The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement , LDS restorationist movement , or Smith–Rigdon movement ) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
175-583: According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible ) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon , a sacred text of the faith. Some accounts from people who reported handling the plates describe the plates as weighing from 30 to 60 pounds (14 to 27 kg), gold in color, and composed of thin metallic pages engraved with hieroglyphics on both sides and bound with three D-shaped rings. Smith said that he found
350-501: A Great Apostasy began in Christianity not long after the ascension of Jesus , marked with the corruption of Christian doctrine by Greek and other philosophies, and followers dividing into different ideological groups. Additionally, Latter Day Saints claim the martyrdom of the apostles led to a loss of priesthood authority to administer the church and its ordinances . According to Latter Day Saint churches, God re-established
525-656: 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
700-566: 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. 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. The paper alluded to Smith's theocratic aspirations, called for
875-631: A grand jury hearing in Daviess County, Smith and his companions escaped custody, almost certainly with the connivance of the sheriff and guards. Many American newspapers criticized Missouri for the Haun's Mill massacre and the state's expulsion of the Mormons. Illinois then accepted Mormon refugees who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi River , where Smith purchased high-priced, swampy woodland in
1050-417: A "craze for treasure hunting". Beginning as a youth in the early 1820s, Smith was periodically hired, for about $ 14 per month, as a scryer , using what were termed " seer stones " in attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure. Smith's contemporaries described his method for seeking treasure as putting the stone in a white stovepipe hat , putting his face over the hat to block the light, and then "seeing"
1225-514: 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
1400-465: A Rigdon supporter, to assume leadership and the surviving members of Smith's immediate family remained unaffiliated with any larger body until 1860, when they formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with Joseph's eldest son Joseph Smith III as prophet. These various groups are sometimes referred to under two geographical headings: "Prairie Saints" (those that remained in
1575-455: A brigadier general in the Missouri militia, refused to carry out the order. Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing , where several of his former allies testified against him. Smith and five others, including Rigdon, were charged with treason, and transferred to the jail at Liberty, Missouri , to await trial. Smith bore his imprisonment stoically. Understanding that he
1750-412: A complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express the doctrines of Mormonism using standard biblical terminology, and claim to have similar views about the nature of Jesus ' atonement , resurrection , and Second Coming as traditional Christianity . Nevertheless, Mormons agree with non-Mormons that their view of God is significantly different from the trinitarian view of
1925-710: A cosmology of many gods. Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City the former Joseph Smith Memorial building on the campus of Brigham Young University as well as the Joseph Smith Building there, a granite obelisk marking Smith's birthplace, and a fifteen-foot-tall bronze statue of Smith in the World Peace Dome in Pune , India. Smith's death resulted in
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#17328512016062100-457: 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. Before his death the Council also voted unanimously to elect Smith "Prophet, Priest, and King". The Council was likewise appointed to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in
2275-611: A few wealthy and influential converts, including John C. Bennett , the Illinois quartermaster general . Bennett used his connections in the Illinois state legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city, which Smith renamed " Nauvoo ". 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,
2450-525: A greenish caste." In 1831, a Palmyra newspaper quoted David Whitmer , one of the Three Witnesses , as having said that the plates were a " whitish yellow color", with "three small rings of the same metal". Smith's first published description of the plates said that the plates "had the appearance of gold", and Smith said that Moroni had referred to the plates as "gold." Late in life, Martin Harris stated that
2625-423: A heavy object wrapped in a frock , which he then put in a box. He allowed others to heft the box but said that the angel had forbidden him to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original " reformed Egyptian " language. Smith dictated the text of the plates while a scribe wrote down the words which would later become the Book of Mormon. Eyewitnesses to the process said Smith translated
2800-450: A higher priesthood. Smith's authority was undermined when Cowdery, Hiram Page , and other church members also claimed to receive revelations. 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. Smith then dispatched Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and others on a mission to proselytize Native Americans . Cowdery
2975-421: A letter that "each plate was six inches [15 cm] wide and eight inches [20 cm] long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were ... bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches [15 cm] in thickness". The plates were first described as "gold", and beginning about 1827, the plates were widely called the "gold bible". When
3150-412: A locked chest. Some unsympathetic listeners who allegedly heard the story from Smith or his father recalled that Smith had said the angel required him (6) to wear "black clothes" to the place where the plates were buried, (7) to ride a "black horse with a switchtail", (8) to call for the plates by a certain name, and (9) to "give thanks to God." In the morning, Smith began work as usual and did not mention
3325-694: A means to salvation. However, beginning with his accounts of the First Vision in the 1830s and 1840s, Smith—who said that Christ had told him not to join any existing church—departed significantly from traditional Christianity, claiming all churches of his day were part of a Great Apostasy that had lost the authority to direct Christ's church. Mormonism does not characterize itself as a Protestant religion, as Smith taught that he had received revelation direct from Christ to restore his original church. Mormons believe that God, through Smith and his successors, restored these truths and doctrinal clarifications, and, initiating
3500-415: A name found in the Book of Mormon . Before dawn, Moroni reappeared two more times and repeated the information. However, the angel would not allow Smith to take the plates until he obeyed certain "commandments". Smith recorded some of these commandments but made it clear the main thrust of Moroni's message was that he had to keep God's commandments in general. Some contemporaries who later claimed he told them
3675-625: A new heavenly dispensation, restored the original church and Christianity taught by Jesus. For example, Smith rejected the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity as of one body and substance, with no "body, parts, or passions", and instead taught that the Godhead included God, the Eternal Father, also known as Elohim ; his only-begotten son in the flesh, Jesus Christ, also known as Jehovah , the savior and redeemer of
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#17328512016063850-558: A new round of violence against the Mormons, the Nauvoo City Council declared the newspaper a public nuisance, and Smith ordered the Nauvoo Legion to assist the police force in destroying its printing press . During the council debate, Smith vigorously urged the council to order the press destroyed, not realizing that destroying a newspaper was more likely to incite an attack than any of the newspaper's accusations. Destruction of
