Church Leadership
On February 14, 1835, the Three Witnesses originally designated Phineas Young, brother of Brigham, as one of the inaugural members of the Quorum of the Twelve. However, Joseph Smith insisted that his own younger brother, William, be selected instead. Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer later reported that William's selection was "contrary to our feelings and judgment, and to our deep mortification ever since." William Smith was ordained an apostle on February 15.
On May 4, 1839, Smith and Orson Hyde were suspended from the Quorum of the Twelve by a vote of the church; however, Smith was readmitted to the Quorum on May 25. From April to December 1842, Smith was the editor of The Wasp, a secular but pro-Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois. Smith was fierce in his editorial criticism of the anti-Mormon newspaper the Warsaw Signal and its editor Thomas C. Sharp, whom Smith referred to in the Wasp as "Thom-ASS C. Sharp". Smith resigned as the editor of The Wasp after he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, and he was succeeded by fellow-apostle John Taylor, who edited The Wasp for another five months before replacing it with the Nauvoo Neighbor.
On May 24, 1845, Smith succeeded his late brother Hyrum Smith as the Presiding Patriarch of the church. Shortly after his ordination to this position, Brigham Young printed a clarification in a church newspaper that stated that Smith had not been ordained as patriarch over the church, but rather as patriarch to the church; Smith regarded this clarification as a slight, and it exacerbated the growing tension between Smith and Young. Smith was patriarch to the church until October 6, 1845, when his name was read at general conference but fellow apostle Parley P. Pratt expressed objections due to his character and miscreant practices. The conference attenders unanimously voted against Smith being retained as both an apostle and patriarch, and he lost both offices and was disfellowshipped from the church. Smith responded by submitting a lengthy statement to Sharp's Warsaw Signal in which he compared Young to Pontius Pilate and Nero and accused Young and other members of the Twelve of secretly keeping multiple "spiritual wives". As a result of Smith's statement, Smith was excommunicated from the church by Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on grounds of apostasy on October 19, 1845.
Read more about this topic: William Smith (Latter Day Saints)
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