The Mormon movement began with the publishing of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, which Smith claimed was a translation of golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient American civilization that the ancient prophet-historian Mormon had compiled. Smith stated that an angel had directed him to the golden plates buried in the Hill Cumorah.. On April 6, 1830, Smith founded the Church of Christ.Scholars and eye-witnesses disagree as to whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. ; (arguing that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements). In 1832, Smith added an account of a vision he had sometime in the early 1820s while living in Upstate New York.; ; . Some Mormons regarded this vision as the most important event in human history after the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.; (belief in the First Vision now considered second in importance only to belief in the divinity of Jesus.); ("[N]othing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration.").
The Mormon movement began with the publishing of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, which Smith claimed was a translation of golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient American civilization that the ancient prophet-historian Mormon had compiled. Smith stated that an angel had directed him to the golden plates buried in the Hill Cumorah.. On April 6, 1830, Smith founded the Church of Christ.Scholars and eye-witnesses disagree as to whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. ; (arguing that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements) In 1832, Smith added an account of a vision he had sometime in the early 1820s while living in Upstate New York.; ; . Some Mormons regarded this vision as the most important event in human history after the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.; (belief in the First Vision now considered second in importance only to belief in the divinity of Jesus.); ("[N]othing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration.").