Illustration of little Joseph dying at gunpoint by a mob
The murder of Joseph Smith Jr. in Illinois in 1844 marked the dramatic end of his controversial life and profoundly influenced the future of Mormonism.
When Joseph Jr. died at the hands of an angry mob on June 27, 1844, he had become a polarizing figure. As the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormonism, Mormonism), Joseph Jr. caused controversy both inside and outside Mormonism, and the controversy intensified in his final years.
By then, cracks had begun to appear within the Mormon faith. Joseph Jr. successfully founded his religion, based on a 588-page copy of the Book of Mormon, which he claimed was completed at the request of angels, but some of his followers questioned his leadership style.
In 1844, a group of dissenting church members published a newspaper in Naffu, Illinois, where Joseph Jr. and his followers settled after being driven out of other towns. The church members accused little Joseph of polygamy and harshly criticized him for wanting to become king.
Joseph Jr. declared martial law and ordered the newspaper destroyed, but his actions provoked the ire of politicians in Illinois, including Governor Thomas Ford, who accused Joseph Jr. and his brother of treason. They were locked up in a prison in Carthage, Hancock County, and an angry mob began to gather like an impending storm.
Joseph Jr. died at their hands, but for many Mormons, his tragic death in Carthage was not the end, but the beginning.
The birth of the Church of Latter-day Saints
The angel Moronai gave illustrations of the little Joseph's scriptures
Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, USA, and he grew up in the religious atmosphere of the Second Great Awakening, a period of Protestant religious revival throughout the country. After Joseph, Jr. moved to New York as a child, he began to think about which branch of Christianity was "right."
Joseph Jr. claimed that God gave him an answer in 1820: none. As Robert Remini explained in his 2002 book, Joseph Smith Jr., the Mormon leader later claimed that God had "visited" him and told him that all Christian denominations had "turned away from the gospel."
3 years later, little Joseph is said to have had a second divine visit, this time from an angel named Moroni. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Moronai told little Joseph that a lost holy book had been engraved on a gold plate and buried nearby, and he instructed him to find it and translate it.
Joseph Jr. found the scripture and spent 90 days "translating" it, and he published the Book of Mormon in 1830, the same year he founded the Church of Christ, later known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism.
Soon, Joseph's church began to grow, but he and his followers faced persecution wherever they went. In Ohio, little Joseph was beaten unconscious, tar coated and covered in feathers, and a mob tried to castrate him. In Missouri, tensions between Mormons and Missourians became so intense that the governor ordered Mormons to be exterminated or expelled from the state.
By 1839, however, the Mormons seemed to have finally found a safe haven, settling in the town of Kermers, Illinois, which Joseph Jr. soon renamed Nafu ("beautiful place" in Hebrew). But there, tensions within the Mormon Church soon led to Joseph's death.
Little Joseph died at the hands of an angry mob
Oil portrait of Joseph Jr
By 1844, Naftu was almost as large as Chicago. The surge in the population made many non-Mormons nervous, especially when Joseph Jr. announced his intention to run for president that year, and the Mormon leader made no secret of his ambitions. According to PBS, Joseph Jr. declared, "I intend to lay a foundation that will completely change the whole world." ”
However, when Joseph Jr.'s political ambitions upset non-Mormons, many Mormons also began to question Joseph's leadership. As reported by History magazine, dissidents within the Church of Latter-day Saints published a newspaper critical of Joseph Jr.'s polygamy and his leadership style.
Joseph Jr. destroyed his newspaper, which angered many of his critics. To quell the violence, Little Joseph then declared martial law, but this only aroused the ire of local authorities, who accused Little Joseph of treason and conspiracy. After Joseph Jr. was arrested, he predicted that he would not live long.
After an angry mob stormed the Carthaginian prison where Little Joseph and Hayrum were being held, they were shot together
According to the Church of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Jr. declared, "I will be like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, but I am as calm as a summer morning." My conscience is sinless to God and to all people. I will die innocently, and people will say to me, 'He was brutally killed.'" ’”
On June 25, 1844, Joseph Jr. and his brother Hyrum were imprisoned in Carthage along with several of their followers. Just two days later, a mob enraged by the growing political power of Mormons and Joseph Jr. himself stormed the prison. Armed with weapons and painted their faces black, they quickly stormed the Mormon cell and shot and killed Hayrum.
During this shooting, Joseph Jr. was shot 4 times, but he still escaped to the window on the second floor, he fell to the ground outside, perhaps alive, leaned against the wall, and was shot again. In the end, Joseph Jr. died at the hands of the mob, but the church he founded did not die with him.
Joseph Jr.'s lasting influence on Mormonism
Brigham Young in 1855
Joseph's death did not bring peace to Illinois, instead, Mormons were persecuted like never before, with angry mobs burning their homes and threatening more violence. Although five members of the mob were accused of killing Joseph Jr. and his brother Hairum, they were later acquitted.
Given the situation in Nafeng, Joseph Jr.'s successor, Brigham Young (also known as Brigham Young), decided that the city was no longer safe. On February 10, 1846, Brigham Young and 1,600 Mormons traveled west in search of a new settlement. After a difficult journey, he and his followers reached the Salt Lake Valley, in present-day Utah, where, according to historical records, Brigham Young declared: "This is the place." ”
Thousands of Mormons poured into the land. By the time of Brigham Young's death in 1877, more than 100,000 people had settled there, most of them members of the Church of Latter-day Saints.
Over time, Mormonism grew. To this day, Salt Lake City remains the headquarters of the Church of Latter-day Saints, which has more than 16 million members around the world, and the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith Jr., is far from forgotten.