Joseph Smith

Portrait of Joseph Smith, author Charles W. Carter (Library of Congress)

Joseph Smith, son ( 23 December 1805 - 27 June 1844 ) is the founder of Mormonism. It is a personality of religious and political life of the United States in the years 1830 and 1840.

In 1820, at age 14, he allegedly witnessed a series of spiritual manifestations, such as the First Vision.

In 1830, Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon , which he says is the translation of an ancient story engraved on gold plates would have assigned an angel. The same year he founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , which he would be the restoration of the original Church of Jesus Christ and became its first president.

Many new converts him as a prophet of God. These, from the United States, Canada and Europe gather at Kirtland (Ohio) and then to Missouri.

In 1839, after being driven from place to place in Missouri , slave state, the Latter-day Saints (Mormons), founded the city of Nauvoo (Ill.) that Joseph Smith opposed slavery of blacks, will become mayor. In January 1844, Joseph Smith announced his candidacy for president of the United States of America.

His detractors, concerned about the Mormon population growth and fearful of losing the elections, want to eliminate 'scourge Mormon'. They accuse Joseph Smith of wanting to establish a theocracy and accuse him of practicing polygamy. After death threats, Joseph Smith made to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor press ^Privacy

Family and Childhood Origins

Joseph Smith was a sixth generation American. His ancestors, who emigrated from Lincolnshire ( England ), came to settle in the seventeenth ^century in North America, in the wooded hills of New England.

His parents, Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack were married in 1796 in Tunbridge (Vermont), and had all 11 children of which 9 survived after birth: Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel, William, Katharine (or Catherine), Don Carlos and Lucy. Having suffered some financial setbacks, the Smith family had to move several times in Vermont , where Joseph Smith's son was born on 23 December 1805 , Sharon (Windsor County), then in New Hampshire , where Joseph Smith's father praised his services among other farmers, through trade or working as a schoolteacher.

In 1860, the explorer, Jules Achille Remy , a leading French to have visited Salt Lake City, wrote about them: "Joseph Smith's parents were farmers: they lived first in Windsor County in the state Vermont. His father, who enjoyed a comfortable large enough, was ruined in early speculation granulated ginseng, which he had sent a shipment to China, a consignee unfaithful never paid him. He rose to ruin by cultivating a farm owned by his stepfather, and by school children during the winter the place. It was not, he was far from a religious mind: however, he changed feelings and later converted to 1811, thanks to the prayers of his wife. He even came to have visions, and, from his conversion, he spent the rest of his life in religious practices. Lucy Mack, his wife, mother of the prophet, had always been very devout and even addicted to religious reveries ... Her life was mystical. Sometimes, it was visions that revealed to him that all religions were diverted from the truth. OF Other times, it was a miraculous intervention in support of his family ... "

It was around 1813, while the Smiths lived in West Lebanon ( New Hampshire ), that the young Joseph contracted typhoid fever and was suffering from a serious infection in his left leg. It was operated by the famous surgeon Nathan Smith , founder of Dartmouth Medical School, who avoided amputation, but a few years the child had to walk with crutches and, later, the accident was the dispensation of service of the militia. Joseph Smith kept his life a slight limp.

About this time, the Smith family, impoverished, went to Norwich (Vermont) to work on a farm. Then, in 1816, discouraged by several bad harvests, they left Norwich and moved to Palmyra (New York), in western New York State , not far from Lake Ontario. Joseph Smith's father had acquired one hundred acres of land where he built a small farm and where, by dint of hard work, his family found a more prosperous.

Later, William, a brother of Joseph Smith Jr., evoking the period of their lives:

Smith family farm in Manchester

"We had a good field. We also had twelve to fifteen hundred trees, sugar and collect the sap and make molasses with many trees was not a lazy job. We worked hard to clear our field and the neighbors were a little jealous. Imagine the amount of work involved clearing 24 hectares more heavily forested than anything we have here, the trees it was not easy to cut ... "

"Being poor," Joseph told Smith, "we had to work hard to meet the needs of our large family ... and as it was necessary that all those of us who could help fill the needs of the family, we have therefore, been deprived of the benefits of a good education. Let's just say I learned to read, write and the rudiments of arithmetic " .

Concerning his education and child temperament, Jules Achille Rmy wrote in 1860: "Joseph attended for some time primary schools ... but his parents could not give him an instruction carefully. He learned to read fluently, write poorly and to somehow, the four arithmetic operations. At the age of fourteen he was, according to his mother, a child showing remarkably quiet and most happy disposition. This opinion, it is true is not generally accepted, and the enemies of the prophet are, instead, as a strong and turbulent enough bad about it. They report that it was at this time the subject of an assassination attempt, and they claim that there had only its disorders resulted. But his mother, who does not deny the fact, explained by the malice of the wicked and the inspiration of the devil. "

In Palmyra, the mother of Joseph, two of his brothers and his sister joined the Western Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church locally, but Joseph and his father and brother Alvin abstained from it. Joseph, meanwhile, approached the Methodists and became part of a debate club, first at Palmyra and then into the red school "Durfee Street (North Creek Road) .

When Alvin Smith died on 19 November 1823 , was the Presbyterian minister Benjamin B. Stockton, who celebrated his funeral. William Smith, brother of Joseph, recounted: "

Alvin's death, the elder brother, aged 25 years and worked hard to support his family, was a real test for the young Joseph. This event may have been a trigger for his spiritual quest. Accordingly, he examined the various denominations (Methodists, Baptists, etc.) to find one that could be in the truth. It was at this time that Joseph Smith, many years later, will place the visit of the angel Moroni (evening of 21 September 1823 ).

Youth - facts and controversies

In October 1825, Joseph Smith's son went to work on the farm of Josiah Stowell, who lived in South Bainbridge (Chenango County, New York ). The latter was convinced of the existence of a Spanish silver mine, eager to find the exact location, he dug pits .

Smith then took pension, Harmony ( Pennsylvania ), Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, his future in-laws, but this treasure hunt to Isaac Hale strongly disliked. In 1826, in Bainbridge, Stowell's nephew, Peter G. Bridgman sued against Joseph Smith, in which her future stepfather, Isaac Hale, called him a "glass looker," as evidenced by the expense of Justice Albert Neely and Sheriff Philip De Zeng, which resulted many controversies.

