FOUR
(1809)
An accurate historical accounting of the establishment of the United States of America provides a context
for Joseph’s mission. The Book of Mormon speaks of future events, including the period of worldliness and
captivity that historians refer to favorably as the “Renaissance.” Dissension of those attempting to escape the
bondage of that period led to the formation of the United States, offering a greater opportunity to exercise free
will. With the exercise of their newly gained free will, the people chose religion over true freedom.Joseph’s fourth year passed without any significant events occurring outside of a
normal New England lifestyle during the early 1800’s. However, so that the reader might
better relate to the purpose for Joseph’s later calling and mission, it is important to give some
details about what was happening at this stage in American history—not necessarily the
history that is taught in modern schools today, but what was really happening at the time.^1
History books address such events in 1809 as the year that James Madison succeeded
Thomas Jefferson as the U.S. President, the Illinois Territory being created, and the
steamboat being patented.^2 But a deeper context for 1809, and for many years that led up to
it, can be provided by a history book of a different order.
Historical Context Provided by the Book of Mormon
The world’s history from the medieval times, through the Renaissance, and to the
present day is presented in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a history of the people
who lived in the Western Hemisphere, but its writer foretold of global events. In its
presentation of the history of the world from the fifth century on, the authors referred to any
country in the Eastern Hemisphere as the “nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.”^3 The
Western Hemisphere was referred to as “the promised land”^4 or “the land of promise.”^5
In this context, the first Book of Mormon writer, Nephi, received a presentation from
an advanced human being whom he described, first, as “the Spirit of the Lord,”^6 and then
later as “an angel.”^7 Nephi depicted this being as one with whom he could speak “as a man
speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was
the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.”^8 In other
words, what Nephi was experiencing was an actual face-to-face conversation with a human
being, and not an invention of his imagination or a “voice in his head” (i.e., where
“spiritual” conversations and manifestations always take place within the realm of mortal
thought processes and visionary experiences—real as they may seem).
In order to enhance his understanding, Nephi was given a vision in his mind of
the future world, with an actual real human being (“angel”) standing by to answer his
questions and making sure he understood what he saw. Nephi saw the destruction of his
people, and that the Lamanites “went forth in multitudes upon the face of the
land...[and] became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all
manner of abominations.”^9 The destruction of Nephi’s entire race and the proliferation