On 29 January 1844, the day JS was nominated to be a candidate in the 1844 presidential election, JS instructed William W. Phelps to draft a document containing JS’s views about the “powers & policy” of the federal government. In this document, JS praised the equality, unity, morality, peace, and prosperity that he felt United States presidents from George Washington through Andrew Jackson had established and maintained and that had been on the decline, in his view, since Martin Van Buren’s administration. In order to reverse the trend, JS called for a variety of governmental, legal, economic, military, and social reforms. These proposals included reducing Congress by half and government officials “in pay, number, and power” and rehabilitating convicts through work programs and education rather than confining them to prisons. The document also outlined JS’s proposals to eliminate debtors’ prisons, abolish court-martial for desertion, establish a national bank, and abolish slavery by reimbursing slaveholders for their slaves with money saved by reducing government pay and generated through the sale of public lands. JS also argued that the president should have “full power to send an army to suppress mobs” and that governors should not have to ask the president for troops “in cases of invasion or rebellion.” Regarding foreign affairs, JS argued for the annexation of Oregon Country and the Republic of Texas, as well as Mexico and Canada if they requested it. The document concludes with an assurance that as president, JS would “open the eyes; open the ears and open the hearts of all people, to behold and enjoy freedom” and would supplicate God “for the good of all people.” (JS, Journal, 29 Jan. 1844; JS, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States; “General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 8 May 1844, [2].)  

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

The first Bank of the United States lasted from 1791 to 1811; the second, from 1816 to 1836. Each bank was largely under private control with principal stockholders appointing national and branch directors. JS proposed a national bank that would be under public control, with its “officers and directors” being “elected yearly by the people.” JS also proposed establishing individual branches of the bank in each state and territory of the United States, something which had not been tried under the previous two national banks. Banking was a relatively minor issue in the election of 1844; JS’s interest in it may have stemmed from the recent failures of the two state-chartered banks in Illinois. (Cowen, Origins and Economic Impact of the First Bank of the United States, 15; Catterall, Second Bank of the United States, 481, 376–403; Wood, Empire of Liberty, 98; JS, Journal, 21 Feb. 1843; JS, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States.)  

Cowen, David Jack. The Origins and Economic Impact of the First Bank of the United States, 1791–1797. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000.

Catterall, Ralph C. H. The Second Bank of the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1903.

Wood, Gordon S. Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.