 1838 Mormon War Non Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms while Danites and other Mormons pillaged non Mormon towns 102 In the Battle of Crooked River a group of Mormons attacked the Missouri state militia mistakenly believing them to be anti Mormon vigilantes Governor Lilburn Boggs then ordered that the Mormons be exterminated or driven from the state 103 On October 30 a party of Missourians surprised and killed seventeen Mormons in the Haun s Mill massacre 104 nbsp Smith was held for four months in Liberty jail The following day the Mormons surrendered to 2 500 state troops and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state 105 Smith was immediately brought before a military court accused of treason and sentenced to be executed the next morning but Alexander Doniphan who was Smith s former attorney and a brigadier general in the Missouri militia refused to carry out the order 106 Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing where several of his former allies testified against him 107 Smith and five others including Rigdon were charged with treason and transferred to the jail at Liberty Missouri to await trial 108 Smith bore his imprisonment stoically Understanding that he was effectively on trial before his own people many of whom considered him a fallen prophet he wrote a personal defense and an apology for the activities of his followers The keys of the kingdom he wrote have not been taken away from us 109 Though he directed his followers to collect and publish their stories of persecution he also urged them to moderate their antagonism toward non Mormons 110 On April 6 1839 after a grand jury hearing in Daviess County Smith and his companions escaped custody almost certainly with the connivance of the sheriff and guards 111 Life in Nauvoo Illinois 1839 1844 Main article Life of Joseph Smith from 1839 to 1844 Many American newspapers criticized Missouri for the Haun s Mill massacre and the state s expulsion of the Mormons 112 Illinois then accepted Mormon refugees who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi River 113 where Smith purchased high priced swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce 114 He attempted to portray the Mormons as an oppressed minority and unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations 115 During the summer of 1839 while Mormons in Illinois suffered from a malaria epidemic Smith sent Young and other apostles to missions in Europe where they made numerous converts many of them poor factory workers 116 nbsp Depiction of Smith at head of the Nauvoo LegionSmith also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts including John C Bennett the Illinois quartermaster general 117 Bennett used his connections in the Illinois state legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city which Smith renamed Nauvoo 118 The charter granted the city virtual autonomy authorized a university and granted Nauvoo habeas corpus power which allowed Smith to fend off extradition to Missouri Though Latter Day Saint authorities controlled Nauvoo s civil government the city guaranteed religious freedom for its residents 119 The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion a militia whose actions were limited only by state and federal constitutions Smith and Bennett became its commanders and were styled Lieutenant General and Major General respectively As such they controlled by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois 120 Smith appointed Bennett as Assistant President of the Church and Bennett was elected Nauvoo s first mayor 121 nbsp Smith planned the construction of the Nauvoo Temple which was completed after his death The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840 and in 1841 construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge 122 An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the fullness of the priesthood and in May 1842 Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or first anointing 123 The endowment resembled the rites of Freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated at sight into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge 124 At first the endowment was open only to men who were initiated into a special group called 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 125 Smith also elaborated on his plan for a Millennial kingdom no longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo he viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America with Mormon settlements being stakes of Zion s metaphorical tent 126 Zion also became less a refuge from an impending tribulation than a great building project 127 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 128 It was around this time that Smith began secretly marrying additional wives a practice called plural marriage 129 He introduced the doctrine to a few of his closest associates including Bennett who used it as an excuse to seduce numerous women wed and unwed 130 When rumors of polygamy called spiritual wifery by Bennett got abroad Smith forced Bennett s resignation as Nauvoo mayor In retaliation Bennett left Nauvoo and began publishing sensational accusations against Smith and his followers 131 By mid 1842 popular opinion in Illinois had turned against the Mormons After an unknown assailant shot and wounded Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs in May 1842 anti Mormons circulated rumors that Smith s bodyguard Porter Rockwell was the gunman 132 Though the evidence was circumstantial Boggs ordered Smith s extradition Certain he would be killed if he ever returned to Missouri Smith went into hiding twice during the next five months until the U S Attorney for Illinois argued that his extradition would be unconstitutional 133 Rockwell was later tried and acquitted In June 1843 enemies of Smith convinced a reluctant Illinois Governor Thomas Ford to extradite Smith to Missouri on an old charge of treason Two law officers arrested Smith but were intercepted by a party of Mormons before they could reach Missouri Smith was then released on a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo municipal court 134 While this ended the Missourians attempts at extradition it caused significant political fallout in Illinois 135 nbsp According to researchers Ronald Romig and Lachlan Mackay Smith posed for a daguerreotype by Lucian R Foster sometime in 1844 the photograph was published in 2022 in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 136 137 In December 1843 Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense 138 Smith then wrote to the leading presidential candidates asking what they would do to protect the Mormons After receiving noncommittal or negative responses he announced his own independent candidacy for president of the United States suspended regular proselytizing and sent out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries 139 In March 1844 following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat he organized the secret Council of Fifty which was given the authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey as well as establish its own government for Mormons 140 Before his death the Council also voted unanimously to elect Smith Prophet Priest and King 141 The Council was likewise appointed to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in the Republic of Texas Oregon or California then controlled by Mexico where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond the control of other governments 142 Death Main article Killing of Joseph Smith nbsp A 19th century painting depicting the mob attack inside Carthage JailBy early 1844 a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates 143 Most notably William Law his trusted counselor and Robert Foster a general of the Nauvoo Legion disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo s economy 144 Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives 145 Believing these men were plotting against his life Smith excommunicated them on April 18 1844 146 Law and Foster subsequently formed a competing reform church and in the following month at the county seat in Carthage they procured indictments against Smith for perjury as Smith publicly denied having more than one