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A Brief Overview of the
Early History of MormonismThis material is part of a Field Guide profile on Mormonism: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Click here to go to the main page of the Mormon profile. Detailed bibliographical information on any books and articles cited in this overview which is not provided here in context is available in the Bibliography at the end of the main Mormonism profile.
PLEASE NOTE:
The short, official autobiographical statements of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr., regarding some of the events in his life can be found in the LDS publication Pearl of Great Price, considered by Mormons as part of their official foundational scriptures. The section of this book called "Joseph Smith--History" can be read online at:
http://scriptures.lds.org/js_h/1
Many statements by Smith and other early Mormon leaders regarding the events of the early days of the Mormon movement can be found in other portions of Mormon archival records. These documents are at times contradictory regarding the specifics of their history. The information provided in the Early Mormonism section of this overview consists primarily of the basic sequence of events of that time period, gleaned from both Mormon and non-Mormon historical sources. Some of the areas in dispute are mentioned briefly here, and more are discussed and documented in the main section of the profile on Mormonism in the Field Guide.
Early Roots of Mormonism
Joseph Smith
The history of Mormonism begins with the birth of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr., in Vermont December 23, 1805. He was the third son, fourth child, of what would eventually be ten children born to his parents, Joseph Smith, Sr., and Lucy Mack Smith. A poor farming family with little success farming in Vermont, they eventually moved to a farm near Palmyra, New York.
It was as a teenager in Palmyra, as Joseph was to later claim, that he first received his "calling." In the spring of 1820 he found himself confused by the varying claims of religious groups which had been holding revivals in his area. And thus he decided to take his questions directly to God in prayer. He describes in his autobiographical material that he went into the woods near his house and knelt down to pray. At this point, his description of what happened next varies in several different accounts he gave over the following years. In the official account published now by the LDS Church, he saw a blinding light come down from above, and saw two "personages" in it which he identified as God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Father allegedly pointed to Jesus and said, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him." And then Jesus explained to him that all the Christian denominations on earth were an abomination, and that he should have nothing to do with any of them.
However, in another re-telling of the same event, Smith mentions seeing only one personage, which he identified as Jesus. And in still another account he mentions neither Father nor Son, but says he was in the presence of many "angels."
For documentation on these discrepancies in the account of this "First Vision," and the attempts of the LDS Church to suppress knowledge that such discrepancies existed, see Jerald and Sandra Tanner's book The Changing World of Mormonism available online at http://www.utlm.org/navonlinebooks.htm.
In the official account of the ensuing events, Smith notes that he told the story of the vision to a number of people, and was ridiculed and persecuted for the next three years for sticking to his story. Then on September 21, 1823, he claimed that he was praying in his room and received another heavenly visit, this one from an angel. In an early account of this incident (usually called the "Second Vision"), he gave the name of the angel as Nephi. But the account that is now officially sanctioned by the LDS Church gives the angel's name as Moroni.
The angel explained to him that he had been sent to commission Smith for a very special job. There were golden plates engraved with ancient writing on them hidden in the ground in a nearby hill. They contained the history of some ancient peoples who were descended from Jews who had fled from Jerusalem about 600 BC and arrived by boat in the Western Hemisphere. They multiplied and established a great civilization that flourished until about 400 AD. The civilization was torn into two rival factions, the Nephites and the Lamanites, which warred for many years. The Lamanites were the ancestors of the American Indian. Jesus had appeared to both of these peoples after His resurrection, and preached the "everlasting Gospel" to them. Their history had been recorded on the hidden plates by a Nephite man named Mormon, around the time of the last great battle between the two peoples which resulted in wiping out all the Nephites. His son Moroni, the last Nephite, hid the plates in the ground before his death, and was now returned as a resurrected heavenly messenger. His job was to commission Joseph Smith to retrieve the plates and translate them, and to restore the true "everlasting Gospel" to the earth. Smith claimed that a short time later he shown the plates in their hiding place.
But Smith explained that he was not allowed to retrieve the plates until 1827. In January of that year, he married his first wife Emma. And in September of that same year he supposedly obtained the plates. At that point, with the assistance of his new wife as a secretary/scribe, he began the laborious task of translation. The method of translation was to be by the miraculous assistance of objects known as the Biblical "Urim and Thummim," which Smith described as two stones set in a bow, somewhat like spectacles. Once again, there are conflicting accounts in Mormon historical documents regarding the exact method used in the translation, and whether any such object as the Urim and Thummim really had any part to play in the process. Instead, the object most often referred to in accounts of the method of translation was a "seer stone"… an object similar in purpose to a fortune teller's crystal ball. For evidence that the Urim and Thummim seemed to play no real part in the process, see the Translation section of the collection of Quotations from Mormon history in the main Mormon profile of the Field Guide.
