Without Disclosing My True Identity
Washington D.C., where the information further prejudiced the minds of U.S. authorities.
When Joseph met with U.S. President Martin Van Buren the next year, the President had
little sympathy for the varied problems he perceived the Mormons had brought upon
themselves,^85 including their reputed fraudulent banking practices.
Of course, Rigdon blamed it on the Gentiles,” saying that “the gentiles are striving
to besiege the saints in Kirtland and would be glad to starve the saints to death.”^86 The
Saints expected God to save them by “procuring from the devil what is needed to save the
Saints.” Because non-members were considered members of the church of the devil, not
paying back their loans and notes seemed divinely justified.^87 The members’ pride and
arrogance still were not broken by the financial challenges they faced, which the Lord did
not relieve as was expected. The members of the Church had trusted Joseph; he had
personally signed the notes that were now useless. However, the Saints had gotten caught
up in their own speculation that the Lord would bless them as “his people of Zion.”^88 The
people got what they wanted, but not what they thought they had been promised. Wilford
Woodruff, one of the apostles and later President of the Church, wrote:
Joseph presented [to] us in some degree the plot of the City of Kirtland...as it
was given him by vision. It was great, marvelous, and glorious. The City
extended to the east, west, north, and south. Steamboats will come puffing
into the city. Our goods will be conveyed upon railroads from Kirtland to
many places and probably to Zion. Houses of worship [will] be reared unto
the most high. Beautiful streets [were] to be made for the Saints to walk in.
Kings of the earth would come to behold the glory thereof and many glorious
things not now to be named would be bestowed upon the Saints.^89This was Woodruff’s vision, as he wanted it to be. At the time, he hardly knew
Joseph personally, but honored and respected him as the translator of the Book of Mormon
and Prophet of the Church. Joseph tried to give Woodruff exactly what he wanted, but the
prophet’s cash could not pay for the expectations of the vision.
A Battle for Position and Power Within the Church Erupts
The Kirtland Safety Society Bank Company’s failure^90 led to great internal
dissension. Parley and Orson Pratt left the Church for a time.^91 Apostle David Patten^92
and Assistant President Frederick G. Williams^93 denounced Joseph and called him a
“fallen prophet.” Many leaders and a great number of the general membership left the
church and prophet whom they had once worshipped and loved.^94 Orson Johnson,
Lyman Johnson,^95 David Whitmer,^96 Oliver Cowdery (who accused Joseph of adultery
among other things),^97 and Martin Harris (for the third time) left Joseph. Other
prominent and popular Mormon men rose up and took the place of the apostate leaders,
all vying for positions of priesthood authority to satisfy their egos.
Many of the higher church leaders would not leave church administration, even
though Joseph chastised them for their rebellion. The people sustained most of them in their
positions, because they were the people’s leaders, not the prophet’s. All of the witnesses to
the Book of Mormon, except for his family, turned on Joseph and attempted to take control of
the Kirtland Church. Joseph excommunicated them all, this time without getting permission
or a sustaining vote from the High Councils. The men tried to reorganize the Church of