Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement. His followers revere him as the first prophet of the latter days. Critics regarded him, his religion, and his politics with contempt sometimes resulting in violence: Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed when a mob attacked the Carthage, Illinois jail where the two were incarcerated.
Raised during an era of Christian innovation, at the beginning of the Restorationism movement, Smith built his ministry upon claims of divination, revelation, visits from angels, the discovery and translation of ancient writings, and the introduction of novel social, economic, and doctrinal ideas. Smith's call began, he later said, with a first vision, a theophany, in his adolescent years, where he received a forgiveness of his sins in a clearing of the woods near his home. Later, he claimed the influence of angels, who led him to restore what he claimed was the original Church of Christ, as he believed it existed in the 1st Century.
Smith dictated numerous scriptures, many of which he claimed were translated from ancient records, including the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham. Smith also created his own translation of the Bible, and dictated many new revelations, many of which were later compiled and published as the Doctrine and Covenants.
In his later years, Smith attempted to form two utopian cities (Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois), he commanded his own army, he married numerous wives polygamously, he ran for President of the United States, and some of his followers anointed him as a king within the Kingdom of God. He had many loyal associates who were willing to give their life for him, and also many bitter, mortal enemies bent on his destruction.
Smith and his legacy continue to evoke strong emotion; his life and works are subject to considerable debate and research. Latter Day Saints regard negative criticism as verification of a prophecy Smith gave at age thirty-four stating that seventeen years earlier he was told by an angel that his name and reputation "should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people." [1]
Early life
Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, the fourth child of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. The Smiths suffered considerable financial problems and moved several times in and around New England. One of these moves was prompted by conditions incidental to the Year Without a Summer.
Smith had little formal schooling because he was needed at home on the farm.
Smith's leg became dangerously infected during the winter of 1812-1813 when he was 8. Some doctors advised amputation, but Smith's family refused. Smith later recovered, though he used crutches for several years and was bothered with a limp for the rest of his life.
Court records show Smith was examined on March 20, 1826 regarding charges of "disorderly conduct" for money-digging activities. This action was probably brought by sons of Josiah Stowell, Smith's employer at the time. As his employer, Stowell had prevailed upon Smith to attempt to find buried treasure with magical powers. Smith informed Stowell that he had no magical powers. Still, Smith assisted Stowell in searching for Spanish treasure. Stowell terminated this fruitless "treasure digging” at Smith's advice. This created an enmity between some of Stowell's sons and Smith. Josiah felt that Smith was a harder worker than his sons were, presumably creating a degree of jealousy. At the examination (it was not a trial), seven witnesses were called and most of them affirmed that Smith had some sort of spiritual gift and the legal examination resulted in no action against Smith. Most scholars of the era acknowledge that "treasure digging" was a common form of folk magic (like water dowsing) and that Smith would have not been unique in its practice.
Smith married Emma Hale in secret on January 18, 1827. The couple eloped due to the Hale family's disapproval of Smith.
The First Vision
Main article: First Vision
Smith ascribed great importance to a vision he claimed to have witnessed during his adolescence. Over the years, beginning in 1820, Smith described this experience many times using varying details. In his last major written account of the event (1838), he described his vision as an appearance of Jesus and God the Father sometime during the spring of 1820, when he was fourteen years old. In his 1838 account he testifies:
"...I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of 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, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other, 'This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!'..."
Although Smith's family received the news of the vision well, it was met with deep contempt from most of his community, particularly clergymen.
Moroni
Smith claimed he was visited by an angel named Moroni, three times during the evening and night of September 21, 1823, and once more in the morning of September 22. According to Smith, Moroni told him about Golden Plates or tablets hidden in a hill near the Smith farm. These plates were said to contain an account of a group of ancient inhabitants of the Americas, inscribed in reformed Egyptian.
On September 22, 1823, Smith went to Cumorah to recover the plates, but Moroni said he was unready.
Smith returned to the hill as directed by Moroni, on September 22, 1824, 1825, and 1826, and Moroni returned each night to counsel him. On 22 September 1827, with Emma in tow, Smith was allowed to take the plates, as well as the Urim and Thummim, a breastplate to aid his translation.
An official account of the First Vision and Smith's encounter with Moroni is contained in the Pearl of Great Price in Joseph Smith-History, verses 1-20 & 27-54.