4025-523: A new temple. In the weeks and months after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West, thousands of Latter Day Saints followed them from Kirtland. Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County, instituting a settlement in Adam-ondi-Ahman , in Daviess County . Political and religious differences between old Missourians and newly arriving Latter Day Saint settlers provoked tensions between
4200-453: A party of Missourians surprised and killed seventeen Mormons in the Haun's Mill massacre . The following day, the Mormons surrendered to 2,500 state troops and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state. 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
4375-441: A period of "rapid-fire translation". 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 . When the narrative described an institutional church and a requirement for baptism , Smith and Cowdery baptized each other. Dictation was completed about July 1, 1829. According to Smith, Moroni took back
4550-501: A phantasm, yet the Mormon sources accept them as fact." Smith said that he returned the plates to the angel Moroni after he finished translating them, and their authenticity cannot be determined by physical examination. They were reportedly shown to several close associates of Smith. Mormon scholars have formed collaborations such as Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies to provide apologetic answers to critical research about
4725-501: A physical historical record, even in the more theologically conservative Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Non-Mormons and some liberal Mormons have advanced naturalistic explanations for the story of the plates. For example, it has been theorized that the plates were fashioned by Smith or one of his associates, that Smith had the ability to convince others of their existence through illusions or hypnosis, or that witnesses were having ecstatic visions. The story of
4900-448: A prominent, though superstitious, Palmyra landowner Martin Harris . The translation occurred in two phases: the first, from December 1827 to June 1828, during which Smith transcribed some of the characters and then dictated 116 manuscript pages to Harris, which were lost. The second phase began sporadically in early 1829 and then in earnest in April 1829 with the arrival of Oliver Cowdery ,
5075-522: 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 said that God was once a man, and that men and women could become gods.) 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. Fearing the Expositor would provoke
5250-420: A revelation announcing that in order to redeem Zion, his followers would have to receive an endowment in the Kirtland Temple , 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. In January 1837, Smith and other churchleaders created a joint stock company , called
5425-410: A revelation from God that officially changed the name to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". In 1844, William Law and several other Latter Day Saints in church leadership positions publicly denounced Smith's secret practice of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor , and formed their own church . The city council of Nauvoo, Illinois , led by Smith, subsequently had the printing press of
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5600-488: A ring which passes through a hole at the end of each plate". Hyrum Smith and John Whitmer , also witnesses in 1829 , are reported to have stated that the rings holding the plates together were, in Hyrum's words, "in the shape of the letter D, which facilitated the opening and shutting of the book". Smith's wife Emma and his younger brother William said they had examined the plates while wrapped in fabric. Emma said she "felt of
5775-479: A schoolteacher who volunteered to serve as Smith's full-time scribe. In June 1829, Smith and Cowdery moved to Fayette, New York , completing the translation early the following month. Smith used scribes to write the words he said were a translation of the golden plates, dictating the words while peering into seer stones , which he said allowed him to see the translation. Smith's translation process evolved from his previous use of seer stones in treasure-seeking. During
5950-532: 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
6125-545: A skilled necromancer from 60 miles (96 km) away, encouraging him to make three separate trips to Palmyra to find the plates. During one of the trips, the unnamed necromancer is said to have discovered the location but was unable to determine the value of the plates. A few days prior to the September 22, 1827, visit to the hill, Smith's loyal treasure-hunting friends Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight Sr. traveled to Palmyra, in part, to be there during Smith's scheduled visit to
6300-751: A succession crisis within the Latter Day Saint movement. He had proposed several ways to choose his successor, but never clarified his preference. 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
6475-463: A table in the house, wrapped in a linen tablecloth, which she moved from time to time when it got in the way of her chores. According to Smith's mother, the plates were also stored in a trunk on Emma's bureau. However, Smith did not require the physical presence of the plates to translate them. In April 1828, Martin Harris 's wife, Lucy , visited Harmony with her husband and demanded to see the plates. When Smith refused to show them to her, she searched
6650-569: A warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud , he and Rigdon fled for Missouri in January 1838. 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". In Missouri, the church also took the name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", and construction began on
6825-400: A wooden box, which Smith said contained the plates, hidden in a barrel of beans. For a time, the couple stayed in the home of Emma's father, Isaac Hale, but when Smith refused to show Hale the plates, Hale banished the concealed objects from his house. Afterward, Smith told several of his associates that the plates were hidden in the nearby woods. Emma said that she remembered the plates being on
7000-448: Is that Mormonism is a form of Christianity, but is distinct enough from traditional Christianity so as to form a new religious tradition, much as Christianity has roots in but is a distinct religion from Judaism. The Mormonism that originated with Smith in the 1820s shared strong similarities with some elements of 19th-century Protestant Christianity including the necessity of baptism, emphasis on family, and central doctrine on Christ as
7175-462: Is unlikely that he had read the text before or written it previously. Smith's dictations were written down by a number of assistants, including Emma Smith, Martin Harris, and Oliver Cowdery. In May 1829, after Smith had lent 116 unduplicated manuscript pages to Harris, and Harris had lost them, Smith dictated a revelation explaining that Smith could not simply retranslate the lost pages because his opponents would attempt to see if he could "bring forth
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7350-451: The 1838 Mormon War . Non-Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms, while Danites and other Mormons pillaged non-Mormon towns. 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". On October 30,
7525-501: The Book of Mormon , which he published in 1830 as a complement to the Bible . Based on the teachings of this book and other revelations, Smith founded a Christian primitivist church, called the "Church of Christ ". The Book of Mormon attracted hundreds of early followers, who later became known as " Mormons ", "Latter Day Saints", or just "Saints". In 1831, Smith moved the church headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio , and in 1838 changed its name to
7700-421: The Book of Mormon witnesses . After the translation was complete, Smith said that he returned the plates to the angel Moroni; thus, they could never be examined. Latter Day Saints believe the account of the golden plates as a matter of faith, while critics often assert that Smith manufactured them himself. In the words of Mormon historian Richard Bushman , "For most modern readers, the plates are beyond belief,
