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MORMONS

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 848 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MORMONS  , the See also:

common name given to the See also:Church of Jesus See also:Christ of Latter-See also:Day See also:Saints, a religious See also:sect founded by See also:Joseph See also:Smith, jun., at See also:Manchester, New See also:York, in 183o, and since 1848 largely concentrated about See also:Salt See also:Lake See also:City, See also:Utah . Smith was See also:born on the 23rd of See also:December 1805 at See also:Sharon, See also:Windsor See also:county, See also:Vermont, from which See also:place in 1815 or 1816 his parents, who like his grandparents were superstitious, neurotic, seers of visions, and believers in miraculous See also:cures and in heavenly voices and See also:direct See also:revelation, removed to New York, where they settled on a small See also:farm near See also:Palmyra, See also:Wayne county (then See also:Ontario) . In 1819 they removed to Manchester, in what is still Ontario county, about 6 m. from Palmyra . In Manchester Joseph, a See also:good-natured, lazy boy, suffering from a See also:bad See also:heredity physically and psychically, began to have visions which seem to have accorepanied epileptoid seizures (his See also:mother's See also:father had falling fits), from which he recovered apparently before he became of See also:age . The boy's father was a digger for hidden treasure and used a See also:divining See also:rod to find proper places to dig See also:wells, and about this See also:time the son became a crystal gazer and by the use of a " peep-See also:stone " discovered the whereabouts of pretended hidden treasure . He said (in 1838) that on the See also:night of the 21st of See also:September 1823 the See also:angel See also:Moroni appeared to him three times, and told him that the See also:Bible of the western See also:continent, the supplement to the New Testament, was buried on a See also:hill called Cumorah, now commonly known as Mormon Hill . It seems almost certain that he told other and earlier stories of how he came to find the See also:gold plates, and it is possible that before this time there was a See also:story current in See also:Canada of the recovery of a " Gold Bible." It was not until the 22nd of September 1827 that (as he said) he dug up, on the hill near Manchester, a stone See also:box, in which was a See also:volume, 6 in. thick, made of thin gold plates 8 in. by 7 in., and fastened together by three gold rings . The plates were covered with small See also:writing in characters which, it was said, See also:Professor See also:Charles See also:Anthon' declared were in the " reformed See also:Egyptian See also:tongue "; with the See also:golden See also:book Smith claimed that he found a breastplate of gold and a pair of supernatural See also:spectacles, consisting of two crystals set in a See also:silver See also:bow, and called "Urim and Thummim "; by aid of these the mystic characters could be read . Being himself unable to read or write fluently, Smith employed as amanuenses: first See also:Martin See also:Harris (1793—1875); then his own wife, Emma; after the See also:middle of See also:April 1829, See also:Oliver Cowdery, a blacksmith and school teacher; and See also:David Whitmer (18o5—1888); to them, from behind a See also:curtain, he dictated a See also:translation, for the See also:printing and See also:publishing of which Martin Harris paid, in spite of the continued opposition of his wife to the See also:scheme . An edition of 5000 copies of The Book of Mormon' was printed See also:early in 1830 in the printing See also:office of the Wayne See also:Sentinel at Palmyra . It was accompanied by " The Testimony of the Three Witnesses," a sworn statement of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris that an angel of See also:God had shown them the plates of which the book was a translation, and by " The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses," four of them Whitmers and three of them Smiths (Joseph's father and his See also:brothers Hyrum and See also:Samuel) . Soon afterwards, according to Smith, the plates disappeared, being taken away by the angel Moroni .

The Book of Mormon, in which Joseph Smith was declared to be God's See also:

