The Letter of Appointment was a controversial three-page document used by James J. Strang and his adherents in their efforts to prove that he was the designated successor to Joseph Smith, Jr., as the prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sent from Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...

 on June 19, 1844 to Strang in Burlington, Wisconsin

Burlington, Wisconsin

Burlington is a city in Racine and Walworth counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, with the majority of the city located in Racine County. The population was 10,421 at the 2009 census.-History:...

, this missive served as the cornerstone of Strang's claims, which were ultimately rejected by the majority of Latter Day Saints. Following Strang's murder in 1856, the letter passed through various hands until acquired by Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, where it currently forms a part of its Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...

.

James J. Strang

James J. Strang was a lawyer and newspaper editor from New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1844. Shortly after his baptism, Joseph Smith, Jr., founding prophet of the church, was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob. Upon Smith's demise, a number of individuals would come forward claiming a divine mandate to lead his church, including Strang. As a recent convert, Strang did not yet possess the name recognition among rank-and-file Mormons that was enjoyed by Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

 and Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...

 (two other contenders for LDS leadership). Hence, he faced an "uphill" battle in his quest to be recognized as the heir to Joseph Smith's prophetic mantle.

The letter

To advance his cause, Strang asserted that unlike Rigdon and Young, he had physical proof of his prophetic calling. He produced a document, purportedly authored by Smith and mailed one week before his murder, prophesying his impending demise and allegedly naming Strang as his successor. The wording of this letter is somewhat ambiguous; while some interpreted it as appointing Strang solely to the presidency of the newly-created Voree Stake, Strangites insist that it appoints him to Smith's prophetic office. The complete text of Strang's "Letter of Appointment" is located at Strangite.org.

Events as related in "The Diamond"

In his tract The Diamond, Strang relates this version of events:

"This letter was received at Burlington by regular course of mail, coming through the distributing office at Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, and bears the Nauvoo postmark

Postmark

thumb|USS TexasA postmark is a postal marking made on a letter, package, postcard or the like indicating the date and time that the item was delivered into the care of the postal service...

 of June 19, the day following its date. It arrived at Burlington July 9, and was immediately taken from the office by C. P. Barnes, Esq., a distinguished lawyer. at that place, who, in consequence of the rumors of persecution and civil war against the Mormons, and a general anxiety to hear the latest news, immediately carried it to Mr. Strang, with the request to be informed of any news of public interest which it might contain. It therefore became public the same evening."

Strang offered the following alleged witnesses in Nauvoo to corroborate his story:

"Mrs. Emma Smith recollects well of her husband receiving a letter from Mr. Strang, and holding a council on the subject, and names Hyrum Smith

Hyrum Smith

Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....

, Willard Richards

Willard Richards

Willard Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Brigham Young in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death.Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to...

 and John P. Green as present at that council, and also that a letter was sent to Mr. Strang in answer, but of the import of the answer she was not informed."

Next, Strang accused Smith's Twelve Apostles of conspiring together to suppress evidence of his appointment to the prophetic office–and even the possibility of murder:

“Immediately after the martyrdom of Joseph, John Taylor, Willard Richards and William W. Phelps took a kind of temporary direction of the affairs of the church, instructing the saints to wait patiently the hand of the Lord; assuring them that he had not left them without a shepherd, and that all things would be made known in due season. To every question of the saints, Who is the prophet? replies were made, in substance, that the saints would know in due season, but that nothing could be done until the Twelve got home, because the appointment of a prophet and the directions for salvation of the church from the perils they were in, was contained in sealed packages directed to them. Orson Hyde and others of the Twelve, who were then in the east, stated in public congregations in New York, Philadelphia and other cities, that Willard Richards had written to them that the appointment of a prophet was left with him, under seal, to be opened on the return of the Twelve. This assertion was so often made that the whole church were daily expecting to hear a new prophet proclaimed. On the 8th day of August, 1844, when Sidney Rigdon endeavored to obtain authority to lead the church, John P. Green, marshal of the city of Nauvoo, told them, 'They need not trouble themselves about it, for Joseph had appointed one James J. Strang, who lived up north, to stand in his stead.' The sudden death of John P. Green immediately after this declaration (under very extraordinary circumstances) left Willard Richards and John Taylor sole repositors of all documents on this subject, except this letter." After the return of the Twelve, the alleged promise of the "sealed packages" naming Smith's successor appears to have been dropped.

