Sidney is representative of the many church members who abandoned the church after Joseph Smith died. I think their leaving the church is somewhat less damning because there was no established order of succession. On the other hand, those who were present when Sidney and Brigham addressed the people in Nauvoo (which obviously included Sidney) had a manifestation of who the Lord would have the people follow. Sidney had remained a member of the first presidency until the death of Joseph but then had too much pride to follow Brigham. As the first counselor in the first presidency Sidney felt that he should lead the church after the death of Joseph.
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