Constitutional Government and Politics by George Q. Cannon
Posted: December 12th, 2010, 10:39 am
CHAPTER 50
Constitutional Government and Politics
The Constitution and the Saints. We cannot as a people close our eyes or our ears to that which is going on around us. No people on this continent are more interested in public movements than are the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So many predictions have been made concerning the future of our own nation that we would be a very stupid people if we were not deeply interested in the fulfillment of those predictions and in watching the signs which will precede or accompany them.
The Book of Mormon is a most precious record if for no other reason than this: it gives us a clear idea concerning the fate of the people of this land in their national capacity. Not only does the Book of Mormon furnish us with the most interesting and definite information, but the Book of Doctrine and Covenants also can be read by Latter-day Saints with the deepest interest because of the events which are foreshadowed in the revelations which it contains. (Sept. 1, 1896, JI 31:522)
Constitution provides for perfect liberty. The Constitution was an instrument devised by the highest human wisdom, and was admirably adapted for the purpose for which it was designed. No better instrument was ever framed by human intellect. Under its wise provisions and guarantees, the people of every section and of every creed on this great land could dwell in peace and in harmony, and enjoy the most extensive rights consistent with good order. And its benefits need not have been confined to this continent; but the people of every nation and of every land could become partakers of the blessings which are guaranteed, and dwell in peace and security under its aegis.
But the views of its framers have not been carried out. The love of place and of power has risen paramount to the love of country; and those who should have been the most faithful defenders of the Constitution have been its most deadly foes. . . .
While the Constitution was properly respected, and the wise admonitions of its framers were attended to, the nation became great, prosperous and happy without a parallel in history. But to have a people truly great and permanently prosperous, there is something more needed than a good constitution, a perfect form of government and liberal laws. With virtue and honesty in the people, and a disposition to strictly obey and comply with the laws, imperfect and faulty though they may be, an illiberal form of government, and an inferior constitution, do not check progress or entirely debar the subjects of such a government from enjoying much real happiness.
But that government which we have guaranteed unto us, under our Constitution, has never been excelled, if indeed it has ever been equaled, in the liberality of its provisions for the rights and enjoyment of its citizens. Under its benign working, when properly administered, man can enjoy the most perfect liberty compatible with his well-being, and progress to the highest point of excellence and greatness attainable in a state of mortality. There are no checks, no limits to his progress. His path is unobstructed by any obstacle which perseverance and energy cannot overcome. . . .
Peace and happiness of world considered. Though their [the Founding Fathers] labors were confined to this land, and to the establishment of free government here, yet their great and philanthropic hearts beat high with hopes for the emancipation of the toiling and down-trodden millions of other lands, and they jealously watched and guarded every movement, knowing well that any misadventure on their part would injure the cause of liberty everywhere throughout the earth. The peace and happiness of the whole race of man were the objects for which they labored; and this was the aim which they kept constantly in view in the Declaration of Independence, in the framing of the Constitution and in all their acts in founding the government.
And had the people of these United States lived up to the Constitution, and the principles and precepts which the Fathers bequeathed to them, instead of there being division in our nation, and a deadly internecine war being waged between two sections [the Civil War], we would have gone on increasing in greatness and power until we would have annexed the world and extended the blessings of free government unto all people. . . .
The day-star of the brighter day. They, with full confidence in the Divine Power, which had thrown protection around them like a wall of fire, gave that instrument to the world with the most sanguine hopes in the bright and glorious future which awaited our country. Yet, this work was but the forerunner to a greater. They reared a temple of liberty amid the noble pillars of which the infant Kingdom of God, then in the future, could gather strength and vigor and power to protect and perpetuate the edifice that gave it early shelter.
While all others throughout this wide-spread republic celebrate this day [July 4] because it is the anniversary of liberty and freedom to them, we doubly rejoice, for not only do we see in it the birth-day of civil and religious freedom, but the day-star of that glorious morn that would usher in light to chase away the night of ages, truth to drive error back to its dark bounds, and redemption for all mankind, till a regenerated world, emancipated from the slavery of sin and death, should bask in the eternal sunshine of salvation, exaltation and glory. They, through the dim vista of the future, saw faintly the dawning light of that bright day; we looking from the past to the future, nearer to the effulgence of its glory, can see with closer vision its brilliance, and feel already the heavenly warmth of its rays as they shine around our hearts.
If those to whom the sacred trust was committed should not prove true to their integrity, there is a people who revere the Hand by which the boon was bestowed, honor the men who were the chosen ones to usher in the birthday of freedom to the world, and will cling to the Constitution till its blessings are enjoyed by every land trodden by the foot of man. . . .