7875-572: The Community of Christ . 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. He was one of eleven children. At the age of seven, Smith had a bone infection and, after receiving surgery, used crutches for three years. After an ill-fated business venture and three successive years of crop failures culminating in
8050-535: The Expositor destroyed. In spite of Smith's later offer to pay damages for destroyed property, critics of Smith and the church considered the destruction heavy-handed. Some called for the Latter Day Saints to be either expelled or destroyed. Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, the Assistant President of the Church , were both killed by a mob while in a Carthage, Illinois jail , and several individuals within
8225-565: 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. 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
8400-789: The Midwest United States ); and "Rocky Mountain Saints" (those who followed Young to what would later become the state of Utah). Today, the vast majority (over 98 percent) of Latter Day Saints belong to the LDS Church, which reports over 16 million members worldwide. The second-largest denomination is the Missouri-based Community of Christ, which reports 252,000 members. Small denominations that trace their origins to Rigdon, James Strang , or other associates of Smith's still exist, and several fundamentalist sects which separated from
8575-508: 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
8750-633: The Nicene Creed of the 4th century. Mormons consider the Bible as scripture and have also adopted additional scriptures. These include the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants , and Pearl of Great Price , although not all denominations use all books as part of their scriptures. Mormons not only practice baptism and celebrate the eucharist but also participate in religious rituals not practiced in traditional Christianity. Focusing on differences, some Christians consider Mormonism "non-Christian"; members of
8925-450: The Pearl of Great Price . During the Second Great Awakening , Joseph Smith lived on his parents' farm near Palmyra, New York . At the time, churches in the region contended so vigorously for souls that western New York later became known as the " burned-over district " because the fires of religious revivals had burned over it so often. Western New York was also noted for its participation in
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#17328512016069100-470: The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , which defends the practice of polygamy . The movement began in western New York during the Second Great Awakening when Smith said that he received visions revealing a new sacred text,
9275-675: The Republic of Texas , Oregon , or California (then controlled by Mexico ), where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond the control of other governments. By early 1844, a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates. 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. Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives. Believing these men were plotting against his life, Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844. Law and Foster subsequently formed
9450-701: The Salt Lake Valley , Utah Territory . Nominal membership in Young's denomination, which became the LDS Church, surpassed 17 million in 2023. 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 . Some hundreds followed Lyman Wight to establish a community in Texas. Others followed Alpheus Cutler . Many members of these smaller groups, including most of Smith's family, eventually coalesced in 1860 under
9625-1082: The early Christian church as found in the New Testament through Joseph Smith. In particular, Latter Day Saints believe that angels such as Peter , James , John , and John the Baptist appeared to Smith and others and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them. Thus, Smith and his successors are considered modern prophets who receive revelation from God to guide the church. * ^ Membership worldwide; generally church-reported; with an occasional exception ^ Once larger [REDACTED] Media related to Latter Day Saints at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of Latter-Day Saint at Wiktionary [REDACTED] Works related to Category:Mormons at Wikisource [REDACTED] Quotations related to Category:Latter Day Saints at Wikiquote Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844)
9800-447: The "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". After the church in Ohio collapsed due to a financial crisis and dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the church moved to Missouri. However, they were persecuted and the Latter Day Saints fled to Illinois. After Smith was killed in 1844, a succession crisis led to the organization splitting into several groups. The largest of these,
9975-488: The "latter days", before the Second Coming of Christ , and is used to distinguish the members of the church, which considers itself the restoration of the ancient Christian church. Members are therefore often referred to as " Latter-day Saints " or "LDS", and among themselves, "saints". The Latter Day Saint movement classifies itself within Christianity, but as a distinct restored dispensation . Latter Day Saints hold that
10150-485: The "right person" was Emma Hale , his future wife. For the visit on September 22, 1825, Smith may have attempted to bring his treasure-hunting associate Samuel T. Lawrence . Smith said that he visited the hill "at the end of each year" for four years after the first visit in 1823, but there is no record of him being in the vicinity of Palmyra between January 1826 and January 1827, when he returned to New York from Pennsylvania with his new wife. In January 1827, Smith visited
10325-530: The 1816 Year Without a Summer , the Smith family left Vermont and moved to Western New York , and took out a mortgage on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in the townships of Palmyra and Manchester . The region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm during the Second Great Awakening . Between 1817 and 1825, there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area. Smith's parents disagreed about religion, but
10500-460: The Book of Mormon was published in 1830, the Eight Witnesses described the plates as having "the appearance of gold". The Book of Mormon describes the plates as being made of "ore". In a June 1830 court hearing, Josiah Stowell testified that he inadvertently caught a glimpse of a corner of the plates (making him "the only witness to see the plates 'by accident,'") and said it "resembled a stone of
10675-403: The Book of Mormon's description of the plates' origin is accurate, and that the Book of Mormon is a translation of the plates. The Community of Christ , however, accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture but no longer takes an official position on the historicity of the golden plates. Some adherents accept the Book of Mormon as inspired scripture but do not believe that it is a literal translation of
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#173285120160610850-480: The Book of Mormon. According to later statements ascribed to Martin Harris, he viewed the plates in a vision and not with his "natural eyes." In addition to Smith and the other eleven who claimed to be witnesses, a few other early Mormons said they saw the plates. For instance, Smith's mother Lucy Mack Smith said she had "seen and handled" the plates. Smith's wife Emma and his younger brother William and younger sister Katharine also said they had examined and lifted
11025-546: The Book, and examine it for himself." Harris followed the directions but could not find the plates. In early June 1829, the unwanted attentions of locals around Harmony necessitated Smith's move to the home of David Whitmer and his parents in Fayette, New York . Smith said that during this move the plates were transported by the angel Moroni, who put them in the garden of the Whitmer house, where Smith could recover them. The translation
