3) The Book of Mormon 1830 Edition (Joseph Smith as the Author) ... retained much of the ungrammatical sentence structure and anachronistic wording but had the extreme lack of punctuation and correct spelling (there were no periods, for example) corrected by the Printer. This edition includes the rant against Mrs Harris for making off with the 16 pages.
4) The next edition (Joseph Smith as the Translator) which had the wording and sentence structure cleaned up and had various theological and logical errors (Mary the Mother of God for example) corrected. It also has the paragraph and chapter structure improved. The rant is gone.
5) Subsequently it is revised more subtly over the years as the winds of doctrine and editorial prerogative blow hither and you. For example white and delightsome becomes pure and delightsome back and forth.
The original manuscript has all the earmarks of a document dictated from another manuscript. Why Smith would have had to do so is a mystery. One possibility is that he was putting the manuscript, notes and outline in his own words filtered through his storytelling ability re the ‘previous inhabitants of the continent’ (as testified by his mother) Luman Walters, board post 5th April 2005, ‘The Original Transcript of the Book of Mormon’
I don’t know of any evidence the Nephites ever existed in the Americas. Dr Stephen L Whittington, archaeologist University of Maine
For Mormons, the lack of discernible Hebrew blood in Native Americans is no minor collision between faith and science. It burrows into the historical foundations of the Book of Mormon, a 175-year-old transcription that the Church regards as literal and without error.
For those outside the faith, the depth of the Church’s dilemma can be explained this way: Imagine if DNA evidence revealed that the Pilgrims didn’t sail from Europe to escape religious persecution but rather were part of a migration from Iceland – and that US history books were wrong.
Critics want the Church to admit its mistake and apologize to millions of Native Americans it converted. Church leaders have shown no inclination to do so. Indeed, they have dismissed as heresy any suggestion that Native American genetics undermine the Mormon creed.
Yet at the same time, the Church has subtly promoted a fresh interpretation of the Book of Mormon intended to reconcile the DNA findings with the scriptures. This analysis is radically at odds with long-standing Mormon teachings. William Lobell, article ‘Bedrock of a Faith is Jolted’, cited The New York Times
No evidence has been found of a culture originating in Israel called Lamanites or Nephites. There’s no evidence ... No evidence of Hebrew, there is nothing in the glyph data that suggests even a hint of Hebrew writing. Dr Eliseo Fajardo, new world archaeologist
cf.
Guatemala is a country of about three million people. About half of them still dress in the Indian costume of a thousand or two thousand years back. They are wonderful people, very simple ... I went ... to present them with a Book of Mormon. I started to say, ‘I come to give you a copy of the Book of Mormon, a history of your people,’ and two chiefs immediately arose on their feet, and I started to say, ‘You are of the house of Israel,’ but before I could get it out of my mouth they jumped to their feet and said, ‘We are of the House of Israel!’ Gordon M Romney, general conference April 1957
We thank thee that thousands and tens of thousands of the descendants of Lehi in this favored land have come to a knowledge of the gospel. David O McKay, New Zealand temple dedication 20th April 1958
I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation. At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl – sixteen – sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents – on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather ... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. Spencer W Kimball, general conference address 1960
There are more than 60 million people of Lamanite extraction. It is no accident that the Church now prospers among them in Mexico, Central and South America, in the islands of the sea, and among the Indian tribes of North America. Spencer W Kimball, article Ensign March 1974, ‘No Ordinary Man’
Today thousands of Lamanites are coming into the Church. More than one hundred Lamanite branches have been organized among the stakes and within the missions. In many of these branches the leadership is provided by the Lamanite members. They are the branch presidents, the teachers, the auxiliary leaders, the music directors. Lives are being transformed. In some cases whole Indian communities are being affected ... In fulfillment of Nephi’s prophetic words, the Lamanites in our day are, indeed, being restored to their rightful plea in the House of Israel. By their obedience to the principles of the gospel, they are beginning to receive the blessings promised to their ancient fathers. Boyd K Packer, article Relief Society Magazine 1964, ‘For the Blessing of the Lamanites’
... the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of the house of Israel. James E Talmage, The Articles of Faith p293
One expression of appreciation from an Indian boy included these moving words: ‘Before I took LDS seminary I didn’t have very much to live for ... I had always felt that Indians could not do things as well as white people. Now I know that I am a child of God. I know that my people are of the house of Israel.’ Neal A Maxwell, general conference October 1970
I have had trouble enough with this thing. Joseph Smith, burying original manuscript of Book of Mormon; viz Ernest H Taves, ‘Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon’ p160 1984