Editing David Whitmer (section)

==Separation from the church==
[[File:David Whitmer & Co., Livery and Feed Stable Advertisement.jpg|thumb|125px|Advertisement for Whitmer's livery stable]]
Whitmer continued to live in [[Kirtland, Ohio]], and his counselors, [[W. W. Phelps (Mormon)|W. W. Phelps]] and [[John Whitmer]] (Whitmer's brother) presided over the church in Missouri until the summer of 1837. After the collapse of the [[Kirtland Safety Society]] bank, Smith and his counselor [[Sidney Rigdon]], battered by creditors, moved to [[Far West, Missouri]], to evade arrest.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Wagoner |first1=Richard S. |author1-link=Richard S. Van Wagoner |title=[[Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess]] |date=1994 |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |page=193}}</ref> The ensuing leadership struggle led to the dissolution of the presidency of the church in Missouri. Whitmer resigned and separated from the church.<ref>A minority viewpoint is that David Whitmer separated from the church but was never excommunicated. See Ebenezer Robinson, [https://latterdaytruth.org/TEST/pdf/100726.pdf "Items of Personal History of the Editor,"] ''The Return'', (Davis City, Iowa: Church of Christ), Vol. 1, No. 9, September 1889, pp. 134–35. Also found in ''Far West Record'', pp. 123–25.</ref> He was formally [[Excommunication#The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|excommunicated]] from the church on the grounds of breaking the [[Word of Wisdom]], neglecting his leadership duties, meeting with the other "Kirtland apostates", and circulating unfavorable information about Joseph Smith.<ref name=":0" />

Whitmer and the other excommunicated Latter Day Saints became known as the "dissenters". Some of the dissenters owned land in [[Caldwell County, Missouri]], which they wanted to retain.<ref>A minority viewpoint is that David Whitmer did not own land. See ''[[Saints' Herald]]'', vol. 34, No. 7, February 5, 1887.</ref> The church presidency and other members looked unfavorably upon them. Rigdon preached his "[[Salt Sermon]]", which called for their expulsion from the county. A number of Latter Day Saints formed a secret society known as the [[Danites]], whose stated goal was removal of the dissenters. Eighty prominent Mormons signed the so-called [[Danite#Danite Manifesto|Danite Manifesto]], which warned the dissenters to "depart or a more fatal calamity shall befall you." Shortly afterward, Whitmer and his family fled to nearby [[Richmond, Missouri]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Whitmer, other dissenters, and Mormons loyal to Smith complained to the non-Mormons in northwestern Missouri about their forcible expulsion and the loss of their properties and began to file lawsuits to recover them.

Tensions escalated, bringing about the [[Mormon War (1838)|1838 Mormon War]], after which [[Governor Boggs]] issued the [[Mormon Extermination Order]] in October 1838, authorizing deadly force in the removal of Mormons. Consequently, most of the Latter Day Saints were expelled from Missouri by early 1839.<ref>Bushman, 328–55.</ref>

In 1887, Whitmer used his position as one of the Three Witnesses to condemn the church in response to these 1838 "persecutions" from a "secret organization" formed within the church that denounced "dissenters": "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon", wrote Whitmer, "if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so it should be done unto them.'"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://latterdaytruth.org/pdf/100023.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407130031/http://latterdaytruth.org/pdf/100023.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |title=All Believers In Christ |author=D. Whitmer |date=1887}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ellis |first1=Jonathan |title=Primary Sources in Mormon History: David Whitmer's An Address to All Believers in Christ |url=https://medium.com/@jellistx/david-whitmer-s-an-address-to-all-believers-in-christ-7b8535643a3e |publisher=[[Medium (website)|Medium]] |access-date=February 17, 2021 |language=en |date=December 28, 2017}}</ref> Whitmer interpreted God's command to include both [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) and the [[Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]], (RLDS Church, now known as the [[Community Of Christ]]): "God commanded me by his voice to stand apart from you."<ref>(Metcalfe, 1993, p. 176)</ref>

Whitmer continued to live in Richmond, where he operated a [[Livery yard|livery stable]] and was elected mayor, a position he held from 1867 to 1868.<ref name=":0" />