Mormons in New York City

[I’m sorry that I’ve been negligent in posting this past two months. Vacation and what I might call “recovery from vacation” have thrown me off my schedule. I hope to return to posting weekly or close to it.]

If you think of American political tactics before 1850, images of political machines like Tammany Hall and violent disagreement quickly come to mind. Given that, we might expect that the conventions held in support of Joseph Smith’s candidacy for President of the United States might have at least occasionally attracted opposition from local machines, even if the attempt didn’t have much chance of success.

So I wasn’t surprised to find that the “Jeffersonian” convention held in Boston on July 1st, 1844 (news of Joseph Smith’s martyrdom hadn’t yet reached Boston) was labeled a “Mormon War” by the time news of the convention was reprinted in the New York Herald on July 4th. That report came from the Boston Times of July 2nd. The following extract gives an account of what happened:

(more…)