At the time, the Federal Government had failed the Mormons time and again, refusing to lend aid while the Mormons were repeatedly being forced from their homes by armed mobs, and even massacred. A reach for more government protection seemed only natural. Plus, Joseph was already General of a small army called the Nauvoo Legion, and a revered leader of Mormons emigrating to Illinois from around the world whom his work inspired. Oh, and he was a prophet. So I guess all that should qualify one for office well enough!
Joseph's platform was released in anticipation of the 1844 election. Of course, this was never meant to be, as Joseph was martyred in June of 1844. Knowing that this platform was the culmination of his views at the end of his life, to me, gives them extra interest and even extra weight.
I already knew about his stance on abolition-- he even dives into the topic on the very first page of the pamphlet, as follows:
“My cogitations, like Daniel’s, have for a long time troubled me, when I viewed the condition of men throughout the world, and more especially in this boasted realm, where the Declaration of Independence 'holds these truths the be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights’ that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;' but at the same time some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for life, because the spirit of them is covered with a darker skin than ours; and hundreds of our own kindred for an infraction, or supposed infraction, of some over-wise statue, have to be incarcerated in dungeon glooms, or suffer the more moral penitentiary gravitation of mercy in a nutshell, while the duelist, the debauchee, and the defaulter for millions, and other criminals, take the uppermost rooms at feasts, or, like the bird of passage, find a more congenial clime by flight.”
My Modern Translation of the Above^:
When I reflect on the injustice in the world, and contemplate on how injustice exists even here where the Constitution is supposed to grant us broad rights as people, that we are still utilizing badges of slavery to keep black Americans from prospering, and we are also unjustly using mass incarceration for crimes undeserving of the lengthy prison sentences we willingly dole out and pay for. Meanwhile, worse criminals than the ones languishing in prisons are free to take advantage of the remaining 99% by glutting upon their usury and getting away with moral atrocities all while living lavish, penthouse lifestyles, taking expensive vacations, and hiding their money in off-shore accounts.
Ridiculously apropos.
Honestly, you should read the whole thing. Very interesting. I found a version here: https://archive.org/stream/generalsmithsvie00smit#page/n5/mode/2up
(Note that it is not perfect, he talks about the "savage" and "red man" and other modern no-no's that were common to his time, but the fact that he was both a Progressive and a Patriot is obvious.)
But the reason I really wanted to get into this document was to use it as a tool of comparison while pondering the modern arguments put forth by our current Presidential hopefuls.
(*Disclaimer: I have been registered as an Independent for several years now and, at this point, I will be voting for whomever the Democratic nominee will be this go-around, so I acknowledge that I write with that bias. #FeelinThe Bern)
I will leave the analysis up to you, but here are some notable quotes that I found:
RE: Refugees
“Our common country presents to all men the same advantages,
the same facilities, the same prospects, the same honors, and the same regards;
and without hypocrisy, the Constitution, when it says, “WE, THE PEOPLE of the
United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” meant
just what it said without reference to color or condition, ad infinitum.”
He wrote a little more regarding “defence”
à JS later quotes George Washington, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of
preserving peace.” Military was not an end itself, it was a means for preserving peace.
RE: The Media
“…I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties
to foment discord in order to ride into power on the current of popular
excitement…”
(LOVE that^)
RE: Congress + a few proposals to voters
“Frustrate the designs of wicked men. Reduce Congress at least two-thirds. Two Senators from a State and two members to
a million of population will do more business than the army that now now occupy
the halls of the national Legislature.
Pay them two dollars and their board per diem (except Sundays). That is more than the farmer gets, and he
lives honestly. Curtail the officers of
Government in pay, number, and power; for the Philistine lords have shorn our
nation of its goodly locks in the lap of Delilah.
“Petition your State Legislature to pardon every convict in
their several penitentiaries, blessing them as they go, and saying to them, in
the name of the Lord, Go thy way, and sin
no more.
“Advise your legislators, when they make laws for larceny,
burglary, or any felony, to make the penalty applicable to work upon roads,
public works, or any place where the culprit can be taught more wisdom and more
virtue, and become more enlightened.
Rigor and seclusion will never do as much to reform the propensities of
men as reason and friendship. Murder
only can claim confinement or death. Let
the penitentiaries be turned into seminaries of learning, where intelligence,
like the angels of heaven, would banish such fragments of barbarism. Imprisonment for debt is a meaner practice
than the savage tolerates, with all his ferocity. ‘Amor
vincit omnia.’ (Love conquers all.)
“Petition, also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave States,
your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the
abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame.
“Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his
slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and
from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress.
“Break off the shackles from the poor black man, and hire
him to labor like other human beings; for ‘an hour of virtuous liberty on earth
is worth a whole eternity of bondage.’ …”
…
“More economy in the National and State governments would
make less taxes among the people; more equality through the cities, towns, and
country, would make less distinction among the people; and more honesty and
familiarity in societies, would make less hypocrisy and flattery in all
branches of the community; and open, frank, and candid decorum to all men, in
this boasted land of liberty, would beget esteem, confidence, union and love;
and the neighbor from any State, or from any country, of whatever color, clime
or tongue, could rejoice when he put his foot on the sacred soil of freedom,
and exclaim, The very name of ‘American’ is
fraught with friendship. Oh, then, create confidence! Restore freedom!
Break down slavery! Banish imprisonment for debt, and be in love, fellowship,
and peace, with all the world! …”
…
In other words, beside world peace :), I believe that JS is advocating the removal of private banks and brokerage firms in favor of National and State banks. By doing so, the National government can keep the banking revenue
instead of loan sharks, greedy banking executives, etc.
RE: Broken Campaign Promises
“We have had Democratic
Presidents, Whig Presidents, and pseudo-Democratic-Whig Presidents, and now it
is time to have a President of the United
States; and let the people of the whole Union, like the inflexible Romans,
whenever they find a promise made by
the candidate that is not practiced
as an officer, hurl the miserable sycophant from his exaltation, as God did
Nebuchadnezzar, to crop the grass of the field with a beast’s heart among the
cattle.”
“In the United States the people
are the Government, and their united voice is the only sovereign that should
rule, the only power that should be obeyed, and the only gentlemen that should
be honored at home and abroad, on the land and on the see. Wherefore, were I the President of the United
States, by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the
venerated father of freedom; I would walk in te tracks of the illustrious
patriots with an eye single to the glory of the people; and when that people
petitioned to abolish slavery in the slave States, I would use all honorable
means to have their prayers granted, and give liberty to the captive by paying
the Southern gentlemen a reasonable equivalent for his property, that the whole
nation might be free indeed!
Amen!