wife and polygamy 147 On June 7 the dissidents published the first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor calling for reform within the church but also appealing politically to non Mormons 148 The paper alluded to Smith s theocratic aspirations called for a repeal of the Nauvoo city charter and decried his new doctrines of many Gods Smith had recently given his King Follett discourse in which he taught that God was once a man and that men and women could become gods 149 It also attacked Smith s practice of polygamy implying that he was using religion as a pretext to draw unassuming women to Nauvoo to seduce and marry them 150 Fearing the Expositor would provoke a new round of violence against the Mormons the Nauvoo city council declared the newspaper a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy its printing press 151 During the council debate Smith vigorously urged the council to order the press destroyed 152 not realizing that destroying a newspaper was more likely to incite an attack than any of the newspaper s accusations 153 nbsp Smith was shot multiple times before and after falling from the window 154 Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms from Thomas C Sharp editor of the Warsaw Signal and longtime critic of Smith 155 Fearing mob violence Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law 156 Officials in Carthage responded by mobilizing a small detachment of the state militia and Governor Ford intervened threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves 157 Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford 158 On June 25 Smith and his brother Hyrum arrived in Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot 159 Once the Smiths were in custody the charges were increased to treason preventing them from posting bail 160 John Taylor and Willard Richards voluntarily accompanied the Smiths in Carthage Jail 161 nbsp The death masks of Joseph Smith left and Hyrum Smith right On June 27 1844 an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were being detained Hyrum who was trying to secure the door was killed instantly with a shot to the face Smith fired three shots from a pepper box pistol that his friend Cyrus H Wheelock had lent him wounding three men 162 before he sprang for the window 163 Smith and his companions were staying in the jailer s bedroom which did not have bars on the windows He was shot multiple times before falling out the window crying Oh Lord my God He died shortly after hitting the ground but was shot several more times by an improvised firing squad before the mob dispersed 164 LegacyMain article Legacy of Joseph Smith nbsp Gravesite of Joseph Emma and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo IllinoisImmediate aftermath Following Smith s death non Mormon newspapers were nearly unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic 165 Conversely within the Latter Day Saint community Smith was viewed as a prophet martyred to seal the testimony of his faith 166 After a public funeral and viewing of the deceased brothers Smith s widow who feared hostile non Mormons might try to desecrate the bodies had their remains buried at night in a secret location with substitute coffins filled with sandbags interred in the publicly attested grave 167 168 The bodies were later moved and reburied under an outbuilding on the Smith property off the Mississippi River 169 Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints RLDS Church under the direction of then RLDS Church president Frederick M Smith Smith s grandson searched for located and disinterred the Smith brothers remains in 1928 and reinterred them along with Smith s wife in Nauvoo at the Smith Family Cemetery 167 169 Impact and assessment Modern biographers and scholars Mormon and non Mormon alike agree that Smith was one of the most influential charismatic and innovative figures in American religious history 170 In a 2015 compilation of the 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time Smithsonian magazine ranked Smith first in the category of religious figures 171 In popular opinion however non Mormons in the U S generally consider Smith a charlatan scoundrel and heretic while outside the U S he is obscure 172 Within the Latter Day Saint movement Smith s legacy varies between denominations 173 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church and its members consider Smith the founding prophet of their church 174 on par with Moses and Elijah 175 Meanwhile Smith s reputation is ambivalent in the Community of Christ which continues honoring his role in the church s founding history but deemphasizes his human leadership 176 Conversely Woolleyite Mormon fundamentalism has deified Smith within a cosmology of many gods 177 Buildings named in honor of Smith nbsp The Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City nbsp The Joseph Smith Building on the campus of Brigham Young University Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City Utah 178 the former Joseph Smith Memorial building on the campus of Brigham Young University as well as the current Joseph Smith Building there 179 a granite obelisk marking Smith s birthplace 180 and a fifteen foot tall bronze statue of Smith in the World Peace Dome in Pune India 181 Successors and denominations See also Succession crisis Latter Day Saints and List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement Smith s death resulted in a succession crisis within the Latter Day Saint movement 182 He had proposed several ways to choose his successor but never clarified his preference 183 The two strongest succession candidates were Young senior member and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Rigdon the senior remaining member of the First Presidency In a church wide conference on August 8 most of the Latter Day Saints present elected Young They eventually left Nauvoo and settled the Salt Lake Valley Utah Territory 184 Nominal membership in Young s denomination which became the LDS Church surpassed 16 million in 2018 185 Smaller groups followed Rigdon and James J Strang who had based his claim on a letter of appointment ostensibly written by Smith but which some scholars believe was forged 186 Some hundreds followed Lyman Wight to establish a community in Texas 187 Others followed Alpheus Cutler 188 Many members of these smaller groups including most of Smith s family 189 eventually coalesced in 1860 190 under the leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed the RLDS Church which now has about 250 000 members 191 Family and descendantsSee also List of Joseph Smith s wives and Children of Joseph Smith The first of Smith s wives Emma Hale gave birth to nine children during their marriage five of whom died before the age of two 192 The eldest Alvin born in 1828 died within hours of birth as did twins Thaddeus and Louisa born in 1831 193 When the twins died the Smiths adopted another set of twins Julia and Joseph Murdock whose mother had recently died in childbirth the adopted Smith died of measles in 1832 194 In 1841 Don Carlos who had been born a year earlier died of malaria and five months later in 1842 Emma gave birth to a stillborn son 195 Joseph and Emma had five children who lived to maturity adopted Julia Murdock Joseph Smith III David Hyrum Smith Frederick Granger Williams Smith and Alexander Hale Smith 196 Some historians have speculated based on journal entries and family stories that Smith fathered children with his plural wives However in cases where DNA testing of potential Smith descendants from plural wives has been possible results have been negative e After Smith s death Emma was quickly alienated from Young and the LDS leadership 197 Emma feared and despised Young who in turn was suspicious of Emma s desire to preserve the family s assets from inclusion with those of the church He also disliked her open opposition to plural marriage Young excluded Emma from ecclesiastical meetings and from social gatherings 198 When most Mormons moved west Emma stayed in Nauvoo and married a non Mormon Major Lewis C Bidamon 199 She withdrew from religion until 1860 when she affiliated with the RLDS Church headed by her son Joseph III Emma maintained her belief that Smith had been a prophet and