Smith's First Vision Most Latter Day Saints trace the beginnings of Mormonism to Joseph Smith's First Vision, which he said he had in about 1820 in the woods near his home. Early accounts of this vision describe it as a vision of Jesus in which he was told his sins were forgiven. Later, more detailed accounts indicate Smith was also told that all Christian denominations had become corrupt and further clarify that Smith saw multiple heavenly beings, including Jesus and
God the Father.
Early visits by angels, Urim and Thummim, and the Book of Mormon Smith also described many other visions involving angels. Some of his earliest visitations involved a
Nephite prophet-warrior, who called himself
Moroni. Smith said this angel appeared to him many times, and showed him where to find a set of buried golden plates containing ancient writings that the prophet-warrior had sealed in a stone box before his death, together with other artifacts. The writings on the golden plates, according to Smith, contained an account of the various nations that inhabited ancient America, and described how they were led to the
New World by Jesus, but eventually lost their Christian faith through a series of wars and corruption. After he said he received the golden plates, Smith began to dictate their translation to his wife
Emma Hale Smith and various associates of his, including
Martin Harris and, for most of the later translation, Oliver Cowdery. Smith said he translated the text through the gift and power of God and through the aid of the
Urim and Thummim, or
seer stone. By later accounts, this meeting was a charismatic event, in which members of the congregation had visions, prophesied,
spoke in tongues, ecstatically shouted praises to the Lord, and fainted (Joseph Smith History, 1839 draft). Also, the church formally ordained a lay ministry. Smith and Cowdery, according to their 1831 account, were each ordained as "an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church". ("Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ",
Painesville Telegraph, April 19, 1831).
Movement in Ohio The movement more than doubled in size with the conversion of
Sidney Rigdon, a former
Campbellite minister, who led several congregations of Restorationists in Ohio's
Western Reserve area, causing hundreds of his adherents to follow him into Mormonism. A fiery orator, Rigdon was called to be Smith's spokesman, and immediately became one of the movement's leaders. By 1831 the church's headquarters were established in
Kirtland, Ohio, and Smith urged the membership to gather there or to a second outpost of the church in
Jackson County, Missouri (
see below). While based in Kirtland, the church changed its name to the "Church of the Latter Day Saints", and added a number of new doctrines and leadership offices. An attempt to establish a communitarian economy known as the "
Law of Consecration" was established in 1831. The Latter Day Saint understanding of the priesthood was elaborated by the separation of the higher or
Melchizedek Priesthood offices from the lesser or
Aaronic Priesthood offices and by the restoration of the
Patriarchal Priesthood. Also established were the
First Presidency, the
High Council—later elaborated as the High Council of Zion, the Travelling High Council (or
Quorum of the Twelve) and
Stake high councils—
Seventies,
patriarchs,
high priests, and
bishops. During the Kirtland era, many charismatic experiences were reported, many involving visitations of angels or communication from God through stones. However, some Church members claimed to receive revelations that contradicted those received by Joseph Smith. He and several followers prayed about the issue, and Joseph recorded a series of revelations, which included a description of several real spiritual gifts, a statement that only Joseph Smith, as the Prophet, could receive new doctrines and commandments for the Church, and a warning that not all supernatural experiences come from God. This effort to balance charismatic experience with order and stability became a lasting characteristic of the Latter Day Saint Movement. Kirtland also was the site of the construction of the movement's first
temple. Latter Day Saints reported a great outpouring of spiritual experiences in connection with the
Kirtland Temple's dedication. The temple was associated with the Kirtland-era "
endowment", and with the temple ceremonies of "foot washing" and "solemn assembly." The movement also established the "
School of the Prophets" which met in the temple. At Kirtland, Smith reported many revelations including the "
Word of Wisdom"—advocating temperance and dietary restrictions. He acquired
Egyptian papyrus scrolls which he said contained the writings of the Biblical patriarchs
Abraham and
Joseph. According to some reports, it was in Kirtland that Smith first began to practice the doctrine of
plural marriage when he married
Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833. In 1837 Smith and Rigdon founded an "anti-bank" called the
Kirtland Safety Society. When it failed, some 300 of the Kirtland membership became disillusioned, including a third of the church leadership. The result was the movement's first major schism. A new organization led by Smith's former secretary,
Warren Parish, along with
Martin Harris and others, vied for control of the church in Kirtland. Re-establishing the original "Church of Christ" name, these "reformed Latter Day Saints" took possession of the temple and excommunicated Smith and Rigdon. Smith and Rigdon relocated to Missouri and were followed there by hundreds of loyalists in a trek known as the "
Kirtland Camp."
