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Image courtesy of Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
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Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to the editor of Daily Globe [], [], 15 Apr. 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 15 Apr. 1844]; handwriting of ; signature of JS; three pages; Stephen A. Douglas, Papers, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm). The third page of the bifolium is ruled with twenty-nine lines printed in blue ink and is the only ruled page in the bifolium. inscribed the letter in brown ink; JS signed it in black ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style.
A docket was written on the verso of the second leaf in unidentified handwriting. It is unknown how this document came into the possession of , although both he and , to whom JS forwarded this copy of the letter, were prominent politicians and undoubtedly had common acquaintances among the editorial staff of the Daily Globe. In 1861 Douglas died. Sometime thereafter his private papers were acquired by the University of Chicago.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter to John J. Hardin, 19 Apr. 1844.

  2. [2]

    See “Guide to the Stephen A. Douglas Papers, 1764–1908,” Stephen A. Douglas, Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

    Douglas, Stephen A. Papers, 1764–1908. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, University of Chicago.

Historical Introduction

On 15 April 1844, JS wrote a letter from , Illinois, to prominent journalist in responding to Blair’s criticism and mockery of JS’s presidential campaign platform in one of the nation’s most influential newspapers. JS had mailed copies of his presidential campaign pamphlet, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, to the principal newspapers in the on 27 February 1844. The Daily Globe, published in the nation’s capital, was the premier organ of the Democratic Party, and Blair was its longstanding editor. As editor of the paper in the 1830s, Blair had functioned as an unofficial adviser to President Andrew Jackson, and he still wielded significant influence in national politics through his personal connections and his editorship of the Globe.
On 14 March 1844, published an editorial in the Daily Globe titled “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” in which he mocked JS’s pamphlet. His main points of criticism were JS’s calls for a new national bank and for substantial criminal justice reform. The national bank had been a polarizing issue in the 1830s when it was politically opposed by Jackson and championed by the National Republicans who eventually formed the Whig Party. Jackson ultimately vetoed a proposal to renew the bank’s charter. Accordingly, Blair wrote in his editorial that JS “seems to be thoroughly imbued with the whig financial doctrines.” Alluding to JS’s call for criminal justice reform, Blair suggested sarcastically that the sudden release of thousands of incarcerated men and women at the time that the country was establishing a new national bank would inevitably lead to a rise in financial crime. Blair disdainfully quipped that if Whig presidential hopeful were elected that fall, he could make JS the president of the new national bank and that it could be headquartered in .
It is unclear when JS first read ’s editorial, but portions of it were reprinted in newspapers as early as 4 April. In his letter to Blair, JS defended his proposal for criminal justice reform by describing the living conditions of incarcerated men and women. He also criticized the legal system that sentenced them to prison in the first place and argued that American prisons contradicted the principles celebrated in the Declaration of Independence. JS also defended his proposal for a new national bank, emphasizing that it would guard against the alleged corruption that scandalized the Second Bank of the United States. Following a four-verse song parodying the inequality that existed in the , JS made his first public declaration that he believed the country should be governed as a “Theodemocracy,” an idea that he and the had recently discussed.
In drafting a response to ’s editorial, JS may have worked with his scribe , who had helped him compose other publications and letters related to his presidential campaign. If Phelps helped compose the letter, the extent of his role is unknown. The letter was published in the 15 April 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons and in the 17 April issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor. Other newspapers throughout the country reprinted large sections of the letter. JS sent a manuscript copy of the letter to Illinois congressman on 19 April and asked him to solicit the Daily Globe to publish it. The newspaper never published JS’s response to Blair. The version JS sent to Hardin is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844; JS, Journal, 27 Feb. 1844.

  2. [2]

    Smith, Francis Preston Blair, xii–xiii, 45–61; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 341; Sheppard, Partisan Press, 96–99.

    Smith, William Ernest. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 1933.

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

    Sheppard, Si. The Partisan Press: A History of Media Bias in the United States. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008.

  3. [3]

    “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” Daily Globe (Washington DC), 14 Mar. 1844, 251.

  4. [4]

    Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 375–395.

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  5. [5]

    “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” Daily Globe (Washington DC), 14 Mar. 1844, 251.

  6. [6]

    “The Globe and Joe Smith,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 4 Apr. 1844, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  7. [7]

    Murphy, Other People’s Money, 80–85.

    Murphy, Sharon Ann. Other People’s Money: How Banking Worked in the Early American Republic. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017.

  8. [8]

    “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.” For most contemporary Americans, theocracy connoted the tyrannical rule of religious leaders, conjured images of the collusion of Catholicism with European governments, and seemed the antithesis of American democracy and constitutional principles. However, JS and other members of the Council of Fifty believed that theocracy could be fused with the best elements of democracy in a system that JS termed “Theodemocracy.” JS and the Council of Fifty maintained that a system that blended theocracy with democracy would protect the rights of minority groups, allow for dissent and free discussion, involve the input of both Latter-day Saints and others, and increase righteousness in preparation for Jesus Christ’s second coming.

  9. [9]

    See, for example, Historical Introduction to General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844; and Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.

  10. [10]

    “The Globe,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1844, 5:508–510; “The Globe,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Apr. 1844, [2].

  11. [11]

    See, for example, “From the Buffalo Advertiser,” Niles’ National Register (Baltimore), 8 June 1844, 235.

    Niles’ National Register. Washington DC, 1837–1839; Baltimore, 1839–1848; Philadelphia, 1848–1849.

