Joseph Smith: The First President
The concept that the Church of Christ would have a single presiding officer arose in late 1831. Initially, after the church's formation on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith referred to himself as merely "an apostle of Jesus Christ, and elder of the church." However, there was one other apostle—Oliver Cowdery—and several other elders of the church, making the formal hierarchy of the church unclear.
In September 1830, after Hiram Page claimed to have received revelations for the church, a revelation to Smith stated that "no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses." Thus, Smith assumed the position as the only apostle or elder with the gift of revelation for the entire church.
In early June 1831, Joseph Smith was ordained to the "high priesthood", along with twenty-two other men (including prominent figures in the Latter Day Saint movement such as Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Martin Harris). As "high priests", these men were higher in the priesthood hierarchy than the elders of the church. However, it was still unclear whether Smith and Cowdery's calling as apostles gave them more authority than the other high priests.
On November 11, 1831, a revelation to Smith stated that "it must needs be that one be appointed of the high priesthood to preside over the Priesthood and he shall be called President of the high priesthood of the Church ... and again the duty of the President of the high priesthood is to preside over the whole church." Smith was ordained to this position and sustained by the church on January 25, 1832 at a conference in Amherst, Ohio.
In 1835, Smith revised the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ, changing the phrase "an ... elder of the church" to "the first elder of this Church." Thus, subsequent to 1835, Smith was sometimes referred to as the First Elder of the church. The 1835 revision also added a verse referring to the office of "president of the high priesthood (or presiding elder)", which had since been added to the church hierarchy.
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