The following description is based on several details in various accounts of the process. Smith would sit next to a covered box allegedly containing the plates. In most accounts, he seems to have been separated from the scribe by a curtain. He would put a "seer stone" in his hat, put his head into the hat and pull the edges tightly around his face to keep out the light. And in the darkness, he would claim to "see" something that looked like parchment, upon which there would be one character of "Reformed Egyptian" writing from the plates. Beneath that would be the words in English which were the "translation" of that character. Smith would read out the "translation," and the scribe assisting him would write it down. Then the scribe would read it back to Smith, letter by letter if necessary, and Smith would verify that it was correct. If it was, the former character would disappear from the "parchment," and a new one appear.
In other words, the actual physical plates, even if they existed, were totally unnecessary to the process. Smith never explained why this was so. The plates couldn't have been provided as "proof"of his claims, for even his own wife never saw them. The angel had told him he was never to show them to anyone without specific divine permission. At one point, he was given such permission, in order to have "witnesses" who could swear to his credibility. But the description of their "seeing" of the plates is hardly persuasive …
From: Joseph Smith by C. Clark Julius, MPS, The Philalethes - August 1987
http://www.lds-mormon.com/jsmith.shtml
To assure skeptics that the plates did, indeed, exist, he showed them to several trusted witnesses, who signed statements affirming that they had beheld the plates. In preparation for viewing the plates, the chosen witnesses prayed for several hours. After lengthy praying, one witness reported that he saw only an empty box. Joseph sent him out for additional prayer, after which the golden plates were fully visible to the witness.
In other words, it is unclear from the historical reports if any of those who claimed to have "seen" the plates actually saw them physically.
From: Mormonism 101, p. 111
… John Gilbert, who assisted E.B. Grandin in printing the Book of Mormon, personally asked Martin Harris if he had actually seen the plates with his "naked eyes." Gilbert remembered:
Martin was in the office when I finished setting up the testimony of the three witnesses … I said to him, ,"Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" Martin looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, "No, I saw them with a spiritual eye."
The process of "translation" continued for the next three years, with the assistance of several different scribes. And in 1830 the completed document was printed and bound under the title Book of Mormon. At that point, Smith claimed that the angel retrieved the plates.
As soon as the new Book of Mormon reached the book stores, it created a firestorm of controversy. Obviously, the average Protestant minister decried it as blasphemous. And even the irreligious chalked it up as the writings of a religious kook. But radical religious movements with strange ideas were quite common at that time in America, and most found at least some following. In fact some, including the Millennial Adventist movement based on the teachings of William Miller who predicted the Return of Christ to come in 1844, were capable of appealing to thousands or tens of thousands of people hungry for spiritual novelty.
Joseph Smith and five others joined together later in 1830 to incorporate in Fayette, NY, a new denomination dedicated to promotion of the new Truths being revealed via the Book of Mormon--and via more direct "revelations" to Joseph Smith. They chose at first just the name "Church of Christ." This was changed in 1834 to "Church of the Latter-day Saints," and finally in 1838 to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
Getting new converts in their own area was a very slow process. But news of the new religion spread far and wide, and a fiery preacher in Kirtland, OH, named Sidney Rigdon soon became a convert. He had only recently brought a large number of his followers into the newly forming "Disciples of Christ" movement ("Campbellites"). When he switched abruptly to Mormonism, many of his followers made the switch with them. Their proselyting activities soon made their area the fastest growing Mormon center, and thus Joseph Smith moved the headquarters of the movement to Kirtland.
At that point, Sidney Rigdon became the most influential Mormon leader outside of Joseph Smith himself, and seems to have remained so until Smith's death in 1844. Some historians of the Mormon movement credit his influence and his Cambellite theological background for introducing a significant number of specific doctrinal positions into the growing Mormon doctrinal base.