she never repudiated her belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon 200 Polygamy See also Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy Mormonism and polygamy and List of Joseph Smith s wives By some accounts Smith had been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831 and there is evidence that he may have been a polygamist by 1835 201 Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Cowdery over the issue 202 Cowdery suspected Smith had engaged in a relationship with Fanny Alger who worked in the Smith household as a serving girl 203 Smith did not deny having a relationship but he insisted that he had never admitted to adultery 204 Presumably historian Bushman argues because he had married Alger as a plural wife 205 In April 1841 Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman 206 and during the next two and a half years he secretly married or was sealed to about thirty or forty additional women c Ten of his plural wives were between the ages of fourteen and twenty others were over fifty 207 Ten were already married to other men though some of these polyandrous marriages were contracted with the consent of the first husbands 208 Evidence for whether or not and to what degree Smith s polygamous marriages involved sex is ambiguous and varies between marriages 209 Some polygamous marriages may have been considered solely religious marriages that would not take effect until after death 210 In any case during Smith s lifetime the practice of polygamy was kept secret from both non Mormons and most members of the church 211 Polygamy caused a breach between Smith and his first wife Emma 212 historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich summarizes by stating that Emma vacillated in her support for plural marriage sometimes acquiescing to Joseph s sealings sometimes resisting 213 Revelations nbsp An artistic representation of the golden plates with the Urim and Thummim connected to a breastplate based on descriptions by Smith and othersAccording to Bushman the signal feature of Smith s life was his sense of being guided by revelation Instead of presenting his ideas with logical arguments Smith dictated authoritative scripture like revelations and let people decide whether to believe 214 doing so with what Peter Coviello calls beguiling offhandedness 215 Smith and his followers treated his revelations as being above teachings or opinions and he acted as though he believed in his revelations as much as his followers 216 217 The revelations were written as if God himself were speaking through Smith often opening with words such as Hearken O ye people which profess my name saith the Lord your God 218 Book of Mormon Main article Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon has been called the longest and most complex of Smith s revelations 219 Its language resembles the King James Version of the Bible as does its organization as a compilation of smaller books each named after prominent figures in the narrative 220 It tells the story of the rise and fall of a Judeo Christian religious civilization in the Western Hemisphere 221 beginning about 600 BC and ending in the fifth century 220 222 The book explains itself to be largely the work of Mormon a Nephite prophet and military figure Christian themes permeate the work 223 Some scholars have considered the Book of Mormon a response to pressing cultural and environmental issues in Smith s day 224 Historian Dan Vogel regards the book as autobiographical in nature reflecting Smith s life and perceptions 225 Biographer Robert V Remini calls the Book of Mormon a typically American story that radiates the revivalist passion of the Second Great Awakening 226 Brodie suggested that Smith composed the Book of Mormon by drawing on sources of information available to him such as the 1823 book View of the Hebrews 227 Other scholars argue the Book of Mormon is more biblical in inspiration than American Bushman writes that the Book of Mormon is not a conventional American book and that its structure better resembles the Bible 228 According to historian Daniel Walker Howe the book s dominant themes are biblical prophetic and patriarchal not democratic or optimistic like the prevailing American culture 229 Shipps argues that the Book of Mormon s complex set of religious claims provided the basis of a new mythos or story which early converts accepted and lived in as their world thus departing from the early national period in America into a new dispensation of the fulness of times 230 nbsp According to some accounts Smith dictated most of the Book of Mormon by looking into a seer stone placed in a stovepipe hat Smith never fully described how he produced the Book of Mormon saying only that he translated by the power of God and implying that he had read its words 231 The Book of Mormon itself states only that its text will come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof 232 Accordingly there is considerable disagreement about the actual method used For at least some of the earliest dictation Smith s compatriots said he used the Urim and Thummim a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates 233 However people close to Smith said that later in the process of dictation he used a chocolate colored stone he had found in 1822 that he had used previously for treasure hunting f Joseph Knight said that Smith saw the words of the translation while after excluding all light he gazed at the stone or stones in the bottom of his hat a process similar to divining the location of treasure 234 Sometimes Smith concealed the process by raising a curtain or dictating from another room at other times he dictated in full view of witnesses while the plates lay covered on the table or were hidden elsewhere 235 Bible revision Main article Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible See also Book of Moses In June 1830 Smith dictated a revelation in which Moses narrates a vision in which he sees worlds without number and speaks with God about the purpose of creation and the relation of humankind to deity 236 This revelation initiated a revision of the Bible which Smith worked on sporadically until 1833 but which remained unpublished until after his death 237 He may have considered it complete though according to Emma Smith the biblical revision was still unfinished when Joseph died 238 In the course of producing the Book of Mormon Smith declared that the Bible was missing the most plain and precious parts of the gospel 239 He produced a new translation of the Bible not by directly translating from manuscripts in another language but by amending and appending to a King James Bible in a process which he and Latter Day Saints believed was guided by inspiration Smith asserted his translation would correct lacuna and restore what the contemporary Bible was missing 240 While many changes involved straightening out seeming contradictions or making small clarifications other changes added large interpolations to the text 241 For example Smith s revision nearly tripled the length of the first five chapters of Genesis into a text called the Book of Moses 242 Book of Abraham Main article Book of Abraham In 1835 Smith encouraged some Latter Day Saints in Kirtland to purchase rolls of ancient Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor He said they contained the writings of the ancient patriarchs Abraham and Joseph Over the next several years Smith dictated to scribes what he reported was a revelatory translation of one of these rolls which was published in 1842 as the Book of Abraham 243 The Book of Abraham speaks of the founding of the Abrahamic nation astronomy cosmology lineage and priesthood and gives another account of the creation story 244 The papyri associated with the Book of Abraham were thought to have been lost in the Great Chicago Fire but several fragments were rediscovered in the 1960s Egyptologists have subsequently determined them to be part of the Egyptian Book of Breathing with no connection to Abraham 245 246 Other revelations See also Book of Commandments and Doctrine and Covenants The Holy Spirit may give you sudden strokes of ideas so that by noticing it you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God will come to pass