The "glass-looking" was a practice in vogue at that time in the northern United States and which was to promise money cons, the discovery of buried treasure. The "glass-looker" was using a transparent stone that were placed in a hat and whose brilliance was supposed to say where he was digging.

Documents found in 1974 by the Rev. Wesley Walters attest before the release of " Book of Mormon "Joseph Smith had been carrying out activities of clairvoyance and" money-digging "(" money seeker ").

This allegation, very old, was made during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. In 1833, a Philastus Hurlbut, a former Mormon excommunicated for immorality, went to collect affidavits from 62 citizens of Palmyra and Manchester in particular arguing that Smith spent their time looking through magic rituals, buried treasure and that 'they would have holes all over the region .

In 1842, in his book "Gleanings by the Way," the Rev. John A. Clark (1801-1843), who was pastor of the Episcopal Church (Anglican) in Palmyra, reported a statement by Martin Harris, a Mormon from the beginning, in which he evokes the nocturnal expeditions "money-diggers" (treasure hunters ) who said they had used "Joe" as a guide usual, which put his hat in a particular stone that he observed to decide where they should dig, and that it was returning from a night of those tours that he was visited by the angel Moroni. "

In 1872, Charles Marshall, a British journalist visiting Salt Lake City and who had access to the registry J. Neely, published in the magazine "Fraser" an article stating that Joseph Smith had indeed appeared before the Court of Bainbridge, 20 March 1826 on charges of "stirring" (disorderly person) and "charlatan" (impostor), he looked a certain stone to find forgotten treasures in the bowels of the earth and that Stowell had been engaged to explore with him. This thesis was also defended by historian Mormon, Fawn Brodie McKay , niece of the apostle David O. McKay (who later became president of the Church), in his book "No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith," published in 1945, where she asserted that Joseph Smith was a highly imaginative treasure hunter, who in the hope of improving daily family invented the existence of golden plates and a religious narrative, the Book of Mormon , an impostor good intentions and little by little, eventually convince himself that he was indeed a prophet. In 1946, because of his work, Fawn McKay Brodie was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

According to Oliver Cowdery, a Mormon for the first time, Smith was invited by Joseph Stowell to spend a few months to explore with some others in search of treasure. He added that someone had complained to him as "agitator" (disorderly person) and had been brought before the authorities of the County, but that as nothing could hold against him, he was honorably discharged

Emma Hale Smith (1804-1879)

For authors Mormons, even if the existence of the trial of 1826 is actually proven, there is no evidence to conclude that Joseph Smith was convicted.

Joseph Smith refers to this period of his life: "In October 1825, I engaged in an old gentleman named Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango County, New York. He had heard that a silver mine was opened by the Spaniards in Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and, before engaging, he had made excavations in an attempt to discover the mine. When I had gone to live with him, he took me with the rest of his workers to dig to find the silver mine, a work which I worked for almost a month without our company will meet him success, and finally I persuaded the old man from stop looking. That's where the story is very common that says I was a gold digger. " (Joseph Smith - Autobiography)

In 1826, Joseph Smith was still serving Stowel Josiah when he asked the hand of the young Emma. Despite the refusal of Isaac Hale, Joseph married Emma in South Bainbridge (Chenango County - State of New York - Afton since 1857) on 18 January 1827 .

Family life and civil

Joseph Smith Mansion House

At Nauvoo , Joseph Smith and his family first settled in a small log house. Joseph earned his living by farming, then a store manager. In late August 1843 the family moved into a new house at one stage: the Mansion House.

In 1844, Joseph Smith and Emma Hale had four children. Between 1828 and 1842, they had lost six, died shortly after birth, and another was born in 1844, nearly five months after Joseph's death.

The couple's eleven children were: Alvin, born and died June 15, 1828, the twins Thadeus and Louisa, born and died April 30, 1831, Joseph ( Joseph Smith III ), born in 1832, Frederick, born in 1836, Alexander, born in 1838, Don Carlos, born in 1840 and died at the age of 14 months, a stillborn child in 1842, and David, born in 1844, which were added the twins Joseph and Julia, born in 1831, children John and Julia Murdock, collected by Smith after the death of their mother.

• Polygamy, according to historians

After his marriage to Emma Hale, according to the teachings he had given on plural marriage, Joseph Smith had contracted several marriages with other women. Today, all historians, Mormon or not, agree on the fact that Joseph Smith was polygamous, but, because of gaps in the literature, the question of the number of his wives is discussed. Most of these women were married by Smith in 1842 and 1843, that is to say shortly before his death (Smith then 37-38 years) and relatively short duration. Some would have married by proxy after his death.

The first list, published in 1887 by Mormon historian Andrew Jenson attributed to him 27 wives. But, generally, recent studies says there are more: The Mormon historian Todd Compton ^, recognizes him 33 wives, while George D. Smith into account 43, D. Michael Quinn ^, 47 and Fawn McKay Brodie 48.

Some were particularly young people, such Kimbal March Helen and Nancy Maria Winchester, both aged 14. Merlin Compton estimated one third of Smith's wives were aged 14-20 years at marriage . According to Compton, others were already legally married when they became the wives of Joseph Smith (11 of 33), as Sylvia Porter Sessions, 23, married Windsor Lyon, and in 1882, sensing his impending death, sent to his bedside his daughter, Josephine Rosetta Lyon, and he confided that she was the daughter of Joseph Smith .

• Polygamy, according to Emma Smith

Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery in their biographies, claimed that Emma had witnessed several marriages of Joseph Smith with multiple wives. However, throughout his life, Emma had publicly denied knowledge of her husband's involvement in the practice of polygamy and denying on his deathbed that this practice has ever occurred. Emma said:

".... No such thing as polygamy ,..., was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband died, I did not have knowledge, not now, not ever. .. He never had any other wives than myself, and there never has been more to my knowledge "

Emma Smith asserted that the very first time she heard about a revelation on polygamy by the Mormons attributed to Joseph Smith was when she read on the subject in the book of Orson Pratt , 'The seer, in 1853.

Story of a revelation

The First Vision (1820)

First Vision of Joseph Smith

• Background

In the region of Palmyra, where the family lived Smith, various Christian churches trying to attract converts. The different denominations of the Reformation were often shaken by religious revivals. Introvigne , author of a book on the Mormons indicates that this region "was the scene of repeated protests of religious enthusiasm, and then receives the name of burned-over district, district fire by the Protestant revivalist fervor. " And "in the religious excitement, many people were prone to mystical experiences and visions." Many preachers in the region, such Elias Smith John Samuel Thompson, Asa Wild to name the best known, claimed to have visited the Christ. But the stories of apparitions were also common among the population.