11200-560: The Church, and Bennett was elected Nauvoo's first mayor. 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. An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the "fullness of the priesthood"; and in May 1842, Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or "first anointing". The endowment resembled
11375-490: The LDS Church after it rejected plural marriage in 1890 claim tens of thousands of members. Most members of Latter Day Saint churches are adherents to Mormonism , a theology based on Joseph Smith's later teachings and further developed by Brigham Young, James Strang and others who claimed to be Smith's successors. The term Mormon derives from the Book of Mormon , and most of these adherents refer to themselves as Latter Day Saints or Mormons. Mormonism and Christianity have
11550-505: The LDS Church, focusing on similarities, are offended at being so characterized. Mormons do not accept non-Mormon baptism. Mormons regularly proselytize individuals actually or nominally within the Christian tradition, and some Christians, especially evangelicals , proselytize Mormons. The LDS Church has a formal missionary program with nearly 70,000 missionaries, with 15 training centers and 407 missions worldwide. A prominent scholarly view
11725-641: The LDS Church, migrated under the leadership of Brigham Young to the Great Basin (now Utah ) and became known for its 19th-century practice of polygamy . The LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890 and gradually discontinued it, resulting in Utah Territory becoming a U.S. state . This change resulted in the formation of several small sects that sought to maintain polygamy and other 19th-century doctrines and practices, now referred to as " Mormon fundamentalism ". Other groups originating within
11900-469: The Latter Day Saint community, Smith was viewed as a prophet, martyred to seal the testimony of his faith. 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. The bodies were later moved and reburied under an outbuilding on
12075-498: The Latter Day Saint movement followed different paths in Missouri , Illinois , Michigan , and Pennsylvania . For the most part, these groups rejected plural marriage and some of Smith's later teachings. The largest of these, Community of Christ (known previously as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"), was formed in Illinois in 1860 by several groups uniting around Smith's son, Joseph Smith III . The founder of
12250-425: The Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, and to a lesser extent, during the movement's first two years, Oliver Cowdery . Throughout his life, Smith told of an experience he had as a boy having seen God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate beings, who told him that the true church of Jesus Christ had been lost and would be restored through him, and that he would be given the authority to organize and lead
12425-499: The Latter Day Saint movement, Smith's legacy varies between denominations: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members consider Smith the founding prophet of their church, on par with Moses and Elijah . 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. Conversely, Woolleyite Mormon fundamentalism has deified Smith within
12600-413: 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
12775-543: The Latter Day Saint newcomers for both political and religious reasons. Additionally, their rapid growth aroused fears that they would soon constitute a majority in local elections, and thus "rule the county." 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. Armed bands exchanged fire, killing one Mormon and two non-Mormons, until
12950-490: 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. 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. (Rockwell
13125-576: The Nauvoo City Council surrendered themselves. Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River, but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford. On June 25, Smith and his brother Hyrum arrived in Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot. Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to treason, preventing them from posting bail . John Taylor and Willard Richards voluntarily accompanied
13300-535: The Smith property off the Mississippi River. 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 . Modern biographers and scholars – Mormon and non-Mormon alike – agree that Smith
13475-497: The Smiths in Carthage Jail . 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, before he sprang for the window. (Smith and his companions were staying in
13650-514: The advisary and saught the Plates to obtain riches and kept not the commandments that I should have an eye single to the Glory of God" [sic]. According to Smith's followers, Smith had also broken the angel's commandment "not to lay the plates down, or put them for a moment out of his hands," and according to a nonbeliever, Smith said, "I had forgotten to give thanks to God," as required by the angel. Smith said
13825-480: The angel instructed him to return the next year, on September 22, 1824, with the "right person": his older brother Alvin . Alvin had died in November 1823, and Smith returned to the hill in 1824 to ask what he should do. Smith said he was told to return the following year (1825) with the "right person" but the angel did not tell Smith who that person might be. However, Smith determined after looking into his seer stone that
14000-469: The book, was described as "reformed Egyptian", a language unknown to linguists or Egyptologists. Scholarly reference works on languages do not acknowledge the existence of either a "reformed Egyptian" language or "reformed Egyptian" script as it has been described in Mormon belief, and there is no archaeological, linguistic, or other evidence of the use of Egyptian writing in ancient America. Historically, Latter Day Saint movement denominations have taught that
14175-574: The church claimed to be the senior surviving authority and appointed successors. These various claims resulted in a succession crisis. Many supported Brigham Young, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ; others Sidney Rigdon , the senior surviving member of the First Presidency . Emma Hale Smith failed to persuade William Marks , the president of the Presiding High Council and
14350-635: The church hierarchy. Converts poured into Kirtland. By the summer of 1835, there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Latter Day Saints in the vicinity, many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom. Though his mission to the Native Americans had been a failure, 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
14525-463: The church, including many of Smith's closest advisers. The failure of the bank was one part of a series of internal disputes led to the demise of the Kirtland community. Cowdery had accused Smith of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage servant in his home, Fanny Alger . Construction of the Kirtland Temple had only added to the church's debt, and Smith was hounded by creditors. After
14700-479: The city guaranteed religious freedom for its residents. 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. Smith appointed Bennett as Assistant President of
14875-558: 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. Smith made his last visit to the hill shortly after midnight on September 22, 1827, taking Emma with him. This time, he said he successfully retrieved the plates. Smith said Moroni commanded him not to show
15050-562: The distinctive theological developments they believe to have been developed later in Mormonism. The beliefs within the LDS Church with regard to saints are similar but not quite the same as the Protestant tradition. In the New Testament , saints are all those who have entered into the Christian covenant of baptism. The qualification "latter-day" refers to the doctrine that members are living in
15225-452: The earliest phase of translation, Smith said he used what he called Urim and Thummim, two stones set in a frame like a set of large spectacles. Witnesses said Smith placed the Urim and Thummim in his hat while he was translating. After the loss of the first 116 manuscript pages, Smith translated with a single seer stone, which some sources say he had previously used in treasure-seeking. Smith placed
