Who was a better leader, Joseph Smith or Brigham Young?

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Who contributed more to the Mormon movement, Joseph Smith or Brigham Young?

Joseph Smith was an important religious figure who founded Mormonism. He was faithful, driven, and a strong speaker, but was easily tempered. Joseph Smith had his great contributions and failures, and after his death the new Mormon leader became Brigham Young, who also made great contributions to the Mormon movement, but just as Joseph Smith he had his failures.

        Joseph Smith was born in 1805. While Smith was growing up, there was a great religious revival taking place in New York State. When he was fourteen, Smith was finding this very confusing, and began to pray for guidance. Smith then claimed that a pillar of light appeared before him, and told him not to join any religious sects. Later as he was growing up, Smith experienced a vision from the angel Moroni, who told him that God had work for him to accomplish. The angel told Smith that a book written upon gold plates was deposited. The book gave accounts of former inhabitants of this continent and their source. The angel then told Smith where to find the book, and he dug it up on a hillside near Manchester. The book gave a different story from the Bible. According to the book, lost Israeli tribes migrated to America before the birth of Christ. There they fought each other until Christ was born and established his Church. Then the fighting began again, and one of the survivors, Mormon, wrote down records of his people on the plates. The person who found these plates was to restore the Church of Christ in America. Smith wouldn’t let anyone check the plates to check his honesty, and said he had returned them to the hillside. Smith then published a translation of the plates in 1830. Smith started with just five followers, but his speaking and persuasions kills were very strong, and by the end of 1830 he had several hundred followers. However they were very unpopular in New York State because people claimed that Smith was only trying to make money and his book was offensive. His house was attacked and followers were shot in the streets. Smith then prayed for guidance, he took his followers Kirtland, Ohio. There he planned to set up a City of God.

        In Kirtland, the Mormon movement flourished greatly, reaching a thousand followers by 1831. They even founded colonies in Missouri. They worked very hard and soon had a store, bank, printing press and a mill. They soon outnumbered the non-Mormons. However their success increased the envy and hatred of the others. Very unfortunately for the Mormons, in 1837 there was a economic crisis, making many banks collapse. Many non-Mormons had put their savings into the Mormon bank, and when it collapsed, they were chased out of Kirtland. The Mormons and their leader, Joseph Smith, then went to the colonies they had set up in Missouri, but this didn’t increase their popularity. Attempts were made to stop them from voting, and the local settlers destroyed property. When the government sent in troops to make order, the Mormons were blamed for everything, put in prison, and condemned to death. Then rumours began to go around that they were freeing slaves and upsetting Indians, making the government declare them as public enemies.

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        In 1838 the Mormons were released from prison, they went to a very small town of Commerce in Illinois, which Smith renamed Nauvoo. The Mormons were allowed to develop it into and independent city state. They prospered cooperatively, and in 1844 Nauvoo was the biggest city in Illinois, dominated by the giant temple. The Mormons, now at 35,000 were trying to create an ideal society with no poor, homeless, smoking or drinking. Many of the poor converted, promised salvation. The Mormons were finally settled. However this was ruined by Smith’s serious mistakes. He said that the idea of polygamy was ...

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