President Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith wrote letters to John Calhoun, Lewis Cass, Richard Johnson, Henry Clay, and Martin Van Buren, the men most frequently mentioned for candidates for President of the United States. He asked each man what his course would be toward the Latter-day saints if he were elected President. It seemed obvious that there was no one the Saints could endorse for the presidency. Joseph and the Twelve Apostles sustained a motion to propose their own ticket with Joseph Smith as their candidate for President. He told them that they would have to send every man in Mauvoo who could speak to campaign and preach the gosple and that he would be among them. "After April Confrence we will have General Confrence all over the nation, and I will attend as many as coveniant. Tell the people that we have had Whig and Democratic Presidents long enough: we want a President of the United States. If I ever get into the Presidential chair, I will protect the people in their rights and liberties." Joseph chose Sidney Rigdon as his VP. On 11 March, a council meeting was held to oganize the political kingdom of God in preporation for the Second Coming. By the end of April, a list of elders and their campaign assignments was published in the Nauvoo Neighbor. It was also decided, in an early May convention, to secure the appointment of delegates from several states to a national convention to be held in Baltimore, Maryland, in July to nominate Joseph Smith for President of the United States.