We celebrate the day and honor the memory of the Revolutionary Fathers because they were the men who pioneered the way for the work in which we are engaged—because it was the initial step, in these latter times, in the pathway of endless and universal freedom; and when the rising glories of our country shall shine with effulgent splendor, and the children of every land shall enjoy the blessings of liberty and freedom, we shall celebrate the day we have now assembled to commemorate and honor the memory of those who have made it notable and glorious for all time. (July 4, 1865, DNW 14:317)
A land of liberty. This land has been dedicated to liberty, dedicated by the Lord our God, and by men who have lived upon this land, to liberty, and as long as this land shall be a land of liberty, it will be a blessed land to the inhabitants thereof; but when it ceases to be a land of liberty, then as sure as God has spoken, this government will go down—that is, any government that will war against the principles of liberty. . . . (Jan. 18, 1885, JD 26:142)
Forces of destruction. No people or government can defy the sound principles of law which are essential to the correct administration of justice and to the maintenance of the rights of its citizens, without calling into existence forces which are calculated to lead to its destruction. (Apr. 8, 1887, MS 49:293-96)
A government that lends itself to the oppression of its citizens will sooner or later receive punishment. That which it sows it will reap. It will be a harvest that will be most bitter and sorrowful for those who reap it. (Nov. 20, 1884, JD 26:12-13)
The proper role of government. Government has the right, and owes it to its citizens, to protect them in their rights—to protect their lives, to protect their property, to protect them in all their civil rights, and in their religious rights also, and to prevent others from doing them violence. Beyond this it should not go. (June 25, 1882, JD 24:45)
The first amendment. The adoption of the first amendment to the Constitution was an intimation to the world that in free America the inquisition over the rights of conscience was forever ended. The States had been released from the political tyranny of the mother country; by this amendment they were released from the religious traditions, the soul-crushing, the body-destroying laws and practices in religious matters of the old world. The new Republic turned her back upon all these, and, led and inspired by the Almighty, she swept away every restriction and oppressive enactment that could in the least prevent her from becoming, as Washington said, "an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions." This flag of political and universal religious liberty was unfurled to the world. (1879, Review 24)
No government force in religion. If our Government should attempt to use force in religion, it will find its power stop short at the conscience of man. No truthful, conscientious man can bend or deny his convictions at the bidding of King, President, Congress or Court. Congress and Court may say what they think is religion and what is not religion, and those who are of their way of thinking may accept their definitions, but no free man will allow them to prescribe what his religious duty shall be, and how it shall be rendered to his Creator. . . .
Grant to Congress and the Courts the power to define the rights of conscience, and the limit beyond which faith shall not be carried into action, and religious liberty is practically at an end. The battles for spiritual freedom, which have been so nobly fought in the generations past, and which have been gained by the sacrifice of so much precious blood, will, so far as we are concerned, have been fought in vain. We shall be remanded back to the days of Henry the VIII, when "the King's Majesty had as well the care of the souls of his subjects as their bodies; and might by the law of God, by his Parliament, make laws touching and concerning as well the one as the other." (1879, Review 39)
The Supreme Court. This Government cannot afford to punish the humblest of its citizens wrongfully. The Supreme Court, elevated as it is above all courts in the land and above all its citizens, is not so high that it can justly deny to the lowliest and most oppressed, even though accused of crime, his rights as a citizen, without a sacrifice of its own honor and dignity. It should be remembered that "one foul sentence does more harm than many foul examples; for the last do but corrupt the stream, while the former corrupteth the fountain." . . .
The Supreme Court of the United States is a tribunal towards which I have ever looked with respect and reverence. Its decisions are entitled to the greatest consideration. They carry with them the weight of great authority. Individually, the members of the Court occupy a high place in the public confidence and esteem. Their lives, and the events and actions of their lives, for many years, are before the world, and form a conspicuous part of the history of the country. United as they are in the capacity of a Supreme Court of this great nation, they form a judicial tribunal which is not surpassed, if equaled, in dignity by any other on earth. . . .
High as is my respect for the Supreme tribunal of the land, my respect for the Constitution and my reverence for God are higher. I cannot assume for human laws and human decisions that which I assume for God's laws—that they are beyond question. To do so would be to claim for their fallible authors an infallibility which belongs only to the Creator. I cannot exalt man to an equality with God. That the laws of Congress have not always been constitutional and perfect, that the decisions of the Supreme Court have not always been infallible, the history of the nation clearly establishes. It requires no great age, no venerable experience, to remind citizens of this fact; men of middle age have but to contrast the present with the past, which they can recollect, to convince themselves of it. (1879, Review 2-4)
Future depends on integrity of people. Though the Fathers of the Republic were confident in the integrity of their own motives, and were satisfied as to the propriety of establishing such a form of government, yet they were fully aware that its success and perpetuity depended, altogether, on the integrity and correct deportment of the people. They fully realized that, by the indulgence in local prejudices and party animosities, under guidance of ambitious leaders, occasions might easily be found or created for the introduction of sectional agitation and strife that would result, unless checked, in the dismemberment of the Union.
They were not blind to the evils which monarchists predicted would attend the Republic; neither did they pass off the stage of action without lifting up their voices in solemn warning to guard the people against the dangers of disruption. They knew that the safety and preservation of the Union and all the blessings of a free government were dependent upon the integrity of the people—that so long as they abstained from local prejudices and attachments, from separate views and party animosities, and accorded unto all the same privileges they claimed for themselves, so long the Union would be preserved intact. (Sept. 27, 1856, WS 210-11)
Joseph Smith would have saved nation. God intended, as has been predicted in the Book of Mormon, to make of these United States, if they would receive His Gospel, the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. It is the mightiest now, and if they would receive the message He has sent unto them, He would impart to them His power and acknowledge this nation as His own. But they murdered the Prophet of God, the man whom God had called and inspired. They were not satisfied till he was slain, thinking thereby to destroy the work which he had been the instrument in the hands of God of founding.
He would have saved the nation by the wisdom which God gave him, if the people had listened to him. There would have been no war of the rebellion if Joseph Smith's counsel had been listened to. If the principles he taught had been heeded, the nation would not have been rent asunder as it was during that bloody period. Instead, it would have gone on increasing in strength and power, the blessing of God being with it. (Sept. 23, 1900, MS 62:772)
The Saints and the Civil War. When the South raised the flag of rebellion, there was no well-informed Latter-day Saint who could approve in his heart of such conduct, however much we might have expected it. Joseph Smith had predicted, nearly thirty years before the rebellion broke out, that it would occur; however much this might be the case, there was nothing connected with the principle of secession or rebellion that met with the approval of the Latter-day Saints. And it is a remarkable fact that God, through the acts of our enemies, caused us to be placed in a position where, in the war of the rebellion, we should not be compelled to shed the blood of our fellow-men. . . .
We were here in the mountains, in a position where we could do nothing in the strife. President Lincoln asked for some men to guard the great highway, to preserve the mails and keep open communication, and these men were sent out. But they did not have to fight. . . .