Translation of the Book of Mormon
Smith translated portions of the plates from December 1827 to February 1828; Emma and her brother Reuben acted as scribes. The faithful believe that Smith translated the plates using divine guidance and the Urim and Thummim. According to his scribes, Smith rarely, if ever, stopped and corrected himself. He would translate a sentence, the scribe would say "Written" and read it back to him. If the sentence was written correctly, Smith would continue. They would work through the day, often into the night.
Martin Harris acted as Smith's translation scribe from April to June of 1828. In early April, 1829, Smith began translating again, with Oliver Cowdery as scribe. Others also helped. When translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to Moroni.
The scribes never physically saw the plates while Smith was translating. Instead, Smith hung a curtain between himself and the scribe, as commanded by Moroni. Later, three men and then eight other men were allowed to view the plates. The plates were presented to the three witnesses by an angel. The eight witnesses were shown the plates by Joseph Smith. Mary Whitmer, who boarded Smith and Emma during the translation’s final phase, said Moroni showed her the plates. Emma and others reported touching and moving the plates as they lay under a heavy cloth or in a bag.
The Book of Mormon was first published on March 26, 1830.
Church Founded
According to Cowdery and Smith, on May 15, 1829, John the Baptist appeared and ordained them to the Aaronic Priesthood. They baptized each other immediately thereafter, exercising their new authority. Peter, James, and John also came to them during either May or June 1829 and ordained them to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Latter Day Saints believe that the authority found in these priesthoods was necessary for a complete restoration of the Ancient Church.
On April 6, 1830, Smith and five others formally established "The Church of Christ". (The church was later called “Church of Latter Day Saints” (1834), “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (1838) then “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.) Smith and others quickly began proselytizing and baptizing new members.
Smith asserted that he received many revelations throughout this period. These were compiled as The Book of Commandments at that time and were organized into the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835.
Ohio
To avoid conflict and persecution encountered in New York and Pennsylvania, Smith and Emma eventually moved to Kirtland, Ohio early in 1831. They lived with Isaac Morley’s family while a house was built for them on the Morley farm. Many of Smith's followers and associates settled in Kirtland, Ohio, and also in Jackson County, Missouri, where Smith said he was instructed by revelation to build Zion.
In Kirtland, the church's first temple was built, and many extraordinary events were reported: appearances by Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Elias, and numerous angels; speaking and singing in tongues, often with translations; prophesying; and other spiritual experiences. Some Mormons believed that Jesus' Millennial reign had come. Even those of other faiths reported a heavenly light "resting" upon the temple.
The early Church grew rapidly, but there were often conflict between Saints and their neighbors. These conflicts were sometimes violent: On the evening of March 24, 1832 in Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tarred and feathered Smith and his counselor Sidney Rigdon. They threatened Smith with castration and with death, and one of his teeth was chipped when they attempted to force him to drink poison. The mob action led to the exposure and eventual death of Smith's adopted newborn twins. Sidney Rigdon suffered a severe concussion after being dragged on the ground. According to some accounts, Rigdon was delirious for several days. The reasons for this attack are uncertain, but likely were tied to a sermon given by Rigdon.
After tending to his wounds all night and into the early morning, Smith preached a sermon on forgiveness the following day. Though some reports state that members of the mob that had attacked him were present at this sermon, Smith did not mention the attack directly.
On January 12, 1838 Smith and Rigdon left Kirtland for Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri, in Smith's words, "to escape mob violence, which was about to burst upon us under the color of legal process to cover the hellish designs of our enemies." Just prior to their departure, many Saints, (including prominent leaders), became disaffected in the wake of the Kirtland Safety Society debacle, in which Smith and several associates were accused of various illegal or unethical banking actions.
Most remaining church members left Kirtland for Missouri.
Plural marriage
Most believe that Smith began practicing a form of polygyny called celestial marriage (later called plural marriage) perhaps as early as 1833 [2]. Polygamy (marriage to multiple partners) was illegal in many U.S. States, including Illinois, and was felt by some to be an immoral or misguided practice.
There is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith may have had: one historian, Todd M. Compton, who contends that polygamy was a mistake for the Church, tried to document, using Utah LDS sources, at least thirty-three plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime. See Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Jr. for a list of these wives. It is without question that Joseph had multiple wives (as marriage certificates are available for some); but, as Compton states multiple times in his work "[a]bsolutely nothing is known of this marriage after the ceremony"; that is, it is unclear how many (if any) of these marriages Smith consummated. Information on the intention of some of the sealings is similarly ambiguous; Smith has been sealed to many people as a father or a brother as well as those instances of being a husband. If these marriage sealings were indeed sexual unions it would be reasonable to expect some children from them as there were from Smith's first marriage. One of the plural wives made an allegation that Smith had fathered one of her children, but this is disputed, as is the theory that Smith fathered children with some of his plural wives that were raised as though they were the children of their other husbands. Dr. Scott Woodward and others are conducting DNA evidence of possible descendants of Joseph Smith. To date, none of these plural marriages has been shown to have produced genetic offspring of Joseph Smith [3].