15400-406: The elder Smith was to tell him that his son would "thrash the stumps with him" if he found him at the hill. Late at night, Smith took a horse and carriage to the hill Cumorah with Emma. While Emma stayed behind kneeling in prayer, Smith walked to the site of the buried plates. Sometime in the early morning hours, he said that he retrieved the plates and hid them in a hollow log on or near Cumorah. At
15575-448: The end of June, Smith deescalated the confrontation, sought peace with Jackson County's residents, and disbanded Zion's Camp. Nevertheless, Zion's Camp transformed Latter Day Saint leadership because many future church leaders came from among the participants. After the Camp returned to Ohio, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish various governing bodies in the church. He gave
15750-465: The exclusive right to "view [the plates] as they are". By June 1829, Smith determined that there would be eight additional witnesses, a total of twelve including Smith. During the second half of June 1829, Smith took Harris, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer (known collectively as the Three Witnesses ) into woods in Fayette, New York, where they said they saw an angel holding the golden plates and turning
15925-448: 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. While Harris had the manuscript in his possession—of which there was no other copy—it was lost. 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. Smith said that as punishment for his having lost
16100-494: The family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later recounted that he had become interested in religion by age 12, and as a teenager, may have been sympathetic to Methodism . With other family members, he also engaged in religious folk magic , a relatively common practice in that time and place. Both his parents and his maternal grandfather reported having visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that, although he had become concerned about
16275-417: The floor boards of his parents' old log home nearby that was then being used as a cooper shop. Later, Smith told his mother he had taken the plates out of the chest, left the empty chest under the floorboards of the cooper shop, and hid the plates in a barrel of flax . Shortly thereafter the empty box was discovered, and the place ransacked by Smith's former treasure-seeking associates, who had enlisted one of
16450-593: The frontier hamlet of Independence the "center place" of Zion . For most of the 1830s, the church was effectively based in Ohio. 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. 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. In Jackson County, existing Missouri residents resented
16625-468: The golden plates and topics in the field of Mormon studies . The credibility of the plates has been a "troublesome item", according to Bushman. The Book of Mormon itself portrays the golden plates as a historical record, engraved by two pre-Columbian prophet-historians from around the year AD 400: Mormon and his son Moroni. Mormon and Moroni, the book says, had abridged earlier historical records from other sets of metal plates. Their script, according to
16800-490: The golden plates consists of how, according to Joseph Smith and his contemporaries, the plates were found, received from the angel Moroni , translated, and returned to the angel before the publication of the Book of Mormon . Smith is the only source for a great deal of the story because much of it occurred while he was the only human witness. Nevertheless, Smith told the story to his family, friends, and acquaintances, and many of them provided second-hand accounts. Other parts of
16975-482: The golden plates for himself, property they believed should be jointly shared. After they ransacked places where they believed the plates might have been hidden, Smith decided to leave Palmyra. In October 1827, Smith and Emma permanently moved to Harmony, aided by a relatively prosperous neighbor, Martin Harris , who began serving as Smith's scribe in April 1828. Although he and his wife, Lucy, were early supporters of Smith, by June 1828 they began to have doubts about
17150-432: The gospel." Smith said he recounted the experience to a Methodist minister, who dismissed the story "with great contempt". 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. During the 1830s, Smith orally described
17325-416: The ground as many as three times. Disconcerted by his inability to obtain the plates, Smith said he briefly wondered whether his experience had been a "dreem of Vision" [sic]. Concluding that it was not, he said he prayed to ask why he had been barred from taking the plates. In response to his question, Smith said the angel appeared and told him he could not receive the plates because he "had been tempted of
17500-460: The ground, and speaking in tongues . Rigdon's followers were practicing a form of communalism . Smith brought the Kirtland congregation under his authority and tamed ecstatic outbursts. 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
17675-471: The hamlet of Commerce . He attempted to portray the Mormons as an oppressed minority and unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations . 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. Smith also attracted
17850-412: The hands of a wicked man." According to Smith's mother, the angel returned the objects to Smith on September 22, 1828, the anniversary of the day that he first received them. In March 1829, Martin Harris visited Harmony and asked to see the plates. Smith told him that he "would go into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after he came back, Harris should follow his tracks in the snow, and find
18025-569: The hill and then told his parents that the angel had severely chastised him for not being "engaged enough in the work of the Lord," which may have meant that he had missed his annual visit to the hill in 1826. The next annual visit on September 22, 1827, would be, Smith told associates, his last chance to receive the plates. According to Brigham Young , as the scheduled final date to obtain the plates approached, several Palmyra residents expressed concern "that they were going to lose that treasure" and sent for
18200-468: The hill to one of the Mormon temples. David Whitmer is quoted as stating that he saw just the untranslated portion of the plates sitting on the table with the sword (and also a breastplate). Apparently, Whitmer was aware of expeditions at Cumorah to locate the sealed portion of the plates through "science and mineral rods." Smith said the angel Moroni had commanded him not to show the plates to any unauthorized person. However, Smith eventually obtained
18375-463: The hill, later stating that he used his seer stone to locate the place that the plates were buried but that he "knew the place the instant that [he] arrived there." Smith said he saw a large stone covering a box made of stone (or possibly iron). Using a stick to remove dirt from the edges of the stone cover and prying it up with a lever, Smith saw the plates inside the box, together with other artifacts. According to Smith's followers, Smith said he took
18550-403: The hill. Another of Smith's former treasure-hunting associates, Samuel T. Lawrence , was also apparently aware of the approaching date to obtain the plates, and Smith was concerned that he might cause trouble. Therefore, on the eve of September 22, 1827, the scheduled date for retrieving the plates, Smith dispatched his father to spy on Lawrence's house until dark. If Lawrence attempted to leave,
18725-519: The hostility of those who remembered the 1826 Chenango County trial. 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." 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
18900-445: The house, a third man hit him with a gun. In striking the last man, Joseph said, he injured his thumb." He returned home with a dislocated thumb and other minor injuries. Smith sent his father, Joseph Knight , and Josiah Stowell to search for the pursuers, but they found no one. Smith is said to have put the plates in a locked chest and hid them in his parents' home in Manchester. He refused to allow anyone, including his family, to view