• Story by Joseph Smith

Although still very young, Joseph was concerned about his situation vis--vis God and the confusion that reigned among the various Christian denominations. In the story of his life, Joseph Smith mentions a religious awakening in 1820 that struck Palmyra, triggered by the preaching of a Methodist minister, Georges Lane. According to William, the younger brother of Joseph, it was this preacher who suggested that Joseph read the text of Jacques 1:5 so it can determine the church where it is most at ease: "If someone of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it shall be given him. "

Inspired by this passage from Jacques 1:5, he would have gone to pray in a grove near his home one day in spring 1820 and would have had this vision:

"I live right above my head, a column of light, brighter than the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me ... When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, who stood above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other: It is my beloved son. Listen to him. "

According to Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ told him not to join any of the churches that existed on earth, because they were "all wrong and that all their creeds were an abomination."

Joseph Smith said that strong opposition finally manifested itself when he made his vision: "I soon saw that to hurt me tell my story with people of other faiths and was the cause of a great persecution, which was increasing, and although I was an obscure boy of fourteen or fifteen years ago, and my situation in life was such as to make me a boy of no importance in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite public opinion against me and cause violent persecution, and it was a common thing in all religions: all united to persecute me. "

• Controversies

About this episode, Dee Jerald Tanner and his wife, Sandra McGee Tanner, from old families and Mormon in Utah who have studied the beginnings of Mormonism, say the first members of the Mormon Church knew nothing of a First vision .

When Oliver Cowdery has published his version of church history in December 1834 and February 1835, he has not in fact mentioned this "First Vision".

In his book, Fawn McKay Brodie has serious doubts about the authenticity of the story of Smith .

Moreover, the date forward by Smith (1820) about the religious revival (revival) initiated by the Methodist minister George Lane is disputed by some authors, whereas the local press of that time did not speak. In his study published in 1967, the Reverend Wesley P. Walters cited numerous passages from newspapers which seem to confirm that there was no revival (revival) in Palmyra and its environs between 1819 and 1823. In contrast, during all these years, the Methodist Church in Palmyra loses his followers: 23 in 1819, 6 in 1820 and 40 in 1821 ... In contrast, the daily "the Wayne Sentinel (15/09/1824) and" Palmyra Newspaper "(02/03/1825), speak well of a revival that began in 1824, and the personal story of George Lane, who was found by Wesley Walters Methodist seminary in , which indicates, in September 1825 for the Methodist Church of Palmyra an increase of 208 faithful.

Visit of Moroni and discovery of gold plates

Three years later, according to Joseph Smith, the evening of September 21, 1823, when he prayed intensely , a light filled his room, and a heavenly messenger named Moroni , appeared to him and he would have revealed that the annals Ancient engraved on gold plates were buried in a nearby hill and that he, Joseph Smith, should translate into English this sacred text.

Joseph told that during the four years that followed, he met Moroni on the hill every 22 September, to receive teachings and further instructions, and that September 22, 1827, four years after seeing the plaques for the first Once he received them. Smith says he went on the western flank of the hill Cumorah , just below the summit, he found buried the plates deposited in a stone, the Urim and Thummim and breastplate of gold. He said the plates were gold, engraved with Egyptian characters, and connected with three rings like the leaves of a book ... The Urim and Thummim was, "said Joseph's mother who allegedly saw two triangular diamonds, encased in glass and mounted on silver branches, much like they wore glasses before. In the story of his discovery, Joseph Smith did not specify that a sword was at Cumorah, in the stone box. It was later, in the stories of "witnesses" that object, the sword of Laban, will be mentioned.

The gold plates - reconstruction according to the accounts of witnesses, Museum of Church History, Salt Lake City

According to Smith from golden plates that he was entrusted with local bands never stopped plotting to steal them, so in December 1827, the couple would have returned Smith to Harmony ( Pennsylvania ), where Joseph would then started the "translation" of the plates, seconded by Martin Harris, a wealthy farmer, a friend of the Smith family.

That's when Martin Harris made the trip from New York to show a facsimile of the characters "Egyptian" Book of Mormon to Professor Charles Anthon (1787-1867), professor of classical philology at Columbia, which he reportedly said that the characters were Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian and Arabic and the translation that Smith had done was correct. He added qu'Anthon would have first given a certificate attesting the authenticity of the characters, and then, changing his mind, he would then split.

Later, in a letter to Eber D. Howe of Painesville, dated February 9, 1834, Charles Anthon gave a different version of this interview : Given the mixture of Hebrew alphabets, Greek and Roman would have seen the document as not only a "hoax" but a "scam "" part of a plan to steal money from the farmer "Martin Harris .

In 1903, the heirs of David Whitmer sold at the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a document whose paper, the former had the same quality and look the same as the manuscript of the Book of Mormon and the first "revelations". According to the Reorganized Church, the document (now nicknamed "RLDS transcript") is a facsimile in 1829 that Harris had presented to Professor Anthon. On this subject, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is circumspect .

After his visit to New York Martin Harris returned to Joseph April 12, 1828. Two months later, according to Joseph Smith, 116 pages were already written when Martin Harris asked permission to take home. Joseph Smith eventually enable him to win. Harris carried them away and lost, and they were never found.

Table: Visions of Joseph Smith

"Translation" of the Book of Mormon

In April 1829, Oliver Cowdery, a young schoolteacher born in Poultney ( Vermont ), arrived at Harmony, and appeared to Joseph to replace Harris. "On April 5, 1829, Oliver Cowdery came to my house. I'd never seen before. He told me that as he was teaching at the local school where my father lived, and as my father was one of those who sent their children at this school, it took some time board with him. While he was there, the family told him the circumstances under which I had received the plates, whereupon he came to me and ask questions about it. Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (April 7), I began translating the Book of Mormon, and he began to write for me. "

Some authors have suggested that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery knew even before this meeting, and that their father, Joseph Smith Sr. and William Cowdery, have both joined the religious movement ("Wood Scrape") initiated in 1800 by a Nathaniel Wood , Middletown (Vt.) who claimed that his disciples were new Jews ("New Israelites") and that they could cure diseases and discovering hidden treasures using divining rods ("divining rod").

