Succession in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

In the summer of 1844, Joseph Smith was assassinated in a Carthage, Illinois jail cell, and the religious movement he founded faced an existential question: who speaks for God when the prophet falls? This meticulously researched late-19th-century account by B.H. Roberts examines the succession crisis that followed, tracing the competing claims of Sidney Rigdon, who argued a counselor should lead, and Brigham Young, who insisted the Twelve Apostles held apostolic authority. Roberts reconstructs the tumultuous meetings, fiery speeches, and theological arguments that determined the trajectory of American religion, weaving together documentary evidence with careful analysis of what the early church believed about divine governance. The result is not merely a historical record but a profound meditation on how religious movements survive the death of their founder, and what it means when the question of 'who is really in charge' has no easy answer.