A review of "General Smith´s View of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States"
Many people assume that Mitt Romney was the first
Mormon to run for president. Actually, Mormon prophet Joseph Smith ran for
president already in 1844, against Democrat James Polk (who won) and the Whig
Party's Henry Clay. The campaign ended abruptly when Smith was murdered by a
mob in Carthage, Illinois. It's not entirely clear what Smith wanted to
accomplish by his bid for the presidency. Some believe that he deliberately
wanted to use “the Mormon bloc vote” in Illinois (where most Mormons lived at
the time, in their own town of Nauvoo) as a deliberate spoiler to create a tie
in the Electoral College and throw the elections to the House of
Representatives. Presumably, Smith hoped that the Mormons could use the ensuing
political turmoil to wrest concessions from either Polk or Clay (or both). The
plan (if plan it was) does sound rather farfetched…
But then, Joseph Smith did harbor many farfetched political plans. “General” Smith was the leader of a virtual theocratic mini-state at Nauvoo, where the Mormons had settled after being expelled from Missouri. Nauvoo had its own militia, known as the Nauvoo Legion. Smith had even petitioned the federal authorities to make Nauvoo a separate territory. In secret, the Mormon prophet had himself crowned “king” by the secretive Council of Fifty. Smith had secretly dispatched envoys to Britain, France, Russia and Texas. The Mormons contemplated resettlement in Oregon, Texas or California. At the time, Oregon was disputed territory between Britain and the United States, while California (controlled by Mexico) was hotly coveted by both British and American settlers. Texas was an independent republic with its own expansionist plans and great power entanglements. What General Smith's envoys were supposed to do in Russia is unknown, but at this time, the Czarist regime still controlled Alaska and Russian settlers had only recently left California. In other words, Joseph Smith was inserting the Mormons in a dangerous “great game” with both enemies and allies of the United States, at the very moment that Smith was running for president!
The pamphlet displayed at this product page contains Joseph Smith's public declaration of his intention to run for the nation's highest office. It's florid in the extreme, but perhaps this kind of rhetoric was standard in 1844? The pamphlet contains Smith's political platform, a curious blend of both “Democrat” and “Whig” demands. The most sensational demand is for the immediate abolition of slavery by compensating the slave-holders through sales of public lands. Oregon and Texas should be annexed by the United States, and in the future, both Canada and Mexico should be invited to join the expanding republic. (Note the contradiction between this demand and Smith's secret plans to resettle the Mormons in Oregon or Texas, presumably by negotiating with the British or the independent state of Texas!) Prisons should be abolished in favor of community work to reform the criminals, a federal bank with local branches should be created, taxes should be lowered, and deserters from the military shouldn't be court-martialed but simply dishonorably discharged. The president should have the power to send federal troops to stop local mobs even if the state governor objects, since the governor may be a “mobber” himself. (The Mormons had been victims of mob violence during their stay in Missouri.)
Of the above demands, the abolition of slavery, the creation of a national bank and the various “Christian” proposals are presumably inspired by the Whigs, while the expansionist demands are closer to those of the Democrats. The strengthening of federal powers implicit in the president's right to send troops to stop mob violence, seems to foreshadow Lincoln's Republican Party. I'm not sure how Joseph Smith reached the conclusion that these were the correct demands (in Illinois, the Mormons had originally supported the Whigs), but the whole platform is difficult to take seriously, since the Mormon leader was simultaneously busy creating a theocracy on his home turf and perhaps even conspired with foreign powers, or at least tried his hands on a kind of diplomatic filibustering.
The above review is heavily indebted to D Michael Quinn's book “The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power”, which contains a short section on Joseph Smith's 1844 presidential campaign.
But then, Joseph Smith did harbor many farfetched political plans. “General” Smith was the leader of a virtual theocratic mini-state at Nauvoo, where the Mormons had settled after being expelled from Missouri. Nauvoo had its own militia, known as the Nauvoo Legion. Smith had even petitioned the federal authorities to make Nauvoo a separate territory. In secret, the Mormon prophet had himself crowned “king” by the secretive Council of Fifty. Smith had secretly dispatched envoys to Britain, France, Russia and Texas. The Mormons contemplated resettlement in Oregon, Texas or California. At the time, Oregon was disputed territory between Britain and the United States, while California (controlled by Mexico) was hotly coveted by both British and American settlers. Texas was an independent republic with its own expansionist plans and great power entanglements. What General Smith's envoys were supposed to do in Russia is unknown, but at this time, the Czarist regime still controlled Alaska and Russian settlers had only recently left California. In other words, Joseph Smith was inserting the Mormons in a dangerous “great game” with both enemies and allies of the United States, at the very moment that Smith was running for president!
The pamphlet displayed at this product page contains Joseph Smith's public declaration of his intention to run for the nation's highest office. It's florid in the extreme, but perhaps this kind of rhetoric was standard in 1844? The pamphlet contains Smith's political platform, a curious blend of both “Democrat” and “Whig” demands. The most sensational demand is for the immediate abolition of slavery by compensating the slave-holders through sales of public lands. Oregon and Texas should be annexed by the United States, and in the future, both Canada and Mexico should be invited to join the expanding republic. (Note the contradiction between this demand and Smith's secret plans to resettle the Mormons in Oregon or Texas, presumably by negotiating with the British or the independent state of Texas!) Prisons should be abolished in favor of community work to reform the criminals, a federal bank with local branches should be created, taxes should be lowered, and deserters from the military shouldn't be court-martialed but simply dishonorably discharged. The president should have the power to send federal troops to stop local mobs even if the state governor objects, since the governor may be a “mobber” himself. (The Mormons had been victims of mob violence during their stay in Missouri.)
Of the above demands, the abolition of slavery, the creation of a national bank and the various “Christian” proposals are presumably inspired by the Whigs, while the expansionist demands are closer to those of the Democrats. The strengthening of federal powers implicit in the president's right to send troops to stop mob violence, seems to foreshadow Lincoln's Republican Party. I'm not sure how Joseph Smith reached the conclusion that these were the correct demands (in Illinois, the Mormons had originally supported the Whigs), but the whole platform is difficult to take seriously, since the Mormon leader was simultaneously busy creating a theocracy on his home turf and perhaps even conspired with foreign powers, or at least tried his hands on a kind of diplomatic filibustering.
The above review is heavily indebted to D Michael Quinn's book “The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power”, which contains a short section on Joseph Smith's 1844 presidential campaign.
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