Details on the extent of Rigdon's influence can be seen in a review of the book "Sidney Rigdon--A Portrait of Religious Excess" at:
Under Rigdon's influence, an attempt was made in Kirtland at establishing a Mormon "communal living" effort. But this failed, and the idea was abandoned. The Mormon activities in Kirtland flourished, and eventually a splendid Temple was built. Yet at the same time, there was always an undercurrent of opposition from the non-Mormons in the area, dubbed "gentiles" by the Mormons. And thus Joseph began thinking of moving his growing group of followers to some area where they would be free to establish their own "society." This notion was probably helped along by the incident in 1832 where Smith was tarred and feathered by some of the local "gentiles" who believed him to have been making sexual advances to a 17 year old girl.
Smith first thought of establishing a "New Zion" somewhere in the state of Missouri. Advance groups of Mormons attempted to establish a settlement in Independence, MO. But they still found persecution for their odd beliefs and customs there, and moved on to create a totally new town they called "Far West." Missouri gentiles pursued them and harassed them even there. Smith even tried gathering an armed group of Mormons in Ohio and making a trek down to Missouri for a show-down. By the time he and his troops arrived, however, the state militia had been called out and was waiting for the Mormons' arrival. Outnumbered, the Mormons surrendered, and Smith ended up in jail for treason.
The Mormons of Far West were driven out of their town, and decided to look for a more hospitable environment. In 1839, 15,000 of them ended up in Illinois, where they eventually created another brand new town they dubbed "Nauvoo." Smith had bribed his way out of the Missouri jail, and re-joined his followers in Illinois.
For the next five years, Nauvoo prospered, and Smith developed more and more details of the religious system of Mormonism. One of these details was kept as a closely-held secret, however.
Polygamy
There is some historical documentation that seems to indicate that Smith may have personally embraced the doctrine of polygamy as early as 1831. Realizing what a fire-storm it would cause inside and outside the fledgling LDS Church, he only shared the understanding with a few selected leaders for a number of years. In 1843 he recorded an actual "revelation" about the matter, but even then the doctrine was not made public. It was not until 1852, when the bulk of the Mormon membership was safely out in their "own territory" in Utah that the doctrine was announced publicly.
But by 1844, rumors were rampant among the "gentiles" of this "peculiarity" of Mormon practice. And even some of those among Mormon ranks who were perhaps willing to consider the possibility became enraged when they found that Smith's version of polygamy at times included the notion that he had the right to "celestial marriage" with women already married to others. It was quite possible that it was this issue that was the immediate cause leading to Smith's death in 1844:
From: From: Joseph Smith by C. Clark Julius, MPS, The Philalethes - August 1987
http://www.lds-mormon.com/jsmith.shtml
In 1844 a major schism occurred among the Mormons of Nauvoo which resulted directly from Joseph's proposals of marriage to the wives of several leaders of the church. The husbands who felt wronged by their prophet challenged Joseph's leadership of the church, bought a printing press, and issued a dissident Mormon newspaper with editorials attacking Joseph's policies.
Joseph ordered his followers to destroy the printing press of his opponents. After the press was wrecked, the governor of Illinois charged Joseph with violating the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and ordered his arrest. The state militia marched to Nauvoo and took Joseph into custody.
… The militia conducted Joseph to the jail in Carthage, Illinois, and locked him up with other loyal Mormon leaders in a cell on the second floor. The militia was stationed outside the jail to guard it.
On the second day of Joseph's imprisonment, other militiamen who had been dismissed by the governor, marched into Carthage. Their faces were painted to conceal their identities. They were obviously about to commit some mayhem.
When the disguised militiamen approached the jail, the guards on duty did nothing to impede their progress. As they mounted the steps of the jail, the vigilantes fired several shots. Joseph, who had a six-shooter, opened fire on the first vigilantes to reach the second floor. He wounded several of the attackers: then his pistol was emptied.
As the vigilantes came on unopposed, Joseph ran for a window. As he straddled the window sill he was shot from behind by vigilantes inside the jail. At the same time, he was shot by their comrades on the ground below. Calling out, "Oh, my God!" Joseph fell to the ground. He was still alive when he hit the earth. Vigilantes standing over him put several more shots into him, ending his life at age thirty-eight.