Oliver Cowdery wrote about his experience: "These were unforgettable days! Being there to listen to the sound of a voice under the inspiration of heaven, awakened in my deepest gratitude! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write history or record called 'Book of Mormon', as it fell from his lips as he translated with the Urim and Thummim. "

According to Joseph Smith, a month later, Oliver Cowdery and he went to pray on the banks of the River Susquehanna , when they would be a heavenly being appeared, presenting himself as John the Baptist , then they would have given the Priesthood in their command to baptize each other and arrange themselves. Later this month, told Smith, the ancient Apostles Peter , Jacques and John appeared to be their turn then they would have given them the Melchizedek Priesthood and have ordered the apostles.

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Oliver Cowdery (1806-1850), Secretary Smith, one of the "three witnesses" of the Book of Mormon excommunicated in 1838

In June 1829, the Whitmer family, Fayette ( State of New York ), offered hospitality to complete its work. The same month, Joseph Smith baptized in the waters of Seneca Lake, two of Whitmer at the same time as his brother Hyrum.

It was then that both certificates were written "three witnesses" (Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris ) and "eight witnesses" (four Whitmer, Hiram Page, parent Whitmer, and three Smith) who attested the existence of golden plates, translated by Joseph Smith. The testimony of three and eight witnesses were printed at the beginning of Book of Mormon , the first publication in 1830.

Although most of these witnesses (6 of 11) had then been excommunicated, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints likes to recall the great honor of these men and highlights the fact that even left the Church , they never disavowed their testimony.

His mother, Lucy Mack, then said the angel would again appeared to Joseph, that he had to return the plates and other objects, and then the angel won everything. Today, the authors explain that Mormon Moroni took the plates to Joseph Smith to save the believers and the need to protect and hide them constantly and to increase the faith of the reader who needs to learn directly from God and know the revealing the truth of this book .

The "translation" is completed, it was to find a printer. It was then that Joseph Smith had traveled to the workshop Egbert Grandin, publisher of "the Wayne Sentinel.

Publication of the Book of Mormon (1830)

Coverage of a first copy of the Book of Mormon

Martin Harris (1783-1875)

In June 1829, Joseph Smith went to Palmyra (Wayne County, NY ) to drop off a manuscript of the " Book of Mormon "(" The Book of Mormon ") at the workshop Egbert Bratt Grandin, editor Newspaper " The Wayne Sentinel (en).

On 17 August 1829, with Egbert and his associates, John H. Gilbert and Pomeroy Tucker, he signed a contract for the printing of 5,000 copies. To set the estimated cost of 3 000, Martin Harris , a local farmer and friend of Smith, mortgaged his farm of 150 acres. (Later, it will sell 80 hectares of his farm to redeem the mortgage). He was one of "three witnesses" who attested the existence of golden plates.

The Book of Mormon was finally sold to the public in the library of Dr. Grandin, March 26, 1830.

The book is presented as the annals of an ancient people (the Nephites ) who, with the Lamanites would have occupied North America between 600 BC. BC and 421 AD. JC. According to this narrative, the ancestors of the Nephites and Lamanites were the Hebrews who left Jerusalem to go to America. The Lamanites (Native Americans come down with) would have eventually eliminated the Nephites, including a representative: Moroni , son of Mormon, would have buried somewhere in their sacred record, engraved on gold plates.

Joseph Smith presented the Book of Mormon, not as a novel, but as an authentic text which he had a revelation. According to him, Moroni himself he would have appeared on 21 September 1823 , and reportedly told him the whereabouts of the gold plates on the Hill Cumorah , near Palmyra. On top of that hill, it would have uncovered the plates, covered in an unknown hand, and stones clairvoyance ( Urim and Thummim ), who four years later, would have helped make the "translation".

The Book of Mormon: sacred text or simple plagiarism?

Critics of Joseph Smith's claim that the Book of Mormon "was written by Joseph Smith, and probably with the help of others more educated as Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon. The idea that Indians were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel was prevalent long before the birth of the Mormon movement. We find evidence in numerous publications prior to 1830. And Joseph Smith was accused of plagiarising one or several books of his time.

We first spoke of the manuscript of Spaulding. From 1812, Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816), wrote a novel in frame biblical entitled "The Manuscript Found" (The Manuscript Found). A printer in Pittsburgh, Robert Patterson, received the manuscript, but while waiting to be paid for the printing, Spaulding died. The novel was finally not published, and, according to testimony notarized at the time, the printer's manuscript would have disappeared. However, Patterson was a workman like Harrison, a friend of Sidney Rigdon, who was later a close associate of Joseph Smith in the new church. Hence suggesting that Rigdon had stolen the manuscript and that it has formed the basis of Book of Mormon , there was only one step ... and this step was taken in 1832, when Mormon missionaries Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde preached in Conneaut Ohio ), residents claimed that the Book of Mormon was like writing history in this city, a few years earlier, in Spaulding. Spaulding's brother, his widow and his son declared under oath that they recognized the novel of the deceased. In December 1833, the ex-Mormon Hilburt, who had obtained the widow Spaulding, a manuscript of the book, presented in public meetings in Kirtland (Ohio), and the following year, Eber Dudley Howe (1798 -1885), owner of The Telegraph in Painesville, expounded in his book "Mormonism Unvailed" the theory that the Book of Mormon is a plagiarism of the manuscript of Spaulding. .

The other work, often cited as a possible source of Joseph Smith, is the work of Pastor Ethan Smith (1762-1849): "View of the Hebrews" (View of the Hebrews'), published in 1823 and defended it as the The idea that Indians descended from Hebrews. Isaac Woodbridge Riley (1869-1933) was apparently the first in 1902 to establish a reconciliation between "View of the Hebrews" and the " Book of Mormon. " This argument was strengthened by the fact that the author of "View of the Hebrews," Ethan Smith, lived in Poultney ( Vermont ), the birthplace of Oliver Cowdery, where he was from 1821 to 1826 the pastor of the Congregational church Cowdery family that attended. When Ethan Smith's novel was published in 1823, the journal of Palmyra, the "Wayne Sentinel did the advertising, and later, August 11, 1826, the name of Joseph Smith's father was mentioned in the same newspaper, stating he had paid to acquire the sum of 5.60.

