User:Greenhas/Succession crisis

The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the violent death of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., on June 27, 1844.

For roughly six months after Smith's death, several people competed to take over his role. The leading contenders were Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang. (See the chart below for a more complete list of successor claimants.) The majority of Latter Day Saints elected to follow Young's leadership, but several smaller churches emerged from the succession crisis. This significant event in the History of the Latter Day Saint movement precipitated several permanent schisms.

History

Background

The new Church of Christ, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and a small group of men on April 6, 1830. Between that time and his death in 1844, the administrative and ecclesiastical organization of the new church had changed considerably, driven by both the growth in church population and the evolution of Smith's role as leader of the church.

At the time of his murder, Smith thus held several roles: "Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator," "President of the Church," "President of the First Presidency," and "Trustee-in-Trust" of the Church. It was unclear if all of these offices should be held together by any one successor and it was equally unclear who such a successor should be.

The Crisis

At the time of Smith's death, Rigdon, Young, and many other church leaders were out of the state on evangelical missions for the church. Rigdon returned to Nauvoo first (August 3) and the next day announced at a public meeting that he had received a revelation appointing him "Guardian of the Church." President William Marks called for a conference on August 8 to decide the issue. When Brigham Young heard about Smith's death while serving a mission in Boston, his first reaction was to ask himself “whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth,” but he immediately felt assured that the "keys of the kingdom" rested with the church (MHBY-1, 171).

On August 6, Brigham Young and the rest of the Twelve returned to Nauvoo; the next day, they met with Sidney Rigdon, who repeated his claim to become the guardian of the Church. Brigham Young responded, "Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away" (Smith, History of the Church, 7:224-230). So while historically the First Presidency has previously led the Church, Young proposed an ad hoc Presidency of the Church in the Quorum of Twelve. Young tried diligently to persuade the people that he alone held the rights to lead the Church. He even went so far as to ride through the streets on Smith's favorite horse named Joe Duncan.