page_title: Letter of appointment
section_title: James J. Strang
hierarchical_section_title: Letter of appointment / James J. Strang
context_page_description: The "letter of appointment" is a controversial three-page document used by James J. Strang and his adherents to prove that he was the designated successor to Joseph Smith as the prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It formed part of a four-tiered argument for succession, being that according to various passages in Doctrine and Covenants, a prophet successor had to be A) appointed by Joseph Smith, B) ordained by angels, C) receive revelations as Smith did and D) translate ancient records certified by witnesses. Sent from Nauvoo, Illinois on June 19, 1844, to Strang in Burlington, Wisconsin, this letter was highly influential at gathering support for Strang's claim to succession until his death. Following Strang's murder in 1856, the letter passed through various hands until acquired by Yale University, where it currently forms a part of its Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
context_section_description: James J. Strang was from Scipio, New York and received "no education after the age of 15." Having educated himself, he became a lawyer by the age of 22. He was a latecomer to the  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, converting and being baptized and ordained by Joseph and Hyrum Smith in early 1844, both of whom were murdered by an anti-Mormon mob on June 27 of that year. Upon Smith's death, a number of individuals came forward  to lead his church, including Strang. As a recent convert, Strang did not yet possess the name recognition among rank-and-file Mormons that was enjoyed by Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon, two contenders who claimed leadership on the basis of rank - Young as president of the Quorum of the Twelve and Rigdon as sole survivor of the First Presidency. Hence, Strang, as an unknown new convert, faced an uphill battle in his quest to be recognized as the heir to Smith's prophetic mantle.
  Strang also claimed to have received an angelic appointment at the very moment of Smith's death, and, like Smith, claimed the ability to translate ancient documents on metal plates into modern English. Strang's position of maintaining the same church structure as Smith, led by a prophet, seer, revelator and translator with the fruits of prophecy - prophetic revelations and translations - continued to win him converts until his assassination twelve years later. His success prompted Brigham Young, who was steadily losing membership maintaining that he should lead as president of the Twelve Apostles and that there would be no successor, to change his position and have himself appointed President of his faction.
caption: 1856 daguerreotype of James Strang, taken on Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, by J. Atkyn, itinerant photographer and later one of Strang's assassins.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:09 03:31:51", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3639", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "479", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "839"}