Joseph Smith 247 According to Pratt Smith dictated his revelations which were recorded by a scribe without revisions or corrections 248 Revelations were immediately copied and then circulated among church members Smith s revelations often came in response to specific questions He described the revelatory process as having pure Intelligence flowing into him Smith however never viewed the wording to be infallible The revelations were not God s words verbatim but couched in language suitable to Joseph s time 249 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 250 Smith gave varying types of revelations Some were temporal while others were spiritual or doctrinal Some were received for a specific individual while others were directed at the whole church An 1831 revelation called The Law contained directions for missionary work rules for organizing society in Zion a reiteration of the Ten Commandments an injunction to administer to the poor and needy and an outline for the law of consecration 251 An 1832 revelation called The Vision added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement and introduced doctrines of life after salvation exaltation and a heaven with degrees of glory 252 Another 1832 revelation was the first to explain priesthood doctrine 253 In 1833 at a time of temperance agitation Smith delivered a revelation called the Word of Wisdom which counseled a diet of wholesome herbs fruits grains and a sparing use of meat It also recommended that Latter Day Saints avoid strong alcoholic drinks tobacco and hot drinks later interpreted to mean tea and coffee 254 The Word of Wisdom was originally framed as a recommendation rather than a commandment and was not strictly followed by Smith and other early Latter Day Saints 255 though it later became a requirement in the LDS Church Before 1832 most of Smith s revelations concerned establishing the church gathering followers and building the city of Zion Later revelations dealt primarily with the priesthood endowment and exaltation 256 The pace of formal revelations slowed during the autumn of 1833 and again after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple 257 Smith moved away from formal written revelations spoken in God s voice and instead taught more in sermons conversations and letters 258 For instance the doctrines of baptism for the dead and the nature of God were introduced in sermons 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 259 Views and teachingsMain article Teachings of Joseph Smith nbsp Smith described Jesus and God the Father as two distinct physical beings Cosmology and theology See also Mormon cosmology and God in Mormonism Smith taught that all existence was material including a world of spirit matter so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes 260 Matter in Smith s view could be neither created nor destroyed the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter Like matter Smith saw intelligence as co eternal with God and he taught that human spirits had been drawn from a pre existent pool of eternal intelligences 261 Nevertheless according to Smith spirits could not experience a fullness of joy unless joined with corporeal bodies Therefore the work and glory of God was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied 262 Smith taught that God was an advanced and glorified man 263 embodied within time and space 264 He publicly taught that God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies 265 Nevertheless he conceived of the Holy Spirit as a personage of Spirit 266 Smith extended this materialist conception to all existence and taught that all spirit is matter meaning that a person s embodiment in flesh was not a sign of fallen carnality but a divine quality that humans shared with deity Humans are therefore not so much God s creations as they are God s kin 267 There is also considerable evidence that Smith taught at least to limited audiences that God the Father was accompanied by God the Mother 268 In this conception God fully understood is plural embodied gendered and both male and female 269 Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge according to Smith those who received exaltation could eventually become like God 270 These teachings implied a vast hierarchy of gods with God himself having a father 271 In Smith s cosmology those who became gods would reign unified in purpose and will leading spirits of lesser capacity to share immortality and eternal life 272 In Smith s view the opportunity to achieve godhood also called exaltation extended to all humanity Those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them in the afterlife through proxy ordinances performed on their behalf 273 Smith said that children who died in their innocence would be guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation 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 274 Religious authority and ritual See also Priesthood Latter Day Saints Mormonism and Freemasonry and Endowment Latter Day Saints Smith s teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism 275 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 the Great Apostasy 276 At first Smith s church had little sense of hierarchy and his religious authority was derived from his visions and revelations 277 Though he did not claim exclusive prophethood an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments as Moses 278 This religious authority included economic and political as well as spiritual matters For instance in the early 1830s Smith temporarily instituted a form of religious communism called the United Order that required Latter Day Saints to give all their property to the church to be divided among the faithful 279 He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium 280 By the mid 1830s Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods the Melchizedek the Aaronic and the Patriarchal 281 Each priesthood was a continuation of biblical priesthoods through lineal succession or through ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions 277 Upon introducing the Melchizedek or High Priesthood in 1831 Smith taught that its recipients would be endowed with power from on high fulfilling a desire for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles 282 This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s until in 1842 the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing elements similar to those of Freemasonry 283 and the Jewish Kabbalah 284 Although the endowment was extended to women in 1843 Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices 285 Smith taught that the High Priesthood s endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah allowing High Priests to perform ceremonies with effects that continued after death 286 For example this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and marriages that would last into eternity 287 Elijah s sealing powers also enabled the second anointing or fulness sic of the priesthood which according to Smith sealed married couples to their exaltation 288 Theology of family During the early 1840s Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the New and Everlasting Covenant that superseded all earthly bonds 289 He taught that outside the covenant marriages were simply matters of contract and that in the afterlife individuals who were unmarried or who married outside the covenant would be limited in their progression towards Godhood 290 To fully enter the covenant a man and woman must participate in a first anointing a sealing ceremony and a second anointing also called sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise 291 When fully sealed into the covenant Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy other than murder and apostasy 292 could keep them from their exaltation in the afterlife 293 According to a revelation Smith dictated God appointed only one person on Earth at a time in this case Smith to possess this power of sealing 294 According to Smith men and women needed to be sealed to each other in this new and everlasting covenant also called celestial marriage in order to be exalted in heaven after death and that such celestial marriage perpetuated across generations could reunite extended families of ancestors and