Wilford Woodruff's Vision of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1877)

Following the dedication of the St. George Temple in 1877, President Wilford Woodruff received a remarkable vision. He recorded, "a class of men came to me in the night visions, and argued with me to have the work done for them. They were the Signers of the Declaration of Independence." The signers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others, appeared to Woodruff requesting that their temple ordinances be performed by proxy. In response, Woodruff undertook the vicarious baptism, confirmation, and ordination work for these Founding Fathers and other eminent Americans. This vision, recalled by Woodruff during the 1893 Salt Lake Temple dedication, became one of the best-known manifestations of the Restoration, demonstrating the continuity of the Lord's work for the living and the dead.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I will here say, before closing, that two weeks before I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, 'You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.' These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had been done, they should come unto me. I went before the Lord in prayer and asked why they did not come to somebody else. The voice of the Lord came to me and said, 'Had you had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us.' I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others; I then baptized him for every President of the United States, except three; and when their cause is just, somebody will do the work for them.