The Mormon Battalion. When five hundred men—after we were driven from Illinois in 1846—were required to make up the Mormon Battalion for the Mexican War, the promise of God to these five hundred men was that they should not be compelled to shed blood during their absence, and in a remarkable manner this prediction was fulfilled. They never shrank from doing their duty as good, loyal citizens and soldiers, but there was no blood-shedding by the Mormon Battalion.
We have been in all our troubles preserved from shedding blood. We are not a blood-shedding people. Our garments are not stained with the blood of our fellow-men—I mean as a people. . . . We are at peace with all mankind. God has given unto us a law concerning this, that we must hoist the standard of peace and continue to proclaim it, and then if we are called upon to defend ourselves, we are told to leave our cause in the hands of God. We are a people who love peace, and in the turmoil, in the wars, in the confusion, in all the disorders that will eventually occur, not only in Europe, but in our own land—our own blessed land in many respects which shall become yet very unhappy in consequence of internal broils and disunion—when all this shall take place, we are the people who will present such an aspect to the world, that they will say, "here are the features we desire; they have the peace our souls long for." (Oct. 9, 1881, JD 22:327-28)
Civil strife coming. The day will come, and it is not far distant, when in our own nation there will be civil strife, there will be domestic broils, there will be a withdrawal of peace, and men will yet have to come to the Latter-day Saints for that peace and that freedom from civil strife that cannot be found elsewhere. . . . We have been taught to believe that the time will come when constitutional government will be overthrown upon this land, and that it will be the province of the Latter-day Saints to uphold those principles which God inspired the founders of this government to embody in the Constitution; and it seems to be fast approaching. (Aug. 31, 1884, JD 25:274)
Downfall of government predicted. Men are so ready and willing to be deceived in regard to that which will produce their destruction, that they put off the day of dread.
Although Joseph Smith and the Elders of this Church have proclaimed, both by their own voice and by publications, the downfall of this government, and set forth things so plainly to those that would look at them, yet the people have closed their eyes and have pressed forward in their own way; and they will so continue until every word shall be fulfilled. (Sept. 9, 1860, JD 8:301)
We cannot took forward with any very bright hope for the future of this nation, unless there is heartfelt repentance on the part of the people. Affairs will grow worse and worse, and all the evils that have befallen and are befalling other nations will come upon this. (July 15, 1881, JI 16:162)
Another civil war predicted. The day will come when our own nation will be convulsed with intestine strife. The civil war that is past is not the only war that will take place in this land. It is a matter of regret to think it should be otherwise. But God has spoken. There will be intestine strife in our own nation. Already we can see, as it were, the seeds of this germinating and sprouting in the midst of neighborhoods and of communities, and it will break out after a while, and men will flee to Zion.
The prediction was made . . . by Joseph Smith that the time would come when those who would not take up their sword to fight against their neighbor in this blessed land . . . would be compelled to come here for protection, for we will be the only people that will be at peace on the continent. . . . It will be fulfilled just as sure as God has spoken it. (June 22, 1884, JD 25:238-44)
Tyranny of a republic. While the people are pure, while they are upright, while they are willing to observe law, the best results must follow the establishment and maintenance of a government like this: but, on the other hand, if the people become corrupt, if they give way to passion, if they disregard law, if they trample upon constitutional obligations, then a republican form of government like ours becomes the worst tyranny upon the face of the earth. An autocracy is a government of one man, and if he be a tyrant, it is the tyranny of one man; but the tyranny and the irresponsibility of a mob is one of the most grievous despotisms which can exist upon the face of the earth. . . .
Innocent blood not atoned for. Deeds of violence will become more common, whether the world believe it or not. The Lord inspired His servants to predict these things, if the spirit of mobocracy were permitted to reign unchecked and unpunished. Innocent blood has been shed in our land, the blood of innocent men, the blood, as we believe, of Prophets and Apostles and Saints of God; and other blood stains the escutcheon of the States where it was shed, and it has not been atoned for. There has been no voice of protest against those deeds. . . .
Nations held responsible. When men permit the spirit of mobocracy and violence to prevail, when they suffer crime to go unpunished, when innocent blood is shed and is not atoned for, the time must come sooner or later when the evil results will become widespread. As men sow, so will they reap. It is an eternal law and can only be avoided by deep repentance. Every nation which commits a crime must atone for that crime. God holds nations responsible as He does individuals. (July 3, 1881, JD 22:135-38)
A great revolution coming. It is not going to be a great while—and many of you will see it too—before there will be a great revolution in the earth. Just as sure as the Lord lives the day will come when there will be consternation not only in foreign nations but in our own nation. The people of this republic are actually treading upon a volcano, and they do not know how soon the fires may burst forth, how soon the governmental fabric of this nation, the most glorious the sun has ever shone upon, the best that man without the Priesthood has had upon the earth, shall tumble. And why? Through the corruption of the people.
The best government becomes the worst government when the people become corrupt, when bribery in high places rules, when political parties condescend to purchase votes. The power of a government is weakened when Senators, Representatives and Presidents get their places by the use of money. Woe to a nation when this becomes the case. It is doomed and sooner or later it must fail. (Oct. 6, 1879, JD 20:339)
Saints should live above need for laws. Now the Latter-day Saints, as far as they are personally concerned, ought to be perfectly indifferent as to prohibition; they ought to live above the necessity of such a clause in the Constitution of Utah. There should be no need of such a thing for them. But is this the case? No, it is not. Latter-day Saints, so-called, patronize saloons; Latter-day Saints, so-called, do other vicious things, and disgrace their name and their calling by their conduct.
