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Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates–
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Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes
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A FAIR Opinion
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- According to Smith's followers, Smith said he took the plates from the box, put them on the ground, and covered the box with the stone to protect the other treasures it contained.
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- Knight (1833) , p. 2 (account by Joseph Knight, Sr., a loyal life-long follower who had worked with Smith in treasure expeditions); Smith (1853) , p. 85 (account by Smith's mother, saying this occurred on Smith's second visit to the hill); Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 (account of Smith's sister, saying this occurred on Smith's third visit to the hill, but that it happened prior to their brother Alvin's death, which was in November 1823); Cowdery (1835b) , p. 197 (account by Smith's second-in-command Oliver Cowdery, stating that when Smith was looking in the box for other artifacts, he hadn't yet removed the plates).
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- Nevertheless, the accounts say, when Smith looked back at the ground after closing the box, the plates had once again disappeared into it.
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- Smith (1853) , p. 85 (account by Smith's mother); Knight (1833) , p. 2 (account by Smith's life-long friend Joseph Knight, Sr.); Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 (account of Smith's sister).
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- According to two non-believing Palmyra residents, when Smith once again raised the stone and attempted to retrieve the plates, Smith saw something in the box like a toad that grew larger and struck him to the ground.
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- Chase (1833) , p. 242 (account of Palmyra resident Willard Chase, who heard the story from Smith's father in 1827 and was a non-believer); Saunders (1884a) (account of Benjamin Saunders, a sympathetic non-believer who heard the story from Joseph Smith in 1827); Saunders (1893) (account of Orson Saunders, a non-believer who heard it from Benjamin Saunders).
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- Although Smith's followers do not mention a toad-like creature, they agree with several non-believers that Smith said he was stricken by a supernatural force that hurled him to the ground as many as three times.
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- Writing with Smith's assistance for a church periodical, Oliver Cowdery said that Smith was stricken three times with an ever increasing force, persisting after the second blow because he thought the plates were held by the power of an "enchantment" (like hidden-treasure stories he had heard) that could be overcome by physical exertion Cowdery (1835b) , pp. 197–98. Smith's mother said he was stricken by a force but did not say how many times Smith (1853) , p. 86. Willard Chase said Smith was stricken at least twice Chase (1833) , p. 242. Fayette Lapham, who said he heard the story in about 1830 from Smith's father, said Smith was stricken three times with ever-increasing force Lapham (1870) , p. 306. Two neighbors who heard the story from Smith in Harmony in the late 1820s said Smith was knocked down three times Lewis (Lewis) , p. 1. Smith himself said he made three unsuccessful attempts to take the plates that day, but he did not mention his being stricken Smith (1832) , p. 3. Smith's sister Katharine stated that three times, "he felt a pressure pushing hom [him] away" Salisbury (1895) , p. 14. David Whitmer said that the angel struck Smith three times with such force that he was knocked off the hill onto the surrounding plain and had to reascend it Whitmer (1875) .
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- Disconcerted by his inability to obtain the plates, Smith said he briefly wondered whether his experience had been a "dreem of Vision" [sic].
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- Concluding that it was not, he said he prayed asking why he had been barred from taking the plates.
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- Smith (1832) , p. 3; Knight (1833) , p. 2 (saying Smith exclaimed, "why Cant I stur this Book?"); Cowdery (1835b) , p. 198 (saying that Smith exclaimed, without premeditation, "Why can I not obtain this book?"); Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 (saying Smith asked, "Lord, what have I done, that I can not get these records?")
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- In response to his question, Smith said the angel appeared and told him he could not receive the plates because he "had been tempted of the advisary (sic) and saught (sic) the Plates to obtain riches and kept not the commandments that I should have".
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- Smith (1832) , p. 3; Knight (1833) , p. 2 (saying the angel said "you cant have it now", to which Smith responded, "when can I have it?" and the angel said "the 22nt Day of September next if you Bring the right person with you".); Cowdery (1835b) , pp. 197–98 (stating that although Smith "supposed his success certain", his failure to keep the "commandments" led to his inability to obtain them). In Smith's 1838 account he said the angel had already told him he would not receive the plates for another four years Smith (1838a) , p. 7. Smith's brother, who was 11 at the time, said "upon his return [he] told us that in consequence of his not obeying strictly the commandments which the angel had given him, he could not obtain the record until four years from that time" Smith (1883) , p. 10. Smith's sister Katharine (who was 10 at the time) said that Moroni told Smith, "You have not obeyed the commandments as you were commanded to; you must obey His commandments in every particular. You were not to lay them out of your hands until you had them in safe keeping" Salisbury (1895) , p. 14.
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- According to Smith's followers, Smith had also broken the angel's commandment "not to lay the plates down, or put them for a moment out of his hands",
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- Smith (1853) , p. 85; Knight (1833) , p. 2.
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- and according to a non-believer, Smith said "I had forgotten to give thanks to God" as required by the angel.
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- Saunders (1893) (statement of Orson Saunders, who heard the account from his uncle Benjamin Saunders, who heard it from Smith in 1827).
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Smith said the angel instructed him to return the next year, on September 22, 1824, with the "right person": his older brother Alvin.
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- Knight (1833) , p. 2 (account of Joseph Knight, Sr., a life-long follower of Smith); Lapham (1870) , p. 307 (account of Fayette Lapham, who became a skeptic after hearing the story from Smith's father in 1830); Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 (account of Smith's sister Katharine).
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- Alvin died in November 1823, and Smith returned to the hill in 1824 to ask what he should do.
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- Salisbury (1895) , p. 14. Smith (1853) , p. 85 (account of Smith's mother). About the time of the scheduled September 22, 1824 meeting with the angel that Alvin was to attend, there were rumors in Palmyra that Alvin's body had been dug up and dissected. To quell these rumors, Joseph's father brought witnesses to exhume the body three days after Joseph's reported meeting with the angel (September 25) and then ran a notice in a local newspaper stating that the body remained undisturbed—except, of course, by Smith, Sr. and the witnesses. Smith (1824) .
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- Smith said he was told to return the following year (1825) with the "right person"—although the angel did not tell Smith who that person might be.
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- Knight (1833) , p. 2; Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 (saying the angel said, "You will know her when you see her.").
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- For the visit on September 22, 1825, Smith may have attempted to bring his treasure-hunting associate Samuel T. Lawrence,
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- Chase (1833) , p. 243; Knight (1833) , p. 3 (saying Lawrence was a seer and had been to the hill and knew what was there); Harris (1859) , p. 164 (identifying Samuel T. Lawrence as a practitioner of crystal gazing).
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- but eventually, Smith determined after looking into his seer stone that the "right person" was Emma Hale, his future wife.
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- Knight (1833) , p. 2; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15 (saying that Smith "knew when he saw her that she was the one to go with him to get the records").
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- Smith said that he visited the hill "at the end of each year" for four years after the first visit in 1823,
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- but there is no record of him being in the vicinity of Palmyra between January 1826 and January 1827 when he returned to New York from Pennsylvania with his new wife.
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- Smith (1853) , pp. 99–100.
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- In January 1827, Smith visited the hill and then told his parents that the angel had severely chastised him for not being "engaged enough in the work of the Lord",
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- which may have meant that he had missed his annual visit to the hill in 1826.
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- Smith's father is cited as stating Smith was late one year and missed the date for visiting the hill, and therefore was chastised by the angel Lapham (1870) , p. 307.
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