Movement in Missouri As the church was gathering to Kirtland, a second gathering place was established 900 miles distant, on the frontier in
Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith had revealed to Latter Day Saints that they were to prepare "the way of the Lord for his
Second Coming", "for the time is soon at hand that I shall come...." (D & C 34:6,7) He also revealed that the "center place" of the
City of Zion would be near the town of
Independence in Jackson County. (D & C 57:3) Latter Day Saints began to settle the area to "build up" the City of Zion in 1831. Settlement was rapid and non-Mormon residents became alarmed that they might lose political control of the county to the Latter Day Saints. In October 1833, non-Mormon vigilantes succeeded in driving the Mormons from the county. Deprived of their homes and property, the Latter Day Saints temporarily settled in the area around Jackson County, especially in
Clay County. Years elapsed, and despite Mormon lawsuits and petitions, the non-Mormons in Jackson refused to allow the Mormons to return. Meanwhile, new converts to Mormonism continued to migrate to Missouri and settle in Clay County. In 1836, the Missouri legislature created
Caldwell County specifically for Mormon settlement and Missouri branches of the church gathered there, centering on the town of
Far West.
Church headquarters established in Far West In 1838 Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and their loyalists left the former church headquarters of Kirtland and relocated to
Far West, Missouri. A brief leadership struggle left the former heads of the Missouri portion of the church excommunicated, such as
David Whitmer,
Oliver Cowdery,
William Wines Phelps and others. Years later, many of this group of "dissenters" became part of the
Whitmerite schism in the Latter Day Saint movement. While the church was headquartered in Far West, Smith announced revelations that changed the name of the church to the "
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and initiated the "Law of Tithing." Conflicts with non-Mormon settlers arose as the church began to plant colonies in the counties surrounding Caldwell. These escalated into what has been called the
1838 Mormon War. The perceived militant attitude adopted by the church caused some leaders, including
Thomas B. Marsh, president of the
Quorum of the Twelve, to break with Smith and Rigdon. This precipitated another schism which led to the foundation of the
Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife by
George M. Hinkle, who had been the Mormon commander of the Caldwell County militia. As a result of the war, 2,500 Missouri militia troops were called out to put down the Mormon "rebellion." Smith and other church leaders were imprisoned in
Liberty, Missouri and the majority of the Latter Day Saints were deprived of their property and expelled from the state.
Movement in Illinois With the help of sympathetic non-Mormons in Illinois, in the spring of 1839 the Latter Day Saint refugees regrouped and began to establish a new headquarters in
Nauvoo. Smith and other leaders were allowed after several months of harsh treatment to escape Missourian custody, and they rejoined the main body of the movement in April, 1839. In 1841, construction began on a
new temple, significantly more elaborate than the one left behind in Kirtland. The Nauvoo city charter authorized independent municipal courts, the
foundation of a university and the establishment of a militia unit known as the "
Nauvoo Legion." These and other institutions gave the Latter Day Saints a considerable degree of autonomy. Nauvoo saw the final flowering of Joseph Smith's vision for the movement, including some of Mormonism's more
controversial practices. It was here that Smith introduced
Baptism for the dead,
Rebaptism, the Nauvoo-era
Endowment, and the ordinance of the
Second Anointing. In addition, he created a new inner council of the church—containing both men and women—called the
Anointed Quorum. Although, according to some reports, Smith himself had been secretly practicing what he later called
plural marriage for some time, in Nauvoo he began to teach other leaders the doctrine. In March 1844, Smith was said by
William Law to have organized a secret council of the church called the "Council of the Kingdom". Practices of this council included acclaiming Joseph Smith as "Prophet, Priest, and King" in addition to polygamy. These secrets were threatened to be released in a newspaper called the
Nauvoo Expositor. Smith, acting in his capacity as mayor and head of the municipal court, responded by having the newspaper declared a "public nuisance" and by ordering the destruction of the press.
Death of Joseph Smith Whenever Latter Day Saints gathered in large numbers, they met with opposition from neighbors who suspected that Mormon bloc-voting would lead to
theocracy. By the mid-1840s, many non-Mormons in
Hancock County felt threatened by growing Mormon political power, commercial rivalries, and a new religion with at least two elements that were hard to digest in the religious community of that time: first, Latter Day Saints had a somewhat different perspective on the nature of God from traditional Protestants; second, the claim of modern revelation, together with the claim of new scripture, opened the canon of the Bible. Smith's destruction of the
Expositor exacerbated all these fears and non-Mormons throughout Illinois began to clamor for his arrest. When Smith submitted to imprisonment in the county seat of
Carthage, the Governor of Illinois,
Thomas Ford, left the jail, taking the only impartial local militia unit with him. With the jail being guarded only by two guards and a unit of
anti-Mormon militiamen, the Carthage Greys, a mob of disbanded militia units, attacked without resistance. Joseph and his brother
Hyrum were killed. All men who were tried for the murders were acquitted after the prosecuting attorney dismissed the testimonies of the state's witnesses suddenly in his closing remarks. ==Change in leadership==