In 1922, Brigham H. Roberts (1857-1933), Mormon historian and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, raised 26 points of similarity between "View of the Hebrews" and the " Book of Mormon. " He wrote about this: "The question that must be considered is this: Does such knowledge (that of the Semitic origin of the Indians) as advocated in the book by Ethan Smith on theories of origin as they existed in the neighborhood where Joseph Smith spent his youth and the creative imagination and a living person could have produced such a work as the Book of Mormon? It appears that such knowledge existed New England and that Joseph Smith was in contact with her. That a book at least, with whom he seems to have been in contact would provide the basic material of the Book of Mormon and it appears that Joseph Smith had a similar creative imagination, it shows that it is very possible that the Book of Mormon has been produced in this way. " Roberts concluded his study of "View of the Hebrews" by asking: "Points of similarity suggesting contact as many and as convincing they may be mere coincidence? " . However, Brigham H. Roberts remained convinced until his death of the divine inspiration of the Book of Mormon.

In 1945, Fawn McKay Brodie wrote: "We can never prove that Joseph

In 1985, the Mormon John W. Welch attempted to answer the question of BH Roberts and explain the similarities between the two books, very general in his view, were neither numerous nor convincing. In turn, in response to the work of Roberts, he drew up a list of 84 differences between the two books to refute the theory of plagiarism .

The beginnings of the Church

On April 6, 1830, just eleven days after the sale of the Book of Mormon , about sixty people gathered in the log home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette ( State of New York ). Here, Joseph Smith organized the Church officially named eight years later the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .

Early missions

Joseph Smith then sent missionaries to preach throughout the State of New York . In spring 1830, his younger brother, Samuel, was the first to hit the road. In a tavern in New York, he left a copy of the Book of Mormon came into the hands of Brigham Young. Thus was he who was called later become the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and lead the Mormon pioneers in Utah.

Joseph Smith, himself, preached at Harmony, then Fayette (State of New York). In August 1830, during one of these missions in Manchester (State of New York), Parley P. Pratt, pastor campbelli, came to listen to him give the contradiction. But the discourse of Joseph Smith managed to convince him. The very next day, he asked the baptism, and September 19, he baptized at Canaan (State of New York) his brother Orson Pratt , aged nineteen years, who later became an important pillar of the young Church.

In September 1830, Joseph Smith sent Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt among the Indians of Missouri . The trip did these missionaries in the region led Kirtland (Ohio), where they met a group of religious and spiritual quest they converted one hundred thirty of its members, including Sidney Rigdon , who later became a member of the First Presidency of Church. The group of saints in Kirtland, and reached several hundred members.

Therefore, the growth of the Church was rapid. In one year, there were over 500 baptisms. In 1832, the population of the Church was from 2000 to 3000, and went from 20,000 in 1835.

Installation in Kirtland (Ohio)

At the same time as the Church grew up in upstate New York, the hostility of the population increased. Joseph and Emma were among the first from Ohio, and they came to Kirtland to 1 February 1831. They settled in above the store white (the White Store) Newel K. Whitney, who in 1832 became the seat of the Church. In 1832, Newell was called to serve as manager of financial operations of the Church. Most of the Whitney family resources were available for the construction of the Kirtland Temple.

In the months that followed, the vast majority of saints of the State of New York sold their property and gathered in Kirtland (Ohio) where they bought land.

The first institutions of the Church

It was at Kirtland (Ohio) in 1832 that was organized the First Presidency of the Church. President Joseph Smith chose advisers Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gause. For some reason, Jesse Gause was excommunicated December 3, 1832 and left the church. The historian and ex-Mormon D. Michael Quinn Gause think would have learned that Smith secretly taught plural marriage , which would have prompted his departure . Jesse Gause was replaced March 18, 1833, by Frederick G. Williams.

A stake was organized in Kirtland in 1834.

Joseph Smith organized the Quorum of Twelve Apostles , which meets for the first time in Kirtland, February 21, 1835. Brigham Young , HG Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt were appointed apostles. The same year, Smith founded a college of seventy.

During this period, Joseph Smith also established schools in the Aaronic and Melchizedek to administer to the needs of local members of the Church.

Establishment of a "new Zion" in Missouri

In June 1831, Joseph Smith claimed to have received revelation from God that should be the basis for a "new Jerusalem", 1 400 km of Kirtland, Jackson County, Missouri, on the edge of colonized lands. They passed through Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis, where they went off to Independence (Jackson County), which they reached in July 1831. The place pleased to Smith and he proclaimed the name of God that was the promised land reserved for Latter-day Saints , that was expected to rise as the city of Zion.

Joseph Smith began to establish the foundations of a new city, designed to accommodate 15 to 20,000 inhabitants. William W. Phelps was ordered to establish and run a print shop, and men were appointed to an office whose purpose was to organize the colony and the people, to receive offerings and open stores. In August 1831, and he chose a site devoted to the construction of the temple, then returned to Ohio, it prompted hundreds of saints to go to Missouri and settle there.

Thus, between 1831 to 1838, there were mostly Mormons in Ohio and Missouri. The Church leaders corresponded by letter and were frequently travel between the two regions.

Formation of the canon of Mormon scripture

In November 1831, Church leaders decided to publish a large number of "revelations" in a compilation called: The Book of Commandments. This book was printed in Independence (Missouri), but in July 1833, a mob destroyed the press and most of the copies of the book. Because of these events, the Book of Commandments was never made available to members of the Church, but in 1835, was published in Kirtland under the title Doctrine and Covenants , a new book of "revelations" and statements "inspired", giving instructions to lead the Church in the "last days".

While living in the area of Kirtland, Joseph Smith continued his translation of the Bible, in which he claimed to correct the text of the King James - or " King's Bible Jacques "(English Bible produced under the reign of Jacques I. England) - and thus restore truths lost over the centuries. This work could be completed in his lifetime, but it was an opportunity to publish texts, now included in the Book of Moses , which is part of the Pearl of Great Price , one of the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

July 3, 1835, in Kirtland (Ohio), an antiquities dealer, Michael H. Chandler explained Egyptian mummies and papyrus scrolls. Joseph Smith then made the acquisition of four mummies and dozens of fragments of papyrus which he claimed to have fired papyri written by Abraham himself over 4000 years ago. Smith then produced a narrative, the Book of Abraham as he presented the translation of these writings. Subsequently, the Book of Abraham was integrated with the Pearl of Great Price.