The LDS Church believes that polygamy was instituted according to revelation, as it was in the times of many Old Testament prophets. The LDS Church publicly announced the practice in Utah in 1852, after which the doctrine was generally accepted, but not widely practiced. Plural marriage was later formally discontinued by the LDS Church, which currently excommunicates members who practice it. The Community of Christ (formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) denied for many years that Smith ever taught or practiced polygamy. More recently, Community of Christ historians have publicly supported the view that Smith taught the doctrine. [4] Many splinter groups of the Latter Day Saint Movement descended from the LDS Church continue to practice plural marriage.
Although Smith publicly denied plural marriage during the early days of the church, he practiced it secretly, and introduced a small number of followers into the practice. In the early Latter Day Saint era, some followers who practiced plural marriage said they were uncomfortable with it when it was first introduced to them, but believed it was commissioned by God.
By most accounts, Emma Smith was at times supportive, but often troubled by plural marriage; nevertheless, she eventually accepted the doctrine along with the others Joseph had revealed.
Missouri
The Missouri period was marked by many violent conflicts and legal difficulties for Smith and his followers. Many people saw their new LDS neighbors as a religious and political threat. Mormons also tended to vote in blocks, giving them a degree of political influence wherever they settled. Additionally, Mormons purchased vast amounts of land in which to establish settlements. Some Saints felt that God had promised them control of the area and this view only fueled the growing tension.
In response to the consistent persecution, a small group of Latter Day Saints organized themselves into a vigilante group called the Danites. Headed by Sampson Avard, Smith disapproved of the group, and Avard was excommunicated for his activities. [5]
Soon the "old Missourians" and the LDS settlers were engaged in a conflict sometimes referred to as the 1838 Mormon War. One key skirmish was the Battle of Crooked River, which involved Missouri state troops and a group of Saints. There is some debate as to whether the Mormons knew their opponents were government officials, but the battle's aftermath was pivotal in Church history.
This battle led to reports of a "Mormon insurrection" and the death of apostle David W. Patten. In consequence of these reports and the political influence of pro-slavery politicians, Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an executive order known as the "Extermination Order" on 27 October 1838. The order stated that the Mormon community was in "open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State ... the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." [6] The Extermination Order wasn't officially rescinded until 1976 by Governor Christopher S. Bond.
Soon after the "Extermination Order" was issued, vigilantes attacked an outlying Mormon settlement and killed 17. This event is identified as the Haun's Mill Massacre. Soon afterward, the 2,500 troops from the state militia converged on the Mormon headquarters at Far West. Smith and several other Church leaders surrendered to state authorities on treason charges. Although they were civilians, the militia leader threatened to try Smith and others in a military tribunal and have them immediately executed. Were it not for the actions of General Alexander William Doniphan in defense of due process, the plans of the militia leaders likely would have been carried out.
The legality of Boggs' “Extermination Order” was debated in the legislature, but its objectives were achieved. Most of the Mormon community in Missouri either left or were forced out by the spring of 1839.
Instead of execution, Smith and others spent several months in Liberty Jail awaiting a trial that never came. With shaky legal grounds for imprisonment, authorities eventually allowed their escape. They joined the rest of the Church in Illinois.
Nauvoo
After leaving Missouri in 1839, Smith and his followers made headquarters in a town called Commerce, Illinois on the banks of the Mississippi River, which they renamed Nauvoo (meaning "to be beautiful"; - the word is found in the Hebrew of Isaiah 52:7 - Latter Day Saints often referred to Nauvoo as "the city beautiful", or "the city of Joseph"—which was actually the name of the city for a short time after the city charter was revoked—or other similar nicknames) after being granted a charter by the state of Illinois. Nauvoo was quickly built up by the faithful, including many new arrivals.
In October 1839, Smith and others left for Washington, D.C. to meet with Martin Van Buren, then the President of the United States. Smith and his delegation sought redress for the persecution and loss of property suffered by the Saints in Missouri. Van Buren told Smith, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you."
