Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith, Jr.

(December 23, 1805 – June
27, 1844) was the founder of
the Latter Day Saint
movement and an important
religious and political figure
in the western United States.
Beginning in 1827, Smith
gathered a religious following
after announcing that an
angel had given him a set of
golden plates describing the
religious history of certain
indigenous peoples of the
Americas. In 1830.

By Keith Musson
• In 1839, Smith and his people then settled in Nauvoo, Illinois
where Smith directed construction of a second temple. Smith
also became the mayor of Nauvoo and commander of the
Nauvoo Legion, a large and nearly autonomous branch of the
Illinois militia. Publicly, Smith taught innovative religious
doctrines; secretly he introduced the practice of polygamy as
well as a symbolic Millennial legislature that anointed him king.
[1] In 1844, as Smith was running for President of the United
States, a group of Latter Day Saint leaders charged in a local
newspaper that Smith was a fallen prophet: that he had
acquired too much power and that his polygamy was immoral.
Deeming the charges inflammatory, Smith and the Nauvoo city
council responded by suppressing the paper as a nuisance and
then attempted to meet the ensuing outrage by declaring martial
law. Accused of treason, Smith was jailed by Illinois state
authorities and was assassinated by a mob.

• Smith's followers consider him a prophet and have canonized

as sacred texts some of his revelations, esteeming them to be
of equal authority with the Bible. Interpretations of his
teachings include unique views of the nature of godhood,
cosmology, family structures, political organization, and
religious collectivism. His legacy includes several religious
denominations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints and Community of Christ, which collectively claim a
growing membership of nearly 14 million worldwide.