descendants in the afterlife 295 nbsp Profile portrait of Smith by Bathsheba W Smith created circa 1843Plural marriage or polygamy was Smith s most famous innovation according to historian Matthew Bowman 11 Once Smith introduced polygamy it became part of his Abrahamic project in the phrasing of historian Benjamin Park wherein the solution to humanity s chaos would be found through accepting the divine order of the cosmos under God s authority in a fusion of ecclesiastical and civic authority 296 Smith also taught that the highest level of exaltation could be achieved through polygamy the ultimate manifestation of the New and Everlasting Covenant 297 In Smith s theology marrying in polygamy made it possible for practitioners to unlearn the Christian tradition which identified the physical body as carnal and to instead recognize their embodied joy as sacred 298 Smith also taught that the practice allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god accelerating the expansion of one s heavenly kingdom 299 See alsoHistory of the Latter Day Saint movement List of founders of religious traditions Mormonism in the 19th century Outline of Joseph Smith Smith family Latter Day Saints Notes Church of Christ was the official name on April 6 1830 1 In 1834 the official name was changed to Church of the Latter Day Saints 2 and then in 1838 to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The spelling The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints was adopted by the LDS Church in Utah in 1851 after Joseph Smith s death in 1844 and is today specified in Doctrine and Covenants 3 Brigham Young Sidney Rigdon Joseph Smith III and at least four others each claimed succession a b Remini 2002 p 153 notes the exact figure is debated Smith 1994 p 14 counts 42 polygamous wives Quinn 1994 pp 587 88 counts 46 Compton 1997 p 11 counts at least 33 total Bushman 2005 pp 437 644 accepts Compton s count excepting one resulting in a total of 32 Davenport 2022 p 139 counts 37 However eventually a total of eleven others published statements affirming having been shown the plates See Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses Perego Ugo Joseph Smith the Question of Polygamous Offspring and DNA Analysis Persistence of Polygamy in Bringhurst amp Foster 2010 pp 233 256 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link Perego s summary of alleged children of Smith by polygamous wives lists fourteen 236 His chapter discusses six cases of DNA analysis in detail Successful analyses disconfirmed paternity for Smith However Perego notes that for other alleged cases issues such as insufficient data and genealogical noise make confident conclusions impossible For more on DNA research and Smith s alleged paternity of children of women other than Emma Smith also see Research focuses on Smith family Deseret News May 28 2005 Archived from the original on June 30 2006 DNA tests rule out 2 as Smith descendants Scientific advances prove no genetic link Deseret News November 10 2007 Archived from the original on November 13 2007 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 Archived from the original PDF on July 25 2006 Quinn 1998 pp 171 73 writes that 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 Bushman 2005 pp 70 578n46 notes that Lucy Smith said that Joseph received the interpreters again on September 22 1828 but that Although the assertion clashes with other accounts David Whitmer said Moroni did not return the Urim and Thummum Instead Joseph used a seerstone for the remaining translation Jortner 2022 p 42 follows Lucy Smith s account and writes of the removal and subsequent restoration of the Urim and Thummum by an angel Citations Shields Steven 1990 Divergent Paths of the Restoration Fourth ed Independence Missouri Restoration Research ISBN 0 942284 00 3 Joseph Smith Minutes of a Conference Evening and Morning Star Vol 2 no 20 Kirtland OH p 160 Retrieved May 5 2023 D amp C 115 4 Garr Arnold K Spring 2002 Joseph Smith Mayor of Nauvoo PDF Mormon Historical Studies 1 1 5 6 Jenson Andrew ed 1888 The Historical Record A Monthly Periodical Salt Lake City p 843 Retrieved July 23 2013 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Bushman 2005 pp 9 30 Smith 1832 p 1 Bushman 2005 p 21 Bushman 2005 pp 27 32 Smith Family Log Home Palmyra New York Ensign Peak Foundation Archived from the original on October 5 2022 Retrieved December 26 2022 Martin John H 2005 An Overview of the Burned Over District Saints Sinners and Reformers The Burned Over District Re Visited published in the Crooked Lake Review No 137 Fall 2005 a b Bowman Matthew March 3 2016 Butler Jon ed Mormonism Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 acrefore 9780199329175 013 326 ISBN 978 0 19 932917 5 Bushman 2005 pp 36 37 Quinn 1998 p 136 Vogel 2004 p xx Hill 1989 pp 10 11 Brooke 1994 p 129 Vogel 2004 pp 26 7 D Michael Quinn July 12 2006 Joseph Smith s Experience of a Methodist Camp Meeting in 1820 PDF Dialogue Paperless p 3 Archived from the original on September 27 2011 Retrieved December 26 2022 Quinn 1998 pp 30 31 Bushman 2005 p 51 Shipps 1985 pp 7 8 Remini 2002 pp 16 33 Hill 1977 p 53 Quinn 1998 pp 14 16 137 Bushman 2005 pp 26 36 Brooke 1994 pp 150 51 Mack 1811 p 25 Smith 1853 pp 54 59 70 74 Bushman 2005 pp 38 9 Vogel 2004 p 30 Quinn 1998 p 136 Remini 2002 p 37 Bushman 2005 p 39 Vogel 2004 p 30 Quinn 1998 p 136 Remini 2002 pp 37 38 Bushman 2005 p 39 Vogel 2004 p 30 Vogel 2004 p 30 Remini 2002 p 40 Harper 2019 p 9 Harper 2019 pp 10 12 Harper 2019 pp 1 51 55 Allen James B Autumn 1966 The Significance of Joseph Smith s First Vision in Mormon Thought Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 1 3 29 46 doi 10 2307 45223817 JSTOR 45223817 S2CID 222223353 Bushman 2005 p 39 Vogel 2004 p 30 Remini 2002 p 39 Quinn 1998 pp 136 38 Bushman 2005 p 43 Shipps 1985 pp 151 152 Bushman 2005 p 50 Jortner 2022 p 38 Quinn 1998 pp 163 64 Bushman 2005 p 54 Bushman 2005 p 42 Bushman 2008 p 21 Bushman 2005 pp 33 48 Taylor Alan Spring 1986 The Early Republic s Supernatural Economy Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast 1780 1830 American Quarterly 38 1 6 34 doi 10 2307 2712591 JSTOR 2712591 Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 17 Brooke 1994 pp 152 53 Quinn 1998 pp 43 44 54 57 Persuitte 2000 pp 33 53 Bushman 2005 pp 45 53 Jortner 2022 p 29 Jortner 2022 pp 29 31 Jortner 2022 p 33 Vogel Dan Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision Mormon Scripture Studies An e Journal of Critical Thought Archived from the original on June 9 2011 Introduction to State of New York v JS A The Joseph Smith Papers Archived from the original on December 20 2022 Retrieved December 26 2022 Bushman 2005 p 53 Vogel 2004 p 89 Quinn 1998 p 164 Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 17 18 Bushman 2005 pp 53 54 Shipps 1985 p 12 Quinn 1998 pp 163 64 Bushman 2005 pp 54 59 Easton Flake amp Cope 2020 p 126 Bushman 2005 pp 59 60 Shipps 1985 p 153 Shipps 1985 p 9 Bushman 2005 p 54 Howe 2007 pp 313 314 Jortner 2022 p 41 Bushman 2004 pp 238 242 Howe 2007 p 313 Bushman 2005 p 61 Howe 2007 p 315 Jortner 2022 pp 36 38 Shipps 1985 p 12 Remini 2002 p 55 Bushman 2005 pp 60 61 Remini 2002 pp 55 56 Newell amp Avery 1994 p 2 Bushman 2005 pp 62 63 Easton Flake amp Cope 2020 p 129 Shipps 1985 pp 15 16 Easton Flake amp Cope 2020 pp 117 119 Smith 1853 pp 117 18 Shipps 1985 p 16 Easton Flake amp Cope 2020 pp 117 118 Bushman 2005 pp 67 68 Shipps 1985 p 17 Bushman 2005 pp 68 70 Shipps 1985 p 18 Bushman 2005 pp 70 578n46 Phelps 1833 sec 2 4 5 Smith 1853 p 126 a b Bushman 2005 p 70 Bushman 2005 pp 70 74 Quinn 1994 pp 5 6 15 20 Bushman 2005 pp 74 75 Bushman 2005 p 78 Remini 2002 p 68 Jortner 2022 p 43 Shipps 1985 p 154 For the April 6 establishment of a church organization see Shipps 1985 p 154 for Fayette and Manchester and some ambiguity over a Palmyra presence see Hill 1989 pp 27 201n84 for the Colesville congregation see Jortner 2022 p 57 Bushman 2005 p 117 Vogel 2004 pp 484 486 510 512 Hill 1989 p 28 Bushman 2005 pp 116 18 Quinn 1994 pp 24 26 Bushman 2005 p 118 Hill 1989 p 27 Bushman 2005 p 120 Hill 1989 pp 27 28 Bushman 2005 p 121 Phelps 1833 p 67 Hill 1989 p 28 Bushman 2005 p 112 Jortner 2022 pp 59 60 93 95 Phelps 1833 p 68 Bushman 2005 p 122 Parley Pratt said that