It has been a few years since my Mormon history reading frenzy after finding out the truth about the church, and I vaguely remember reading that Abraham Lincoln was running for a state office in Illinois, and JS told the Mormons not to vote for him, or at least vote for the other guy. Joseph Smith would tell the Mormons how to vote in elections and thereby buy political favors. My memory is that in one election he told them to vote for the entire Republican ticket except for Lincoln. Does my memory fail me, or has anyone else read this?

--From D. Michael Quinn's "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins Of Power," p. 631:

"16 Dec. [1840]. The governor of Illinois signs the Nauvoo charter which Smith uses to make the Mormon capital an independent theocracy. Abraham Lincoln votes for the charter, even though Nauvoo's Mormons had voted as a bloc against him in the previous election."
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--From Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet," p. 267:

"Soured on the Democratic Party by [U.S. President Martin] Van Buren's indifference, they [the Mormons] had voted the straight Whig ticket in the election of November 1840, except for one candidate. In order to give their votes to a Democrat, James H. Ralston, who had done the prophet [Joseph Smith] some favors, they [the Mormons] scratched the name which happened to be last on the Whig list. The spurned candidate was an obscure young politician named Abraham Lincoln ("History of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 248)."
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--From Donna Hill's "Joseph Smith, the First Mormon," pp. 281-82:

"While officially Mormons could vote as they chose, Joseph [Smith] had publicly and frequently expressed his opinion against the Democrats who had put Van Buren in the White House and had elected Governor [Lilburn] Boggs in Missouri. The Saints had been duly influenced and in the election of August 1840 voted against a bloc for the Whigs, except for one Democrat, James H. Ralston, who had befriended the prophet, and was chosen by the Saints instead of a little-known Whig lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. . . .

"[John C] Bennett wrote a letter to the 'Times and Seasons' December 16, 1840, to announce passage of the act [approving the Nauvoo Charter, as passed by both houses of the Illinois state legislature], saying that Lincoln 'had the magnanimity' to vote for the act, even though the Mormons had withdrawn their support for his candidacy, and had come up after its passage to offer congratulations."

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Mormon Church president Brigham Young continued Smith's history of opposing President Lincoln. Young regarded Lincoln as being weak in character and a poor political leader. Young, in fact, taught that succession from the Union which Lincoln was trying to hold together was part of God's overall plan to restore the Gospel.

From D. Michael Quinn's "The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power," pp. 271-73, 277:

"After a civil war began with the Confederate attack against Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861, Brigham Young decided to threaten Lincoln with Utah's secession. After all, Young had 'correctly predicted' more than two months earliar that the civil war would being 'about the middle of April.'

"In February, Young had publicly condemned secession as leading to anarchy, but he privately threatened it now that the federal government was fighting the Confederate military. If the U.S. president resisted appointing [Young's-]requested Mormon officers for the [Utah] territory, Young instructed Utah's Congressional delegate on 25 April to 'hint that Territories as well as States are liable to become restive in these exciting times.' On 1 May 1861, Young confided that he was 'pleased with the news which showed more and more secession, and each party was preparing for war, thus giving the Kingdom of God an opportunity of being established upon the Earth.' . . .

". . . [A]fter Utah's 1862 application for statehood, Young publicly and privately expanded his original warning to Lincoln. On 26 February the 'Deseret News' editorialized that 'no one believes' the Confederacy 'will soon be conquered, notwithstanding their recent [military] reverses . . .'

"However, the federal-Mormon conflict cooled down considerably in the summer of 1863. First in response to complaints by the Mormons against [federal-appointed territorial] Governor [Stephen S.] Harding, President Lincoln agreed in June to replace him and told Mormon emissary T.B.H. Stenhouse: 'You go back and tell Brigham Young that if he will let me alone, I will let him alone.' Aside from statehood for Utah, Lincoln's reassurance was all Young wanted, and LDS leaders stopped publicly denouncing the U.S. president as a tyrant."
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--From Richard Abanes's "One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church," pp. 226, 403:

"[Brigham] Young . . . described Abraham Lincoln as having so little strength of character and political resolve that he was 'as weak as water.'"

Since that time, however, Abanes notes that the Mormons have baptized Lincoln "by proxy."



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 03:54AM by steve benson.

The Republican Party wasn't formed until 1854. JS was long gone by then.

. . . as a bloc in 1840.

(See my post above for confirming historical citations).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 03:00AM by steve benson.

Thank you Steve. That is exactly what I was looking for.