Rigdon's followers were known as Rigdonites, some of which later established The Church of Jesus Christ. The majority of Latter Day Saints followed Young these adherents later emigrated to Utah Territory and continued as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Several schisms resulted, with each claimant attracting followers. Later, others came to believe that Smith's son, Joseph Smith III, was the rightful successor under the doctrine of Lineal succession. Strang claimed that Smith designated him as the successor in a letter that was received by Strang a week before Smith's death. At the time of the Smiths' deaths, Rigdon was estranged from Smith due to differences in doctrinal beliefs. Rigdon was the senior surviving member of the First Presidency, a body that led the church since 1832. Young, president of the Quorum of the Twelve, claimed authority was handed by Smith to the Quorum of the Twelve. Initially, the primary contenders to succeed Joseph Smith were Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Hyrum Smith, the Assistant President of the Church, was intended to succeed Joseph as President of the Church, but because he was killed with his brother, the proper succession procedure became unclear.
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He was killed by a mob while awaiting trial in Carthage, Illinois.Īfter the death of the Smiths, a succession crisis occurred in the Latter Day Saint movement.
In a futile attempt to check public outrage, Smith first declared martial law, then surrendered to the governor of Illinois. The following year, after the Nauvoo Expositor criticized his power and such new doctrines as plural marriage, Smith and the Nauvoo city council ordered the newspaper's destruction as a nuisance. In 1843, he announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered their expulsion from Missouri, and Smith was imprisoned on capital charges.Īfter escaping state custody in 1839, Smith directed the conversion of a swampland into Nauvoo, Illinois, where he became both mayor and commander of a nearly autonomous militia. Fleeing an arrest warrant in the aftermath of a Kirtland financial crisis, Smith joined his remaining followers in Far West, Missouri, but tensions escalated into violent conflicts with the old Missouri settlers. In 1833, Missouri settlers expelled the Saints from Zion, and Smith's paramilitary expedition to recover the land was unsuccessful. He sent some to Jackson County, Missouri to establish a city of Zion. Moving the church to Kirtland, Ohio in 1831, Joseph Smith attracted hundreds of converts, who were called Latter Day Saints. In 1830, he published the resulting narratives as the Book of Mormon and founded the Church of Christ in western New York, claiming it to be a restoration of early Christianity. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, announced that an angel had given him a set of golden plates engraved with a chronicle of ancient American peoples, which he had a unique gift to translate.