the Mormon mission baptized 127 within two or three weeks and this number soon increased to one thousand See McKiernan F Mark Summer 1970 The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 5 2 71 78 doi 10 2307 45224203 JSTOR 45224203 S2CID 254399092 Bushman 2005 p 124 Jortner 2022 pp 60 61 McKiernan F Mark Summer 1970 The Conversion of Sidney Rigdon to Mormonism Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 5 2 71 78 doi 10 2307 45224203 JSTOR 45224203 S2CID 254399092 Bushman 2005 p 124 Bushman 2005 pp 124 25 Howe 2007 p 315 Bushman 2005 pp 150 52 Remini 2002 p 95 Bushman 2005 pp 154 55 Hill 1977 p 131 Quinn 1994 pp 31 32 Bushman 2005 pp 125 156 60 a b Arrington amp Bitton 1979 p 21 Shipps 1985 p 81 Turner 2012 p 41 Bushman 2005 p 161 Bushman 2005 pp 162 163 Smith et al 1835 p 154 Bushman 2005 pp 180 182 Remini 2002 pp 109 10 Bushman 2005 pp 178 80 See Remini 2002 pp 113 15 Arrington amp Bitton 1979 p 61 Bushman 2005 p 222 Bushman 2005 pp 181 83 235 Quinn 1994 pp 82 83 Quinn 1994 pp 83 84 Bushman 2005 pp 222 27 Bushman 2005 pp 227 8 Bruce A Van Orden Importuning The Government in We ll Sing and We ll Shout The Life and Times of W W Phelps Religious Studies Center Brigham Young University Salt Lake City Deseret Book 2018 123 134 Remini 2002 p 115 Hill 1989 pp 44 46 for Smith deescalating and disbanding the camp Bushman 2005 pp 235 46 for the numerical limitations social tension and cholera outbreak in the camp Bushman 2005 pp 246 247 Quinn 1994 p 85 Bushman 2005 p 247 see also Remini 2002 pp 100 104 for a timeline of Smith introducing the new organizational entities Brodie 1971 pp 156 57 Smith et al 1835 p 233 Prince 1995 p 32 amp n 104 Bushman 2005 pp 310 19 Remini 2002 pp 122 123 Bushman 2005 pp 328 334 Remini 2002 p 124 Bushman 2005 pp 331 32 336 39 Brooke 1994 p 221 Bushman 2005 p 322 Compton1997 pp 25 42 Bushman 2005 pp 217 329 Remini 2002 p 125 Bushman 2005 pp 339 40 Hill 1977 p 216 Hill 1977 pp 181 82 Bushman 2005 pp 345 384 Brodie 1971 pp 210 222 23 Quinn 1994 p 628 Remini 2002 p 131 Remini 2002 p 125 Bushman 2005 pp 341 46 Walker Jeffrey N 2008 Mormon Land Rights in Caldwell and Daviess Counties and the Mormon Conflict of 1838 New Findings and New Understandings BYU Studies 47 1 4 55 JSTOR 43044611 via JSTOR LeSueur Stephen C Fall 2005 Missouri s Failed Compromise The Creation of Caldwell County for the Mormons Journal of Mormon History 31 2 113 144 JSTOR 23289934 via JSTOR Quinn 1994 p 92 Brodie 1971 p 213 Bushman 2005 p 355 Bushman 2005 p 357 Remini 2002 p 134 Quinn 1994 pp 96 99 101 Bushman 2005 p 363 Bushman 2005 pp 364 65 Quinn 1994 p 100 Bushman 2005 pp 365 66 Quinn 1994 p 97 Bushman 2005 pp 366 67 Brodie 1971 p 239 Bushman 2005 pp 242 344 367 Brodie 1971 p 241 Bushman 2005 p 369 Brodie 1971 pp 225 26 243 45 Bushman 2005 pp 369 70 Remini 2002 pp 136 37 Brodie 1971 pp 245 46 Quinn 1998 pp 101 02 Bushman 2005 pp 377 78 Bushman 2005 p 375 Brodie 1971 pp 253 55 Bushman 2005 pp 382 635 36 Bentley Joseph I 1992 Smith Joseph Legal Trials of Joseph Smith In Ludlow Daniel H ed Encyclopedia of Mormonism New York Macmillan Publishing pp 1346 1348 ISBN 0 02 879602 0 OCLC 24502140 Retrieved May 5 2023 Brodie 1971 pp 246 47 259 Bushman 2005 p 398 Bushman 2005 p 381 Bushman 2005 pp 383 4 Bushman 2005 pp 392 94 398 99 Brodie 1971 pp 259 60 Bushman 2005 pp 386 409 Brodie 1971 pp 258 264 65 Bushman 2005 pp 410 11 Brodie 1971 pp 267 68 Bushman 2005 p 412 415 Quinn 1998 pp 106 08 Brodie 1971 p 271 Bushman 2005 pp 410 411 Bushman 2005 pp 448 49 Park 2020 pp 57 61 Quinn 1994 p 113 Bushman 2005 pp 449 Quinn 1994 pp 114 15 Quinn 1994 p 634 Bushman 2005 p 384 404 Bushman 2005 p 415 Quinn 1994 pp 111 12 Bushman 2005 pp 427 28 Bushman 2005 p 460 Brodie 1971 pp 311 12 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 p 12 Bushman 2005 pp 461 62 Brodie 1971 p 314 Bushman 2005 p 468 Brodie 1971 p 323 Quinn 1994 p 113 Bushman 2005 pp 468 75 Bushman 2005 pp 504 08 Bushman 2005 p 508 Romig Ronald Mackay Lachlan Spring Summer 2022 Hidden Things Shall Come to Light The Visual Image of Joseph Smith Jr John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 42 1 28 60 ISSN 0739 7852 There is disagreement among historians about the identification and provenance of this daguerrotype for an overview of arguments and positions for and against see Stack Peggy Fletcher July 29 2022 The Whole Affect Feels Off to Me Why Some Historians Doubt That s a Photo of Joseph Smith The Salt Lake Tribune Brodie 1971 p 356 Quinn 1994 pp 115 116 Quinn 1994 pp 118 19 Bushman 2005 pp 514 15 Brodie 1971 pp 362 64 Bushman 2005 p 519 Quinn 1994 pp 120 22 How Joseph Smith and the Early Mormons Challenged American Democracy The New Yorker March 20 2020 Retrieved April 18 2023 Bushman 2005 p 517 Bushman 2005 pp 527 28 Brodie 1971 pp 368 9 Quinn 1994 p 528 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 p 14 Brodie 1971 pp 369 371 Van Wagoner 1992 p 39 Bushman 2005 pp 660 61 Bushman 2005 pp 549 531 Brodie 1971 p 373 Bushman 2005 pp 531 538 Park 2020 p 227 Bushman 2005 p 539 Brodie 1971 pp 374 Quinn 1994 p 138 Bushman 2005 p 539 Brodie 1971 pp 375 Marquardt 1999 p 312 Ulrich 2017 pp 113 114 Oaks amp Hill 1975 p 14 Davenport 2022 pp 147 148 The text of the Nauvoo Expositor is available on Wikisource Park 2020 pp 228 230 Marquardt 1999 p 312 Park 2020 pp 229 230 Bushman 2005 p 541 Brodie 1971 p 394 Ulrich 2017 p 114 Park 2020 p 230 Park 2020 pp 231 232 McBride 2021 pp 186 187 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 p 16 Bushman 2005 p 546 Park 2020 p 233 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 p 17 Park 2020 p 234 McBride 2021 p 191 Bentley Joseph I 1992 Smith Joseph Legal Trials of Joseph Smith In Ludlow Daniel H ed Encyclopedia of Mormonism New York Macmillan Publishing pp 1346 1348 ISBN 0 02 879602 0 OCLC 24502140 Retrieved May 5 2023 Oaks amp Hill 1975 p 18 Park 2020 p 234 McBride 2021 p 192 Oaks amp Hill 1975 p 52 Brodie 1971 p 393 Bushman 2005 p 549 Brodie 1971 pp 393 94 Bushman 2005 pp 549 50 Bushman 2005 pp 332 557 59 Bushman 2005 p 558 Brodie 1971 pp 396 97 a b Wiles Lee Summer 2013 Monogamy Underground The Burial of Mormon Plural Marriage in the Graves of Joseph and Emma Smith Journal of Mormon History 39 3 vi 59 doi 10 2307 24243852 JSTOR 24243852 S2CID 254486845 Bernauer Barbara Hands 1991 Still Side by Side The Final Burial of Joseph and Hyrum Smith John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 11 17 33 JSTOR 43200879 a b Mackay Lachlan Fall 2002 A Brief History of the Smith Family Nauvoo Cemetery PDF Mormon Historical Studies 3 2 240 252 Bloom 1992 pp 96 99 Persuitte 2000 p 1 Remini 2002 p ix Lloyd R Scott January 9 2015 Joseph Smith Brigham Young Rank First and Third in Magazine s List of Significant Religious Figures Church News Turner John G May 6 2022 Why Joseph Smith Matters Marginalia Review Archived from the original on August 17 2022 Launius Roger D Winter 2006 Is Joseph Smith Relevant to the Community of Christ Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 39 4 58 67 doi 10 2307 45227214 JSTOR 45227214 S2CID 254402921 Oaks Dallin H 2005 Joseph Smith in a Personal World The Worlds of Joseph Smith A Bicentennial Conference at the Library of Congress Brigham Young University Studies 44 4 153 172 JSTOR 43045057 via JSTOR Brodie 1971 p vii Shipps 1985 p 37 Bushman 2005 p xx Widmer 2000 p 97 Moore Richard G Spring 2014 LDS Misconceptions about the Community of Christ PDF Mormon Historical Studies 15 1 1 23 Archived PDF from the original on November 20 2021 Rosetti Cristina Fall 2021 Praise to the Man The Development of Joseph Smith Deification in Woolleyite Mormonism 1929 1977 Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 54 3 41 65 doi 10 5406 dialjmormthou 54 3 0041 S2CID 246647004 Rockwell Ken Neatrour Anna Muir Jones James 2018 Repurposing Secular Buildings Religious Diversity in Salt Lake City University of Utah Cook Emily June 18 2018 Joseph Smith Memorial Building JSB Intermountain Histories Retrieved December 22 2022 Erekson Keith A Summer Fall 2005 The Joseph Smith Memorial Monument and Royalton s Mormon Affair Religion Community Memory and Politics in Progressive Vermont PDF Vermont History 73 118 151 Stack Peggy Fletcher November 26 2022 What s a Giant Statue of Mormonism s Joseph Smith Doing in India