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What happened on August 8, 1844?
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What happened on August 8, 1844?
Almost immediately after Joseph Smith's death on June 27, 1844, conflict arose among local Church leaders and others about who would succeed Joseph Smith. Throughout July 1844 local leaders met together and with Emma Smith to discuss possible succession options. They agreed to wait to make a decision until a majority of the Twelve Apostles returned to Nauvoo.[1] (The Twelve had been out on missions for Joseph Smith's campaign for President of the United States of America.) However, Sidney Rigdon (who had also been away from Nauvoo for the campaign) returned to Nauvoo on August 3 and immediately began advocating that the Saints appoint him as Joseph's successor. Sidney gained William Marks as a supporter, and William appointed a general assembly of the Church for August 8 to decide the question who would succeed Joseph Smith. Two days before the assembly, Brigham Young and several of the Twelve Apostles returned to Nauvoo, so that a majority of the Quorum was now in Nauvoo.[2]
On August 8, Church members met to decide who should lead the Church. In a morning meeting, Sidney Rigdon gave an impassioned speech that the authority to lead the Church was still on the earth and that he would be the spokesman for Joseph Smith. Brigham Young arose and lamented that there was such a hurry to appoint a successor but that he would call a meeting of priesthood quorums and general membership that afternoon to resolve the issue. When the Saints gathered in the afternoon, Brigham Young and others addressed the congregation, explaining the authority of the Twelve Apostles to lead the Church since Joseph had died.[3]
Many reported that, in both the morning and afternoon meetings, "Brigham sounded and appeared remarkably like Joseph Smith; others simply say that the 'mantle of Joseph' or the 'mantle of the prophets' rested on Brigham Young; and others state that they were given a witness 'by the spirit' that Brigham was to lead the Church."[4] One hundred and twenty-nine people bore witness of this manifestation. Just a few are included here:[5]
- Henry and Catherine Brooke, 15 November 1844: "The loss of Br. Joseph and Hyrum has been greatly felt but we have the twelve apostles to preside in their stead. Br. Brigham Young is president of the twelve and stands as prophet, seer, and revelator to the Church. He is an excellent man, and favours Br. Joseph, both in person, and manner of speaking, more than any person ever you saw looks like another."
- Howard Egan, 8 December 1844: "Jesse C. Little quoted Howard Egan’s words in his letter to Brigham Young dated December 8, 1844: 'I rec[eive]d a Letter from Bro Egan at the time of the Conference he said if a man had been blinded he would hardly have known if it were not Joseph.'"
- Wilford Woodruff, February 1845: "Met in a special conference, all the quorums, authorities, and members of the Church, that could assemble in Nauvoo. They were addressed by elder Brigham Young, the president of the quorum of the twelve. It was evident to the Saints that the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon him."
Notes
- ↑ James B. Allen, No Toil Nor Labor Fear: The Story of William Clayton (Brigham Young University Press, 2002), 156–158.
- ↑ Ronald W. Walker, "Six Days in August: Brigham Young and the Succession Crisis of 1844," in David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr, eds., A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011).
- ↑ LaJean Purcell Carruth and Robin Scott Jensen, "Sidney Rigdon’s Plea to the Saints: Transcription of Thomas Bullock’s Shorthand Notes from the August 8, 1844, Morning Meeting," BYU Studies Quarterly 53:2. Lynne W. Jorgensen, "The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: One Hundred Twenty-nine Testimonies of a Collective Spiritual Witness," in John W. Welch, ed., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Second Edition) (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press).
- ↑ Lynn W. Jorgensen, "The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: One Hundred Twenty-nine Testimonies of a Collective Spiritual Witness," in John W. Welch, ed., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Second Edition) (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press).
- ↑ Lynne W. Jorgensen, "Documents of Testimonies of the Mantle Experience," in John W. Welch, ed., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Second Edition) (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press). The documents included are document 7 (Brooke), document 19 (Egan), and document 68A (Woodruff).