Alleged corroboration in postal records

When Strang's supporters attempted to use local postal records to prove that Smith had mailed the letter, they found that portion of the files could not be found. However, the records remained intact in the Chicago and Burlington post offices, showing that this letter was indeed mailed from Smith to Strang. Although Brigham Young quickly denounced Strang's missive as a "wicked forgery," this did not stop two of his associates in the Quorum of Twelve from defecting to Strang, together with William Marks

William Marks

William Marks may refer to:*William Marks , American lawyer, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania*William Marks , American early religious leader in the Latter Day Saint movement...

 (Nauvoo Stake president), members of Smith's family (including his sisters, mother and widow), and other prominent Saints. Later, most of these would renounce Strang and join the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

, led by Joseph Smith's son, Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and Emma Hale Smith...

.

Strang also claimed to have received an angelic appointment at a time coincident with Smith's death, and, like Smith, claimed the ability to translate ancient documents on metal plates into modern English. This helped Strang continue to gain converts until his assassination at the hands of disgruntled followers twelve years later.

Questions of authenticity

Experts agree that the postmark on the letter is genuine. Strang's opponents challenged this during his lifetime by pointing to a tiny dot on the postmark, just before the "j" in "June"–one that they claimed should never have been there. Strang, however, produced several letters mailed from Nauvoo on June 19, all of which had this same dot. Here, said he, was proof that the postmark on his "Letter" was indeed authentic.

Other critics, however, have denounced the letter as fraud

Fraud

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

ulent, largely because the two sheets of paper used in creating it (making three pages for writing, and one page for the address and postmark) are from different stocks–yet analysis indicates that the handwriting on all three pages is the same. References to Strang's alleged appointment appear throughout. Page one: "The faith which thou hast in the Shepherd, the stone of Israel (Joseph Smith), hath been repaid to thee a thousandfold, and thou shalt be like unto him; but the flock shall find rest with thee, and God shall reveal to thee his will concerning them". Page two continues: "...he (Strang) had faith in thee (Joseph), the Shepherd and Stone of Israel, and to him shall the gathering of the people be...." Page three: "Thy duty is made plain...if evil befall me, thou shalt lead the flock to pleasant pastures."

Some modern analysts have asserted that Joseph Smith's signature on the letter's third page is a forgery

Forgery

Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...

. One former Strangite insisted that Strang's law partner–the same "C. P. Barnes, Esq." mentioned by Strang in The Diamond–helped Strang fabricate this letter and the Voree Plates

Voree Plates

The Voree Plates, sometimes called The Record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito, or the Voree Record, were a set of three tiny metal plates allegedly discovered by James J. Strang in 1845 in Voree, near Burlington, Wisconsin...

, though no proof of this was ever produced.

One theory is that James Strang did indeed receive a letter of some sort from Joseph Smith, in which a blank sheet of paper was used for the envelope; Strang, according to this premise, discarded the contents of that letter and proceeded to author his "Letter of Appointment," using the blank outer sheet for the final page of its text. Such a maneuver would have assured Strang of an authentic postmark for his letter, even if its contents were bogus.

The "Letter of Appointment" is still accepted and defended by members of Strang's church.

Footnotes

• Note a: The James Jesse Strang Collection in the Beinecke Library is coded WA MSS 447. A complete description of this collection may be viewed at Strang Collection.
• Note b: "Mormon," as used in this article, refers to adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement as a whole, and not just to its largest branch, the LDS church (as is usual among smaller Latter Day Saint sects, many of which dislike this term). Its use here is only for convenience, not in any derogatory sense.
• Note c: William Smith and John E. Page, two members of the Quorum of Twelve under Joseph Smith, joined Strang briefly but left his movement by 1847.
• Note d: The postmark appears on the back side of one of the pages, where Strang's name and address were written. The completed letter was folded and mailed to Strang without using an envelope.