ABSTRACT
Mormonism became the most successful of nineteenth-century America's new religions. But it began with the reported visions of one obscure young man, Joseph Smith (1805-1844). The Book of Mormon, published in 1830 was presented to the world not only as evidence of Smith's communication with God's messengers but as supplementary to the Bible, adding to God's revelation. Two elements in Joseph Smith's autobiographical account of the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are worth noting: the story of the persecution and wanderings of the Saints implicitly confirmed the sense of righteousness of Smith and his followers. Further, Mormonism's new revelations demonstrated how the American continent had already played a previously unknown but crucial role in Christian history and was assured of a special part in the coming millennium.
