View source for Question: Are there any eyewitness accounts of the events that resulted in the trip to Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?

{{Main Page}}
<onlyinclude>
==Question: Are there any eyewitness accounts of the events that resulted in the trip to Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?==
{{BMCentral|title=Why Did Joseph Smith Attempt to Secure the Book of Mormon Copyright in Canada?|url=https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-did-joseph-smith-attempt-to-secure-the-book-of-mormon-copyright-in-canada|number=556}}
===Joseph Smith decided this could be an opportunity to relieve some of the financial pressure associated with publishing the Book of Mormon===
 
Joseph Smith had been told there were people in Canada willing to buy the copyrights to useful books.  Due to the dire financial position of the Church, he decided this could be an opportunity to relieve some of the financial pressure associated with publishing the Book of Mormon.  Four men went to Canada.  

===Joseph Smith received a revelation directing them to go to Kingston, Canada, with some conditions placed upon their success===

Before leaving, Joseph Smith received a revelation directing them to go to Kingston, Canada, with some conditions placed upon their success.
<blockquote>
...it Pleaseth me that Oliver Cowderey Joseph Knight Hyram Page<del>e</del> & Josiah Stowel shall do my work in this thing yea even in securing the <ins>Copy</ins>right & they shall do it with an eye single to my Glory that it may be the means of bringing souls unto me Salvation through mine only Be{<del>t</del>\gotten} Behold I am God I have spoken it <del>& it is expedient in me</del> Wherefor I say unto you that ye shall go <del>to Kingston</del> seeking me continually through mine only Be{t\gotten} & if ye do this ye shall have my spirit to go with you & ye shall have an addition of all things which is expedient in me. <ins>amen</ins> & I grant unto my servent a privelige that he may sell <ins>a copyright</ins> through you speaking after the manner of men for the four Provinces if the People harden not their hearts against the enticeings of my spirit & my word for Behold it lieth in themselves to their condemnation <del>&</del>{<del>◊</del>\or} th{<del>er</del>\eir} salvation. 
</blockquote>

[[File:Revelation book 1 p. 15 1.jpg|600 px|thumb|center]]

===The text of the actual revelation was recently discovered and published in ''The Joseph Smith Papers''===

The text of the revelation was published in the ''The Joseph Smith Papers: The Revelations and Translations Series.'' According to Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and Recorder,

<blockquote>
Another interesting development from work on the Revelations and Translations Series has been the identification of a previously unpublished revelation on securing a copyright for the Book of Mormon in Canada. David Whitmer, after he left the Church, recalled that the revelation promised success in selling the copyright, but upon return of the men charged with the duty, Joseph Smith and others were disappointed by what seemed like failure. Historians have relied upon statements of David Whitmer, Hiram Page, and William McLellin for decades but have not had the actual text of the revelation. Revelation Book 1 will provide that. 

Although we still do not know the whole story, particularly Joseph Smith’s own view of the situation, we do know that calling the divine communication a “failed revelation” is not warranted. The Lord’s directive clearly conditions the successful sale of the copyright on the worthiness of those seeking to make the sale as well as on the spiritual receptivity of the potential purchasers. <ref>Marlin K. Jensen, “The Joseph Smith Papers: The Manuscript Revelation Books,” ''Ensign'' (July 2009) {{link|url=https://www.lds.org/liahona/2009/07/the-joseph-smith-papers-the-manuscript-revelation-books?lang=eng&query=The+Joseph+Smith+Papers}}</ref> 
</blockquote>

===Hiram Page, one of the participants, stated he for the first time understood how some revelations given to people were not necessarily for their direct benefit===

Hiram Page, who was one of the individuals sent to Canada, laid out the event in a letter in 1848.<ref>Letter to William McLellin, February 2, 1848, as cited in Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', Vol. 5, pages 257-9.</ref> Page wrote that the revelation Joseph Smith received conditioned success upon whether those individuals in Canada capable of buying the Book of Mormon copyright would have their hearts softened.  When unable to sell the copyright, the four men returned to Palmyra.  Hiram Page stated he for the first time understood how some revelations given to people were not necessarily for their direct benefit&mdash;in fact, Hiram Page believed that the revelation was actually ''fulfilled''.
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}
[[Category:An Insider's View of Mormon Origins]]
[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:MormonThink]]
[[Category:No Man Knows My History]]
[[Category:The Changing World of Mormonism]]
[[Category:One Nation Under Gods]]

[[es:Pregunta: ¿Hay relatos de testigos de los hechos que dieron lugar a su viaje a Canadá para vender el Libro de Mormón de autor?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Há alguma relatos de testemunhas oculares dos eventos que resultaram na viagem para o Canadá para vender os direitos autorais do Livro de Mórmon?]]
[[Category:Questions]]