Now, if we live as we should do, it would make no difference what the laws were concerning the sale of liquor; it would make no difference what the laws are concerning theft, slander, bearing false witness, fornication or adultery. We would live above all these laws. And we will not be the people of God till we do live above them. We shall not see the millennium, of which we speak and sing, and which we are looking forward to, unless we do live above the laws that are enacted to restrain and punish evil practices. (Mar. 3, 1895, DEN, Mar. 4, 1895)
We must maintain our rights. In our contention for liberty—for we today are the defenders of the Constitution, and we shall have Constitutional principles to maintain and defend in the courts of the nation, we are being forced into this duty and position—God will bless us and preserve us, and carry us off triumphantly, and the words of Joseph, which were inspired by the Almighty, will be fulfilled to the very letter, namely, that the Elders of this Church will be the men who will uphold and maintain the Constitution of the United States, when others are seeking to trample it in the dust, and to destroy it.
We are a free people—let others seek to bring us into bondage as they may—we are a free people, with the perfect right to worship our God and to carry into effect the principles that He has revealed. And if the whole world array themselves against us, and the combined power of the nation puts itself against this work, they must go down in the struggle, because they are occupying a false position. If fifty hundred millions of people were to say to the contrary, no matter, the principle still remains true, that under the Constitution in this land, a man has a perfect right to do that which God requires at his hands as long as he does not intrude upon the rights of his neighbor.
If one man stood alone in this position, and millions of men were to say it is not so, that lone man would still be right. We have that right. God has given it to us under the Constitution of the land in which we dwell, and if men enact laws and pile one law upon another until they reach to the sky, it would not change this. It is an eternal principle, and it will stand—this principle of liberty, the liberty that God has given unto every human being—the right to do that which seemeth good in his own sight, to follow the dictates of his own conscience, as long as, in so doing, he does not trespass upon the rights of his fellow man. We stand by that fearlessly, and stand by it for ourselves, and for our children after us. I would not abate one iota, not a hair's breadth, myself, in this feeling. I would feel that I was a traitor to myself and to my posterity if I were to yield in the least upon this.
We must maintain our rights, not aggressively, not in any quarrelsome spirit, but in a spirit of quiet firmness, quiet determination to maintain our rights, to contend for them, and to never yield one hair's breadth in maintaining them. This is our duty as individuals and as a people. (Jan. 18, 1885, JD 26:142-43)
Let us guard well our franchise, and in one unbroken phalanx, maintain and sustain our political status, and, as patriots and freemen, operate together, in the defense of what few liberties are left us, in the defense of the Constitution, and in the defense of the inalienable rights of man, which rights always exist and are before and above all constitutions, and thus perpetuate to posterity the inestimable blessings of freedom, including the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to pursue happiness, unmolested by any influence, power, or combination. (Aug. 29, 1882, MS 44:614)
Saviors of liberty. The days are fast approaching concerning which the Prophet Joseph Smith often spoke. He taught the Elders that the time would come when the Constitution of the United States would be treated with contempt and trampled upon as of no value. . . .
I was much impressed by a remark made to me lately by an eminent man. "It is very wonderful," said he, speaking of the Latter-day Saints, "that a colony of religious exiles in the heart of the continent should be contending today for precisely the same principles of liberty that the men of our American revolution battled for."
He could see our true position. It is the exact position that the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the spirit of prophecy, said we should occupy. He said that the day would come when it should devolve upon the people of this Church to uphold the Constitution and the liberty guaranteed by it upon this continent. That is being literally fulfilled before our eyes. We are struggling to maintain its principles and to preserve its liberties. We are assailed in our own persons. The Constitution is being trampled upon in the attempts which are being made to reach and destroy us. It becomes, therefore, an act of self-preservation on our own part to save it. We shall rescue and uphold it. The liberties it guarantees we shall preserve, not for ourselves alone but for all men.
It may seem at some times as if we must go down, the odds against us will be so great. But the Lord is on our side. He never has deserted, He never will desert, His people. All that we have to do is to go about the business He has assigned us without being disturbed, and He will take care of us. We must borrow no trouble, but trust Him. And His peace will flow unto us like a river and His salvation will surround us. (Apr. 1, 1883, JI 18:99)
Church organization to stem anarchy. As God lives the day will come that constitutional government and the rights of man will have to be maintained by the Latter-day Saints, and that at a time when there will be no other power upon this land that will be able to make headway against the tide of evil that will flood the country. And it will be due to our organization that is magnificent as our enemies freely admit. We are a consolidated power. And when anarchy reigns, as it will do, for it is coming, and every man that opens his eyes to see the evils that abound—if he does not persistently resist the truth—must have a secret dread of it in his heart, when that comes, there will be no power upon this continent that will be able to stem it, except the organization which God has given to us. . . .
We are gaining experience day by day. God is training us in this way. We are receiving a training such as no other people receive. Men are being made statesmen in spite of themselves. . . . The day will come when we will exercise this authority in a far wider sphere than in this limited territory. The same wisdom that has maintained the organization of this people, and that enables us to withstand attacks that would swamp any other people, will enable us to act in a far more extended sphere. (June 20, 1883, JD 24:222-23)
There will be trouble. You may look for it. God has said it, and it will come; and the day will come, just as sure as God has spoken it, when the Latter-day Saints will be the only people upon this North American continent that will have the power to uphold constitutional government. (May 20, 1894, DW 49:227)
Evils of mob rule. The case of many of the great evils under which our government suffers at the present time is that the mob rules. Men who are dependent upon votes for office bend to the wishes of the mob and comply with their most insolent demands, regardless of principles or of the question of right or wrong that may be involved in the demand. . . .
Now, there are thousands of men in these United States who are as much opposed to the evils under which the country suffers as are the Latter-day Saints—thousands of patriotic, liberty-loving men and women; but they are scattered throughout the country, without organization and without the power to act in concert. Amid the noisy clamors which prevail, their voices are unheard in the protest against these evils.
