Joseph Smith

Background

Joseph Smith Jr., born on December 23, 1805, in Vermont, U.S., was an American religious founder whose visions earned him global popularity. His family left Vermont for Western New York, and in 1820, Smith claimed he received a vision in which God and Jesus appeared to him. In this vision, Jesus tells Smith that all contemporary churches had turned away from the gospel. In his later accounts, Smith is visited by an angel named Moroni in 1823 who reveals the location of a buried book made of golden plates and other artifacts on a hill near his home. In 1827, on his last visit to the hill, Smith retrieved said plates after four years of unsuccessful attempts. According to Smith, he was instructed to conceal the plates from everyone but to translate and publish it. In October that year, he moved to Harmony (Oakland) with his wife, Emma Hale.

The plates were translated and formed the “Book of Mormon,” published in March 1830. By April, Smith and his followers formally founded the Church of Christ. However, he got arrested before he could confirm the newly baptized members. On acquittal, he moved to Colesville to escape a mob. Soon after, when his authority was undermined by other church members who claimed to receive revelations, Smith revealed a revelation that solidified his position as prophet and apostle. This revelation declared his sole ability to give doctrine and scripture to the entire church. In 1838, after Smith arrived in Missouri, the Missouri Zion church became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In August of that year, non-Mormons in Gallatin tried to disenfranchise Mormons, which incited the 1838 Mormon War. For these activities, Smith was tried before a military court and sentenced to be executed. He was charged with overt acts of treason and spent months in prison before escaping custody in April 1839 after a grand jury hearing. By 1841, after settling in Illinois, Smith revealed the doctrine of plural marriage to his male associates. This doctrine became an excuse to lure and seduce numerous women, married and unmarried. Because of this, indictments were obtained against Smith for perjury and polygamy.

As a famous religious leader who impacted the lives of thousands of devoted followers, Smith’s personal affairs were very public. He had several other wives whose existence his first wife, Hale, denied. Smith was arrested for treason in June 1844. However, an armed mob shot and assassinated him on June 27, 1844.