In March 1842, Smith was initiated as a Freemason (as an Entered Apprentice Mason on March 15, and Master Mason the next day—the usual month wait between degrees was waived by the Illinois Lodge Grandmaster, Abraham Jonas) at the Nauvoo Lodge, one of less than a half-dozen Masonic meetings he attended. He was introduced by John C. Bennett, a Mason from the northeast.
Work on a temple in Nauvoo began in the autumn of 1840. The cornerstones were laid during a conference on April 6, 1841. Construction took five years and it was dedicated on May 1, 1846; about four months after Nauvoo was abandoned by the majority of the citizens. The temple was burned in 1848 and the remnants of the structure were destroyed by a tornado later that year. The Church retained ownership of the site and converted it into a landmark with the temple's cornerstones still in place. This remained until 2002 when, after an exact reconstruction project, the temple was rededicated.
Nauvoo's population peaked in 1845 when it may have had as many as 12,000 inhabitants — rivaling Chicago, Illinois, whose 1845 population was about 15,000.
Controversy in the City Beautiful
On the evening of May 6, 1842, a gunman shot through a window in Governor Boggs' home, hitting him four times. Sheriff J.H. Reynolds discovered a revolver at the scene, still loaded with buckshot and surmised that the suspect lost his firearm in the dark rainy night.
Some Saints saw the assassination attempt positively given Boggs' history of acting against the Church: An anonymous contributor to The Wasp, a Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo, wrote on May 28 that, "Boggs is undoubtedly killed according to report; but who did the noble deed remains to be found out."
Several doctors—including Boggs' brother—pronounced Boggs all but dead; at least one newspaper ran an obituary. To everyone's great surprise, Boggs not only survived, but gradually improved. The popular press—and popular rumor—was quick to blame Smith's friend and sometime bodyguard Porter Rockwell for the assassination attempt. By some reports, Smith had prophesied that Boggs would die violently, leading to speculation that Smith was involved. Rockwell denied involvement, stating that he would not have left the governor alive if he had indeed tried to kill him.
Also at about this time, Bennett had become disaffected from Smith and began publicizing what he said was Smith's practice of "Spiritual Wifery". (Bennett, earlier a pro-polygamy activist, knew of Smith's revelation on plural marriage and encouraged Smith to advocate the practice publicly. When this was rejected by Smith, Bennett began seducing women on his own and was subsequently excommunicated for practicing "Spiritual Wifery"[7].) He stepped down as Nauvoo mayor—ostensibly in protest of Smith's actions—and also reported that Smith had offered a cash reward to anyone who would assassinate Boggs. He also reported that Smith had admitted to him that Rockwell had done the deed and that Rockwell had made a veiled threat on Bennet's life if he publicized the story. Smith vehemently denied Bennett's account, speculating that Boggs—no longer governor, but campaigning for state senate—was attacked by an election opponent. Bennett has been identified as "untruthful" by many historians and is seldom used as a reputable source.
Critics suggested that Nauvoo's charter should be revoked, and the Illinois legislature considered the notion. In response, Smith petitioned the U.S. Congress to make Nauvoo a territory. His petition was declined.
In February, 1844, Smith announced his candidacy for President of the United States, with Sidney Rigdon as his vice-presidential running mate
King Follett Discourse
Two months before his death, Smith delivered a discourse on the nature of God at the funeral of a church member named King Follett. Although the address was not properly recorded or approved by Smith as official doctrine, it remains one of his most famous speeches. See King Follett Discourse.
Smith's death
Eventually, several of Smith's disaffected associates—some of whom asserted that Smith had tried to seduce their wives into plural marriage—joined together to publish a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. Its only issue was published June 7, 1844.
The bulk of the paper was devoted to three main criticisms of Smith: The opinion that Smith had once been a true prophet, but had fallen by advocating polygamy, Exaltation, and other controversial doctrines; The opinion that Smith, as both Mayor of Nauvoo and President of the Church held too much power, which was further consolidated by the overwhelmingly Mormon make-up of Nauvoo's courts and city council, who intended establishing a theocracy via the Council of Fifty; and the belief that Smith had corrupted women by forcing, coercing or introducing them into plural marriage.
