Hey guys! So you may be familiar with
Joseph Smith the prophet but you may not
be as familiar with Joseph Smith the
presidential candidate. So that's what
we're going to talk about in this
episode. Let's rock and roll.
By 1844,
Latter-day Saints had endured relentless
persecution and the government really
wasn't doing too much to stop it. Now
1844 was an election year so Joseph
wanted to know if there were any
candidates out there that would be
sympathetic towards the Saints' plight. He
wrote to five candidates, only three
replied and unfortunately none of the
responses gave the Saints much comfort.
So in a meeting in mayor Joseph Smith's
Nauvoo office, "It was therefore moved by
Willard Richards, and voted unanimously --
that we will have an independent
electoral ticket and that Joseph Smith
be a candidate for the next Presidency..."
Now, did Joseph actually think he could
win? "Probably not." "No." Well there's some
debate on that. To me the evidence
indicates that Joseph knew winning was
unlikely but he was certainly going to
shoot his shot. But really it was a win-win
situation for Joseph because if he won
the election, great. If he lost, putting
himself forward as a candidate was still
beneficial for many reasons. It allowed
the Saints to vote for someone they
actually liked and whose views they
supported. In February 1844 the Times and
Seasons published, "If we have to throw
away our votes, we had better do so upon
a worthy, rather than upon an unworthy
individual, who might make use of the
weapon we put in his hand to destroy us
with." Joseph's candidacy also probably
helped avoid further persecution in
Illinois because if the massive body of
Saints voted for the Democratic
candidate, the Whigs would have been
mad. If they voted for the Whig candidate,
the Democrats would have been mad. Voting
for Joseph virtually removed the Saints
from the crossfire. "Best of both worlds."
Running for president was also a way for
the Saints to spread the gospel and also
to gain sympathy from the public in
hopes of obtaining some kind of justice
for the wrongs committed against them in
the past. Like, you know,
that whole Mormon extermination order
thing. Thanks for that Governor Boggs.
After Joseph's nomination, he sent out
hundreds of missionaries to preach the
gospel and electioneer. And if you read
their journals, there really was a lot of
preaching going on. They were able to
dispel rumors about the church and
strengthen distant branches of Saints.
Even after Joseph was killed just a few
months after announcing his candidacy,
those missionaries didn't all just
return home. They stopped electioneering
but continued to preach and there's a
link to some great research in the
description if you want to learn more
about what electioneering for Joseph
looked like. Joseph's political views
were summarized in a pamphlet called
"General Smith's Views on the Power and
Policy of the Government of the United
States" which there's also a link to in
the description. Pardon me. But Joseph
didn't side with any single political
party. In fact, in that pamphlet he wrote,
"We have had Democratic presidents, Whig
presidents, a pseudo Democratic-Whig
president and now it is time to have a
President of the United States."
Joseph organized a special group
composed mostly but not entirely of
Latter-day saints called the Council of
50 largely to manage his campaign. This
group was separate from but parallel to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Now, Latter-day Saints believe that when
Christ comes again, the second coming, he
will rule on earth for a thousand years
as both a religious and political leader.
We believe Christ will be our prophet,
priest, and King. One of the purposes of
the Council of 50 was to lay the
foundation for that future kingdom of
God and until the time should come, that
Christ would take the reigns, the council
anointed Joseph to be their prophet,
priest, and King. According to church
historian Matthew Grow, "Council
participants understood that this action
would have no immediate political
consequences but it symbolized their
desire to prepare for the Millennial
Kingdom of God." And the idea of becoming
kings and priests in the kingdom of God
is closely related to our temple
ordinances and reflects revelation 5:10,
"Thou hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
There was no coronation ceremony, no
crown, but Joseph did support this idea
of a theo-democracy which combined
democratic principles and protection of
freedoms
with a divinely guided ruler, which is
how Joseph believed Christ would rule in
the Millennium. And members of the
Council of 50 were sent out to
territories outside the United States,
like Oregon and California, to look for a
place where the Saints could gather and
establish their own government, should
Joseph lose the election, which is
totally understandable considering how
drastically the US government had failed
to protect the Saints by that time. But
as you know, Joseph's life and campaign
will cut short by an angry mob on June
27 1844. A guy named James Polk ended up
winning the election at the end of the
year, the Saints did move west settling
in the Salt Lake Valley where some of
these theo-democratic principles were
put into practice. If you want to know
more about Joseph Smith's presidential
campaign, check out the links and notes
in the description and have a great day.