These Egyptian documents gave rise to lively debate, especially since their rediscovery in 1966 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by Dr. Aziz Atiya Suryal, Middle East specialist at the University of Utah. It was discovered and told: "While I was there I discovered a workbook with these documents. I immediately recognized the drawing. When I saw him I knew he had appeared in the Pearl of Great Price. I knew the general appearance of the image. (...) I saw other pieces of papyrus stacked together ... Another document was with them, signed by the wife of Joseph Smith, his son and someone else, stating that these belonged to Joseph Smith Papyrus ... "

Mummies and papyrus acquired by Smith came from excavations at Thebes by Giovanni Pietro Antonio Lebolo, including Michael H. Chandler was the nephew and heir. For Egyptologists, the Smith papyrus from a "Book of Breathing", that is to say a book that funeral, from the 1st century AD, succeeded to the ancient Book of the Dead and whose texts and scenes therein and commonly found in Egyptian tonbeaux, would they feel any connection with Abraham (as does the Bible stories are never out of Mesopotamia) or even with the Hebrew people .

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports the veracity of the "translation" made by Smith and even adds that apart from these papyri, there are dozens of references to Abraham in Egyptian texts ... However, it also states that "nothing suggests that the papyri found (by Dr. Atiya) are those who have helped translate the Book of Abraham. On the contrary, everything tends to show that the original does has not yet been found ... "

The Kirtland Temple

Kirtland Temple

Inside the temple in Kirtland

In December 1832, Joseph Smith claimed that God commanded the Saints to build a temple in Kirtland (Ohio). Eliza R. Snow wrote: "... At the time the Saints were few and most of them were very poor and without the assurance that God had spoken and had ordered that we build a house on his behalf. .., any attempt to build this temple in the current situation was considered by all concerned as ridiculous " .

March 27, 1836, occurred the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, which had cost 40,000. A week later, April 3, 1836, Joseph Smith claimed Jesus Christ appeared to him in the temple , and Oliver Cowdery, stating: "I have accepted this house, and my name will be here and I manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house " .

He added that three messengers from the era of the Old Testament , Moses , Elias and Elijah , also appeared and restored the keys and authority of the priesthood , which he believed had been lost since long on the earth . The temple had to be abandoned in 1838, when the exodus of saints to Missouri.

New converts Europeans emigrated to the United States

In the early years of the Church, the missionaries were called to preach the Gospel in various parts of the United States and Canada. Then, during the summer of 1837 he sent missionaries to England. He asked Heber C. Kimball, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve , to lead a small group of missionaries in this endeavor. Kimball and departed in the space of a year, about two thousand people had joined the Church in England. Subsequently, Joseph Smith sent a mission of members of the Twelve Great Britain. In 1841, more than six thousand people had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will be 50 000 in 1850. Many of these new followers emigrated to the United States.

Persecutions

Joseph Smith tarred and feathered in Hiram, near Kirtland, in 1832

Expulsion from Jackson County (Missouri)

In Jackson County (Missouri), Camp Zion, the number of the faithful, swollen by the new converts, had steadily increased, while it was 1,200 people, about one third of the population.

The arrival of so many Mormons worried residents who feared losing the election. They also were wary of the peculiar doctrines of Latter Day Saints , and they were angry that Mormons make a priority of trade between them. The opposition did spend a circular to obtain the signature of those who were willing to eliminate the scourge Mormon. 400 rioters gathered at the court of Independence and written requirements were presented to church leaders for the start of the Saints from Jackson County and to cease printing their newspaper, The Evening and the Morning Star. Given the refusal of church leaders, the rioters attacked the newspaper office was also home of the editor, William W. Phelps. The press and the building were demolished. In November 1833, the Latter-day Saints fled Jackson County. Most crossed the Missouri River and found refuge in Clay County (Missouri).

In May and June 1834, Joseph Smith led an expedition from Kirtland to Missouri to support the saints who had been expelled. After organizing a stake in Clay County with David Whitmer as president, he returned to Ohio.

Departure from Kirtland (Ohio)

The town of Kirtland was known, too, a significant increase in the number of inhabitants, rising to 1,000 in 1830 to 3,000 in 1836. This population growth was at least partially responsible for a rapid increase in the price of farmland between 1832 and 1837. The average price per acre of land in Kirtland grew from 7 in 1832 to 44 in 1837. Therefore, the concern of local people turned into a strong hostility towards Mormons.

Tickets 3 of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank

In 1836, members of the Church had established in Kirtland, as the Kirtland Safety Society Bank (KSS), a trading house which was banking operations. But in November 1837, a period of financial depression in the United States, the Kirtland Safety Society Bank was forced to suspend payments and was declared bankrupt. The responsibility was attributed to Joseph Smith who was prosecuted for fraud and illegal banking operations. Convened seventeen trial, he claimed the repayment of debts amounting to over 30,000. Warren Parish, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, Smith accused of embezzling funds, was excommunicated.

Many Mormons, ruined, Smith accused him of being responsible for this financial scandal and left the church. Mormon leaders, including several members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, as Lyman E. Johnson, Luke Johnson , John F. Boynton, Martin Harris, Warren Parrish, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, WW Phelps and John Whitmer formed a breakaway faction. They took control of the Kirtland Temple and excommunicated Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Warren Parrish, joined by Martin Harris, one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, saying that Joseph Smith was a prophet fallen founded a dissenting Church: the Church of Christ "(Church of Christ), who disappeared shortly after.

Order to exterminate the Mormons, Missouri Governor Bogg, 1838

All the dissenters in Kirtland were excommunicated for "apostasy." In the decree of excommunication, Smith speaks of a "band of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and scoundrels of the darkest hue," and here is how George A. Smith describes this first crisis within the young church: "The spirit of apostacy became more general, and the shock that was given to the Church was more serious than ever before: a First Presidency, several of the twelve apostles, a member of the general council, the presidents of the Seventy, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon and many others with a strong position were wrapped in this apostasy ... "

The local residents and members excommunicated organized persecution and violent riots. The saints were no longer safe at Kirtland. January 12, 1838, Joseph Smith and Rigdon whose lives were threatened, fled Kirtland for Far West (Davies County, Missouri). During the year 1838, most of the saints were also forced to leave.

