"Joseph Smith: Racist or Abolitionist?"

Joseph Smith’s 1836 remarks, preserved in the church’s own official history, openly defend slavery as divinely sanctioned and portray the enslavement of the “sons of Ham”—believed by Smith to be the African race—as a decree of God rather than a moral injustice.

This statement predates Brigham Young and demonstrates that racialized theology was already present at Mormonism’s highest level well before Utah priesthood restrictions hardened into doctrine.

Against this backdrop, Smith’s later abolitionist language during his 1844 presidential campaign appears less like a principled moral reversal and more like political expediency shaped by shifting public pressures.

The contrast exposes an uncomfortable continuity: early Mormon leadership employed scripture to justify racial hierarchy, and later rhetorical pivots did little to undo the theological foundations already laid.

Видео "Joseph Smith: Racist or Abolitionist?" канала Dan Wees