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Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)
Founded 1830 by Joseph Smith· Religion or tradition· New movements & secular thought
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A Christian restorationist church founded by Joseph Smith in New York in 1830; it reports about 17 million members.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Latter-day Saints believe God and Jesus appeared to the young Joseph Smith in 1820, and that an angel, Moroni, led him to golden plates, which he translated as the Book of Mormon (1830). Driven from Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, where a mob killed Smith in 1844, most followers trekked to Utah under Brigham Young in 1847. The church officially ended plural marriage in 1890. Missionaries spread it worldwide; most members now live outside the US.
Why it matters
It became one of the largest religions born in America, settled much of the Mountain West, and still shapes Utah's culture and politics.
Sources and history
Smith's own accounts and the Book of Mormon; witness statements, court records and newspapers of the 1830s–40s; church membership reports, which outside surveys suggest overstate active members.
Questions and debates
Believers accept the Book of Mormon as an ancient American record; most historians and archaeologists see a 19th-century work, finding no trace of its civilizations.
Connections (2)
▸Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) arose in the revivals of Evangelicalism and the Great AwakeningsHistorical record
The connection
Joseph Smith grew up in western New York's 'burned-over district', named for the revival fires of the Second Great Awakening that swept it again and again. Competing Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian revivals left him unsure which church was true; Latter-day Saints teach that this question led to his 1820 First Vision.
When and where
Palmyra and Manchester, New York, in the 1810s–20s; the church was organized in Fayette, New York, on April 6, 1830.
Historical evidence
Smith's own 1832 and 1838 accounts describe the revival setting; church records and newspapers document the region's intense revivalism.
Questions and debates
Historians debate which revival Smith meant, since records of an 1820 revival in Palmyra itself are thin; Latter-day Saint historians point to revivals in the wider area.
▸Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) claims to restore the church of Jesus of NazarethHistorical record
The connection
Latter-day Saints believe the original church of Jesus fell into apostasy after the apostles died, and that God restored it, with its priesthood authority, through Joseph Smith. The full name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stresses this. The Book of Mormon describes the risen Jesus visiting ancient peoples of the Americas.
When and where
Organized April 6, 1830, in Fayette, New York; the present name was adopted in 1838.
Historical evidence
This is a faith claim, stated in LDS scripture and teaching; historians can document the church's founding but not a divine restoration.
Questions and debates
Many churches dispute that Latter-day Saints are Christians in the traditional sense, since they reject the Nicene Trinity; Latter-day Saints firmly identify as Christians.