A concise and fairly "neutral" biography of Smith is available at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/jsmith.shtml
A review of the book Mormon Polygamy--A History by Richard S. Van Wagoner is at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/polygamy.shtml
Brigham Young
Immediately after the death of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, there was a contention among the Latter-day Saints regarding who was to inherit the role of President and Prophet. Some asserted that Smith himself had clearly designated his son, Joseph Smith III as his spiritual "heir." Others were in favor of the leadership of Sidney Rigdon, and still others supported the claims of Brigham Young. This led to a number of splits at the time, with small groups forming around these and other favorite champions. The group that left with Brigham Young later in a trek to Utah, and that is the direct forebear of the current LDS Church with HQ in Salt Lake City, UT, did not represent the "majority" of Mormons. But it was the largest of the groups left in the splintering.
The Mormons as a whole were forced out of Nauvoo in shortly after Smith's death, and although some went with Rigdon to Pennsylvania, and others scattered to varied states, the largest group of about 7,000 ended up in Iowa. Young, who had been the former president of the Council of Twelve under Joseph Smith, was formally installed by the Iowa group as president of the LDS Church in 1847.
Brigham Young led an exodus of this group across the plains to what is now the state of Utah that same year. Through many hardships, they carved out a new society in the area of the Great Salt Lake. From the time he took office as President until his death, Young introduced a number of controversial doctrinal innovations into the Mormon system of belief, through alleged further direct revelations from God.
Young had originally hoped for the new Mormon territory to become a state in the United States to be called "Deseret." But upon arrival in this place so far from the "gentile" persecutors they had endured back East, the Mormons began openly practicing and advocating polygamy. Although strong evidence exists that the practice had secretly begun among a number of Mormons, particularly the leadership, well before Joseph Smith's death, it was only declared openly as a doctrine of the LDS Church in 1852.
This set the Mormons at odds with the US Government. Many declarations over the years from Mormon leaders can be found bombastically declaring that the LDS Church would never give up the practice, no matter how strong the external pressure. Brigham Young died in 1877, still a staunch advocate of the absolute necessity of polygamy. The next two Mormon Presidents were equally adamant.
But evidently the LDS desire for statehood, and desire to end the pressure from the federal government, overcame all of the prophecies that declared the Church could not abandon the practice. In 1890, then-President Wilford Woodruff issued a "Manifesto" in which he claimed he had received a direct revelation from God that the practice should be stopped among Mormons lest the backlash make it impossible for them to practice their religion in peace at all. It was explained that polygamy was righteous and holy as practiced by Mormons in the past, and that it would be re-instituted at the Second Coming of Christ. But for the interim, LDS members were instructed that they should abandon the practice.
However, in spite of the public declaration of the Manifesto, later evidence showed that even the top leaders of the LDS Church continued polygamous relationships for many years. This was not limited to maintaining marriages entered into before the Manifesto, but included new marriages. In recent decades evidence seems to indicate that the practice has died out inside the "official" LDS Church, including among its leadership. But it is estimated that tens of thousands of people, often dubbed "renegade Mormons," in Utah are currently living in polygamous families.
For extensive documentation and commentary on the history of polygamy in the LDS Church, see the 86-page chapter, available on the Internet, on "Plural Marriage" in The Changing World of Mormonism by Jerald and Sandra Tanner. A few excerpts from that chapter can be seen in the Polygamy section of the Quotations page of this profile
Growth of the LDS denomination
In spite of perennial questions and condemnation over its doctrines and practices brought by non-Mormons, and internal strife at times, the LDS Church with HQ in Salt Lake City continued solid growth, both from births and from conversions, throughout the 1900s. The Salt Lake LDS Church reached a reported 1 million members in 1947, 5 million members in 1982, 8 million by 1992, and 10 million by 1996. In 2002 it is one of the fastest-growing denominations in America and in parts of the rest of the world. This is one of the primary reasons for the inclusion of this profile on the Field Guide website. As Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt wrote in 1851:
From: "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," Orson Pratt (Mormon Apostle), Liverpool, 1851, pp.1-2
The Book of Mormon claims to be a divinely inspired record.... If false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world, calculated to deceive and ruin millions ...if true, no one con possibly be saved and reject it: if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it....
("Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," Orson Pratt, Liverpool, 1851, pp.1-2
The evidence provided in this profile indicates clearly that the claims of Joseph Smith are false. Thus at this point in time, they literally are "deceiving millions."
Click here for the Field Guide Time Line of major events of Mormon history.
Unless otherwise noted, all original material on this Field Guide website
is © 2001-2006 by Pam Dewey.Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.
Pam Dewey
Pam Dewey
Pam Dewey
