Joseph Smith Joseph Smith , Jr . ( December 23 , 1805 – June 27 , 1844 ) was an American religious leader who founded the Latter Day Saint movement , the predominant branch of which is Mormonism . At age twenty - four , Smith published the Book of Mormon , and by the time of his death fourteen years later , he had attracted tens of thousands of followers , established cities and temples , and founded a religion and a religious culture that continue to the present day . Smith was born in Sharon , Vermont , and by 1817 had moved with his family to western New York , then the site of intense religious revivalism of the Second Great Awakening . According to Smith , there he saw and heard a series of visions beginning in the early 1820s ; in the first of these visions " two personages " ( implied to be God the Father and the Son ) appeared to him , and in subsequent visions an angel directed Smith to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo - Christian history of an ancient American civilization . In 1830 , Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates , titled The Book of Mormon . Also in 1830 , he organized the Church of Christ , claiming it to be a restoration of the early Christian church . Church members were later called " Latter Day Saints " , or " Mormons " . In 1831 , Smith and his followers moved west with plans to build a communalistic American Zion . They gathered in Kirtland , Ohio , and established an outpost in Independence , Missouri , which was intended to be Zion ' s " center place " . During the 1830s , Smith sent out missionaries , published revelations , and supervised construction of an expensive temple . However , due to the collapse of a church - sponsored bank and violent skirmishes with angry non - Mormon Missourians , Smith ' s dreams of building Zion in Missouri and Ohio failed by the end of the decade . In the early 1840s , Smith established a new city called Nauvoo , Illinois , where he was both a spiritual and a political leader . In 1844 , Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non - Mormons by ordering a printing press destroyed , after it was used to publish an exposé critical of Smith ' s power and practice of polygamy . During the ensuing controversy , Smith was imprisoned in Carthage , Illinois , and killed when a mob stormed the jailhouse . Smith is one of the most influential , charismatic , innovative , and controversial figures in American religious history . During his lifetime , Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture . His teachings include unique views about the nature of God , cosmology , family structures , political organization , and religious collectivism . His followers regard him as a prophet comparable to Moses and Elijah , while detractors view him as a false prophet or religious impostor . Smith ' s legacy includes many religious denominations , the largest of which are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints and the Community of Christ . Life . Early years ( 1805 – 27 ) . Joseph Smith , Jr . was born on December 23 , 1805 , in Sharon , Vermont , to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph , a merchant and farmer . After suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven , the younger Smith hobbled around on crutches for three years . In 1816 – 17 , after an ill - fated business venture and three years of crop failures , the Smith family moved to the western New York village of Palmyra , and eventually took a mortgage on a farm in nearby Manchester town . During the Second Great Awakening , the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm . Between 1817 and 1825 there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area . Although the Smith family disagreed about religion , they were caught up in this excitement . Smith became interested in religion at about the age of twelve , and he participated in church classes , read the Bible , and reportedly showed an interest in Methodism . With his family , he also took part in religious folk magic , a common practice at the time . Like many people of that era , both his parents and his maternal grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God . Because of the religious divisions in his family and community , Smith was conflicted about the benefit of organized religion , saying that he had become concerned for the welfare of his soul but was confused by competing religious denominations . Smith later said he received a vision from God the Father and the Son around 1820 that resolved his sense of religious confusion and personal questions . Praying in a wooded area near his home , he said he saw a vision in which God told him his sins were forgiven , and that all contemporary churches had " turned aside from the gospel . " Smith said he told a preacher about the experience who dismissed the story with contempt ; otherwise the experience was largely unknown , including to most Mormons , until the 1840s . Although Smith probably originally understood the event as a personal conversion , this " First Vision " would later grow in importance among Mormons , who see it as the founding event of Mormonism . The Smith family supplemented its meager farm income by treasure - digging . Smith was said to have an ability to use seer stones for locating lost items and buried treasure , using a seer stone in a white stovepipe hat . In 1823 , Smith said that while praying at night for forgiveness from his sins , he was visited by an angel named Moroni , who revealed the location of a buried book of golden plates as well as other artifacts , including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame , which had been hidden in a hill in Manchester near his home . Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him . During the next four years , Smith made annual visits to the hill , but each time returned without the plates . Meanwhile , Smith continued traveling to western New York and Pennsylvania as a treasure seeker and a farmhand . In 1826 , he was brought before a court in Chenango County , New York , for " glass - looking " , or pretending to find lost treasure . While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony , Pennsylvania , Smith met Emma Hale and began courting her . When Smith asked for Emma ' s hand , her father , Isaac Hale , objected because Smith was " a stranger " and had no means of supporting his daughter other than money digging . On January 18 , 1827 , Smith and Emma " eloped to marry " and the couple began boarding with Smith ' s parents in Manchester . On September 22 , 1827 , Smith made his last annual visit to the hill , taking Emma with him . This time , he said , he retrieved the plates and placed them in a locked chest . He said the angel commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else but to publish their translation , reputed to be the religious record of indigenous Americans . Smith later told Emma ' s parents that his treasure - seeking days were behind him . Although Smith had left his treasure hunting company , his former associates believed he had double - crossed them by taking for himself what they considered joint property . They