In response to public outrage generated by the paper, the Nauvoo City Council passed an ordinance declaring the newspaper a public nuisance designed to promote violence against Smith and his followers. They reached this decision after lengthy discussion, including citation of William Blackstone's legal canon, which included a libelous press as a public nuisance. Under the council's new ordinance, Smith, as Nauvoo's mayor, in conjunction with the city council, ordered the city marshal to destroy the paper and the press on June 10, 1844. By the city marshal's account, the destruction of the press type was carried out orderly and peaceably. However, Charles A. Foster, a co-publisher of the Expositor, reported on June 12 that additionally to the printing press being destroyed, the group which he dubbed "several hundred minions ... injured the building very materially" as well [8], though this is contradicted by the fact that the building was in use for at least another decade.
Smith’s critics were very angry, claiming that he had violated freedom of the press. Some sought legal charges against Smith for the destruction of the press, including charges of inciting riot and treason. Violent threats were made against Smith and the Mormon community. Warrants from outside Nauvoo were brought in against Smith and dismissed in Nauvoo courts on a writ of habeas corpus. Smith declared martial law on June 18 and called out the Nauvoo Legion, a private military force of about 5,000 men, to protect Nauvoo from outside violence.
Smith soon submitted to arrest. Illinois Governor Ford proposed a trial in Carthage, the county seat, and guaranteed Smith's safety. Smith agreed and stayed in the Carthage Jail, under the Governor's promised protection. Ford agreed to stay in Carthage, but left not long after Smith went to stay at the jail. The unsympathetic "Carthage Greys", a local militia, were assigned to protect Smith at his second-floor room. Smith was joined there with his brother, Hyrum, Dr. Willard Richards, and John Taylor.
On June 26, 1844, Smith sent message to Major-General Johnathan Dunham of the Nauvoo Legion that he should lead the militia to the jail in order to protect and accompany Smith and his associates back to Nauvoo. Dunham decided to ignore Smith's order, fearing such an action would instigate a major conflict that could erupt into civil war. Dunham informed no one of Smith's order or of his decision to disregard it.
Before a trial could be held, a mob of about 200 armed men (some painted as Indians) stormed Carthage Jail in the late afternoon of June 27, 1844. As the mob was approaching, the jailer became nervous, and informed Smith of the group. In a letter dated July 10, 1844, one of the jailers wrote that Smith, expecting the Nauvoo Legion, said "Don't trouble yourself ... they've come to rescue me."
The Carthage Greys reportedly feigned defense of the jail by firing shots or blanks over the attackers' heads, and some of the Greys reportedly joined the mob, who rushed up the stairs.
The mob fired shots through the door and attempted to push the door open to fire into the room. Hyrum Smith was shot in the face, just to the left of his nose. He cried out, "I am a dead man!" and collapsed. His body received five additional gunshot wounds.
Richards and Smith attempted to defend themselves and their associates. Richards attempted to deflect the guns with his walking stick from behind the door. Smith used a small pepper-box pistol that Cyrus Wheelock gave them when he had visited the jail the previous day. Smith's gun misfired several times, but he possibly hit as many as three men. John Taylor later stated he had been informed that two of the assailants had died of their wounds; however, witnesses identified three injured men who survived and were later indicted for the murder of Joseph Smith [9].
John Taylor was shot four times and severely injured, but survived the attack. Willard Richards escaped unscathed.
Joseph Smith was hit several times as he made his way towards the window. He got to the sill, but as he prepared to jump down, he was shot twice in the back and a third bullet, fired from a musket on the ground outside, hit him in the chest.
Most accounts report that before or as Smith fell from the window, he called "Oh Lord, my God!" or some similar phrase [10], which some have noted is similar to "Oh, Lord, My God, is there no help for the widow's son?", a traditional Masonic call for aid. These last recorded words have led to speculation that his statement was a call for aid from any Masons that may have been in the mob, but they are just likely to have been injecture.
There are varying accounts of what happened next. Richards' account claims Smith was dead when he landed after his fall; other accounts suggest Smith was alive when mob members propped his body against a nearby well and shot him before they fled. Another account claims one man tried to decapitate Smith for a bounty and died in the act; there were reports that thunder and lightning frightened the mob off. Mob members fled, shouting, "The Mormons are coming," although there was no such force nearby.
After Smith's death
Smith's death created a crisis for the church. Their charismatic founder was dead and their hierarchy was scattered on missionary efforts and in support of Smith's presidential campaign. Historian D. Michael Quinn quotes Brigham Young's initial concern after Smith's murder: "The first thing which I thought of was, whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth." Without "the keys of the kingdom", that is, the appropriate Priesthood authority, Young recognized the possibility that the church lacked a divinely-sanctioned leader.