In this respect, though few in number, we have the advantage. We are organized. Through the union which God has given unto us we can bear the shock of conflict. It is the design of Providence that we shall stand in the gap, that we shall struggle for and maintain that liberty which was bought by the shedding of precious blood in the founding of this government. Those who understand the nature of the conflict now in progress perceive that we are contending for more than the superficial observer imagines. We are contending for the fullest civil and religious liberty of all men of every creed and of every nationality—a liberty that will permit every man to serve his God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to perform all other matters to suit himself, so long as in doing so he does not intrude upon the rights and liberties of his fellow-men.
The occurrences of every day prove to us how necessary it is that some people should stand up for liberty and right, and endeavor to induce the nation to walk in the old paths, to put down mobocracy in every form, to befriend the friendless, to protect the unprotected, to defend the weak and the powerless, and to maintain justice and fair dealing in the land, and not suffer any combination of men to attempt to crush our individual or weaker people, because they are unpopular. . . .
The Latter-day Saints have been predicting . . . what the fate of this nation would be unless there should be repentance, and every day the significance of their predictions becomes more apparent. If liberty be preserved, we are the people to preserve it. If anarchy were to reign in these United States today, and our present form of government were to be broken up by civil strife, we, through the blessing of God, are the people, and, I may say, the only people on the continent, capable of self-government, and of maintaining order and every attribute of good government. When those days shall come, as come they undoubtedly will, then the superiority of our system will be made plain, and thousands will be glad to seek refuge in Zion, and protection for life and property from that people whom many of them, today, in their ignorance, would be willing to see destroyed. (Jan. 11, 1886, MS 48:18-20)
The Priesthood to save the nation. God has chosen this people with the express purpose of making them a great people. We shall be, if we fulfill the destiny that is assigned to us. We shall be the saviors of our nation, and we shall save the nation through the Priesthood that God has established in His Church. This may come in contact with some of your ideas. You may think it will be done through party conventions, through politics, or through political leaders. It will never be done in that way.
It will be done through the power of God, through the revelations of Jesus Christ. It will be done through the medium of that authority He has placed on the earth, and which He recognizes as His. That will be the way in which this will be brought about. It will be brought about in God's own time and God's own way, and these Latter-day Saints—you who are here today, with other Latter-day Saints throughout these valleys—will be the people that will accomplish this under the direction of the Almighty. . . . (Jan. 1, 1897, DW 54:292)
The need of patriotism. Every day magnifies the importance of a saving, patriotic element which shall hold aloft the purity of American institutions. With each recurring campaign the opportunity for the labor of such an element becomes more apparent. Every year makes it a necessity nearer and more absolute. In various ways. and by almost imperceptible degrees, the Constitution is being assailed. Sometimes its plain provisions are distorted if not openly violated. . . . Sometimes it is evaded and undermined, and by gradual processes is made to cover proceedings at which the fathers of the country would have stared. Laws which are not in accord with its spirit are sometimes enacted, and very frequently proposed. Men are becoming strangers to patriotism, and are striving after position and pelf.
Every year, according to careful authorities on the subject, the evils and corrupt practices of politics are increasing, and each year the perils which menace the nation become more imminent. Of course there are thousands and tens of thousands of brave men and woman who still love the institutions of our land and would maintain them in purity with their lives. But the elements of an opposite character are increasing with great rapidity, and thoughtful men, in even their most sanguine moments, cannot but view the future with some dread.
A duty of preparation. We have alluded to this condition and tendency, not to cause gloom or alarm, or to give rise to political fears or discussion, but to invite the attention of our young people to a duty which clearly rests upon them. They should study the history of the country we live in, not only since, but before the arrival of Columbus and the establishment of the American government. The lessons of the ancient people dwelling here abound in instruction and in comparisons with events occurring in our own days. The views and lives of the founders of American liberty, if examined with patriotic impartiality, will be found almost prophetic in many respects.
Predictions made since the foundation of the Church with reference to the part our people would enact in preserving the Constitution should also be studied prayerfully and in faith. We think, if this be done, every reader will reach the conclusion that perhaps in the past we have been, and in the present are, paying too little attention to our preparation for the work in hand and are but feebly conscious of the importance of the destiny in store. (Sept. 15, 1896, JI 31:544)
Seeking for political office despicable. I want to say that whenever you see men aspiring for office and planning to get office do not encourage them. Let the office seek the man, and let us not be plotting and resorting to all sorts of dodges to secure success to our party, in order that some of us may get into office. Such arts are despicable. They are the arts of the low politician. We want to stand on a higher plane, and took at these things as men who have been enlightened by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Apr. 8, 1894, DW 48:704)
Let men go into office free and untrammeled. Let them be elected because they are the men most suitable, and not because they want the office. Let us, as a people, endeavor to find men who do not seek for office, and who do not want it, but who take it because it is the wish of their fellow citizens. (Nov. 20, 1884, JD 26:17)
Political campaigns. I will not read a political paper. I will not allow one to come into my house. My children shall not read the misrepresentations and falsehoods that are circulated by men through papers. The atmosphere of my family shall not be defiled by their presence. I will not read the speeches which contain these attacks. If men cannot tell the truth, if they cannot speak truly of principles, I do not want to read their utterances; and if they do speak the truth, and then are assailed for it, I do not want to read the assaults made upon them. (Oct. 14, 1894, MS 56:757)
Politics a noble profession. A time is coming when the youth of these mountains will have to take part in governing the nation, and a greater or less knowledge of political history will be absolutely necessary to them. First of all, the general proposition may be laid down that such a thing as purity in politics is not impossible, though at present somewhat rare. The science or profession, as it may be called, is in its proper phase a noble one; and for a man who is conscientious, full of moral courage, able to resist the temptations which beset the politician's path in a thousand alluring forms, and can restrain his ambition within proper limits, no more inviting or more praiseworthy direction could be desired in which to exercise his talents than to study and solve questions of statesmanship and devise measures which shall be of lasting benefit of his race. Viewed in this light politics are worthy of the best endeavors of the brightest minds; and such a system would we wish to see introduced to and studied by our young men whose destiny is to uphold and sustain pure government, and be in this direction as the servants of God are in all others—benefactors of the world of mankind. (Mar. 15, 1885, JI 20:87)
The Saints and politics. It becomes a question of some importance in these days whether the Latter-day Saints can divide on politics and still be Latter-day Saints, still have fellowship for one another and still preserve that respect one for the other that the Gospel requires.