Order of extermination at Far West (Missouri)

The Mormons were allowed to build a new city, Far West. Joseph Smith arrived in March 1838 and installed the seat of the Church. But they knew not long for peace in northern Missouri. On 6 August 1838, a hundred rioters in the elections of Gallatin (Daviess County) forbade the Saints to go vote. In October 1838, Governor Boggs wrote the "Mormon extermination order", the result of popular expression. In fall 1838, the rioters and militia harassed again and attacked several of them ( Haun's Mill Massacre ). When they fought back and defended themselves, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders were arrested on charges of treason. In November they were jailed in Independence and Richmond (Missouri) and ¹ December, they were taken to prison in Liberty (Mo.).

During the imprisonment of Joseph Smith, thousands of Mormons, including his own family were driven out of Missouri during the winter and spring in 1838-1839. Under the direction of Brigham Young and other church leaders, Mormons departed eastward, Illinois.

Arrest of Mormon leaders, for CCChristensen

The saints were driven from Jackson County, Missouri by CCA Christensen

In April 1839, Joseph Smith and his companions were transferred from Liberty Jail to Gallatin (Missouri). In other transfer, of Gallatin in Columbia (Missouri), the guards allowed prisoners to escape. They went to Quincy (Ill.), where the largest number of church members had gathered after fleeing Missouri. Soon, under the leadership of Joseph Smith, the bulk of the Saints began to settle at about eighty miles north to Commerce (Illinois), a village located in a bend of the Mississippi River. Joseph Smith renamed the town called Nauvoo , and in the years that followed, members of the church, including new converts, many arrived in Nauvoo from the United States, Canada and Europe and transformed this region one of the most populated of Illinois.

In Nauvoo (Illinois)

The last teachings of Joseph Smith

The Nauvoo Temple was built in 1846, destroyed a few years later and rebuilt the same in 2002

• The temple endowment

When Latter-day Saints were forced to leave Kirtland, they had left behind the temple. At Nauvoo, they began to build a new one. Laying the cornerstone took place on April 6, 1841, at a ceremony presided over by Joseph Smith. However, he died without seeing the finished temple.

Joseph Smith then created the ceremony of the "temple endowment", and May 4, 1842, on the floor of his store in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith administered the first grants to a small group that Brigham Young was a part.

As attested to Nauvoo Joseph Smith was initiated into Freemasonry , some authors have proposed a possible relationship between Masonic rituals and the temple endowment ceremony. For its part, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that the ceremony of the temple endowment is much closer to the Scriptures as Masonic rites even though it shares some similarities with them in words and gestures. . Au cours de l't et de l'automne 1841, ils construisirent des fonts baptismaux temporaires en bois dans les sous-sols nouvellement creuss du temple. Les baptmes pour les morts eurent lieu pour la premire fois dans ces fonts baptismaux le 21 novembre 1841.

• le mariage ternel

En 1841, les premiers scellements de couples eurent lieu et, en 1843, Joseph Smith dicta le texte dcrivant la nature ternelle de l'alliance du mariage . Les enseignements de ce texte taient connus de Joseph Smith depuis 1831 .

Il enseigna aussi la doctrine du mariage plural. Lui-mme et les dirigeants de l'glise auraient pratiqu le mariage plural (Emma Smith, son pouse, affirma toujours que son mari ne l'avait jamais pratique), mais cette pratique ne fut tendue l'glise que quelques annes plus tard, partir de la Prsidence de Brigham Young , premier successeur de Joseph Smith et une part des fidles, jusqu' son abandon en 1889, sous la prsidence de Wilford Woodruff , troisime successeur de Joseph Smith. A ce propos, le journaliste Hugues Rondeau crivait en 1995 : " ."

Joseph Smith III , qui, aprs la mort de Smith, dirigea une glise mormone dissidente, considrera que les "enseignements tardifs" de son pre au sujet de la pluralit des dieux, de l'exaltation, de la polygamie et du baptme pour les morts ont t mal compris, mal transcrits et qu'ils ne sont pas essentiels.

Candidat la Prsidence des Etats-Unis

Nauvoo, Joseph Smith tait la fois maire, commerant, premier juge, rdacteur en chef du journal local, et commandant de la Lgion de Nauvoo, une unit de la milice de l'tat d'Illinois. En janvier 1844, Joseph Smith annona sa candidature la a href = "% C3% Pr A9sidence_des_% C3% 89tats United" alt = "Presidency of the United States" class = "mw-redirect"> U.S. presidency of America. Although most observers have recognized that he had little chance of being elected, his candidacy drew public attention on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Arrest and death of Joseph Smith

Although Mormons have first enjoyed relative peace in Nauvoo, strong opposition soon arose in the population and Joseph Smith knew then that his life was threatened. At a meeting held in March 1844, he commissioned the Twelve to govern the Church after his death . On June 10, 1844, Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, and members of its municipal council ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor and the press on which it was printed .

Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois, wrote to Joseph Smith, insisting that the council members appear before non-Mormon jury to answer the charge of disrupting public order, prdendant that only a lawsuit like this would satisfy the people. The trial court would be held at Carthage ( Illinois ), seat of Hancock County. He gave them also the promise of full protection. To get away, Joseph and Hyrum Smith first decided to flee westward, June 23, they crossed the Mississippi. But the Mormons from Nauvoo came to find them and told them that troops would invade if the city did not surrender to authorities. Joseph and Hyrum Smith consented so to become prisoners. Joseph Smith then said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer morning" . On 24 June they started for Carthage and the next day, went to the police officer William Bettisworth. June 26, General Joseph Smith had an interview with Governor Ford promised him his protection .

Joseph and Hyrum were imprisoned in Carthage Jail, pending trial. John Taylor and Willard Richards, then only members of the Twelve not to be missional, joined them voluntarily.

Interior of Carthage Jail, murder of Joseph Smith by CCA Christensen

Shot Joseph Smith fall by the first-floor window

Door of the jail in Carthage through which the attackers fired. Note: the bullet hole in the door

Pistol used by Joseph Smith to defend himself June 27, 1844 - Museum of Church History, Salt Lake City

Without waiting for the trial, the afternoon of June 27, 1844, a crowd of about 200 rioters, their faces painted in black, stormed the Carthage jail. Given the inequality of forces, the outcome of the attack was little doubt. Hyrum Smith, the first was killed by a bullet fired through the door. Then John Taylor was seriously injured. Joseph Smith was killed while trying to escape through the window on the first floor where he fell. His body was lying next to the outer well . Only William Richards came out unscathed.

