Ethan Smith's ministerial career from 1750 to 1840 was enlisted in the struggle against Thomas Paine's brand of popular deism. His View of the Hebrews was his major contribution to the cause of biblical revelation's validity. The book came out first in 1823 and then, revised and enlarged, in two printings in 1825. It was widely available in New England and New York.

Ethan Smith made his book a tract presenting the millennial hope that the conversion of the Indians would help usher in the thousand year reign of Christ. It was a sermon urging Christian America to evangelize the Indians. A literalistic approach to the restoration passages of the Old Testament, particularly those of Isaiah and Jeremiah, led the author to look for their fulfillment just before the impending millennium.

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Smith drew such tight parallels between the Indians and the Hebrews that no other conclusion could be drawn: they were one and the same. The parallels are made to show that the same conclusion he drew from a speech by Montezuma might be applied to the North American Indians: namely, events in pagan mythology may be confused and blended with fable, yet some of them "can easily be traced to ancient revelation."

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Joseph Smith in his teens was, according to his mother, a thoughtful young man, and was inclined to ponder life's issues. He could take current topics of interest and entertain others with them. He recited stories of the Indians, their fortifications, customs, and life as if he had lived among them all his life. He had access to Humboldt's New Spain, the weekly newspapers and the people who produced them.

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The Book of Mormon is filled with speculations about the Indians, duplicating what appeared in books and newspapers. The apologetic value that Ethan Smith saw in the Indian-Israelite theory against deists and rationalists appears in full measure in the Book of Mormon. The Pittsfield Parchment story finds a striking parallel in Joseph Smith's setting up the consultation between Martin Harris and Charles Anthon, and in his interpretation of Isaiah 29.