The discussion of politics has brought to the surface many strange exhibitions of feeling among members of the Church. . . . Many have yielded to a spirit that produces anything but harmony and love, and there is considerable danger that this agitation may almost prove too strong an ordeal for the faith of many men who have passed through a good many trials in the past and been undisturbed thereby.
Some of us can speak with the utmost confidence and say that it was not and is not contrary to the will of the Lord that this division on party lines should take place. This being the case, it necessarily follows that members of our Church can take sides in politics without doing anything that is inconsistent with their character as Saints of the Lord. Because evil passions arise, because men grow angry and contend, because men even descend to falsehood and defamation, and resort to tricks to gain their ends, this conduct does not prove that there is any defect in our religion, or that a division on party lines is not proper; it only shows the fallibility of men and their failure to practically apply the principles of their religion to the affairs in which they are engaged. . . . If men cannot retain the Spirit of God, and cannot treat each other as Latter-day Saints, then there is some failure in the men who place themselves in such a condition. . . .
We have been taught from the beginning to be governed by the principles of our religion in all the relations of life—in our buying, in our selling, in our trading, in fact, in every department of human transactions. The whole burden of the teachings of the leaders of this Church has been to this effect. We have been informed that our religion is a practical religion, an everyday religion, not to be put on with our Sunday clothes, nor to be laid off when we assume our working apparel. And these teachings will apply to politics as well as everything else.
If members of the Church should be guilty of conduct in politics that would not be justified in other transactions and in the ordinary affairs of life, then they step out of the path which as Saints they should walk in. Men can grieve the Spirit of God by overstepping the bounds of right in political matters as well as in other directions. Because a man is engaged in politics, he has no right to break the divine laws which have been given to us for the regulation of our lives as the children of God; and those who do this will lose His Holy Spirit. . . . (Nov. 1, 1892, JI 27:645-46)
No faith in political parties. We do not place our faith in political parties, either Democrats or Republicans. We believe one would be as willing as the other to crowd us to the wall if it could be sure of winning popular applause for the act. While we have warm friends in both parties, we cannot expect especial favor from either. The Lord is determined to have the glory for carrying on and consummating His own work, and to do this He is fully able. Therefore, to sum up the condition of the world in brief words, it may be stated that the only opposition to the Kingdom and power of God is found in the power of Satan. Those who are not for the one are for the other, and it is only a question of a short time as to which will be triumphant. (Mar. 15, 1885, JI 20:87)
Discipline of Church officers. The Church asks that its principal officers, whose duties are of a character necessary for the maintenance of the Church and its perfect organization, should devote themselves to the ministry that is assigned to them and which they accept in taking office. The Church asks that if at any time they are invited to assume other duties, the Church, through its Authorities, shall be consulted as to the propriety of these officers accepting these or not. Is there anything improper in this? Is there any interference with the rights of free men? Not in the least. . . . If any officer should think that his rights are interfered with by this rule of discipline, he is at perfect liberty to resign his ecclesiastical office. But I am prepared to say that no man of any party would be refused permission to accept office if it were at all possible for him to hold it consistently with his ecclesiastical duties.
(George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 549.)
Constitutional Government and Politics
The Constitution and the Saints. We cannot as a people close our eyes or our ears to that which is going on around us. No people on this continent are more interested in public movements than are the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So many predictions have been made concerning the future of our own nation that we would be a very stupid people if we were not deeply interested in the fulfillment of those predictions and in watching the signs which will precede or accompany them.
The Book of Mormon is a most precious record if for no other reason than this: it gives us a clear idea concerning the fate of the people of this land in their national capacity. Not only does the Book of Mormon furnish us with the most interesting and definite information, but the Book of Doctrine and Covenants also can be read by Latter-day Saints with the deepest interest because of the events which are foreshadowed in the revelations which it contains. (Sept. 1, 1896, JI 31:522)
Constitution provides for perfect liberty. The Constitution was an instrument devised by the highest human wisdom, and was admirably adapted for the purpose for which it was designed. No better instrument was ever framed by human intellect. Under its wise provisions and guarantees, the people of every section and of every creed on this great land could dwell in peace and in harmony, and enjoy the most extensive rights consistent with good order. And its benefits need not have been confined to this continent; but the people of every nation and of every land could become partakers of the blessings which are guaranteed, and dwell in peace and security under its aegis.
But the views of its framers have not been carried out. The love of place and of power has risen paramount to the love of country; and those who should have been the most faithful defenders of the Constitution have been its most deadly foes. . . .
While the Constitution was properly respected, and the wise admonitions of its framers were attended to, the nation became great, prosperous and happy without a parallel in history. But to have a people truly great and permanently prosperous, there is something more needed than a good constitution, a perfect form of government and liberal laws. With virtue and honesty in the people, and a disposition to strictly obey and comply with the laws, imperfect and faulty though they may be, an illiberal form of government, and an inferior constitution, do not check progress or entirely debar the subjects of such a government from enjoying much real happiness.
