Introduction
Religious Intolerance in the
Spencer W. McBride, Associate Managing Historian, The Joseph Smith
Papers
Spencer W. McBride is an Associate Managing Historian of the Joseph
Smith Papers Project and the author of Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen
and the Politics of Revolutionary America. He has written about the
evolving role of religion in American politics for the Washington
Post and the Deseret News. He is also the creator and host of The
First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast.
"In Spencer McBride's skilled hands, the story of Joseph Smith's
quixotic 1844 presidential campaign reveals new aspects of the
radically circumscribed nature of liberty in the American Republic.
This marvelous volume combines a compelling history of the early
LDS Church with a pointed critique of the myth of American
religious freedom." -- Amy S. Greenberg, author of Lady First: The
World of First Lady Sarah Polk
"America has had no shortage of quixotic presidential candidates
who, in retrospect, reflect broader cultural anxieties. But perhaps
no campaign appeared as impractical or unlikely as the Mormon
prophet Joseph Smith's in 1844. In this meticulously detailed and
clearly written book, Spencer McBride has dissected this seemingly
outlandish episode in order to reveal wider lessons about the
American culture that made it possible as well as the political
tradition
that connects it to today." -- Benjamin E. Park, author of Kingdom
of Nauvoo
"Spencer McBride obliges us to see Joseph Smith in a stark new
light: not merely as a prophet who was assassinated, but as a
presidential candidate whose campaign could not be separated from
the force of religious persecution. From this illuminating, deeply
researched account emerges a picture of the dark underbelly of
states' rights abuses and mob violence that shaped the election of
1844. It's a story well-suited to our own intolerant times." --
Nancy
Isenberg, author of White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of
Class in America
"Joseph Smith for President takes readers inside one of the most
unlikely presidential campaigns in American history. Spencer
McBride shows us Joseph Smith parading on the shoulders of his
followers, issuing an anti-slavery platform, and asking to be put
at the head of a 100,000-man army. This is an eloquent and richly
detailed portrait of the political conflict between the early
Latter-day Saints and their political opponents." -- John Turner,
author
of Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet
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