When Aaron Burr’s Biographer Heard the Mormon Prophet Speak

In the winter of 1840, Matthew L. Davis (journalist and longtime confidant of Aaron Burr) attends a private discourse in Washington, D.C., where he hears Mormon founder Joseph Smith speak. Initially skeptical, Davis is struck by Smith’s sincerity and calm demeanor. Drawing on his past defense of misunderstood figures like Burr, Davis writes to his wife expressing a surprising change of heart.