But that government which we have guaranteed unto us, under our Constitution, has never been excelled, if indeed it has ever been equaled, in the liberality of its provisions for the rights and enjoyment of its citizens. Under its benign working, when properly administered, man can enjoy the most perfect liberty compatible with his well-being, and progress to the highest point of excellence and greatness attainable in a state of mortality. There are no checks, no limits to his progress. His path is unobstructed by any obstacle which perseverance and energy cannot overcome. . . .
Peace and happiness of world considered. Though their [the Founding Fathers] labors were confined to this land, and to the establishment of free government here, yet their great and philanthropic hearts beat high with hopes for the emancipation of the toiling and down-trodden millions of other lands, and they jealously watched and guarded every movement, knowing well that any misadventure on their part would injure the cause of liberty everywhere throughout the earth. The peace and happiness of the whole race of man were the objects for which they labored; and this was the aim which they kept constantly in view in the Declaration of Independence, in the framing of the Constitution and in all their acts in founding the government.
And had the people of these United States lived up to the Constitution, and the principles and precepts which the Fathers bequeathed to them, instead of there being division in our nation, and a deadly internecine war being waged between two sections [the Civil War], we would have gone on increasing in greatness and power until we would have annexed the world and extended the blessings of free government unto all people. . . .
The day-star of the brighter day. They, with full confidence in the Divine Power, which had thrown protection around them like a wall of fire, gave that instrument to the world with the most sanguine hopes in the bright and glorious future which awaited our country. Yet, this work was but the forerunner to a greater. They reared a temple of liberty amid the noble pillars of which the infant Kingdom of God, then in the future, could gather strength and vigor and power to protect and perpetuate the edifice that gave it early shelter.
While all others throughout this wide-spread republic celebrate this day [July 4] because it is the anniversary of liberty and freedom to them, we doubly rejoice, for not only do we see in it the birth-day of civil and religious freedom, but the day-star of that glorious morn that would usher in light to chase away the night of ages, truth to drive error back to its dark bounds, and redemption for all mankind, till a regenerated world, emancipated from the slavery of sin and death, should bask in the eternal sunshine of salvation, exaltation and glory. They, through the dim vista of the future, saw faintly the dawning light of that bright day; we looking from the past to the future, nearer to the effulgence of its glory, can see with closer vision its brilliance, and feel already the heavenly warmth of its rays as they shine around our hearts.
If those to whom the sacred trust was committed should not prove true to their integrity, there is a people who revere the Hand by which the boon was bestowed, honor the men who were the chosen ones to usher in the birthday of freedom to the world, and will cling to the Constitution till its blessings are enjoyed by every land trodden by the foot of man. . . .
We celebrate the day and honor the memory of the Revolutionary Fathers because they were the men who pioneered the way for the work in which we are engaged—because it was the initial step, in these latter times, in the pathway of endless and universal freedom; and when the rising glories of our country shall shine with effulgent splendor, and the children of every land shall enjoy the blessings of liberty and freedom, we shall celebrate the day we have now assembled to commemorate and honor the memory of those who have made it notable and glorious for all time. (July 4, 1865, DNW 14:317)
A land of liberty. This land has been dedicated to liberty, dedicated by the Lord our God, and by men who have lived upon this land, to liberty, and as long as this land shall be a land of liberty, it will be a blessed land to the inhabitants thereof; but when it ceases to be a land of liberty, then as sure as God has spoken, this government will go down—that is, any government that will war against the principles of liberty. . . . (Jan. 18, 1885, JD 26:142)
Forces of destruction. No people or government can defy the sound principles of law which are essential to the correct administration of justice and to the maintenance of the rights of its citizens, without calling into existence forces which are calculated to lead to its destruction. (Apr. 8, 1887, MS 49:293-96)
A government that lends itself to the oppression of its citizens will sooner or later receive punishment. That which it sows it will reap. It will be a harvest that will be most bitter and sorrowful for those who reap it. (Nov. 20, 1884, JD 26:12-13)
The proper role of government. Government has the right, and owes it to its citizens, to protect them in their rights—to protect their lives, to protect their property, to protect them in all their civil rights, and in their religious rights also, and to prevent others from doing them violence. Beyond this it should not go. (June 25, 1882, JD 24:45)
The first amendment. The adoption of the first amendment to the Constitution was an intimation to the world that in free America the inquisition over the rights of conscience was forever ended. The States had been released from the political tyranny of the mother country; by this amendment they were released from the religious traditions, the soul-crushing, the body-destroying laws and practices in religious matters of the old world. The new Republic turned her back upon all these, and, led and inspired by the Almighty, she swept away every restriction and oppressive enactment that could in the least prevent her from becoming, as Washington said, "an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions." This flag of political and universal religious liberty was unfurled to the world. (1879, Review 24)
No government force in religion. If our Government should attempt to use force in religion, it will find its power stop short at the conscience of man. No truthful, conscientious man can bend or deny his convictions at the bidding of King, President, Congress or Court. Congress and Court may say what they think is religion and what is not religion, and those who are of their way of thinking may accept their definitions, but no free man will allow them to prescribe what his religious duty shall be, and how it shall be rendered to his Creator. . . .
Grant to Congress and the Courts the power to define the rights of conscience, and the limit beyond which faith shall not be carried into action, and religious liberty is practically at an end. The battles for spiritual freedom, which have been so nobly fought in the generations past, and which have been gained by the sacrifice of so much precious blood, will, so far as we are concerned, have been fought in vain. We shall be remanded back to the days of Henry the VIII, when "the King's Majesty had as well the care of the souls of his subjects as their bodies; and might by the law of God, by his Parliament, make laws touching and concerning as well the one as the other." (1879, Review 39)
The Supreme Court. This Government cannot afford to punish the humblest of its citizens wrongfully. The Supreme Court, elevated as it is above all courts in the land and above all its citizens, is not so high that it can justly deny to the lowliest and most oppressed, even though accused of crime, his rights as a citizen, without a sacrifice of its own honor and dignity. It should be remembered that "one foul sentence does more harm than many foul examples; for the last do but corrupt the stream, while the former corrupteth the fountain." . . .
