By Contessa Hardman
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint”s current stand is they separate themselves from politics, however during its establishment it seemed to embrace politics, but the reasons were more closely related to self preservation then a desire for political power, said James B. Allen, a retired BYU history professor emeritus.
Allen spoke Wednesday, March 8, 2006, in the HBLL Auditorium about the United States presidential candidacy of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and his running mate John C. Calhoun.
Smith”s decisions to run for presidency came after many attempted appeals to government officials by members of the LDS church, Allen said. The appeals were in regards to the plight of members in Missouri.
“Organized mobs pillaged property, beat many of the Mormons, tarred and feathered others, destroyed the churches” press and eventually forced all of us from Jackson County,” Allen said.
Latter-day Saint members were looking to the government for protection and for redresses of these acts, Allen said. The problem at the state level was the governor did not have enough power to stop the disturbances, even if he wanted to. So members appealed to the higher governmental powers, including President Martin Van Buren, with no success.
The primary cause of the refusal of help at the national level is that the federal government was uncertain of their connection to the governments of the states, Allen said. Slavery was a major issue at the time, and the Constitution had no exact wording that allowed federal supremacy over the state”s government.
Those in favor of slavery often favored the power of the state over the power of the Constitution, and this was the case with Calhoun, Allen said. Smith”s view, fueled by the treatment of the Missouri members by mobs, was that the Constitution held power over the states, and the federal government should act when the state refused to.
Allen said one of the main reasons Smith ran for presidency was to protect the religious freedoms of himself and other members of the LDS Church.
“I would not have suffered my name to have been used … if I and my friends could have had the privilege of enjoying our religious and civil rights as American citizens, even those right which the Constitution guarantees unto all her citizens alike,” Allen quoted Smith as saying.
However, Smith”s run for candidacy never was completed. Before voting could be held, Smith along with his brother Hyrum Smith were arrested and taken to Carthage Jail, where both were martyred.
