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Kinderhook plates: Examining a nineteenth-century hoax, The
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2003 by Peters, Jason Frederick
In the 1830s and 1840s, frontier Illinois contained a very volatile mix of people. This new environment facilitated a leveling factor that brought people from all parts of the country and from all walks of life. These people transplanted their beliefs, attitudes, and values into their new surroundings. Not surprisingly, the first structures built in these new Illinois settlements were churches, schools, and meeting places, most times well before the installation of merchants and tradesmen.1 Entering into these newly established settlements were the effects of religious revivalism originating in the East and New England. The most important group emerging from this movement was the Mormons, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).
Led by the charismatic Joseph Smith, the Mormons emerged from the millennialist groups of the second Great Awakening to establish themselves as a large and fast-growing religious sect. Smith's message and the Mormon religious doctrine were based upon the Book of Mormon, Smith's own translation of metallic tablets, or plates, said to contain the history of the ancient inhabitants of North America. These ancient plates were said to be made of gold and were presented to Smith by the angel Moroni. After the Mormons moved from the New York area to Kirtland, Ohio, and to Missouri, they ran into public resentment and violence, forcing them into exile in Illinois. The Mormons later fully established themselves and their church at Commerce, Hancock County, Illinois in 1839. Commerce, later renamed Nauvoo, soon grew to be one of the largest settlements in the state. The influence and effects of the Mormons soon spread to other areas of the state through their extensive missionary work and pamphlets.
The spread of Mormon influence in west-central Illinois in the early 1840s left most people divided into one of two camps. One either fell on the pro-Mormon side or the anti-Mormon side. As tensions in Hancock County grew, the aftershocks reverberated throughout the state. Rumors spread of polygamy and theft on the anti-Mormon side. Having become familiar with Mormon doctrine and traditions by the pamphlets spread by nearby Mormon churches as well as the information passing through the small village, three citizens of Kinderhook, in western Pike County, Illinois, set plans in motion to expose the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith as a fraud. Bridge Whitten, Robert Wiley, and Wilburn Fugate planned their own version of the Mormon myth. The three entered Whitten's blacksmith shop where they created their own plates from brass and planted them in a local Indian mound. After doing so, the three hoped to plan a "discovery" and circulate their story in hopes of attracting Smith's attention. They then hoped to fool Smith into releasing some statement concerning the authenticity of the plates in order to expose him as a fraud. While their very intentional and well-planned hoax did not achieve its original goal, it did have a huge effect on the church for quite some time. The confusion surrounding the murder of Smith and the subsequent immigration of the church to Utah caused the hoax to remain unaddressed by Smith. The fact that Smith had never officially commented as to whether or not the plates were authentic led many members of the church to take the plates at face value and never question their authenticity. Whether Smith accepted the plates or not is conjecture, but the church and its establishment defended the plates until 1981. This position has provided a source of controversy for the church ever since. The fact that the Kinderhook Plates, an admitted hoax, was defended by many important members of the church for over one hundred years has created a major discrepancy in the chronological history of the church. This discrepancy has yet to be properly and officially addressed. Even if Smith never officially commented on the authenticity of the plates, many others have, which has left the church and its followers with a problem that has been left unresolved for nearly one hundred and sixty years.
The Mormon movement can be traced back to the mid-1820s. In September 1827, Joseph Smith claimed that, after dreaming of a treasure buried in a hill close to his home near Manchester, New York, the angel Moroni appeared before him and supplied him with a series of golden plates engraved with ancient characters.2 Upon translating these plates, Smith found they contained an account of the ancient inhabitants of North America. After publishing these translations, known as the Book of Mormon, Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in April 1830.3 In the earliest stages of the development of the church, the Mormons believed that they were living in the "end times" foretold in the Bible, thus initially linking the Mormon faith with the wider millennialist movement of the period. Hoping to develop a greater following, Smith and the church soon relocated to Kirtland, Ohio in the spring of 1831.4
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