The people
Who Joseph Smith Was
The bank, the trial, the militia, the press he destroyed, the council that made him king.
Every fact here comes from the Church
All of it is sourced to churchofjesuschrist.org or josephsmithpapers.org.
Four roles at once, in one city
In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith simultaneously held civil, military, religious, and national political power.
- Mayor of Nauvoo
- Lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, a militia of thousands
- Prophet, seer, and revelator
- Candidate for President of the United States, 1844
- Received as "Prophet, Priest and King" by the Council of Fifty, April 1844
- A municipal court used to void outside arrest warrants
- A private armed force answerable to him
- Doctrinal authority beyond appeal
- Over 300 missionary electioneers deployed nationally
- A body organized to "establish a Theocracy"
Sources: Joseph Smith Papers, Council of Fifty and Nauvoo Legion topics; Church history pages
The 1826 trial
Three years before translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph was tried in Bainbridge, New York as a "disorderly person" under a statute covering those "pretending to tell fortunes, or to discover where lost goods may be found." Court documents call him "the Glass Looker."
Be precise. The trial is not disputed. The outcome is. BYU Studies argues for acquittal. BYU Studies Do not say convicted.
Treasure digging, in the Church's own words
"As a young man during the 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure." He "appears to have found one of the stones while digging for a well around 1822." Joseph himself: "Yes, but it was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it." The essay
The same essay confirms the well stone was later used "for the higher purpose of translating scripture."
Destroying the press
June 7, 1844: the Nauvoo Expositor, published by William Law, his own former First Counselor, printed the truth about polygamy. Joseph ordered the press destroyed. About 100 men removed it, scattered the type, and burned the copies.
The Church's own page: "Joseph Smith never stood trial to defend his actions as mayor. A mob stormed Carthage Jail and murdered him and his brother Hyrum." Source
Carthage, with the detail that gets left out
The Church's summary page never mentions a weapon. But the Church's own archive holds Willard Richards's account, published in the Times and Seasons in 1844: Joseph "opening the door two or three inches with his left hand, discharged one barrel of a six shooter (pistol) at random in the entry." Joseph Smith Papers
Be fair. He was defending himself against a lynch mob. The point is narrower: the Church's summary uses martyrdom language and omits the pistol, while the Church's own archive contains it.
Do not say he killed two men. Do not say he was convicted in 1826. Do not use John C. Bennett's allegations, which historians consider unreliable.