Abstract

Chapter Two explores Joseph Smith's personal style of composition in relation to contemporary print conventions, as well as early American education and popular preaching methods and techniques. The chapter focuses on the method of "laying down heads," or the use of preliminary outlines to compose and deliver sermons. The chapter begins with a brief look at John Walker's popular system of composition in early American education, followed by an exploration of the techniques in relation to Congregationalist preaching styles practiced in the Connecticut River Valley, where Smith spent much of his childhood. Smith's older brother, Hyrum Smith, attended Moor's Indian Charity School, an institution created by Congregationalist preacher Eleazar Wheelock in conjunction with the formation of Dartmouth College. The preaching style taught at the school reflected the semi-extemporaneous style of the famous preacher, George Whitefield, and provides evidence of a Smith family member receiving formal instruction in preaching styles, delivery, and rhetorical performance.

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