prophet," with all See also:power and entitled to all obedience, ' Martin Harris took a copy in Smith's See also:hand of certain " caractors " (so Smith spelled it) to Dr Anthon, who at first thought it " a hoax upon the learned," but, after See also:hearing the story of the See also:diamond spectacles and that Harris had been asked to pay for the publication of the book, said that it was a See also:fraud on Harris . He recognized the See also:miscellaneous and haphazard nature of the " caractors," of which facsimiles are given by See also:Riley, p . 81, and Linn, p.4o . Riley thinks that the " caractors " were automatic writing, and that " unconscious cerebration played a large See also:part in the evolving of the gold See also:plate scheme." ' More than a dozen years afterwards Smith, when asked if " Mormon " was not connected with the See also:Greek word for " hobgoblin " (" Mormo" is thus used in 17th-See also:century See also:English), explained that it meant " more good," from the " Egyptian mon," " with the addition of more, or the contraction mor." professes to give the See also:history of See also:America from its first See also:settlement by a See also:colony of " Jaredites " from among the See also:crowd dispersed by the confusion of See also:tongues at the See also:Tower of See also:Babel down to the See also:year 5 A.D . These settlers in course of time destroyed one an-other . In 600 B.C . Lehi, his wife, and four sons, with ten See also:friends, all from See also:Jerusalem, landed on the See also:coast of See also:Chile . Upon the See also:death of Lehi, the divine See also:appointment to the leadership of Nephi, the youngest son, roused the resentment of his See also:elder brothers, who were in consequence condemned to have dark skins and to be an idle, mischievous See also:race, the " Lamanites " or See also:North-See also:American See also:Indians . Between the Nephites and the bad See also:Hebrews a fierce See also:war was maintained for centuries, until finally, in spite of divine intervention in the See also:person of the risen Christ, who here founded a Church with the same organization " as was enjoyed on the Eastern Continent," the Nephites See also:fell away from the true faith, and in 384 A.D. were nearly annihilated in a See also:battle at the hill of Cumorah, in Ontario county, New York . Among the handful that escaped were Mormon and his son Moroni, the former of whom collected the sixteen books of records, kept by successive See also:kings and priests, into one volume, which on his death was supplemented by his son with some See also:personal reminiscences and by him buried in the hill of Cumorah, where he was divinely assured that the book would one day be discovered by God's chosen prophet . This is Smith's See also:account of the book: it was a contention of the early See also:anti-Mormons, now however discredited, that The Book of Mormon as published by Smith was rewritten with few changes from an unpublished See also:romance, The See also:Manuscript Found, written before 1812 by See also:Solomon Spaulding' (1761–1816), a See also:minister and See also:iron-founder who had become greatly interested in the pre-historic mounds of See also:Ohio and wrote a romance to explain their origin and the See also:Hebrew origin of the North-American Indians . The See also:style of the book is poor; the speeches of See also:primitive See also:Indian chiefs are filled with the phraseology of the 19th-century See also:camp-See also:meeting; there are See also:long extracts from the See also:Westminster See also:Confession, and a speech of Nephi contains a statement of See also:doctrine which corresponds with heretical views held in Smith's own time in the See also:presbytery of See also:Geneva, in which his See also:home See also:lay .

The time was singularly favourable to the See also:

founding of a new sect: religious unrest and receptiveness were prevalent; and western New York was the See also:scene of the See also:foundation of various new communities between 1789, when Jemima See also:Wilkinson founded " Jerusalem " in See also:Yates county, New York, and 1848, when the See also:Fox sisters gave their first spiritualistic manifestations about ten See also:miles from Joseph Smith's home . His book and his claim to divine authority, upheld by frequent revelations, soon See also:drew many followers to Smith . A Church was formally organized on the 6th of April 1830 at Fayette, See also:Seneca county, New York; and in See also:June a See also:conference of about See also:thirty members met at Fayette . Smith and Cowdery had previously (May, 1829) baptized each other, in alleged accordance with the instruction of See also:John the Baptist,who had ordained them, conferring " the priesthood of See also:Aaron "; while See also:Peter, See also:James and John afterwards made them priests of " the See also:order of Melchisedec." ' It was supposed that See also:Sidney Rigdon had been a compositor in a See also:Pittsburg printing-office, that he had stolen Spaulding's manuscript from this office, or had made a surreptitious copy of it, and that he entered into a See also:plot with Smith to use this material for a new Bible . In support of this are vague stories of a mysterious visitor to Smith at the time he was making his translation; and the See also:argument that Smith did not, and Rigdon did, know enough to get the book in shape . But there is no actual See also:proof that Rigdon lived in Pittsburg or was employed in a printer's See also:shop there as early as when Spaulding's " copy " must have been See also:left with the printer; and there is no See also:evidence that Rigdon knew anything of Mormonism until after the publication of The Book of Mormon . The See also:discovery by Professor J . H . Fairchild, in 1884, in See also:Honolulu of a manuscript romance by Spaulding (now in the library of See also:Oberlin See also:College, Ohio), which did not agree at all in style or See also:matter with The Book of Mormon, does not entirely See also:settle the matter, as this romance is so different in See also:character from the story read by Spaulding to some of his friends in 1811-1812, that if it was really Spaulding's, it must have been a later See also:work than The Manuscript Found . Even, however, if it be true that Smith used Spaulding's story, his own additions to it must have been large, for parts of the Book seem autobiographic, and one incident seems to be based on the anti-Masonic excitement prevalent in New York See also:state after the disappearance of See also:William See also:Morgan in 1826—ten years after the death of Solomon Spaulding . In See also:October 183o Smith sent out Parley See also:Parker See also:Pratt (1807–1857), Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson, and Peter Whitmer, jun., as missionaries . One of their first converts, in See also:Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, was Sidney Rigdon (1793-'876), whom Pratt had formerly known, who had preached as a Baptist in 1819–1828—a part of this time in Pittsburg—who had then joined See also:Alexander See also:Campbell and See also:Walter See also:Scott in establishing the Disciples of Christ, and who was pastor of a church in Mentor .

Rigdon was baptized, became a Mormon See also:

leader, and, after a " revelation " of December 183o, made a new translation of the Bible, in which prophecies of the coming of Joseph Smith and the nature of The Book of Mormon are inserted in the 50th See also:chapter of See also:Genesis and the 29th chapter of See also:Isaiah respectively . This translation was not published until 1866 and is not in use in the Mormon churches . In See also:January 183 r Smith, who had been " persecuted " in his New York home, where several lawsuits, all unsuccessful, had been brought against him, accompanied Rigdon to Ohio, where at Kirtland (a few miles See also:south-See also:west of Mentor), Lake county, Ohio, the See also:preaching of the new sect was very successful, partly because Pratt and Rigdon were so well known to the Disciples in north-eastern Ohio . Smith at this time seems to have intended to make the New Jerusalem at Kirtland; there he established a See also:general See also:store, a See also:steam saw-See also:mill and a tannery, bought See also:land, platted a See also:great city, and built a stone See also:temple, which was consecrated in 1836 . But the church was " persecuted " again, especially by apostates; on the 25th of See also:March 1832 Smith and Rigdon were tarred and feathered at Hiram,' See also:Portage county, where they were then living . In See also:February 1834 the Church was fairly organized; already on the 8th of March 1833 Smith, Rigdon, and See also:Frederick G . See also:Williams had been styled the first See also:presidency, and were entrusted with the keys of the last See also:kingdom . About this time the licentiousness of Smith might have led to the See also:dissolution of the Church but for Brigham See also:Young (1801–1877), a Vermont painter and glazier, who was baptized in 1832 and soon afterwards was ordained elder . Young's indomitable will, per-suasive eloquence, executive ability, shrewdness and zeal soon made their See also:influence See also:felt, and, when a further step was taken in 1835 towards the organization of a See also:hierarchy by the institution of the See also:quorum of the "twelve apostles,"3 who were sent out as proselytizing missionaries among the " gentiles," Young was ordained one of the Twelve and despatched to preach through-out the eastern states . In 1836 the Kirtland Safety Society See also:Bank was organized (in accordance with a " revelation " to Smith); as it was unchartered it issued notes under the name of "The Kirtland Safety Society anti-BANx-See also:ing Co."; but in March 1837 Rigdon and Smith, the secretary and treasurer, were charged with violating the state See also:law against unchartered See also:banks, and they were convicted in October; the society appealed, claiming that it was not a bank but an association, but in See also:November the " bank " suspended payments and in See also:Jan . 1838 Smith and Rigdon left the state for See also:Missouri . In 1836–1837 there had been a deter-See also:mined See also:attempt to depose Smith and make David Whitmer See also:head of the Church; Rigdon and Young successfully opposed this See also:movement, which was backed by Whitmer, Pratt, Williams and Harris .

Probably in June 1837 (or in See also:

July 1838) there was organized under the leadership of See also:Captain " Fear Not " (David W . See also:Patten) a See also:band called " The Daughter of See also:Zion " (see Mic. iv . 13), the " Big See also:Fan " (Jer. xv . 7), " Brothers of See also:Gideon," and finally " Sons of See also:Dan," or "Danites " (Gen. xlix . 17), See also:bound to secrecy under See also:penalty of death, and formed to punish all who opposed the Church and its supreme head . Numerous crimes and outrages were attributed to them.' In the See also:winter 2 Rigdon had formerly been well known and respected in Hiram, which was a stronghold of the Disciples; there he had taught Latin and Greek to the father of Mrs James Abram See also:Garfield . 3 Young received at this time the See also:title of " The See also:Lion of the See also:Lord "; Lyman See also:Wright and Parley Pratt, who also became apostles, were called respectively " The See also:Wild See also:Ram of the Mountains " and " The See also:Archer of See also:Paradise." ' The existence of this organization has been denied by Mormons, but there is abundant evidence that it did exist . See Linn, pp . 212–214, and See also:Bancroft, pp . 124–126; the latter, friendly to the Mormons, says (p . 124) that of the existence of the Danites " there is no question." of 1830-1831 Pratt, Cowdery and two others had gone as far west as See also:Jackson county, Missouri; in June 1831 Rigdon and Smith joined them there near what is now See also:Independence and (in See also:August) laid corner-stones of Zion and of a Mormon temple; thereafter Mormon See also:immigration to Missouri increased rapidly; and in the early part of 1838 Smith and Rigdon fled to the new settlement called Far West (now Kerr) in Caldwell county, Missouri, which had been made in 1836-1837 . Thither many of the saints had taken See also:refuge, having been forcibly driven' from Independence and Big See also:Blue in November and December 1833, and having been induced to remove from See also:Clay county after staying there in 1833-1836 .

In Caldwell and Daviess counties Smith's troubles, however, continued to increase . His profligacy had repelled many of his leading supporters and bred See also:

internal dissensions, while from the outside the brethren were harassed and threatened by the steadily growing hostility of the native Missourians . At Far West on the 4th of July 1838 Rigdon preached his " salt See also:sermon " from Matt. v . 13, urging his hearers to wage " a war of extermination " on those who disturbed them . To such a height did the conflicts with the " gentiles " grow that they assumed the proportions of a See also:civil war, and necessitated the calling out of the state See also:militia . A See also:company of Danites from Far West put some Missourian militia to See also:flight but lost their own leader Captain Patten; the gentiles then attacked a Mormon settlement at Hawn's Mill (near Far West) and killed in See also:cold See also:blood about a See also:score of the Mormons . See also:Late in October Far West surrendered to an overwhelming force of militia . Smith and Rigdon with others were arrested and imprisoned on a See also:charge of See also:treason, See also:murder and See also:felony, and their followers to the number of 15,000 crossed over into See also:Illinois and settled near See also:Commerce, See also:Hancock county . Smith, who succeeded in escaping from custody, had rejoined the Mormons in Illinois, and there they were cordially welcomed, especially by the politicians of both parties, who hoped to secure the Mormon See also:vote in the presidential See also:campaign of 1840; and when they founded (on the site of Commerce) the city of See also:Nauvoo, they readily obtained (Dec . 1840) from the state legislature a See also:charter which made the city practically See also:independent of the state See also:government and gave Smith nearly unlimited civil power . He organized a military See also:body called the Nauvoo See also:Legion (also incorporated by the legislature), of which he was See also:commander, being commissioned "See also:lieutenant-general " by the See also:governor of Illinois in 1841; Smith allowed Dr John C . See also:Bennett, an Illinois politician and a new convert, to be the city's first See also:mayor .

See also:

Foundations of a new temple were laid on the 6th of April 1841 and the temple (83 by 128 ft.) was dedicated on the 1st of May 1846 . The city See also:grew very rapidly; a university of the city of Nauvoo was established, among its professors being Rigdon and Orson Pratt (181x-1881), a mathematician, who was called " The See also:Gauge of the Law." In 1842 Smith was charged with instigating an attempt, made by O.P . Rockwell, a Mormon of Nauvoo, to assassinate ex-Governor L . W . Boggs of Missouri; it was impossible to hold either See also:Rock-well or Smith after their See also:indictment and See also:arrest, since the Nauvoo municipal See also:court had the power to determine cases of habeas corpus; the influence of Dr Bennett, who had quarrelled with Smith, was not strong enough to outweigh the power of the Mormon vote with the state authorities, and Smith was not held when in June 1843 he was arrested on the old charge of treason-able acts committed in Missouri . His downfall was brought about in a very different manner . The Book of Mormon had forbidden See also:polygamy: "There shall not any See also:man have See also:save it be one wife, and concubines he shall have none, for I the Lord God delighteth' in the chastity of See also:women . . . . For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up See also:seed unto me, I will command my See also:people, otherwise they shall hearken unto these things." The conditional clause may indicate that Smith from the first had intended to make polygamy a part of the One of the early charges against the Mormons in Missouri was that they invited See also:free negroes and mulattoes t