Joseph Smith had a grand view of the ultimate relationship between politics and religion. He and the early Latter-day Saints also suffered greatly from political persecution (including rapes and murders), but rarely found relief from the government. The Nauvoo Council of Fifty attempted to draft a constitution for a united “kingdom of God,” but it yielded a different-than-expected result. With no obvious path for recourse, Joseph Smith launched a presidential campaign in 1844.
Spencer McBride, a Joseph Smith Papers Project scholar, details his new Oxford University Press volume, Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom.