Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln

Appropriate for President’s Day, I just listened to an excellent speech by Richard Bushman, author of Rough Stone Rolling, which compares and contrasts the lives of Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln.

They were contemporaries though they probably never met. Joseph was just 3 years older than Lincoln, and they both lived in Illinois at the same time for 5 years.

Both were born into poor farming families whose ancestors had arrived in America during the 1600’s. Both were hard working, country boys who achieved little formal schooling.

Lincoln’s had little interest in spiritual matters but went to church often with his parents. Joseph’s parents, on the other hand, did not regularly attend church, but Joseph was deeply concerned with spiritual matters such as achieving forgiveness of sins and his own salvation. As a boy Lincoln would often stand on a “stump” after church, repeating the sermon word for word and mimicking the mannerisms of the preacher. Joseph’s formal religious background was far smaller, but his curiosity and inflection much more.

Both went through a period of maturity and accomplishment from age 22 to 25. Lincoln began to be ambitious and began networking with people. Joseph translated the Book of Mormon, organized the Church, and sent out missionaries.

Lincoln worked his way up from hireling to store owner to lawyer to state politician to senator to President. Lincoln’s accomplishments followed the ideal path of the “American Dream,” rising from poverty to President gradually. Joseph’s curve of accomplishments was “almost vertical”, becoming a prophet essentially overnight, not over a period of time.

Lincoln believed in the impersonal, deterministic, uninvolved God of Calvinism, though that softened as he suffered through the Civil War. Joseph believed in a personable, loving, concerned God, which made it all the harder when he felt alone or abandoned by Him.

Lincoln believed in capitalism, the freedom for every man to determine his own place in life. (This was his main concern with slavery — the lack of personal economic freedom.) Joseph believed in material equality and even tried practicing consecration with his people. But more than economics, Joseph was concerned with the spiritual welfare of his people. Lincoln was concerned with free markets; Joseph was concerned with having a temple in each community.

Joseph Smith died at the young age of 38. If Lincoln had died at 38 he wouldn’t have been remembered for anything. Both died as martyrs to their causes.

Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln by Richard Bushman [mp3]

This and other talks from the Sidney B. Sperry symposium at BYU

Published in: on February 20, 2006 at 4:46 pm

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8 Comments Leave a comment.

  1. On February 20, 2006 at 5:20 pm Richard K Miller dot coooooooooom » Informal discussion societies Said:

    [...] I just finished listening to an excellent lecture by Richard Bushman on Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln, and he briefly mentioned Ben Franklin’s Junto group: Both Lincoln and Joseph explored … ideas in informal discussion societies modeled roughly after Benjamin Franklin’s Junto a century earlier. All around the country, ambitious young men gathered to read and talk with the aim of improving themselves. [...]

  2. On June 27, 2006 at 9:03 pm Rachel Said:

    We do not need to belittle Abraham Lincoln to make Joseph Smith great. Both were inspired of God. I didn’t care for how this was written.

  3. On June 27, 2006 at 9:48 pm Richard Said:

    Rachel: My comments here are true to the content and tone of Mr. Bushman’s talk; I was paraphrasing more than writing. But this wasn’t intended to disparage Lincoln at all, nor do I think that was Bushman’s intent. I agree that Lincoln was an incredible leader and lived an inspired and inspiring life.

  4. On July 14, 2007 at 2:30 pm A.C. KORITZ Said:

    Didn’t Abe Lincoln respond to an anti-Mormon critic to the effect that the Mormons were like a green tree stump, and to just “plow around them.”? I can’t find the source. Any ideas?

  5. On September 18, 2007 at 7:30 am Pat Said:

    I am more interested in how Lincoln acted in his role as a state representative while the Mormon’s were being persecuted. The Governor certainly was ineffective in protecting the Saints as I read it in Bushman’s book.

  6. On October 1, 2007 at 2:19 pm Mike Griffith Said:

    Lincoln was no friend of the Latter-day Saints. He said nothing when the Saints were being persecuted in Illinois. Before the war, he said the Saints were “probably” in rebellion and added that they needed to be “coerced” somehow. kHe also condemned polygamy as “a relic of barbarism.” As president, he signed the first anti-polygamy bill and appointed anti-Mormons as territorial officials, ignoring Church requests that locals be appointed.

    Privately, Brigham Young was very critical of Lincoln. We must remember that there was a federal army garrison stationed in Utah, and many hostile federal appointees, who all kept a close ear out for anything that sounded the least bit “unpatriotic,” so the Saints were very guarded in their public comments. Readers here may be interested in my article “Abraham Lincoln, the Mormons, and the Civil War” at:

    http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/lincolnandlds.htm

    Mike Griffith

  7. On October 16, 2008 at 11:21 pm Matt Warren Said:

    Hey, great blog. The link to the Bushman talk on Joseph Smith and Abe Lincoln isn’t working. Is there another way I can get to it?
    -Matt

  8. On October 22, 2008 at 3:57 pm Richard Said:

    Matt: It looks like they moved the audio recording. I’ve fixed the link.

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