Joseph Smith had been ridiculed for claiming to see visions, but when rumor spread that he had gold plates, opposition turned dangerous. There were many efforts made to steal the plates from Joseph. Translation was also difficult at first. It was done by the use of a Urim and Thummim buried with the plates. The first 116 pages of manuscript went missing when the acting scribe, Martin Harris, took them home to show his wife. This stalled translation for awhile, but it eventually resumed with a new scribe, Oliver Cowdery. The translating was forced to move to neighboring Pennsylvania to escape frequent disturbance by persecutors, and was finished at a remarkable pace.

The first printing of the Book of Mormon happened in 1830, and shortly thereafter Joseph Smith organized the Church of Christ in Fayette, New York. Soon after the organization, missionaries travelled around preaching the restored gospel. In order to escape the opposition that Joseph had faced in New York for the past ten years, he gathered all the converts in Kirtland, Ohio. Kirtland became the first headquarters for the Church in Mormon history. Joseph Smith had been receiving many revelations concerning the establishment of the Church and he recorded them. One of them identified Missouri as the location for Zion and another commanded a temple be constructed for higher worship. The revelations concerning the Church were eventually published as the Book of Commandments, which is now the Doctrine and Covenants.

Mormon history is plagued with persecution, and as the Mormon population rose, hatred intensified. Joseph Smith had sent some ahead to Missouri to prepare for the immigration of the Church. For a few years the Mormon population was split between Kirtland and Jackson County, Missouri. Only a year after the first Mormon temple was dedicated in Kirtland, the Mormons were commanded to gather together in Missouri. However, the hatred in Missouri was worse than Ohio. The settlers were not happy with the perceived Mormon take over of their land and contention often turned violent. Mormons were driven from their homes more than once and were finally driven from the state by an extermination order. They fled to Illinois.

On the banks of the Mississippi River Mormonism flourished. Joseph Smith named the city Nauvoo and it soon became the largest city in the state due to the success of Mormon missionaries in Europe and the U.S. Construction on another Mormon temple began and Mormon doctrine matured. Many of the unique doctrines of Mormonism were introduced in Nauvoo; baptism for the dead, polygamy, and eternal marriage. The practice of polygamy rekindled hatred among the enemies of Mormonism and ultimately resulted in the imprisonment and murder of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum in Carthage Jail in 1844.

When Mormonism didn’t end with the death of Joseph Smith, as many thought it would, they were forced out of Illinois and led by Brigham Young to the Utah territory. The Mormons had to settle their own land to find peace, and the Mormon pioneer crossing the plains to Utah is a revered symbol of Mormon history. The peace of Utah would be threatened by the public announcement of the practice of polygamy by the Church. The conflict between the Mormons and the U.S. government resulted in the Utah War. However, the more pressing matter of the Civil War eased tensions until its conclusion. The eradication of polygamy became a political rallying point again and forced Mormons to abandon the practice in 1890.

The end of polygamy brought statehood for Utah and the stabilizing of Mormon history. Mormonism now had a home and a central location for expansion. For many years converts migrated to Utah from the eastern states and Europe. Mormon leaders eventually asked converts to remain in their home lands to help build up the kingdom of God throughout the world. The latest chapter of Mormon history has been an international one. With 12 million members, more than half now live outside the United States.

Joseph Smith was the first prophet of the Mormon Church and its founder. In 1820, the young Joseph was troubled by how to come closer to God and Jesus Christ. He saw much confusion in the world and prayed to God. In response to this pray he experienced his First Vision in which God and Jesus appeared to him. Later he was called to a prophet.Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and received revelations just as biblical prohpets did. He organized the Mormon Church with priesthood authority from God.

Over the next several years, the Mormon Church was forced to move, first to Ohio, then to Missouri, Illinois, and finally to Utah. Joseph Smith received many revelations from God before his murder in 1844. He revealed the plan of salvation,the need for Temples, the eternal nature of the family, and the destiny of mankind. After his death, Brigham Young led the Mormon pioneers to Utah where they Church headquarters remains today.

In Utah, the Mormons faced intense persecution because of Mormon polygamy. Thousands of Mormons were jailed or forced to flee. Finally, a revelation from God ended polygamy and the persecution subsided. Since then, Mormonism has grown throughout the world. In the twentieth century,Mormon missionaries took the Church to every continent and the Book of Mormon was translated into dozens of languages. Today, more Mormons live outside the US than within. In the late 1970s arevelation on blacks and the priesthood was received that permitted all worthy men to hold the priesthood and allowed the Mormon Church to grow in Africa. Today, the Mormon Church is growing in South America, Africa, and Asia at record setting pace.

For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. […] For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things (Jacob 2:27-8, 30).

This teaches that sometimes to “raise up seed,” the Lord will command polygamy, but unless God directly commands it through a prophet, men are forbidden from practicing it. According to Joseph Smith, the first wife had to agree to the new marriage, before it could take place. Polygamy became the most widely known practice of Mormons and was associated with Brigham Young most of all. Polygamy was the cause of some of theworst persecution in Mormon history . The U.S. government passed many laws stripping Mormons of their right to vote or hold public office and arrested many Mormon men. By the 1880s the Mormon Church had lost most of its property and thousands of Mormon men were jailed. Finally, after praying about how to end the difficulties, Mormon Prophet Wilford Woodruff received a revelation that the time had come to end the practice of polygamy. Some refused to accept this and left the Mormon Church, but most of the Church accepted it. Today, anyone who practices polygamy is excommunicated from the Mormon Church.