[Conclusion]

. . . our study suggests that the economic situation in Kirtland was not so bad as students have supposed and that Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders operated on common assumptions about economic trends had they been able to secure a charter it is likely that the demand on their bank would not have become excessive and thus the institution might have become a successful business enterprise the initiation of the anti banking experiment was unquestionably a mistake but one of political misjudgment rather than intentional fraud Mormon losses at Kirtland were heavy for some but perhaps not sufficient to explain the degree of disillusionment and protest which followed there is room for are consideration of the sources of dissent at Kirtland which maybe undertaken at another time