"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

"We have therefore a more sure knowledge of the word of prophecy, to which word of prophecy ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light which shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts; Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures is given of any private will of man. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:16-21).

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Last Days of the Prophet
The Story of the Church by Inez Smith Davis
Chapter 35

The Church had so often appealed in vain for redress of their wrongs that, as the presidential election approached, Joseph Smith proposed to feel out some of the candidates with respect to their attitude towards the Latter Day Saints. He wrote Martin Van Buren, Lewis Cass, J. C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay. None of the answers pleased him. Clay's was the most favorable but not decisive enough to give the church any guarantee of protection. The Saints therefore determined to place Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in the field on an Independent ticket. Surely the church people throughout the States had not the remotest idea of electing this ticket. The only explanation of this move could be that these men, smarting under injustice done, feeling unable to support any ticket in the field, resolved to roll up as high a protest vote as they possibly could. The "platform," if so it may be called, of this unique movement had some very wise provisions, however hopeless might be the chance of putting them into practice.

The year 1844 opened with public feeling running high on the "Mormon" question. So numerous had the Saints become in Hancock County that their favor was eagerly sought, and the party to which support was not given was ready to abuse and slander them.

In 1843 the Whig candidate for Congress, Cyrus Walker, had been defeated by the Democratic candidate, Joseph P. Hoge, and when it was learned that if the votes of Nauvoo, a large majority of which were cast for Hoge, had been cast for Walker, he would have been elected, the rage of the Whig press in Illinois knew no bounds.

The newspaper industry in Illinois was then in its infancy and, as has been implied by historians, a by no means reputable infancy. Newspapers were practically all published in the interest of one political party or the other, each editor as firm in his own political faith (Whig or Democrat) as any crusader in his religious belief. Each printed the speeches of its statesmen in full, and knew by heart the argument of its favorite spellbinders. "A man had to commit murder, steal a horse, or break a leg to get into the papers" in those days. "No painting barns, mending chicken coops, or 'Sunday-ing' with some neighbor," could win public recognition. The front page was for editorial comment on purely political matters, and a little country editor was quite ready to challenge debate with the biggest papers in New York City. The editorial method of debate was to turn out the most unbelievable "violence of invective and abuse." He poured forth a perfect lava of detraction, which, were it not for the knowledge of the people that such charges were generally false, or greatly exaggerated, would have overwhelmed and consumed all men's reputations. This was the sort of thing "especially to the taste of the young, crude state, and the inhabitants entered the lists without reserve and with sufficient vocabularies."

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