Salt Lake Tribune Quinn 1994 p 143 Brodie 1971 p 398 Shipps 1985 pp 83 84 Quinn 1994 p 143 Davenport 2022 p 159 Bushman 2005 pp 556 57 Davenport 2022 p 163 Walsh Tad March 31 2018 LDS Church Membership Officially Surpasses 16 Million Deseret News Bushman 2005 pp 555 557 McBride 2021 p 205 Quinn 1994 pp 198 09 Peter Karin Mackay Lachlan Chvala Smith Tony October 14 2022 Theo History Plano Period Cuppa Joe Podcast Project Zion Podcast Event occurs at 1 52 and 9 47 Howlett David J December 11 2022 Community of Christ World Religions and Spirituality Project Archived from the original on January 10 2023 Community of Christ Encyclopaedia Britannica April 15 2004 Archived from the original on January 23 2023 Posterity tree in Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 12 13 Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 27 39 Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 39 43 Jortner 2022 p 88 Smith Joseph Murdock The Joseph Smith Papers Archived from the original on May 18 2022 Retrieved January 5 2022 Newell amp Avery 1994 pp 102 103 Rappleye Christine March 19 2021 Remembering Emma Hale Smith the First President of the Relief Society Church Newsroom Archived from the original on January 5 2023 Bushman 2005 pp 554 Bushman 2005 p 554 Avery amp Newell 1980 p 82 Bushman 2005 p 554 Newell Linda King Fall Winter 2011 Emma s Legacy Life After Joseph 2010 Sterling M McMurrin Lecture John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 31 2 1 22 JSTOR 43200523 via JSTOR Bushman 2005 pp 554 55 Bushman 2005 p 555 Hill 1977 p 340 Compton 1997 p 27 Bushman 2005 pp 323 326 Ulrich 2017 pp 16 404n48 Davenport 2022 p 138 Bushman 2005 pp 323 25 Hill 1977 p 188 Ulrich 2017 p 404n48 Compton 1997 p 26 Bushman 2005 pp 323 326 Smith 2008 pp 38 39 n 81 Bushman 2005 p 325 Bushman 2005 pp 323 25 See also Bradley Don Mormon Polygamy Before Nauvoo The Relationship of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger Persistence of Polygamy in Bringhurst amp Foster 2010 pp 14 58 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link and Park 2020 pp 62 63 for other perspectives on the Smith Alger relationship Park 2020 pp 61 62 Compton 1997 p 11 Remini 2002 p 154 Brodie 1971 pp 334 43 Bushman 2005 pp 492 498 Bushman 2005 p 439 Van Wagoner 1992 p 73n3 Bushman 2005 pp 418 419 Park 2020 pp 67 104 105 Foster 1981 p 159 Compton 1997 pp 171 179 558 Hales Brian C Joseph Smith and the Puzzlement of Polyandry Persistence of Polygamy pp 129 130 in Bringhurst amp Foster 2010 pp 99 152 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link as well as Hales 2013 pp 1 418 425 2 282 Park 2020 p 67 Bushman 2005 p 491 Park 2020 pp 61 67 Davenport 2022 pp 131 136 137 Bushman 2005 pp 494 495 Ulrich 2017 p 89 see Park 2020 pp 193 194 for a concurring assessment Bushman 2005 p xxi Coviello 2019 p 59 Bushman 2005 p xxi 173 Vogel 2004 p viii xvii Bushman 2005 pp xx 129 Bushman 2005 p 105 a b Maffly Kipp Laurie 2008 Introduction The Book of Mormon Penguin Classics New York Penguin pp vi xxxii ISBN 978 0 14 310553 4 Bushman 2005 pp 85 87 Jortner 2022 p 48 Bushman 2005 p 85 Bushman 2005 p 108 Vogel 2004 pp 122 23 161 311 700 Bushman 2004 p 48 Vogel 2004 pp xviii xix Remini Robert V 2005 Biographical Reflections on the American Joseph Smith The Worlds of Joseph Smith A Bicentennial Conference at the Library of Congress Brigham Young University Studies 44 4 21 30 ISSN 0007 0106 JSTOR 43045047 Brodie 1971 pp 46 48 57 73 Bushman 2004 pp 58 59 Howe 2007 p 314 Shipps 1985 pp 35 36 Bushman 2005 p 72 Book of Mormon title page Remini 2002 p 57 Bushman 2005 p 66 Quinn 1998 pp 169 70 Bushman 2005 pp 71 72 Marquardt amp Walters 1994 pp 103 04 Van Wagoner amp Walker 1982 pp 52 53 Remini 2002 p 62 Van Wagoner amp Walker 1982 p 53 Bushman 2005 pp 71 72 Marquardt amp Walters 1994 pp 103 04 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 p 37 quoting Moses 1 3 Bushman 2005 pp 132 142 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 p 32 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 pp 32 33 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 p 31 Bushman 2005 p 133 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 pp 31 32 Hill 1977 p 131 Givens amp Hauglid 2019 p 32 Bushman 2005 p 138 Brodie 1971 pp 170 75 Bushman 2005 pp 286 289 290 Bushman 2005 pp 157 288 290 Wilson John A Summer 1968 A Summary Report The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri Translations and Interpretations Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 3 2 67 88 doi 10 2307 45227259 JSTOR 45227259 S2CID 254343491 Ritner Robert K Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham A Response PDF University of Chicago Archived PDF from the original on November 5 2022 Retrieved January 25 2018 Bushman 2005 p 388 Bushman 2005 p 130 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 Brodie 1971 pp 106 7 D amp C 42 Brodie 1971 pp 117 18 D amp C 76 Bushman 2005 pp 202 205 D amp C 84 Brodie 1971 p 166 Bushman 2005 pp 212 213 D amp C 89 Brodie 1971 p 289 Bushman 2005 p 213 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 pp 177 78 Bushman 2005 pp 193 195 Brodie 1971 pp 159 60 Bushman 2005 pp 229 310 322 Bushman 2005 p 419 Bushman 2005 pp 419 421 3 Bushman 2005 pp 419 20 Brooke 1994 pp 3 5 Widmer 2000 p 119 Bushman 2005 pp 420 21 Bloom 1992 p 101 Widmer 2000 p 119 Alexander Thomas 1989 The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology Line Upon Line p 59 in Bergera 1989 pp 53 66 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link Bloom 1992 p 101 Bushman 2005 pp 421 Bloom 1992 p 101 Remini 2002 p 106 Givens 2014 p 95 Coviello 2019 p 59 Bartholomew Ronald E 2013 The Textual Development of D amp C 130 22 and the Embodiment of the Holy Ghost BYU Studies Quarterly 52 3 4 24 JSTOR 43039922 via JSTOR Givens 2014 p 96 Coviello 2019 pp 65 68 Paulsen David L Pulido Martin 2011 A Mother There A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven Brigham Young University Studies 50 1 70 97 ISSN 0007 0106 JSTOR 43044842 Ostler Blair Winter 2018 Heavenly Mother The Mother of All Women Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 51 4 171 182 doi 10 5406 dialjmormthou 51 4 0171 S2CID 214816567 Toscano Margaret Spring 2022 In Defense of Heavenly Mother Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 55 1 37 68 doi 10 5406 15549399 55 1 02 S2CID 247971894 Larson 1978 pp 201 205 Widmer 2000 p 119 Widmer 2000 p 119 Bushman 2005 pp 535 544 Bushman 2005 pp 455 56 535 37 Bushman 2005 p 422 Bushman 2005 p 199 Brooke 1994 p 33 Remini 2002 p 84 a b Quinn 1994 p 7 Quinn 1994 pp 7 8 Bushman 2005 pp 121 175 Phelps 1833 p 67 Brodie 1971 pp 106 112 121 22 Quinn 1994 pp 111 12 115 Quinn 1994 pp 27 34 Bushman 2005 pp 264 65 Brodie 1971 p 111 Bushman 2005 pp 156 60 Quinn 1994 pp 31 32 Prince 1995 pp 19 115 116 119 Ostling amp Ostling 1999 pp 194 95 Prince 1995 pp 31 32 121 31 146 Bushman 2005 p 451 Prince 1995 pp 140 201 Brooke 1994 pp 30 194 95 203 208 Brooke 1994 pp 221 242 43 Brooke 1994 pp 236 Brooke 1994 pp 256 294 Bushman 2005 pp 497 98 Foster 1981 pp 161 62 Foster 1981 p 145 Bushman 2005 pp 497 98 Brooke 1994 pp 256 57 Brooke 1994 p 257 Bushman 2005 pp 497 98 Davenport 2022 p 143 quoting D amp C 132 7 Foster Craig L Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 and Joseph Smith s Expanding Concept of Family Persistence of Polygamy in Bringhurst amp Foster 2010 pp 87 98 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link Park 2020 pp 91 92 105 153 Foster 1981 pp 206 11 Compton 1997 pp 11 22 23 Smith 2008 pp 356 Brooke 1994 p 255 Brodie 1971 p 300 Coviello 2019 pp 56 57 68 69 82 88 Bloom 1992 p 105 Foster 1981 p 145 Brodie 1971 p 300 Coviello 2019 pp 56 57 ReferencesArrington Leonard Bitton Davis 1979 The Mormon Experience A History of the Latter day Saints New York NY Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 46566 0 Avery V T Newell L K 1980 The Lion and the Lady Brigham Young and Emma Smith Utah Historical Quarterly 48 1 81 97 doi 10 2307 45060927 JSTOR 45060927 S2CID 254428549 Archived from the original on October 21 2013 Retrieved September 24 2013 Bergera Gary James ed 1989 Line Upon Line Essays on Mormon Doctrine Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 0 941214 69 9 Bloom Harold 1992 The American Religion The