Sidney Rigdon - 1844 Succession Crisis

1844 Succession Crisis

See also: Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)

After Smith's murder in 1844, contention arose over the leadership of the church. Factions, based sometimes on doctrine and sometimes on administrative position, developed and church members began to align themselves with various leaders. Some members assumed that Rigdon, as the senior surviving member of the First Presidency, would succeed Smith as church president. Others, however, believed that Smith's young son, Joseph Smith III was the rightful heir. Smith's wife, Emma, argued for the claims of the President of the central stake, the presiding High Council, William Marks. Marks, however, supported Rigdon.

Before a large Nauvoo congregation meeting to discuss the issue on August 8, 1844, Rigdon argued that there could be no successor to the deceased prophet and that he should be made the "Protector" of the church."

Brigham Young, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles opposed this reasoning and motion and asserted a claim for the primacy of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asserts Smith had earlier recorded a revelation that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were "equal in authority and power" to the First Presidency, so the decision of Smith's successor fell back to the Apostles even though Rigdon believed he was rightly next in line. A story eventually evolved that many in the congregation had witnessed Brigham Young's voice take on the sound of Joseph Smith's voice and that Young's face and mannerisms also appeared as the face and mannerisms of Joseph Smith. This occurrence, however, was not recorded in any of the contemporary journals or records from the meeting, and only emerged years after the succession crisis.

The Quorum of Twelve Apostles were scattered throughout the United States and Europe, many on missions, at the time of Smith's death. The five members of the quorum available in Illinois voted to deny Rigdon his claim for church leadership. Rigdon felt this action was done without proper order. One month later, on September 8, Rigdon was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by a Common Council of the Church which had been convened by Presiding Bishop Newel K. Whitney. Rigdon refused to attend this trial after which he, in turn, likewise excommunicated the members of the Twelve and fled Nauvoo, claiming that he felt threatened by Young's supporters. Rigdon relocated to Pittsburgh where he continued his own faction of the Latter Day Saints movement.

Later, in December 1847, at the Kanesville Tabernacle in modern day Council Bluffs, Iowa, the Apostles and church members sustained Young as the new President of the church. This reinstatement of the First Presidency occurred three years after the death of Joseph Smith, during which time Rigdon claimed his right to govern the church.