The Amboy Conference was the setting of the official "re-organization" of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded dur ...

into the

Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

denomination known since 2001 as the

Community of Christ Community of Christ, known legally and from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement ...

. Held on April 6, 1860, this conference recognized movement founder,

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

's eldest son,

Joseph Smith III Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914) was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith (founder of the Latter Day Saint movement) and Emma Hale Smith. Joseph Smith III was the Prophet-President of what became the Reorganized Chu ...

as his rightful successor and sustained the young Joseph as

President of the Church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the president of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

. Elder Zenas H. Gurley Sr. presided over the conference which was held in

Amboy, Illinois Amboy is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States, along the Green River. The population was 2,500 at the 2010 census. The chain of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. began in Amboy when Samuel Carson opened his first dry goods store there in 1854 ...

, and Samuel Powers and Edmund C. Briggs were reported to preach powerful sermons and bear strong testimonies of the restored gospel.

addressed the conference and told the assembled Latter Day Saints that he had accepted the calling "in obedience to a power not my own, and I shall be dictated by the power that sent me." Smith also denounced the practice of

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more ...

, stating that it was in opposition to the doctrine contained in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

. He affirmed his allegiance to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and laws of the United States and he said that the church must act in accordance with those laws that there be no antagonism between church and state. Both Smith and his mother

Emma Hale Smith Bidamon Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and a prominent member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) as well as the first wife of Joseph ...

were accepted into the church without

rebaptism Rebaptism in Christianity is the baptism of a person who has previously been baptized, usually in association with a denomination that does not recognize the validity of the previous baptism. When a denomination rebaptizes members of another den ...

, as their original baptisms were considered to remain valid. After the conference, Smith and his mother returned to their homes in

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its h ...

, from where he began to preside over the affairs of the newly reorganized church. In 1872, the church was renamed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which was a reference to the reorganization which occurred at the Amboy Conference.

References

*Richard P. Howard, ''The Church Through the Years,'' Herald House: 1992. *

Roger D. Launius Roger D. Launius (born May 15, 1954) is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. He retired in 2016 as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs for the Smithsonian National Air ...

, ''Joseph III: Pragmatic Prophet,'' University of Illinois Press: 1995. Community of Christ History of the Latter Day Saint movement Latter Day Saint movement in Illinois 1860 in Illinois 1860 in Christianity April 1860 {{LDS-stub