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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”

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Editorial Title
Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844
ID #
7817
Total Pages
4
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