19075-418: The house, grounds, and woods. According to Smith's mother, during the search Lucy was frightened by a large, black snake and so was prevented from digging up the plates. As a result of Martin Harris's loss of the 116 pages of manuscript, Smith said that between July and September 1828, the angel Moroni took back both the plates and the Urim and Thummim as a penalty for his having delivered "the manuscript into
19250-437: The information in the reflections of the stone. According to Richard Bushman, Smith did not consider himself to be a "peeper" or "glass-looker" , a practice he is said to have called "nonsense", despite his use of seer stones. Rather, Smith and his family viewed their folk magical practices as spiritual gifts . Although Smith later rejected his youthful treasure-hunting activities as frivolous and immaterial, he never repudiated
19425-483: The internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience." According to some sources, Smith initially intended that the first authorized witness be his firstborn son; but this child was stillborn in 1828. In March 1829, Martin Harris came to Harmony to see the plates, but was unable to find them in the woods where Smith said they could be found. The next day, Smith dictated a revelation stating that Harris could eventually qualify himself to be one of three witnesses with
19600-417: The jailer's bedroom, which did not have bars on the windows.) He was shot multiple times before falling out of 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. Following Smith's death, non-Mormon newspapers were nearly unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic. Conversely, within
19775-415: The kingdom". 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. Zion also became less a refuge from an impending tribulation than a great building project. In the summer of 1842, Smith revealed a plan to establish
19950-556: The leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed the RLDS Church (Community of Christ), which has about 250,000 members. 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. The eldest, Alvin (born in 1828), died within hours of birth, as did twins Thaddeus and Louisa (born in 1831). When the twins died, the Smiths adopted another set of twins, Julia and Joseph Murdock, whose mother had recently died in childbirth;
20125-519: The leaves. The four also said they heard "the voice of the Lord" telling them that the translation of the plates was correct, and commanding them to testify of what they saw and heard. A few days later, Smith took a different group of Eight Witnesses to a location near Smith's parents' home in Palmyra where they said Smith showed them the golden plates. Statements over the names of these men, apparently drafted by Smith, were published in 1830 as an appendix to
20300-573: The manuscript, Moroni returned, took away the plates, and revoked his ability to translate. 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. Smith said that Moroni returned the plates to him in September 1828, and he then dictated some of the book to his wife Emma. In April 1829 he met Oliver Cowdery , who had also dabbled in folk magic; and with Cowdery as scribe, Smith began
20475-500: The men's sisters to find the hiding place by looking in her seer stone. Smith said that the plates were engraved in an unknown language, and he told associates that he was capable of reading and translating them. The translation took place mainly in Harmony, Pennsylvania (now Oakland Township ), Emma's hometown, where Smith and his wife had moved in October 1827 with financial assistance from
20650-674: The millennial Kingdom of God, which would eventually establish theocratic rule over the whole Earth. It was around this time that Smith began secretly marrying additional wives, a practice called plural marriage . 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. 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. By mid-1842, popular opinion in Illinois had turned against
20825-458: The most important of which is that Christ is the savior of the world and that he suffered for the world's sins so that the penitent can return to live in heaven. A small fraction of Latter Day Saints, most notably those within Community of Christ, the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination, follow a traditional Protestant theology. Community of Christ views God in trinitarian terms, and reject
21000-505: The nature of the seal, and the language of the Book of Mormon may be interpreted to describe a sealing that was spiritual, metaphorical, physical, or a combination of these elements. Latter Day Saint movement Collectively, these churches have over 17 million nominal members, including over 17 million belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), 250,000 in Community of Christ , and several other denominations with memberships generally ranging in
21175-539: The new organization dramatically. After Rigdon visited New York, he soon became Smith's primary assistant. 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. 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
21350-455: The newspaper provoked a strident call to arms from Thomas C. Sharp , editor of the Warsaw Signal and longtime critic of Smith. Fearing mob violence, Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law . 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
21525-411: 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. Meanwhile, Smith's family faced financial hardship, due in part to the death of his oldest brother Alvin . Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during
21700-450: The old settlers forcibly expelled the Latter Day Saints from the county. After petitions to Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin for aid were unsuccessful, Smith organized and led a small paramilitary expedition, called Zion's Camp , to aid the Latter Day Saints in Missouri. 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
21875-653: The period. 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 . 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. The result of
22050-417: The plates "were seven inches [18 cm] wide by eight inches [20 cm] in length, and were of the thickness of plates of tin; and when piled one above the other, they were altogether about four inches [10 cm] thick; and they were put together on the back by three silver rings, so that they would open like a book". David Whitmer , another of the Three Witnesses , was quoted by an 1831 Palmyra newspaper as having said
22225-403: The plates from copper, which weighs less than gold and rusts green. LDS writers have speculated the plates could also exhibit those qualities if it were made of a copper-gold alloy like Mesoamerican tumbaga . According to Smith and others, the golden plates contained a "sealed" portion containing "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof." Smith never described
22400-425: The plates from the box, put them on the ground, and covered the box with the stone to protect the other treasures that it contained. Nevertheless, the accounts say that when Smith looked back at the ground after closing the box, the plates had once again disappeared into it. When Smith once again raised the stone and attempted to retrieve the plates, he said that he was stricken by a supernatural force that hurled him to
22575-491: The plates on September 22, 1823, on a hill near his home in Manchester, New York , after the angel Moroni directed him to a buried stone box. He said that the angel prevented him from taking the plates but instructed him to return to the same location in a year. He returned to that site every year, but it was not until September 1827 that he recovered the plates on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve them. He returned home with
22750-538: The plates on a table near "many wagon loads" of other ancient records, and the Sword of Laban hanging on the cave wall. Smith taught that part of the golden plates were "sealed." The "sealed" portion is said to contain "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof." Many Latter Day Saints believe that the plates will be kept hidden until a future time, when the sealed part will be translated and, according to one early Mormon leader, transferred from
