[143], By mid-1842, popular opinion had turned against the Mormons. [300] Although Emma knew of some of her husband's marriages, she almost certainly did not know the extent of his polygamous activities. [48] Living near his in-laws, Smith transcribed some characters that he said were engraved on the plates and then dictated a translation to Emma. 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. In November 1838 Smith was imprisoned on charges of robbery, arson, and treason, and he probably would have been executed had he not escaped and fled to Illinois. Smith was held responsible for the failure, and there were widespread defections from the church, including many of Smith's closest advisers. According to the book itself, one of the prophets, a general named Mormon, abridged and assembled the records of his people, engraving the history on gold plates. As president of the Ladies' Relief Society, Emma authorized publishing a certificate in the same year denouncing polygamy, and denying her husband as its creator or participant. For at least some of the earliest dictation, Smith is said to have used the "Urim and Thummim", a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates. [311] Smith said that blacks were not inherently inferior to whites, and he welcomed slaves into the church. [91] Smith was blamed for having promoted a church-sponsored bank that failed. [108] After Rigdon delivered a sermon that implied dissenters had no place in the Mormon community, the Danites forcibly expelled them from the county. During the next two-and-a-half years he married or was sealed to about 30 additional women,[296] ten of whom were already married to other men. During his presidential campaign of 1844, he proposed ending slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders for their loss.

[200] Emma said that the very first time she ever became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Smith by Mormons was when she read about it in Orson Pratt's periodical The Seer in 1853. Hyrum, who was trying to secure the door, was killed instantly with a shot to the face. He said the angel commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else, but to translate them and publish their translation. The two were taken to Carthage, the county seat, for a hearing, and, while imprisoned, they were shot by a mob on June 27, 1844. The book closes when Mormon's son, Moroni, finishes engraving and buries the records written on the golden plates. The eldest, Alvin (born in 1828), died within hours of birth, as did twins Thaddeus and Louisa (born in 1831). [42], Smith made his last visit to the hill on September 22, 1827, taking Emma with him.

[188] Smith's sons Joseph III and David also had claims, but Joseph III was too young and David was yet unborn. [55] In April 1829, he met Oliver Cowdery, who replaced Harris as his scribe, and resumed dictation. Harris persuaded Smith to let him take the existing 116 pages of manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members, including his wife. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught an important principle when he explained that “all revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. During the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the Kirtland Temple. "Lieutenant General" Smith and "Major General" Bennett became its commanders, thereby controlling by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois. The leadership of the church then fell to Brigham Young, who dedicated himself to perpetuating Smith’s teachings and program. [304], While campaigning for President of the United States in 1844, Smith had opportunity to take political positions on issues of the day. [222] As such, considerable disagreement about the actual method used exists. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a religious civilization beginning about 600 BC and ending in 421 AD. [107] Though it is unclear how much Smith knew of the Danites' activities, he clearly approved of those of which he did know.

View more “Special Witnesses of Christ” videos. [99] After a warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud, Smith and Rigdon fled Kirtland for Missouri in January 1838.[100]. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, which was intended to be Zion's "center place". [207], According to the American historian and Mormonism expert Richard Bushman, the "signal feature" of Smith's life was "his sense of being guided by revelation". [193] Smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon and James J. Strang, who had based his claim on an allegedly forged letter of appointment. [248] Three months later, Smith gave a lengthy revelation called the "Olive Leaf" containing themes of cosmology and eschatology, and discussing subjects such as light, truth, intelligence, and sanctification; a related revelation given in 1833 put Christ at the center of salvation. During the first half of the 20th century, some writers suggested that Smith might have suffered from epileptic seizures or from psychological disorders such as paranoid delusions or manic-depressive illness that might explain his visions and revelations. “I too bear witness that He lives.”. Four years later, the angel permitted him to remove the plates and instructed him to translate the characters engraved on their surfaces with the aid of special stones called “interpreters.” Smith insisted that he did not compose the book but merely “translated” it under divine guidance. In any event, Harris returned to Harmony in April 1828, and continued as Smith's scribe. [287] According to Smith, only one person on Earth at a time—in this case, Smith—could possess this power of sealing. [179] Believers tend to focus on his achievements and religious teachings, deemphasizing his personal defects, while detractors focus on his mistakes, legal troubles, and controversial doctrines. It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. [13][14] He was one of 11 children. Rigdon said that "if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? (the exact number of wives is uncertain.). Establishment of settlements and persecution, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Smith-American-religious-leader-1805-1844, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Joseph Smith, American National Biography - Biography of Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [109], In a speech given at the town's Fourth of July celebration, Rigdon declared that Mormons would no longer tolerate persecution by the Missourians and spoke of a "war of extermination" if Mormons were attacked. [72], When Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio 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. When questions arose, he would call upon God and dictate words in the voice of the Lord. The Nephites become a righteous people who build a temple and live the law of Moses, though their prophets teach a Christian gospel. For women, Smith introduced the Relief Society, a service club and sorority within which Smith predicted women would receive "the keys of the kingdom". After receiving noncommittal or negative responses, Smith 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.

They unleashed a flood of anti-Mormon rhetoric in newspapers and in stump speeches given during the 1838 election campaign. [87], After the Camp returned, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish five governing bodies in the church, all originally of equal authority to check one another. [283], During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the "New and Everlasting Covenant" that superseded all earthly bonds. Meanwhile Brigham Young, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, rose to prominence when he organized the move of about 14,000 Mormon refugees to Illinois and eastern Iowa. Officials in Carthage responded by mobilizing their small detachment of the state militia, and Governor Thomas Ford appeared, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves. [209] In fact Smith's first recorded revelation was a rebuke chastising Smith for having let Martin Harris lose 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript. [159], Fearing the newspaper would bring the countryside down on the Mormons, the Nauvoo city council declared the Expositor a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy the press. In a church-wide conference on August 8, most of the Latter Day Saints elected Young, who led them to the Salt Lake Valley as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). [49], In February 1828, Martin Harris arrived to assist Smith by transcribing his dictation. [281] For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and priesthood marriages that would be effective into the afterlife. [54], Smith said that the angel returned the plates to him in September 1828. [255] Smith moved away from formal written revelations spoken in God's voice, and instead taught more in sermons, conversations, and letters. [214] They eventually construct a ship and sail to a "promised land" in the Western Hemisphere.

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