According to the rioters, eyewitnesses present at the time of the attack, Joseph and Hyrum, in prison, were armed and two made use of their guns, Joseph Smith fired on the attackers, unloaded his six-gun and wounded three men. One of them, Wills, was shot in the arm, another, Gallaher, face, and a last Voras, shoulder . According to these testimonies: "those three said they were the first at the prison, one of them was shot through the door, killing Hyrum, that Joseph was wounded all three with his Gallaher had that gun and shot Joseph while the latter ran to the window ... " .

Later, the State of Illinois began charging Wills and Gallaher Voras among 9 men for the murder of Joseph Smith: "John Wills, William Voras (Vorhees), William N. Grover, Jacob C. Davis, Mark Aldrich, Thomas C. Sharp, Levi Williams and two men called and Allen Gallaher, whose names are not mentioned. " , which would have been acquitted.

The circumstances of the death of Joseph Smith were very controversial. John Taylor , a Mormon apostle with Joseph Smith when the latter was assassinated, said "having been informed" that the attackers were killed in the clash, under fire from Joseph Smith: "Joseph opened the door slowly and fired six times in succession ... I then understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of which I am informed, died" .

However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints denies and nothing decisive has been made to indicate that any of the attackers was wounded by Smith later died of his injuries.

Moreover, for critics of Mormonism, Joseph Smith that will be defended and has responded with his weapon is not compatible with the qualification of "martyrdom" that they believe, presupposes an accepted death for a religious ideal. For its part, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that the murder of Joseph Smith was perpetrated by a large crowd and in an outburst of violence as it left little chance for inmates who may soon then be regarded as victims. She believes that Joseph Smith and his brother were legitimately defended on the principle of self-defense and they were slaughtered because of their religious beliefs, which, it claims, allows to classify them as "martyrs."

John Taylor wrote: "We are announcing the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were killed with guns, June 27, 1844, about five o'clock in the afternoon in Carthage jail by an armed mob, painted black, with approximately one hundred and fifty to two hundred people. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am dead! Joseph jumped out the window and was fatally wounded in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord, my God! We pulled hard on them as they were already dead, and both received four balls ... Hyrum Smith was forty-four years in February 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight years in December 1843 ... " .

After the death of Joseph Smith

Departing from Nauvoo , Winter 1846-47, by CCA Christensen

The Saints made preparations to leave the eastern United States and the intensifying persecution, the exodus of Mormon pioneers to the Rocky Mountains began in winter 1846-1847. Led by Brigham Young , the new President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and they traveled 2,000 miles before reaching the desert of the Great Salt Lake. They found a new city, Salt Lake City ,

His widow, Emma Hale remained in charge of their five children. Disagree about polygamy with Brigham Young (she always claimed that her husband, Joseph Smith, had never practiced), it does not follow the Church in Utah. She remarried in 1847 to a Methodist minister, with Lewis C. Bidamon, a non-Mormon. She sold it in 1856 to a certain Abel Coombs papyri acquired by Joseph Smith in 1835, which had been the source of the Book of Abraham.

A son of Joseph and Emma Hale Smith, Joseph ( Joseph Smith III ), in 1860 became the first president of a Mormon splinter group: the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, today ' Today renamed Community of Christ. Direct descendants of Joseph Smith led the church until 1996.

At Salt Lake City , ^the 6th ^and 10th presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) and Joseph Fielding Smith (1876-1972) were for their part, respectively the son and grandson of Hyrum son, elder brother of Joseph Smith, who was assassinated with him at Carthage (Illinois) on 27 June 1844.

Rehabilitation

Revocation of the order of extermination - 1976

In 1976, Governor Bond of Missouri revoked the extermination order issued against the Saints in 1838 by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs.

Resolution of the Illinois General Assembly - 2004

On the initiative of Ed Burke, a Catholic, Alderman of Chicago, Illinois voted March 24, 2004, unanimously, a resolution apologizing to the Church for the cruel treatment the Saints to Nauvoo and their expulsion from the city in 1845. The Illinois General Assembly drafted a resolution ending with :

".... Whereas the preconceptions and prejudices of a less enlightened era in the history of the State of Illinois earned the community of Latter-day vicissitudes and traumas of unspeakable by mistrust , violence and inhospitable actions of a dark era of our past, it is therefore

"Resolved by the House of Representatives of the 93rd General Assembly of the State of Illinois, we recognize the disparity of these acts and those suspicions past, regretting the expulsion of the community of Latter-day Saints, a people characterized by faith and hard work, be it further

"Resolved that we ask the community of Latter-day Saints for his forgiveness misguided efforts of our citizens, the Chief Executive and the General Assembly during the expulsion of Mormons from their ancestors the beautiful city of Nauvoo and the State of Illinois "

See also

Related articles

• List of Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• First Vision
• Sacred Grove
• Book of Mormon
• Chronology of Mormonism
• Plural marriage (mormonism)
• Mormon pioneers
• Criticism of Mormonism
• List of persons murdered

External Links

• Various articles on Joseph Smith
• Meeting between the Governor Ford and Joseph Smith June 26, 1844
• Resolution of the General Assembly of Illinois from March 24, 2004
• Joseph Smith by those who knew him
• A few words about Joseph Smith
• Joseph Smith Jr. - The Prophet (English) - a film about Joseph Smith
• Site dedicated to Joseph Smith

Bibliography

• Joseph Smith, Autobiography (1838)
• James E. Talmage, Joseph Smith the Prophet Salt Lake City, 1890)
• Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) (Salt Lake City, 1976)
• Our Heritage (Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) (Salt Lake City, 1996)
• William E. Berret, Salt Lake City, 1961, Torcy, 1985, ISBN 2-903879-15-X
• E. Carter Grant, 1955, 1964
• Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City, 1950, Frankfurt, 1973

Sources

Preceded by	Joseph Smith	Followed by
-	Founder of Mormonism President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1830-1844	Brigham Young Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
		Joseph Smith III Community of Christ
		James J. Strang Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Strangite)
		Sidney Rigdon Church of Jesus Christ of Children of Zion
		Granville Hedrick Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

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