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Rare & lengthy account of Joseph Smith running for President...
Rare & lengthy account of Joseph Smith running for President...
Item # 684969
June 08, 1844
NILES' NATIONAL REGISTER, Baltimore, June 8, 1844
* Joseph Smith running for U.S. president
* Mormons - Mormonism - Latter-Day Saints
It is not known by many today that Joseph Smith, leader of the Latter-Day Saints, ran for president of the United States in 1844.
After several years of harassment and persecution in Missouri and Illinois, Smith wrote to five men expected to be candidates for the presidency, asking each what he would do to protect the citizenship rights of the Latter-Day Saints if elected. Three of the men responded but none promised to help the Saints. As a result, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles nominated Joseph Smith to be a candidate.
Some thought that the campaign was not a serious attempt to elect Joseph Smith, but rather an undertaking designed to raise public awareness of the plight of the Latter-Day Saints amid rising persecution in a country that boasted about its exceptional level of freedom.
A lengthy section of this issue is headed: "POLITICAL - PRESIDENTIAL" in which are reported upon those running for President in the 1844 election. It begins by noting: "The candidates for the next presidency & vice presidency are all, we presume, now fairly in the field (except the candidates for vice presidency upon Mr. Tyler's and Gen. Joseph Smith's tickets, hereafter to be announced.)"
This is followed by an analysis of the various candidates, and two pages later is a report taking nearly a full column headed: "Joseph Smith--Candidate For The Presidency". The text begins: "The venerable Joseph Smith, the prophet, the seer, and the legislator, is now before the people, as a candidate for the presidency as we are informed by the Times and Seasons, published in the holy city..." with more.
Included is a rather lengthy letter, signed in type by himself, Joseph Smith, in which he responds to remarks on his pamphlet "Views on the Power and Policy of the Government of the United States" which he had widely distributed to to make known his platform. He defends his position that the National Bank be located in Nauvoo.
It is quite rare to find any period newspapers accounts of Joseph Smith's campaign for the presidency. Not only is this a fine account, but it is rather length as well.
Sixteen pages, 8 1/2 by 11 3/4 inches, very nice condition.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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