Aftermath

This chapter describes the aftermath of the assassination of Joseph Smith. This aftermath includes mourning and a funeral in Nauvoo, debates over who should succeed Smith as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who the Mormons should vote for in the election, and the decision to leave the United States altogether. The Mormons were contemplating leaving the United States before Smith’s murder, but the violent act seemed to make this departure the only way forward in the minds of many church leaders. They had come to realize that without significant reform, the United States was incapable of protecting them. This chapter also considers the result of the presidential election of 1844 and what became of each of the candidates in the years that followed.

Conclusion

The Conclusion of the book considers the extent to which Joseph Smith was correct that the states’ rights doctrine condoned mob violence against religious minorities and that the United States would never experience universal religious freedom without a federal government empowered to protect religious minorities. The Missouri militia’s invocation of the violent expulsion of Mormons from the state as their plan to expel abolitionists in the 1850s is examined as a telling example. Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign and its tragic end encapsulate the failure of nineteenth-century Americans to establish universal religious freedom. Many Americans championed states’ rights as a way to maintain race-based slavery in the Southern states, but few acknowledged that this philosophy also disadvantaged religious minority groups. The Conclusion also considers the role of systemic religious discrimination in federal policy for the management of Utah Territory and the multiple denied applications for Utah statehood.

The Political Kingdom of God

This chapter describes the formation of the Council of Fifty, a secretive organization in Nauvoo created by Smith. Smith and the Council of Fifty consider solutions to the problems facing the Latter-day Saints. The council manages Smith’s presidential campaign and helps formulate plans to petition the federal government for redress or for a liberal tract of land in the west where the Mormons could resettle. The council also directs negotiations with the Republic of Texas for the Mormons to move there and occupy the contested Nueces Strip. It is also in the Council of Fifty that Smith and others discuss the eventual replacement of the United States government with a theodemocracy ahead of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Electioneering Missionaries

This chapter describes the electioneering efforts of more than 400 missionaries that Mormon leaders dispatched throughout the United States to campaign for Smith, carrying copies of Smith’s political pamphlet aimed to win political support for their prophet. The experiences of these missionaries varied by location. One large rally led by campaign missionaries in Boston ended with a brawl between hecklers and the police. Other missionaries faced the threat of mob violence in the South because of their distribution of Smith’s pamphlet, which contained calls for the end of slavery. Missionaries in New York City created a campaign newspaper, The Prophet, to help boost Smith’s electoral profile.

More Conventions

This chapter follows the events of the contested Democratic nominating convention of 1844 in Baltimore, Maryland. Martin Van Buren entered the convention as the favorite but faced stiff competition from Lewis Cass. After several ballots, a third candidate rose above Van Buren and Cass: James K. Polk. Polk was eventually nominated to run on the Democratic ticket against the Whig candidate, Henry Clay. This chapter also considers the small convention held by supporters of President John Tyler, who had been expelled from the Whig Party two years earlier. Meanwhile, in Nauvoo, the Mormons had a nominating convention of their own and formally nominated Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon to be an independent ticket for the presidency.

A Lesson in Political Negotiations

In this chapter Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee travel from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., to petition the federal government for reparations for their lost property in Missouri. The chapter summarizes the history of the Mormons and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including the violent persecution of Joseph Smith and his followers by mobs in Missouri, and their ultimate expulsion from the state under threat of state-sanctioned extermination. Smith and Higbee meet with President Martin Van Buren at the White House and request his assistance with their petition to Congress. Van Buren declines to assist the Latter-day Saints, losing the political support of the group. Joseph Smith learns an important lesson about political negotiations in Washington, D.C.

Assassination

This chapter examines the continuation of anti-Mormon sentiments in western Illinois and the rise of hostile dissenters in Nauvoo. Many are committed to killing Joseph Smith. Their opportunity arises when Smith, in his role as mayor, orders the destruction of a printing press used to print an anti-Mormon newspaper. After several days of tense negotiations that include Smith declaring martial law in Nauvoo, Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, submit to arrest. However, the court denies them bail because treason is added to the charge of inciting a riot, and they are forced to stay in the Carthage, Illinois, jail. On June 27, 1844, a mob storms the jail, killing Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The chapter considers the various motivations for the act. Although Joseph Smith is not assassinated because he is running for president, he has the unwanted designation of the first assassinated presidential candidate in United States history.

Presidential Hopefuls

This chapter considers Joseph Smith’s attempts to get the men believed to be the likeliest candidates for president to commit to helping the Latter-day Saints gain their long-sought redress for their lost property in Missouri and to protect their civil rights to prevent a repeat of the Missouri conflict in Illinois. Accordingly, Smith writes to five potential candidates: John C. Calhoun, Lewis Cass, Henry Clay, Richard Mentor Johnson, and Martin Van Buren. Only Calhoun, Cass, and Clay respond. None of the three men commit to help the Mormons. Smith is frustrated by these responses and determines that there is no candidate for the presidency who will ensure the protection of the Mormons’ rights as American citizens. Accordingly, church leaders determine that they should support Smith as an independent candidate for president.

A Political Tract

In this chapter Joseph Smith and his scribe William W. Phelps draft a political pamphlet that will serve as the platform for Smith’s campaign. This chapter looks at the national relevance of each plank of that platform, as well as the personal relevance of each to Smith. His policy positions include the end of slavery through the federal purchase of slaves from their enslavers, the re-establishment of a national bank to stabilize the economy, and criminal justice reform through the closing of the country’s penitentiaries. Smith also addresses the pressing issues of national expansion, particularly where debates over the annexation of Texas and the disputed claims of the Oregon Country are concerned. But most prominently, Smith calls for the empowerment of the federal government to ensure the protection of religious minorities in individual states.

Convention Season

This chapter describes the 1844 Whig nominating convention held in Baltimore, Maryland. Henry Clay was the clear favorite and was nominated by acclamation on the convention floor. The convention selected Theodore Frelinghuysen as his running mate, in part because they believed his presence on the Whig ticket would help win the votes of the country’s evangelical Christians. The Mormons sent delegates to observe the convention, and possibly to try to earn support for Smith, if not sympathy for the Mormons’ plight. However, the convention concluded its business in just one day, which meant that when the Mormons finally arrived in the city, the convention was over.