"The importance of the question Where are the Ten Tribes of Israel? the speedy sale of the first edition of this work and the obtaining considerable additional evidence relative to the origin of the American Indians have led the way to the publishing of a second edition of this View. Additional evidences are adduced from various sources especially from Hunter's Narrative - Baron Humboldt on the Kingdom of New Spain - and the American Archaeology. These authors without particular design have furnished what is deemed material evidence upon this subject." - Ethan Smith from the 1825 edition.

Born 1762 in Massachusetts Ethan Smith was a Continental soldier during the Revolutionary War. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1790 he became a prominent Presbyterian minister to establish the New Hampshire Missionary Society. His Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail Bailey was by contemporary standards a best-seller.

Rev. Smith passed away in his 86th year.