ransacked places where a competing treasure - seer said the plates were hidden , leading Smith to believe that he could not accomplish the translation in Palmyra . Founding a church ( 1827 – 30 ) . In October 1827 , Smith and his pregnant wife moved from Palmyra to Harmony ( now Oakland , Pennsylvania ) aided by money from a comparatively prosperous neighbor Martin Harris . Living near his in - laws , Smith transcribed some characters which he said were engraved on the plates , and then dictated a translation to his wife . In February 1828 , Martin Harris arrived to assist Smith , transcribing as Smith dictated . Harris took a sample of the characters to a few prominent scholars , including Charles Anthon , who Harris said initially authenticated the characters and their translation , but then recanted upon hearing that Smith had received the plates from an angel . Anthon later denied this description of events , claiming instead that he had tried to convince Harris that he was a victim of a fraud . Harris , however , returned to Harmony in April 1828 , motivated to continue as Smith ' s scribe . Smith continued to dictate to Harris until mid - June 1828 , until Harris began having doubts about the project , fueled in part by his wife ' s skepticism . Harris convinced Smith to let him take the existing 116 pages of manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members , including his wife . Harris lost the manuscript – of which there was no copy – at about the same time as Smith ' s wife Emma gave birth to a stillborn son . Smith said that as punishment for losing the manuscript the angel took away the plates and he had lost his ability to translate until September 22 , 1828 , when Smith said that the plates were given back to him . Smith did not earnestly resume dictation again until April 1829 , when he met Oliver Cowdery , who replaced Harris as Smith ' s scribe . They worked full time on the manuscript between April and early June 1829 , and then moved to Fayette , New York , where they continued to work at the home of Cowdery ' s friend Peter Whitmer . When the narrative spoke of an institutional church and a requirement for baptism , Smith and Cowdery baptized each other . Dictation was completed around July 1 , 1829 . Although Smith had previously refused to show the plates to anyone , he told Martin Harris , Oliver Cowdery , and David Whitmer that they would be allowed to see them . These men , known collectively as the Three Witnesse s - along with a later group of Eight Witnesse s composed of male members of the Whitmer and Smith families - signed statements testifying that they had seen the golden plates ; the eight witnesses also claimed to have actually handled the plates . According to Smith , the angel Moroni took back the plates after Smith was finished using them . The completed work , known as the Book of Mormon , was published in Palmyra on March 26 , 1830 , by printer E . B . Grandin . Martin Harris financed the publication by mortgaging his farm . Soon after , on April 6 , 1830 , Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ , and small branches were established in Palmyra , Fayette , and Colesville , New York . The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety , but also strong opposition by those who remembered Smith ' s money - digging and his 1826 trial near Colesville . After Cowdery baptized several new members , the Mormons began receiving threats of mob violence . Before Smith could confirm the newly baptized members , he was arrested and brought to trial as a disorderly person . Though Smith was acquitted , he and Cowdery had to flee Colesville to escape a gathering mob . Probably referring to this period of flight , Smith later told of a visitation by Peter , James , and John who he said ordained Smith and Cowdery to a higher priesthood . Early on , Smith began receiving opposition from Oliver Cowdery , Hiram Page , and other church members who claimed to receive competing revelations undermining Smith ' s authority . In response , Smith dictated a revelation which laid out church procedures and leadership structure , and established Smith as the only person who could receive revelations for the entire church . Shortly after the conference , Smith dispatched Cowdery , Peter Whitmer , and others on a mission to proselytize the Native Americans . Cowdery was also assigned the task of locating a site to build a New Jerusalem . On their way to Missouri , Cowdery ' s party passed through the Kirtland , Ohio , area and converted Sidney Rigdon and over a hundred members of his Disciples of Christ congregation , which more than doubled the size of the church . Rigdon visited New York and quickly became Smith ' s primary assistant . In the face of acute and growing opposition in New York , Smith announced that Kirtland was the " eastern boundary " of the New Jerusalem , and that his followers must gather there . Life in Ohio ( 1831 – 38 ) . After moving to Kirtland in January 1831 , Smith found a visionary culture that included frequent spontaneous and enthusiastic demonstrations of spiritual gift s , including hysterical fits and trances , rolling on the floor , and speaking in tongues . Smith sought to tame these outbursts , producing two revelations that brought the Kirtland congregation within the sphere of his own religious authority and laying down a line between Mormonism and the sensational visionary culture . Prior to conversion , the congregation had been practicing a form of Christian communalism , and Smith adopted a communal system within his own church , calling it the United Order . Smith had promised the church ' s elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power , and in the church ' s June 1831 general conference , he introduced the greater authority of a High ( " Melchizedek " ) Priesthood to the church hierarchy . The church grew as new converts poured into Kirtland . By the summer of 1835 , there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Mormons in the vicinity of Kirtland , many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom . Though Oliver Cowdery ' s mission to the Indians had been a failure ( halted by a Federal agent to the Indian tribes ) , he sent word he had found the site for the New Jerusalem in Jackson County , Missouri . After he visited there in July 1831 , Smith agreed and pronounced the county ' s rugged outpost Independence to be the " center place " of Zion . Rigdon , however , disapproved of the location , and for most of the 1830s , the church was divided between Ohio and Missouri . Smith continued to live in Ohio , but visited Missouri again in early 1832 in order to prevent a rebellion of prominent church members , including Cowdery , who believed Zion was being neglected . Smith ' s trip was hastened by a mob of residents who were incensed over the United Order and Smith ' s political power ; the mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious , tarred and feathered them , and left them for dead . In Jackson County , older Missouri residents resented the Mormon newcomers for various political and religious reasons . Mob attacks began in July 1833 , but Smith advised