Because of ongoing tensions, the state legislature revoked Nauvoo's city charter and it was disincorporated. All protection, public services, self-government and other public benefits were revoked. Those who lived in the former City of Nauvoo referred to it as the City of Joseph after this time, until the city was again granted a charter. Without official defenses, city residents continued to be persecuted by opponents, leading Young to consider other areas for settlement, including Texas, California, Iowa and the Intermountain West.
Succession
Smith left ambiguous or contradictory succession instructions that led to arguments and disagreements among the church's members and leadership, several of whom claimed rights to leadership.
An 8 August 1844 conference which established Young's leadership is the source of an oft-repeated legend. Multiple journal and eyewitness accounts from those who followed Young state that when Young spoke regarding the claims of succession by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he appeared to look or sound like the late Smith. Most saints followed Young, but some aligned with other various people claiming to be Smith's successor. Many of these smaller groups were spread out throughout the midwestern United States, especially in Independence, Missouri. Reverberations of the succession crisis continue to the present.
Mob violence and conflict continued to grow and threaten the Mormon establishment at Nauvoo. By 1847, the city was deemed unsafe and Brigham Young led many Latter Day Saints out of the United States and into Utah, which was then Mexican territory.
Smith as a Prophet
Smith's claim to be a prophet of God has led to much controversy. Some of his prophecies are listed in Prophecies of Joseph Smith.
References
Smith's Works Accepted by Latter-day Saints as Scripture
- The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1981). (Available commercially through Doubleday, ISBN 038551316X; available online at http://scriptures.lds.org/bm/contents.)
- The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1981). (Available commercially through Covenant Communications, ISBN 159156560X; available online at http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/contents.)
- The Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1981). (Available commercially through Covenant Communications, ISBN 159156560X; available online at http://scriptures.lds.org/pgp/contents.)
- The Holy Scriptures: Inspired Version (Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1991); ISBN 0830901124 (Available online at http://www.centerplace.org/hs/iv/default.htm.)
Smith's Teachings and Writings
- Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1938); ISBN 087579243X.
- Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith's Teachings, Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon, eds. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000); ISBN 1570086729.
- Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, Dean C. Jessee, ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002); ISBN 1573457876. (Online edition at DeseretBook.com)
- The Papers of Joseph Smith, 3 vols., Dean C. Jessee, ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989–92); ISBN 0875791999, ISBN 0875795455, ISBN 1573450448.
- An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, Scott H. Faulring, ed. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989 [2nd edition]); ISBN 0941214788.
Biographies
- Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005); ISBN 1400042704.
- Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1984); ISBN 0252011430 (hardcover), ISBN 0252060121 (paperback).
- Robert V. Remini, Joseph Smith: (New York: Penguin/Viking, 2002); ISBN 067003083X.
- Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History : The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Knopf, 1971 [2nd edition]); ISBN 0679730540.
- Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2004); ISBN 1560851791.
- Donna Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1999); ISBN 156085118X.
Other Historical Works
- Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1979); ISBN 025200762X.
- Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989); ISBN 0884947041.
- Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997); ISBN 156085085X.
- D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994); ISBN 1560850566.
- Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (New York: Doubleday, 2003); ISBN 1400032806.
- Thomas Milton Tinney, Sr., "The Royal Family of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Junior, First President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Library of Congress Call Number: CS71.S643 1973 Copy 1.
Fiction
- Gerald N. Lund, The Work and the Glory, Vols. 1-6. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990-1995).
See also
External links
- "Who was Joseph Smith?" at Mormon.org.
- JosephSmith.net, the official web site on Joseph Smith by the LDS Church.
- Joseph Smith, Jr.: Basic facts, short biography on LDS.org.
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism articles on Joseph Smith.
- Joseph Smith—History, Smith's 1838 account of his early visions and the translation of the Book of Mormon; canonized in The Pearl of Great Price.
- Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, online text at HelpingMormons.org.
- LDS analysis of Smith's 1826 trial, at Russell Anderson's home page.
- A Walk Through the Sacred Grove in the Fall, a photo essay at Meridian Magazine.
| Joseph Smith, Jr. Founding president of the Church of Christ (1830–1838) later called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1838–1844) |
Successor (as claimed by several competing Latter Day Saint movement churches): | |
| President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Brigham Young 1847–1877 | ||
| President of the Community of Christ (née "RLDS Church") Joseph Smith III 1860–1914 | ||
| President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) James Strang 1844–1856 | ||
| President of the Church of Jesus Christ (Monongahela) William Bickerton (follower of Sidney Rigdon) 1862 | ||