  12. [12]

    Letter to John J. Hardin, 19 Apr. 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844
Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in New York Herald History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

The Globe.
The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools.— Solomon’s Proverbs.
In the daily Globe of March 14, notices my “Views on the Powers and Policy of our Government,” under the head of “A new advocate for a National Bank,” with remarks and extracts. As it does not bespeak a Gentleman to tell all he knows, nor indicate wisdom to murmur at the oddities of Men, I rarely reply to the many remarks, sayings, and speculations upon me and my plans which seem to agitate the world, for like the showers upon the verdure of the Earth, they give me vigor, beauty, and expansion,— but when a man occupies a station in his , which ought to be honored as an exaltation, which ought to be sustained with dignity; and which should be filled by a friend and patriot of the nation, too wise to be cozened by counterfeit principles; too great to blur his fame with sophistry; too proud to stoop to the vanity that is momently wasting the virtue of Government;— and too good to act the hypocrite to accumulate wealth, or frustrate the ends and aims of justice; I feel it my duty to bring forth the truth, that the man and his measures, if right may be sustained; and if wrong may be rebuked.
Without reference to men, parties, or precedents, the plan of Banking, suggested in my “Views,” is assumed upon the all commanding, and worthily considered, omnipotent petition of the People, and whether, as a “fiscal agent”, “great financier prophet, priest, or king”, I act wisely and righteously, so as to answer their virtuous prayers, without fear, favor, or partiality; and produce Union; give satisfaction to twenty millions of freemen, rather than sport with their holy supplications to boost a few hungry, crafty hypocritical demagogues into office to gamble for the “loaves and fishes”— no matter whether the game is played “upon the tables of the living, or the coffins of the dead,”— and whether I raise the honor and credit of the above the little, picayune, cramped, narrow minded schemes of the dominant, undominant, and would be dominant parties, cliques, knots, and factions; or whether, like the venerable fathers, I launch my new Ship into the great ocean of existence, and, like them, luckily bring relief to the oppressed, is all the same, so long as the people are honored as noble in their patriotism; virtuous in their intentions; and almighty in their majesty:— vox populi— vox Dei!
But it is extraneous, irrelavent, and kickshawing to connect me or any part of my “Views on the powers and policy of the government,” with , , , , , , or any of their galvanic cronies,— what have they done to benefit the people? The simple answer is— nothing but draw money from the Treasury. It is entirely too late in the age of this , to clarify a of the West: deify a of the East: quidify a of the Whigs, or Bigify a of the democrats; leaving and such fair samples of Bogus-Democracy, that he that runs may read.
As the beautiful excellence of a  head  may be a desideratum only remedied by the “Excelsior,” of the brain, so a great man ought to exhibit his wisdom by his liberality to the unfortunate among men as a token of philanthropy, unbounded by party lines, [p. [1]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844
ID #
7817
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Bullock

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Proverbs 3:35.

  2. [2]

    Blair’s 14 March 1844 editorial in the Daily Globe mockingly referred to JS as a “fiscal agent” and a “great financier.” On 11 April, four days before the reply to Blair was written, the Council of Fifty had unanimously voted to “receive from this time henceforth and forever, Joseph Smith, as our Prophet, Priest & King, and uphold him in that capacity in which God has anointed him.” (“A New Advocate for a National Bank,” Daily Globe [Washington DC], 14 Mar. 1844, 251; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844.)

  3. [3]

    The population of the United States in 1840 was approximately 17 million, with about 14 million free people. By 1850 the population had risen to around 23 million, with approximately 19.5 million free people. (DeBow, Statistical View of the United States, 39, 45.)

    DeBow, J. D. B. Statistical View of the United States, Embracing Its Territory, Population—White, Free Colored, and Slave—Moral and Social Condition, Industry, Property, and Revenue. . . . Washington DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1854.

  4. [4]

    See Matthew 14:14–21.

  5. [5]

    This Latin phrase appeared in English literature from the fifteenth century. During JS’s era, Americans generally understood the phrase to mean that in a democratic society, the popular will is the ultimate law. In an 11 April 1844 meeting of the Council of Fifty, JS explained that when he used the phrase, he meant “the voice of the people assenting to the voice of God.” (“Vox,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 12:322; Discourse, 11 Apr. 1844–A; see also Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, 18 July 1836, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; and Lund, “American Localism and the Mormon Expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri,” 98–101.)

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

    Lund, Matthew. “The Vox Populi Is the Vox Dei: American Localism and the Mormon Expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri.” Master’s thesis, Utah State University, 2012.

  6. [6]

    This is a reference to Henry Clay, who was also known as “Harry of the West.” (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 209.)

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  7. [7]

    Daniel Webster had served as a United States senator from Massachusetts and, until May 1843, as secretary of state to John Tyler. (See Wiltse, “Daniel Webster and the British Experience,” 58–77.)

    Wiltse, Charles M. “Daniel Webster and the British Experience.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 85 (1973): 58–77.

  8. [8]

    This is a reference to John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 209.)

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  9. [9]

    This is a reference to Thomas Hart Benton, a United States senator from Missouri. (Smith, “Thomas Hart Benton,” 795–807.)

    Smith, Elbert B. “Thomas Hart Benton: Southern Realist.” American Historical Review 58, no. 4 (July 1953): 795–807.

  10. [10]

    Since 1839, JS had been critical of Martin Van Buren’s approach to government. In January 1844, JS publicly criticized Calhoun’s interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.)

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