the Mormons to patiently bear them until a fourth attack , after which they were permitted to fight back . Nevertheless , once they began to defend themselves , the Mormons were brutally expelled from the county . In response to an 1834 revelation , Smith led a small paramilitary expedition , later called Zion ' s Camp , to aid the Missouri Mormons . The expedition was a disaster ; the men were outnumbered and suffered from a cholera outbreak and dissension , so Smith disbanded the expedition . Smith gave a revelation saying that to redeem Zion , his followers must receive an endowment in the Kirtland Temple , then under construction . Zion ' s Camp failed to improve the situation in Jackson County , and was viewed as a failure , but it also led to a transformation in Mormon leadership and culture , and many future church leaders would come from the group . Just before Zion ' s Camp left Kirtland , Smith disbanded the United Order , and changed the name of the church to " Church of Latter Day Saints " . After the Camp returned , Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish five governing bodies in the church , all originally of equal authority to check one another ; among these five groups was a quorum of twelve apostles . The Latter Day Saints built the temple at great cost , and at the temple ' s dedication in March 1836 , they reported that they participated in the prophesied endowment : a scene of visions , angelic visitations , prophesying , speaking and singing in tongues , and other spiritual experiences . The period from 1834 to 1837 was one of relative peace for Smith . After the dedication of the Kirtland temple in late 1837 , a series of internal disputes led to the collapse of the Kirtland Mormon community . Smith was blamed for having promoted a church - sponsored bank that failed , and was accused of having a relationship with his serving girl , Fanny Alger . Building the temple had left the church deeply in debt , and Smith was hounded by creditors . After Smith heard about treasure supposedly hidden in Salem , Massachusetts , he traveled there and received a revelation that God had " much treasure in this city " . After a month , he returned empty - handed . Smith and other church leaders then set up a joint stock company to act as a quasi - bank , establishing the Kirtland Safety Society in January 1837 , which issued bank note s capitalized in part by real estate . Smith invested heavily in the notes and encouraged the Latter Day Saints to buy them , but the bank failed within a month . As a result , the Latter Day Saints in Kirtland suffered intense pressure from debt collectors and severe price volatility . Smith was held responsible for the failure , and there were widespread defections from the church , including many of Smith ' s closest advisers . After a warrant was issued for Smith ' s arrest on a charge of banking fraud , Smith and Rigdon fled Kirtland for Missouri on the night of January 12 , 1838 . Life in Missouri ( 1838 – 39 ) . After leaving Jackson County , the Latter Day Saints in Missouri established the town of Far West . Smith ' s plans to redeem Zion in Jackson County had lapsed by 1838 , and after Smith and Rigdon arrived in Missouri , Far West became the new Mormon " Zion " . In Missouri , the church also received a new name : the " The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints " , and construction began on a new temple . Soon after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West , hundreds of Latter Day Saints followed them to Missouri . Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County , instituting a stake in Adam - ondi - Ahman . Also during this time , a church council expelled many of the oldest and most prominent leaders of the church , including John Whitmer , David Whitmer , W . W . Phelps , and Oliver Cowdery . Smith ' s experiences with mob violence had led him to believe by this time that his faith ' s survival required greater militancy against anti - Mormons . Around June 1838 , recent convert Sampson Avard formed a covert organization called the Danites to intimidate Mormon dissenters and oppose anti - Mormon militia units . Sidney Rigdon was working to restore Smith ' s United Order , but lawsuits by Oliver Cowdery and other dissenters threatened that plan . After Rigdon issued a thinly veiled threat in a sermon , the Danites expelled the dissenters from the county . While it is unclear how much Smith knew of the Danites , he at least partially approved of their activities . In a keynote speech at the town ' s Fourth of July celebration , Rigdon issued threats against non - Mormon aggressors , promising a " war of extermination " against mobs , should Mormons be attacked . After Rigdon ' s oration , Smith allowed the speech to be published as a pamphlet . Rigdon ' s July 4 oration produced a flood of anti - Mormon rhetoric in Missouri newspapers and stump speeches during the political campaign leading up to the 1838 Missouri elections . Violence erupted on August 6 , 1838 , in Daviess County , where Mormon influence was increasing because of their new settlement of Adam - ondi - Ahman , when non - Mormons in Gallatin tried to prevent Mormons from voting . Although there were no immediate deaths , the election - day scuffles initiated the 1838 Mormon War , which quickly escalated as non - Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms , and Danites and other Mormon forces pillaged non - Mormon towns . During this time , Smith and other Mormon leaders helped inflame Mormon sentiment with militant rhetoric including a promise to " establish our religion with the sword " if molested . His rhetoric perhaps produced greater militancy among Mormons than he had intended . When Mormons attacked the Missouri state militia at the Battle of Crooked River in an attempt to rescue some captured Mormons , Governor Boggs ordered that the Mormons be " exterminated or driven from the state " . Before word of this order got out , non - Mormon vigilantes surprised and killed about eighteen Mormons in the Haun ' s Mill massacre , effectively ending the war . On November 1 , 1838 , the Latter Day Saints surrendered to 2 , 500 state troops , and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state . Smith was immediately court - martialed for treason , and nearly executed . However , Smith ' s legal counsel Alexander Doniphan argued that he was a civilian , and should be tried as such ; this act probably saved Smith ' s life . Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing , where several of his former allies - including Sampson Avard - testified against him . Smith and five others , including Rigdon , were charged with " overt acts of treason " , and transferred to the jail at Liberty , Missouri to await trial . Smith ' s months in prison with Rigdon strained their relationship , and Brigham Young , then - president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , rose in prominence as Smith ' s defender . Under Young ' s leadership , about 14 , 000 Latter Day Saints made their way to Illinois and searched for land to purchase . Smith bade his time writing contemplative statements directed mainly to Mormons . He did not deny responsibility for the Danites , but he said he had been ignorant of Avard ' s extreme militancy . Many Latter Day Saints now considered Smith a fallen prophet , but he assured them he still had the heavenly keys . He directed them to collect and publish all their stories of persecution , and to moderate their antagonism to non - Mormons . On April 6 , 1839 , after a grand jury hearing in Davis County , Smith and his companions escaped custody , perhaps with the guards ' assistance , while they were being escorted to Boone County . Life in Nauvoo , Illinois ( 1839 – 44 ) . Newspapers throughout the country criticized Missouri for expelling the Mormons , and Illinois accepted the refugees , who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi River . Smith purchased high - priced swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce , and urged his followers to move there . Promoting the image of the Latter Day Saints as an oppressed minority , he unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations . In the summer of 1839 , the Latter Day Saints in Nauvoo suffered from widespread malaria . Also that summer , Smith sent Brigham Young and other apostles to missions in Europe , where they found willing converts , many of them poor factory workers . The religion also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts , including John C . Bennett , M . D . , the Illinois quartermaster general . Bennett used his connections in the Illinois legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city , which Smith named " Nauvoo " ( Hebrew נָאווּ , meaning " to be beautiful " ) . The charter granted the city virtual autonomy , authorized a university , and granted Nauvoo " habeas corpus " power – which saved Smith ' s life by allowing him to fend off extradition to Missouri . Though Mormon authorities controlled Nauvoo ' s civil government , the city promised an unusually liberal guarantee of religious freedom . The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion an autonomous militia , with actions limited only by state and federal constitutions . " Lieutenant General " Smith and " Major General " Bennett became its commanders , thereby controlling by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois . Smith made Bennett Assistant President of the church , and Bennett was elected Nauvoo ' s first mayor . In 1841 , Smith began revealing the doctrine of plural marriage to a few of his closest male associates , including Bennett , who began using it as a license for free love . When embarrassing rumors of " spiritual wifery " got abroad , Smith forced Bennett ' s resignation as Nauvoo mayor . In retaliation , Bennett wrote " lurid exposés of life in Nauvoo " . The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation . Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840 , and in 1841 , construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge . An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the " fulness of the priesthood " , and in May 1842 , Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or " first anointing " . The endowment resembled rites of freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge . At first , the endowment was open only to men , who once initiated became part of the Anointed Quorum . For women , Smith introduced the Relief Society , a service club and sorority within which Smith predicted women would receive " the keys of the kingdom " . Smith also elaborated on his plan for a millennial kingdom . No longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo , Smith viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America , with Mormon settlements being " stakes " of Zion ' s metaphorical tent . Zion also became less a refuge from an impending tribulation than a great building project . In the summer of 1842 , Smith revealed a plan to establish the millennial Kingdom of God , which would eventually establish theocratic rule over the whole earth . By mid - 1842 , popular opinion had turned against the Latter Day Saints . After an unknown assailant shot at Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs in May 1842 , anti - Mormons in Illinois reported rumors that Smith had predicted Boggs ' s death . Circumstantial evidence suggested that the shooter was Smith ' s bodyguard , Porter Rockwell , who was later tried and acquitted . Nevertheless , Boggs ordered Smith ' s extradition , and Smith went into hiding , believing that if he went to Missouri he would be murdered . Smith ultimately avoided extradition when a US district attorney for Illinois passed along his opinion that the extradition was unconstitutional . Another extradition attempt was made in June 1843 , when Illinois Governor Thomas Ford reluctantly agreed to turn Smith over to Missouri on the old charge of treason . Two Missourian officers arrested Smith , but failed to bring him to Missouri when Smith was released on a writ of habeas corpus . While this ended the Missourians ' attempts at extradition , it caused significant political fallout in Illinois . In December 1843 , Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense . Smith then wrote to the leading presidential candidates and asked them what they would do to protect the Mormons . After receiving noncommittal or negative responses , Smith announced his own third - party candidacy for President of the United States , suspended regular proselytizing and sent out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries . In March 1844 , following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat , Smith organized the secret Council of Fifty with authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey . The Council was also to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in Texas , California , or Oregon , where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond other governmental control . In effect , the Council acted as a shadow government , a first step toward creating a global " theodemocracy " . One of the Council ' s first acts was to elect Smith as " prophet , priest and king " of the millennial monarchy . Death . By the spring of 1844 , a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates . Most notably William Law , Smith ' s trusted counselor , and Robert Foster , a general of the Nauvoo Legion , disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo ' s economy . Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives . Believing the dissidents were plotting against his life , Smith excommunicated them on April 18 , 1844 . The dissidents formed a competing church and the following month , at Carthage , the county seat , they procured indictments against Smith for perjury and polygamy . On June 7 , 1844 , the dissidents published the first ( and only ) issue of the " Nauvoo Expositor " , calling for reform within the church , and appealing to the political views of the county ' s anti - Mormons . The paper decried polygamy and Smith ' s new " doctrines of many Gods " , alluded to Smith ' s theocratic aspirations , and called for a repeal of the Nauvoo city charter . Fearing the newspaper would bring the countryside down on the Mormons , the Nauvoo city council declared the " Expositor " a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy the press . Smith , who feared another mob attack , supported the action , not realizing that suppression of the press would sooner incite an attack than libel . Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms from Thomas C . Sharp , editor of the " Warsaw Signal " and longtime critic of Smith . Fearing an uprising , Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law . Officials in Carthage responded by mobilizing their small detachment of the state militia , and Governor Thomas Ford appeared , threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves . Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River , but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford . On June 23 , Smith and his brother Hyrum rode to Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot . Once the Smiths were in custody , the charges were increased to treason against Illinois . On June 27 , 1844 , an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were being held . Hyrum , who was trying to secure the door , was killed instantly with a shot to the face . Smith fired a pepper - box pistol , then sprang for the window . He was shot multiple times before falling out the window , crying , " " Oh Lord my God ! " " He died shortly after hitting the ground , but was shot several times more before the mob dispersed . Smith was buried in Nauvoo , and is currently interred at the Smith Family Cemetery . Five men were later tried for his murder , but all were acquitted . Throughout his life Smith had been sharply criticized by newspaper editors , and after his death newspapers were almost unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic , ignoring his accomplishments , and excluding human qualities . Similarly , within Mormonism , Smith was memorialized first and foremost as a prophet , to the point of eclipsing his human virtues and defects . Legacy . Impact . Smith attracted thousands of devoted followers before his death in 1844 and millions within a century . Among Mormons , he is regarded as a prophet on par with Moses and Elijah . Mormons and Ex - Mormons have produced a large amount of scholarly work about Smith . Interpretations range from viewing Smith as a prophet who restored the true faith , to a " pious fraud " who believed he was called of God to preach repentance , and felt justified inventing visions in order to convert people , to a gifted " mythmaker " who was the product of his Yankee environment . Mormon and non - Mormon biographers alike agree that Smith was one of the most influential , charismatic , and innovative figures in American religious history . Smith ' s teachings and practices aroused considerable antagonism , with newspapers as early as 1829 dismissing him as a fraud ( a view still held by many evangelical Christians ) . He was twice imprisoned for alleged treason , the second time falling victim to an angry mob that stormed the jail . After his death at age thirty eight , his followers believed he had died as a martyr to seal the testimony of his faith . Smith himself made no claims to perfection , comparing himself to a " rough stone " that lacked polish . Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City , Utah , the Joseph Smith Building on the campus of Brigham Young University , and a granite obelisk marking his birth place . Additionally , in 2005 , the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints produced a film based on Smith ' s life titled " " Religious denominations . Smith ' s death resulted in a succession crisis . Smith had proposed several ways to choose his successor , but had never clarified his preference . Smith ' s brother Hyrum , had he survived , would have had the strongest claim , followed by Smith ' s brother Samuel , who died mysteriously a month after his brothers . Another brother , William , was unable to attract a sufficient following . Smith ' s sons Joseph III and David also had claims , but Joseph III was too young and David was yet unborn . The Council of Fifty had a theoretical claim to succession , but it was a secret organization . Some of Smith ' s chosen successors , such as Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer , had left the church . The two strongest succession candidates were Brigham Young , senior member and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , and Sidney Rigdon , the senior member of the First Presidency . In a church - wide conference on August 8 , most of the Latter Day Saints elected Young , who led them to the Utah Territory as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints . Membership in Young ' s denomination surpassed 14 million members in 2010 . Smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon and James J . Strang , who had based his claim on a forged letter of appointment . Others followed Lyman Wight and Alpheus Cutler . Many members of these smaller groups , including most of Smith ' s family , eventually coalesced in 1860 under the leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed what was known for more than a century as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( now Community of Christ ) , which now has about 250 , 000 members . , members of the denominations originating from Smith ' s teachings number approximately 15 million . Family and descendants . Smith ' s wife , Emma Hale gave birth to nine children during the course of their marriage , five of whom died before the age of two . The first , Alvin ( 1828 ) , died within hours of birth , as did the following two , twins , Thaddeus and Louisa ( 1831 ) . When the twins died , the Smiths adopted another set of twins , Julia and Joseph , whose mother had recently died in childbirth ; Joseph died of measles in 1832 . Later , in 1841 Don Carlos ( 1840 ) died of Malaria , and in 1842 Emma gave birth to a stillborn son . Joseph and Emma had four sons who lived to maturity : Joseph Smith III ( 1832 ) , Frederick Granger Williams Smith ( 1836 ) , Alexander Hale Smith ( 1838 ) , and David Hyrum Smith ( born in 1844 after Smith ' s death ) . , DNA testing had provided no evidence that Smith had fathered any children by women other than Emma . Throughout her life , Emma Smith frequently denied that her husband had ever taken additional wives . Emma said that the very first time she ever became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Smith by Mormons was when she read about it in Orson Pratt ' s booklet " The Seer " in 1853 . Emma campaigned publicly against polygamy , and was the main signatory of a petition in 1842 , with a thousand female signatures , denying that Smith was connected with polygamy . As president of the Ladies ' Relief Society , Emma authorized publishing a certificate in the same year denouncing polygamy , and denying her husband as its creator or participant . Even on her deathbed , Emma denied Joseph ' s involvement with polygamy , stating " No such thing as polygamy , or spiritual wifery , was taught , publicly or privately , before my husband ' s death , that I have now , or ever had any knowledge of . . . He had no other wife but me ; nor did he to my knowledge ever have " . After Smith ' s death , Emma Smith quickly became alienated from Brigham Young and the church leadership . Young , whom Emma feared and despised , was suspicious of her desire to preserve the family ' s assets from inclusion with those of the church , and thought she would be even more troublesome because she openly opposed plural marriage . When most Latter Day Saints moved west , she stayed in Nauvoo , married a non - Mormon , Major Lewis C . Bidamon , and withdrew from religion until 1860 , when she affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , first headed by her son , Joseph Smith III . Emma never denied Smith ' s prophetic gift or repudiated her belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon . Revelations . According to Richard Bushman , the " signal feature " of Smith ' s life was " his sense of being guided by revelation " . Instead of presenting ideas with logical arguments , Smith dictated authoritative revelations and let people decide whether or not to believe . Smith ' s teachings came primarily through his revelations , which read like scripture : oracular and open to interpretation . Smith and his followers viewed his revelations as being above teachings or opinions , and Smith ' s actions seemed to indicate that he believed in his revelations as much as his most loyal followers . Smith ' s first recorded revelation was a rebuke from God for having let Martin Harris lose 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript , chastising him for " fearing man more than God " . The revelation was given in the voice of God , and Smith , as a speaker , was absent from the revelation . Subsequent revelations would take on a similar authoritative style , often opening with words like " Hearken O ye people which profess my name , saith the Lord your God . " Book of Mormon . The Book of Mormon has been called the longest and most complex of Smith ' s revelations . It is organized as a compilation of smaller books , each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader . It tells the story of the rise and fall of a religious civilization beginning around 600 BC and ending in 421 AD . The story begins with a family that leaves Jerusalem , just before the Babylonian captivity . They eventually construct a ship and sail to a " promised land " in the Western Hemisphere . There , they are divided into two factions : Nephites and Lamanites . The Nephites become a righteous people who build a temple and live the law of Moses , though their prophets teach a Christian gospel . The book explains itself to be largely the work of Mormon , a Nephite prophet and military figure . The book closes when Mormon ' s son , Moroni , finishes engraving and buries the records written on the golden plates . Christian themes permeate the work ; for instance , Nephite prophets in the Book of Mormon teach of Christ ' s coming , and talk of the star that will appear at his birth . After the crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem , Jesus appears in the Americas , repeats the Sermon on the Mount , blesses children , and appoints twelve disciples . The book ends with Moroni ' s exhortation to " come unto Christ " . Early Mormons understood the Book of Mormon to be a religious history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas . Smith ' s followers view it as a companion to the Bible and an additional witness of Christ , akin to a large apocryphal work . Modern historian Fawn Brodie has called the Book of Mormon a response to pressing cultural and environmental issues of Smith ' s times , saying that Smith composed the Book of Mormon drawing from scraps of information available to him ; Dan Vogel , another historian , says that the work is autobiographical in nature . Smith never said how he produced the Book of Mormon , saying only that he translated by the power of God and implying that he had transcribed the words . As such , considerable disagreement about the actual method used exists . For at least some of the earliest dictation , Smith is said to have used the " Urim and Thummim " , a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates . Later , however , he is said to have used a chocolate - colored stone he had found in 1822 that he had used previously for treasure hunting . Joseph Knight said that Smith saw the words of the translation while he gazed at the stone or stones in the bottom of his hat , excluding all light , a process similar to divining the location of treasure . Sometimes , Smith concealed the process by raising a curtain or dictating from another room , while at other times he dictated in full view of witnesses while the plates lay covered on the table . After completing the translation , Smith gave the brown stone to Cowdery , but continued to receive revelations using another stone until about 1833 when he said he no longer needed it . The Book of Mormon drew many converts to the church , but as Brodie noted , " The book lives today because of the prophet , not he because of the book . " Smith had assumed a role as prophet , seer , and apostle of Jesus Christ , and by early 1831 , he was introducing himself as " Joseph the Prophet " . The language of authority in Smith ' s revelations was appealing to converts , and the revelations were given with the confidence of an Old Testament prophet . Moses and Abraham . Smith said that in June 1830 , he received a " revelation of Moses " in which Moses saw " the world and the ends thereof " and asked God questions about the purpose of creation and man ' s relationship to God . This revelation initiated a revision of the Bible on which Smith worked sporadically until 1833 and which remained unpublished at his death . Smith said that he believed the Bible had been corrupted through the ages , and that his revision worked to restore the original intent ; it added long passages rewritten " according to his inspiration " . While many changes involved straightening out seeming contradictions or making small clarifications , other changes added large " lost " portions to the text . For instance , Smith ' s revision nearly tripled the length of the first five chapters of Genesis in what would become the " Book of Moses " . The " Book of Moses " begins with the " cosmic inquiry " of Moses , who learns in this account that God made the earth and heavens to bring humans to eternal life . The book also provides an enlarged account of the Genesis creation narrative and expands the story of Enoch , the ancestor of Noah . In the narrative , Enoch speaks with God , receives a prophetic calling , and eventually builds a city of Zion so righteous that it was taken to heaven . The book also elaborates and expands upon foreshadowing and " types " of Christ , in effect Christianizing the Old Testament . In 1835 Smith encouraged some Latter Day Saints in Kirtland to purchase rolls of ancient Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor . Over the next several years , Smith worked off and on as events allowed , to produce a supposed translation of one of these rolls , which he published in 1842 as the " Book