22925-473: The plates once Smith finished using them. The completed work, titled the Book of Mormon , was published in Palmyra by printer Egbert Bratt Grandin and was first advertised for sale on March 26, 1830. 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 . The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety and renewed
23100-408: The plates or the other artifacts that he said he had in his possession, but some people were allowed to heft them or feel what were said to be the artifacts through a cloth. A few days after retrieving the plates, Smith brought home what he said was an ancient breastplate, which he said had been hidden in the box at Cumorah with the plates. After letting his mother feel through a thin cloth what she said
23275-401: The plates to any unauthorized person. Smith's contemporaries who claimed to have heard the story, both sympathetic and unsympathetic, generally agreed that Smith mentioned the following additional commandments: (4) that Smith take the plates and leave the site in which they had been buried without looking back, and (5) that the plates never directly touch the ground until they were safe at home in
23450-430: The plates to anyone else, 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 . He told associates that he was capable of reading and translating them. Although Smith had abandoned treasure hunting, former associates believed he had double crossed them and had taken
23625-414: The plates were "the thickness of tin plate; the back was secured with three small rings ... passing through each leaf in succession". Anomalously, Smith's father is quoted as saying that the plates were only half an inch (1.27 centimeter) thick. Smith's mother , who said she had "seen and handled" the plates, is quoted as saying they were "eight inches [20 cm] long, and six [15 cm] wide ... all connected by
23800-409: The plates were hidden by means of divination . When Emma heard of that, she rode a stray horse to Macedon and informed Smith, who reportedly determined through his Urim and Thummim that the plates were safe. He nevertheless hurriedly rode home with Emma. Once home in Manchester , he said he walked to Cumorah , removed the plates from their hiding place, and walked home through the woods and away from
23975-411: The plates while they were wrapped in fabric. Others said they had visions of the plates or had been shown the plates by an angel, in some cases years after Smith said he had returned the plates. The plates were said to be bound at one edge by a set of rings. In 1828, Martin Harris , is reported to have said that the plates were "fastened together in the shape of a book by wires". In 1859 Harris said that
24150-434: The plates, and they wanted what they believed was their share of the profits from what they viewed as part of a joint venture in treasure hunting. Spying once again on the house of Samuel Lawrence, Smith Sr., determined that a group of ten to twelve of these men, including Lawrence and Willard Chase , had enlisted the talents of a renowned and supposedly talented seer from 60 miles (96 km) away, in an effort to locate where
24325-435: The plates, as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book". William agreed that the plates could be rustled with one's thumb like the pages of a book. Smith did not provide his own published description of the plates until 1842, when he said in
24500-447: The plates, not by looking directly at them, but by looking through a transparent seer stone in the bottom of his hat. Smith published the first edition of the translation in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon, with a print run of 5,000 copies at a production cost of $ 3,000 (or 60 cents per book). Smith eventually obtained testimonies from 11 men who said that they had seen the plates, known as
24675-399: The plates, thought they "weighed about sixty pounds [27 kg] according to the best of my judgment". Others who lifted the plates while they were wrapped in cloth or enclosed in a box thought that they weighed about 60 pounds [27 kg]. Martin Harris said that he had "hefted the plates many times, and should think they weighed forty or fifty pounds [18–23 kg]". Smith's wife Emma never estimated
24850-607: The proceeding remains unclear because primary sources report conflicting outcomes. 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. Hale also considered Smith a stranger who appeared "careless" and "not very well educated." Smith and Emma eloped and married on January 18, 1827, after which
25025-544: The right to call out federal troops in its defense. 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. In March 1844 – following
25200-435: The rings holding the plates together were made of silver, and he said the plates themselves, based on their heft of "forty or fifty pounds" (18–23 kg), "were lead or gold". Joseph's brother William , who said he felt the plates inside a pillow case in 1827, said in 1884 that he understood the plates to be "a mixture of gold and copper ... much heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood". Different people estimated
25375-571: The rites of Freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated " at sight " into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge. 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
25550-412: The road with the plates wrapped in a linen frock under his arm. On the way, he said a man had sprung up from behind a log and struck him a "heavy blow with a gun.... Knocking the man down with a single punch, Joseph ran as fast as he could for about a half mile before he was attacked by a second man trying to get the plates. After similarly overpowering the man, Joseph continued to run, but before he reached
25725-506: The same time, Smith said he received a pair of large spectacles he called the Urim and Thummim or "Interpreters," with lenses consisting of two seer stones , which he showed his mother when he returned in the morning. Over the next few days, Smith took a well-digging job in nearby Macedon to earn enough money to buy a solid lockable chest in which to put the plates. By then, however, some of Smith's treasure-seeking company had heard that Smith had said that he had been successful in obtaining
25900-484: The same words again." According to Grant Palmer , Smith believed "a second transcription would be identical to the first. This confirms the view that the English text existed in some kind of unalterable, spiritual form rather than that someone had to think through difficult conceptual issues and idioms, always resulting in variants in any translation." When Smith and Emma moved to Pennsylvania in October 1827, they transported
26075-422: The stone in a hat, buried his face in it to eliminate all outside light, and peered into the stone to see the words of the translation. A few times during the translation, a curtain or blanket was raised between Smith and his scribe or between the living area and the area where Smith and his scribe worked. Sometimes, Smith dictated to Harris from upstairs or from a different room. Smith's translation did not require
26250-401: The stone on August 4, 2015. According to Smith, he found the plates after he was directed to them by a heavenly messenger whom he later identified as the angel Moroni . According to the story, the angel first visited Smith's bedroom late at night, on September 22 in 1822 or 1823. Moroni told Smith that the plates could be found buried in a prominent hill near his home, later called Cumorah ,
26425-515: The stone or an intuitive translation by Smith, assisted by a mystical connection with God, through the stone. Some Latter Day Saint apologists argue that because of the length of the Book of Mormon (roughly 270,000 words) and the timeframe in which the Book was dictated, it is unlikely that he wrote it or memorized the words from elsewhere. It is also argued that Smith was unfamiliar with the text, often pausing to attempt to pronounce names of people and places that were unfamiliar to him, and therefore it
