It was 1820 when Mormonism was born. Joseph Smith, Jr. was a religious man who founded the Mormon church. Born December 23, 1805, to Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, poor, uneducated farmers. Many Americans persecuted Smith Jr. but he too was accepted by many. Smith has been considered one of the most controversial men of our time because of his different way of teaching. Joseph Smith and his followers were driven out of numerous states due to the persecution of their fellow Americans. Joseph Smith had a successor who led the church after Smith's death, Brigham Young. Young led the Mormons to Utah where they have since settled. It all began with a fourteen-year-old boy, Joseph Smith, who was visited by God the Father and God the Son. Smith was praying for guidance in a forest in western New York when the two beings revealed themselves and told him not to join any church because all other churches were false (Bushman 56). They told him, Joseph, that he would establish the true church of God. This meeting was called the “First Vision.” The events of the morning marked the beginning of the restoration of the gospel (Bushman 56). Three years later, when Joseph was seventeen, he was once again visited by an angel. The angel Moroni told Joseph that he was chosen by God and that God had a work for Joseph that would provoke opposition (Bushman 62). The angel said that the “fullness of the everlasting gospel” was engraved on golden plates written in ancient hieroglyphics (Bushman 62). The angel said that these dishes were buried in a hill located nearby where Joseph would pray. Joseph would be the one who translated the tablets and was responsible for bringing…half of the paper… Since Mormonism is only over 200 years old, it already has over 10,000,000 followers. But with every religion comes nonbelievers, and nonbelievers and ex-Mormons believe Smith was an impostor. There was also a sense of fear that the Mormons would gain the upper hand and power. There were fears that Mormons were trying to undermine the American institution of marriage. Americans persecuted Mormons because they believed that if Mormons gained too much power, polygamy would be allowed and monogamy would no longer exist. Bushman is a believer who wrote the book for other believers to read, but there is little Bushman does to present Smith in an impeccable light. Instead, Bushman sees Mormonism's controversial issues with polygamy, and Bushman seeks to provide information and explain Joseph Smith's notions in a way that is acceptable under Mormon terms..