of Abraham . " The " Book of Abraham " speaks of the founding of the Abrahamic nation , astronomy , cosmology , lineage and priesthood , and gave another account of the creation story . Other revelations . According to Parley P . Pratt , Smith dictated revelations orally , and they were recorded by a scribe without revisions or corrections . Revelations were immediately copied , and then circulated among church members . Smith ' s revelations often came in response to specific questions . He described the revelatory process as having " pure Intelligence " flowing into him . Smith , however , never viewed the wording to be infallible . The revelations were not God ' s words verbatim , but " couched in language suitable to Joseph ' s time " . In 1833 Smith edited and expanded many of the previous revelations , publishing them as the " Book of Commandments " , which later became part of the " Doctrine and Covenants " . Smith gave varying types of revelations . Some were temporal , while others were spiritual or doctrinal ; some were received for a specific individual , while others were directed at the whole church . Notable revelations include an 1831 revelation called " The Law " containing directions for missionary work , rules for organizing society in Zion , a reiteration of the Ten Commandments , an injunction to " administer to the poor and needy " , and an outline for the Law of consecration . An 1832 revelation called " The Vision " added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement , introduced doctrines of life after salvation , the theme of Exaltation , and a heaven with degrees of glory . Another 1832 revelation " on Priesthood " was the first to explain priesthood doctrine . Three months later , Smith gave a lengthy revelation called the " Olive Leaf " containing themes of cosmology and eschatology , and discussing subjects such as light , truth , intelligence , and sanctification , and a related revelation given in 1833 put Christ at the center of salvation . Also in 1833 , at a time of temperance agitation , Smith gave a revelation called the " Word of Wisdom , " which counseled a diet of wholesome herbs , fruits , grains , a sparing use of meat , and recommended that Latter Day Saints avoid " strong " alcoholic drinks , tobacco , and " hot drinks " ( later interpreted to mean tea and coffee ) . The Word of Wisdom was not originally framed as a commandment , but a recommendation . As such , Smith and other Latter Day Saints did not strictly follow this counsel , though it later became a requirement in the LDS Church . In 1835 Smith gave the " great revelation " that organized the priesthood into quorums and councils , and served as a complex blueprint for church structure . Smith ' s last revelation on the " New and Everlasting Covenant " was recorded in 1843 , and dealt with the theology of family , the doctrine of sealing , and plural marriage . Before 1832 , most of Smith ' s revelations dealt with establishing the church , gathering his followers , and building the City of Zion , while later revelations dealt with the priesthood , endowment , and exaltation . The revelations slowed in Kirtland during the autumn of 1833 , and again after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple , as Smith relied more heavily on his own teachings . Smith moved away from written revelations opening with " verily thus saith the Lord " and taught more in sermons , conversations , and letters . For instance , the doctrines of baptism for the dead and the nature of God were introduced in sermons , and one of Smith ' s most famed statements about there being " no such thing as immaterial matter " was recorded from a casual conversation with a Methodist preacher . Distinctive views and teachings . Cosmology and theology . Smith taught that all existence was material , including a world of " spirit matter " so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes . Matter , in Smith ' s view , could neither be created nor destroyed ; the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter . Like matter , Smith saw " intelligence " as co - eternal with God , and taught that human spirits had been drawn from a pre - existent pool of eternal intelligences . Nevertheless , spirits were incapable of experiencing a " fullness of joy " unless joined with corporeal bodies , according to Smith . The work and glory of God , then , was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied . Though Smith initially viewed God the Father as a spirit , he eventually began teaching that God was an advanced and glorified man , embodied within time and space . By the end of his life , Smith was teaching that both God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies , but the Holy Spirit was a " personage of Spirit " . Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge , according to Smith , those who received exaltation could eventually become like God . These teachings implied a vast hierarchy of gods , with God himself having a father . In Smith ' s cosmology , those who became gods would reign , unified in purpose and will , leading spirits of lesser capacity to share immortality and eternal life . In Smith ' s view , the opportunity to achieve exaltation extended to all humanity ; those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them in the afterlife through ordinances performed on their behalf . Smith said that children who died in their innocence would be guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation . Apart from those who committed the eternal sin , Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a degree of glory in the afterlife . Religious authority and ritual . Smith ' s teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism . He taught that the Church of Christ restored through him was a latter - day restoration of the early Christian faith , which had been lost in the Great Apostasy . At first , Smith ' s church had little sense of hierarchy , Smith ' s religious authority being derived from visions and revelations . Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood , an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments " as Moses " . This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters . For instance , in the early 1830s , he temporarily instituted a form of religious communism , called the United Order , requiring Latter Day Saints to give all their property to the church , which was divided among the faithful members . He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the world - wide political organization of the Millennium . By the mid - 1830s , Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods : the Melchizedek Priesthood , the Aaronic Priesthood , and the Patriarchal Priesthood . Each priesthood was a continuation of biblical priesthoods through patrilineal succession or ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions . Upon introducing the Melchizedek or " High " Priesthood in 1831 , Smith taught that its recipients would be " endowed with power from on high " , thus fulfilling a need for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles . This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s , until in 1842 , the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing elements similar to Freemasonry and the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah . The endowment was extended to women in 1843 , though Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices . Smith taught that the High Priesthood ' s endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah , allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife . For example , this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and priesthood marriages that would be effective into the afterlife . Elijah ' s sealing powers also enabled the second anointing , or " fulness of the priesthood " , which , according to Smith , sealed married couples to their exaltation . Theology of family . During the early 1840s , Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the " New and Everlasting Covenant " that superseded all earthly bonds . He taught that outside the Covenant , marriages were simply matters of contract , and that in the afterlife individuals married outside the Covenant or not married would be limited in their progression . To fully enter the Covenant , a man and woman must participate in a " first anointing " , a " sealing " ceremony , and a " second anointing " ( also called sealing by the " Holy Spirit of Promise " ) . When fully sealed into the Covenant , Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy ( other than the eternal sin ) could keep them from their exaltation in the afterlife . According to Smith , only one person on earth at a time — in this case , Smith — could possess this power of sealing . Smith taught that the highest level of exaltation could be achieved through " plural marriage " ( polygamy ) , which was the ultimate manifestation of this New and Everlasting Covenant . Plural marriage , according to Smith , allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god , accelerating the expansion of one ' s heavenly kingdom . Polygamy . Smith had by some accounts been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831 , and there is evidence that Smith was a polygamist by 1835 . Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy , in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Oliver Cowdery over the issue . Cowdery suspected that Smith had engaged in a relationship with his serving girl Fanny Alger . Smith never denied a relationship , but insisted it was not adulterous , presumably because he had taken Alger as a plural wife . In April 1841 , Smith wed Louisa Beaman , and during the next two - and - a - half years he may have married or been sealed to 30 additional women , ten of them already married to other men ( though this was generally done with the knowledge and consent of their husbands . ) Ten of Smith ' s wives were under the age of twenty , while others were widows over fifty . The practice of plural marriage was kept secret . Polygamy ( or plural marriage ) caused a breach between Smith and his first wife , Emma . Although Emma knew of some of her husband ' s marriages , she almost certainly did not know the extent of his polygamous activities . In 1843 , Emma temporarily accepted Smith ' s marriage to four women boarded in the Smith household , but she soon regretted her decision and demanded that the other wives leave . In July , Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept plural marriage , but the two were not reconciled until September , after Emma began participating in temple ordinances and received an endowment . Political views . While campaigning for President of the United States in 1844 , Smith had opportunity to take political positions on issues of the day . Smith considered the United States Constitution , and especially the Bill of Rights , to be inspired by God and " the < nowiki > [ Latter Day ] < / nowiki > Saints ' best and perhaps only defense " . He believed a strong central government was crucial to the nation ' s well - being but thought democracy better than tyranny — although he also taught that a theocratic monarchy was the ideal form of government . In foreign affairs , Smith was an expansionist , though he viewed " expansionism as brotherhood " . Smith favored a strong central bank and high tariffs to protect American business and agriculture . He disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder , preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor ; he also opposed courts - martial for military deserters . He supported capital punishment but opposed hanging , preferring execution by firing squad or beheading in order to " spill [ the criminal ' s ] blood on the ground , and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God " . Despite having published a pro - slavery essay in 1836 , Smith later strongly opposed slavery . During his presidential campaign , he proposed abolishing slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders through sale of public lands . Smith did not believe blacks to be inherently inferior to whites ; he welcomed both freemen and slaves into the church . However , he opposed baptizing slaves without permission of their masters , and he opposed miscegenation . Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling Nebuchadnezzar ' s statue vision in the Book of Daniel : that secular government would be destroyed without " sword or gun " , and would be replaced with a " theodemocratic " Kingdom of God . Smith taught that this kingdom would be multidenominational and democratic so long as the people chose wisely . Ethics and behavior . A succinct statement of ethics by Smith is found in his 13th Article of Faith : We believe in being honest , true , chaste , benevolent , virtuous , and in doing good to all men ; indeed , we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul — We believe all things , we hope all things , we have endured many things , and hope to be able to endure all things . If there is anything virtuous , lovely , or of good report or praiseworthy , we seek after these things . Smith said his ethical rule was , " When the Lord commands , do it " ; meaning that revelation from God supersedes all else , including earthly law . He also taught : that which is wrong under one circumstance , may be and often is , right under another . God said thou shalt not kill — at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy . This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted — by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the elders of the kingdom are placed . Whatever God requires is right . . . even things which may be considered abominable to all those who do not understand the order of heaven . Beginning in the mid - 1830s and into the 1840s , as the Mormon people became involved in conflicts with the Missouri and Illinois state governments , Smith taught that " Congress has no power to make a law that would abridge the rights of my religion , " and that they were not under the obligation to follow laws they deemed as being contrary to their " religious privilege " . Smith may have thus felt justified in promoting polygamy despite its violation of some traditional ethical standards .