26600-485: The stones themselves, denied their presumed power to find treasure, or ever relinquish the magic culture in which he was raised. He came to view seeing with a stone in religious terms as the work of a "seer". Smith's first stone, apparently the same one that he used at least part of the time to translate the golden plates, was chocolate-colored and about the size of a chicken egg, found in a deep well he helped dig for one of his neighbors. The LDS Church released photographs of
26775-425: The story are derived from the statements of those who knew Smith, including several witnesses who said that they saw the golden plates. The best-known elements of the golden plates story are found in an account told by Smith in 1838 and incorporated into the official church histories of some Latter Day Saint movement denominations. The LDS Church has canonized part of this 1838 account as part of its scripture ,
26950-402: The story said there were others, some of which are relevant to the modern debate about whether or how closely events of early Mormonism were related to the practice of contemporary folk magic. Smith's writings say that the angel required at least the following: (1) that he have no thought of using the plates for monetary gain, (2) that he tell his father about the vision, and (3) that he never show
27125-634: The thousands of members. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism , which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church ; their members are most commonly known as Mormons . An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations . A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theologies while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation , an open canon of scripture and building temples . Other groups include
27300-436: The true Church of Christ. The Latter Day Saint church was formed on April 6, 1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette , Manchester , and Colesville . The church was formally organized under the name of the "Church of Christ". By 1834, the church was referred to as the "Church of the Latter Day Saints" in early church publications, and in 1838 Smith announced that he had received
27475-482: 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 . 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, and a brawl ensued. The election day scuffles initiated
27650-406: The use of the plates themselves. Though Smith himself said very little about the translation process, his friends and family said that as he looked into the stone, the written translation of the ancient script appeared to him in English. There are several proposed explanations for how Smith composed his translation. In the 19th century, the most common explanation among anti-Mormons was that he copied
27825-420: The vision to some of his followers, though it was not widely published among Mormons until the 1840s. 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 . Smith himself may have originally considered the vision to be a personal conversion. According to Smith's later accounts, while praying one night in 1823, he
28000-412: The visions to his father because, he said, he did not think his father would believe him. Smith said he then fainted because he had been awake all night, and while unconscious, the angel appeared a fourth time and chastised him for failing to tell the visions to his father. When Smith then told all to his father, he believed his son and encouraged him to obey the angel's commands. Smith then set off to visit
28175-459: The weight of the plates but said they were light enough for her to "move them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work". From descriptions of the plates' dimensions, had the plates been made of 24-karat gold (which Smith never claimed), they would have weighed about 140 pounds (64 kg). Based on the plates' lighter weight and Stowell's description of its corner's "greenish cast", one scholar has hypothesized Smith made
28350-406: The weight of the plates differently. According to Smith's one-time-friend Willard Chase , Smith told him in 1827 that the plates weighed between 40 and 60 pounds (18–27 kg), most likely the latter. Smith's father Joseph Smith Sr. , who was one of the Eight Witnesses , reportedly weighed them and said in 1830 that they "weighed thirty pounds" (14 kg). Smith's brother William, who had lifted
28525-432: The welfare of his soul, he was confused by the claims of competing religious denominations. Years later, Smith wrote that he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. 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
28700-465: The work from a manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding . That theory is repudiated by Smith's preeminent modern biographers. The most prominent modern theory among many ex-Mormons is that Smith composed the translation in response to the provincial opinions of his time, perhaps while in a magical trance-like state. As a matter of faith, Latter Day Saints generally view the translation process as either an automatic process of transcribing text written within
28875-526: The world; and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, an individual personage of spirit whose influence can be felt in many places at once. Further, Smith taught that the essence of all humans is co-eternal with God and that humans, as the spirit offspring of God the Father, have the potential to become like God. The LDS Church, the largest Mormon denomination, while acknowledging its differences with mainstream Christianity, often focuses on its commonalities, which are many,
29050-415: The written statement of several witnesses who saw the plates. It is unclear whether the witnesses believed they had seen the plates with their physical eyes or had seen them in a vision. For instance, although Martin Harris continued to testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon even when he was estranged from the church, at least during the early years of the movement, he "seems to have repeatedly admitted
29225-457: 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. 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
29400-618: 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 by millions of global adherents and several churches, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Born in Sharon, Vermont , Smith moved with his family to Western New York , following
29575-473: Was completed at the Whitmer home. After translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to the angel, but he did not elaborate about this experience. According to accounts by several early Mormons, a group of Mormon leaders, including Oliver Cowdery , David Whitmer , and possibly others accompanied Smith and returned the plates to a cave inside the Hill Cumorah . There, Smith is said to have placed
29750-428: 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". Though he directed his followers to collect and publish their stories of persecution, he also urged them to moderate their antagonism toward non-Mormons. On April 6, 1839, after
29925-634: 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. While this ended the Missourians' attempts at extradition, it caused significant political fallout in Illinois. In December 1843, Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with
30100-406: Was one of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history. In a 2015 compilation of the 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, Smithsonian ranked Smith first in the category of religious figures. In popular opinion, non-Mormons in the U.S. generally consider Smith a "charlatan, scoundrel, and heretic", while outside the U.S. he is "obscure". Within
30275-469: 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
30450-430: Was the breastplate, he placed it in the locked chest. The Smith home was approached "nearly every night" by villagers hoping to find the chest, where Smith said the plates were kept. After hearing that a group of them would attempt to enter the house by force, Smith buried the chest under the hearth, and the family was able to scare away the intended intruders. Fearing the chest might still be discovered, Smith hid it under
30625-455: 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. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning, but was unsuccessful because Moroni returned and prevented him. He reported that during
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