Emergence of the Post Christian Nation 1st ed New York NY Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 671 67997 2 Bringhurst Newell G Foster Craig L eds 2010 The Persistence of Polygamy Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy Independence MO John Whitmer Books ISBN 978 1 934901 13 7 Brodie Fawn M 1971 No Man Knows My History The Life of Joseph Smith 2nd ed New York NY Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 46967 4 Brooke John L 1994 The Refiner s Fire The Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644 1844 New York NY Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 34545 6 Bushman Richard Lyman 2004 Neilson Reid L Woodworth Jed eds Believing History Latter day Saint Essays New York NY Columbia University Press ISBN 0 231 13006 6 Bushman Richard Lyman 2005 Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling New York NY Alfred A Knopf ISBN 1 4000 4270 4 Bushman Richard Lyman 2008 Mormonism A Very Short Introduction Very Short Introductions Vol 183 New York NY Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 531030 6 Compton Todd 1997 In Sacred Loneliness The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 1 56085 085 X Coviello Peter 2019 Make Yourselves Gods Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism Class 200 University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 47433 5 Davenport Stewart 2022 Sex and Sects The Story of Mormon Polygamy Shaker Celibacy and Oneida Complex Marriage Charlottesville VA University of Virginia Press ISBN 978 0 8139 4705 1 Easton Flake Amy Cope Rachel 2020 Reconfiguring the Archive Women and the Social Production of the Book of Mormon In MacKay Michael Hubbard Ashurst McGee Mark Hauglid Brian M eds Producing Ancient Scripture Joseph Smith s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity Salt Lake City UT University of Utah Press pp 105 134 ISBN 978 1 60781 743 7 Foster Lawrence 1981 Religion and Sexuality The Shakers the Mormons and the Oneida Community New York NY Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 252 01119 1 Givens Terryl L 2014 Wrestling the Angel The Foundations of Mormon Thought Cosmos God Humanity New York NY Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 acprof oso 9780199794928 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 979492 8 Givens Terryl Hauglid Brian M 2019 The Pearl of Greatest Price Mormonism s Most Controversial Scripture New York NY Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 oso 9780190603861 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 060386 1 OL 28940280M Hales Brian C 2013 Joseph Smith s Polygamy Vol 1 3 With the assistance of Don Bradley Salt Lake City UT Greg Kofford Harper Steven C 2019 First Vision Memory and Mormon Origins New York NY Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 oso 9780199329472 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 932947 2 Hill Donna 1977 Joseph Smith The First Mormon Garden City NY Doubleday amp Co ISBN 0 385 00804 X Hill Marvin S 1989 Quest for Refuge The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 978 0 941214 70 4 Howe Daniel Walker 2007 What Hath God Wrought The Transformation of America 1815 1848 Oxford History of the United States New York NY Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 507894 7 Jortner Adam 2022 No Place for Saints Mobs and Mormons in Jacksonian America Witness to History Baltimore MD Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 1 4214 4176 4 Larson Stan 1978 The King Follett Discourse A Newly Amalgamated Text Brigham Young University Studies 18 2 193 208 JSTOR 43040756 Mack Solomon 1811 A Narraitve sic of the Life of Solomon Mack Windsor VT Solomon Mack OCLC 15568282 Marquardt H Michael Walters Wesley P 1994 Inventing Mormonism San Francisco CA Smith Research Associates ISBN 1 56085 108 2 Marquardt H Michael 1999 The Joseph Smith Revelations Text and Commentary Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 978 1 56085 126 4 McBride Spencer W 2021 Joseph Smith for President The Prophet the Assassins and the Fight for American Religious Freedom New York NY Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 oso 9780190909413 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 090941 3 Newell Linda King Avery Valeen Tippetts 1994 Mormon Enigma Emma Hale Smith 2nd ed Urbana IL University of Illinois Press ISBN 0 252 06291 4 Oaks Dallin H Hill Marvin S 1975 Carthage Conspiracy The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith Urbana IL University of Illinois Press ISBN 0 252 00554 6 Ostling Richard Ostling Joan K 1999 Mormon America The Power and the Promise San Francisco CA HarperSanFrancisco ISBN 0 06 066371 5 Park Benjamin E 2020 Kingdom of Nauvoo The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier New York NY Liveright ISBN 978 1 324 09110 3 Persuitte David 2000 Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon Jefferson NC McFarland amp Co ISBN 0 7864 0826 X Phelps W W ed 1833 A Book of Commandments for the Government of the Church of Christ Zion William Wines Phelps amp Co OCLC 77918630 Archived from the original on May 20 2012 Retrieved October 11 2005 Prince Gregory A 1995 Power From On High The Development of Mormon Priesthood Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 1 56085 071 X Quinn D Michael 1994 The Mormon Hierarchy Origins of Power Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 1 56085 056 6 Quinn D Michael 1998 Early Mormonism and the Magic World View 2nd ed Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 1 56085 089 2 Remini Robert V 2002 Joseph Smith Penguin Lives New York NY Penguin Group ISBN 0 670 03083 X Shipps Jan 1985 Mormonism The Story of a New Religious Tradition Urbana IL University of Illinois Press ISBN 0 252 01417 0 Smith George D 1994 Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy 1841 46 A Preliminary Demographic Report PDF Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 1 1 72 doi 10 2307 45228320 JSTOR 45228320 S2CID 254329894 Smith George D 2008 Nauvoo Polygamy But We Called It Celestial Marriage Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 978 1 56085 201 8 Smith Joseph Jr 1832 History of the Life of Joseph Smith In Jessee Dean C ed Personal Writings of Joseph Smith Salt Lake City UT Deseret Book published 2002 ISBN 1 57345 787 6 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Smith Joseph Jr Cowdery Oliver Rigdon Sidney Williams Frederick G 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 amp Co OCLC 18137804 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names editors list link See Doctrine and Covenants Smith Lucy Mack 1853 Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations Liverpool S W Richards OCLC 4922747 See The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Turner John G 2012 Brigham Young Pioneer Prophet Cambridge MA Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 674 04967 3 OCLC 894538617 via Internet Archive Ulrich Laurel Thatcher 2017 A House Full of Females Plural Marriage and Women s Rights in Early Mormonism 1835 1870 New York NY Alfred A Knopf ISBN 978 0 307 74212 4 Van Wagoner Richard S Walker Steven C 1982 Joseph Smith The Gift of Seeing PDF Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 2 48 68 doi 10 2307 45225078 JSTOR 45225078 S2CID 254395171 Van Wagoner Richard S 1992 Mormon Polygamy A History 2nd ed Salt Lake City UT Signature Books ISBN 978 0 941214 79 7 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 NC McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 0776 7 External linksWorks by Joseph Smith Jr at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Joseph Smith at Internet Archive Works by Joseph Smith at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Official LDS Church site about Joseph Smith JosephSmithPapers org An LDS Church project compiling primary documents relating to Joseph Smith Recently discovered photo of Smith Portals nbsp Biography nbsp Latter Day Saint movement nbsp United StatesJoseph Smith at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Data from Wikidata Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Joseph Smith amp oldid 1177403157, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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