Overview

By the election year of 1844, Joseph Smith, the controversial founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had amassed a national following of some 25,000 believers. In less than twenty years, Smith had helped transform the American religious landscape and grown his own political power substantially. Unable to garner federal protection, Smith decided to take matters into his own hands, launching his own bid for the presidency. While many scoffed at the notion that Smith could come anywhere close to the White House, others regarded his run--and his religion--as a threat to the stability of the young nation. Hounded by mobs throughout the campaign, Smith was ultimately killed by one--the first presidential candidate to be assassinated. Though Joseph Smith's run for president is now best remembered for its gruesome end, the renegade campaign was revolutionary. Smith called for the total abolition of slavery, the closure of the country's penitentiaries, and the reestablishment of a national bank to stabilize the economy. But Smith's most important proposal was for an expansion of protections for religious minorities. At a time when the Bill of Rights did not apply to individual states, Smith sought to empower the federal government to protect minorities when states failed to do so.

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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. Christopher Grove is an award-winning, veteran actor and narrator based in Los Angeles. He guest-stars on top network TV shows (recurring on Season 2 of David Fincher's Mindhunter, How To Get Away With Murder, Pretty Little Liars, Revenge, Scandal, Masters of Sex, Justified, Agent Carter, and more). He has performed at major theaters around the country, including the Mark Taper Forum and the Public Theater. Chris has lived and worked in London, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and some of the places in between. He's the son of a college professor and World War II veteran and of a social worker. He has degrees from the University of Toronto (history and political science) and the University of Southern California (print journalism), where he graduated in the top of his class.

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