“I do not believe that the people of the North have any more right to say that the South shall not hold slaves, than the South have to say the North shall … the first mention we have of slavery is found in the Holy Bible … And so far from that prediction being averse to the mind of God, it [slavery] remains as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham [claimed by Mormons to be the African race] in servitude!”

Joseph Smith, Jr. – April 1836, History of Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Volume 2, Vogel edition (Salt Lake City, UT: The Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2015), 422-423.