The Supreme Court of the United States is a tribunal towards which I have ever looked with respect and reverence. Its decisions are entitled to the greatest consideration. They carry with them the weight of great authority. Individually, the members of the Court occupy a high place in the public confidence and esteem. Their lives, and the events and actions of their lives, for many years, are before the world, and form a conspicuous part of the history of the country. United as they are in the capacity of a Supreme Court of this great nation, they form a judicial tribunal which is not surpassed, if equaled, in dignity by any other on earth. . . .
High as is my respect for the Supreme tribunal of the land, my respect for the Constitution and my reverence for God are higher. I cannot assume for human laws and human decisions that which I assume for God's laws—that they are beyond question. To do so would be to claim for their fallible authors an infallibility which belongs only to the Creator. I cannot exalt man to an equality with God. That the laws of Congress have not always been constitutional and perfect, that the decisions of the Supreme Court have not always been infallible, the history of the nation clearly establishes. It requires no great age, no venerable experience, to remind citizens of this fact; men of middle age have but to contrast the present with the past, which they can recollect, to convince themselves of it. (1879, Review 2-4)
Future depends on integrity of people. Though the Fathers of the Republic were confident in the integrity of their own motives, and were satisfied as to the propriety of establishing such a form of government, yet they were fully aware that its success and perpetuity depended, altogether, on the integrity and correct deportment of the people. They fully realized that, by the indulgence in local prejudices and party animosities, under guidance of ambitious leaders, occasions might easily be found or created for the introduction of sectional agitation and strife that would result, unless checked, in the dismemberment of the Union.
They were not blind to the evils which monarchists predicted would attend the Republic; neither did they pass off the stage of action without lifting up their voices in solemn warning to guard the people against the dangers of disruption. They knew that the safety and preservation of the Union and all the blessings of a free government were dependent upon the integrity of the people—that so long as they abstained from local prejudices and attachments, from separate views and party animosities, and accorded unto all the same privileges they claimed for themselves, so long the Union would be preserved intact. (Sept. 27, 1856, WS 210-11)
Joseph Smith would have saved nation. God intended, as has been predicted in the Book of Mormon, to make of these United States, if they would receive His Gospel, the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. It is the mightiest now, and if they would receive the message He has sent unto them, He would impart to them His power and acknowledge this nation as His own. But they murdered the Prophet of God, the man whom God had called and inspired. They were not satisfied till he was slain, thinking thereby to destroy the work which he had been the instrument in the hands of God of founding.
He would have saved the nation by the wisdom which God gave him, if the people had listened to him. There would have been no war of the rebellion if Joseph Smith's counsel had been listened to. If the principles he taught had been heeded, the nation would not have been rent asunder as it was during that bloody period. Instead, it would have gone on increasing in strength and power, the blessing of God being with it. (Sept. 23, 1900, MS 62:772)
The Saints and the Civil War. When the South raised the flag of rebellion, there was no well-informed Latter-day Saint who could approve in his heart of such conduct, however much we might have expected it. Joseph Smith had predicted, nearly thirty years before the rebellion broke out, that it would occur; however much this might be the case, there was nothing connected with the principle of secession or rebellion that met with the approval of the Latter-day Saints. And it is a remarkable fact that God, through the acts of our enemies, caused us to be placed in a position where, in the war of the rebellion, we should not be compelled to shed the blood of our fellow-men. . . .
We were here in the mountains, in a position where we could do nothing in the strife. President Lincoln asked for some men to guard the great highway, to preserve the mails and keep open communication, and these men were sent out. But they did not have to fight. . . .
The Mormon Battalion. When five hundred men—after we were driven from Illinois in 1846—were required to make up the Mormon Battalion for the Mexican War, the promise of God to these five hundred men was that they should not be compelled to shed blood during their absence, and in a remarkable manner this prediction was fulfilled. They never shrank from doing their duty as good, loyal citizens and soldiers, but there was no blood-shedding by the Mormon Battalion.
We have been in all our troubles preserved from shedding blood. We are not a blood-shedding people. Our garments are not stained with the blood of our fellow-men—I mean as a people. . . . We are at peace with all mankind. God has given unto us a law concerning this, that we must hoist the standard of peace and continue to proclaim it, and then if we are called upon to defend ourselves, we are told to leave our cause in the hands of God. We are a people who love peace, and in the turmoil, in the wars, in the confusion, in all the disorders that will eventually occur, not only in Europe, but in our own land—our own blessed land in many respects which shall become yet very unhappy in consequence of internal broils and disunion—when all this shall take place, we are the people who will present such an aspect to the world, that they will say, "here are the features we desire; they have the peace our souls long for." (Oct. 9, 1881, JD 22:327-28)
Civil strife coming. The day will come, and it is not far distant, when in our own nation there will be civil strife, there will be domestic broils, there will be a withdrawal of peace, and men will yet have to come to the Latter-day Saints for that peace and that freedom from civil strife that cannot be found elsewhere. . . . We have been taught to believe that the time will come when constitutional government will be overthrown upon this land, and that it will be the province of the Latter-day Saints to uphold those principles which God inspired the founders of this government to embody in the Constitution; and it seems to be fast approaching. (Aug. 31, 1884, JD 25:274)
Downfall of government predicted. Men are so ready and willing to be deceived in regard to that which will produce their destruction, that they put off the day of dread.
Although Joseph Smith and the Elders of this Church have proclaimed, both by their own voice and by publications, the downfall of this government, and set forth things so plainly to those that would look at them, yet the people have closed their eyes and have pressed forward in their own way; and they will so continue until every word shall be fulfilled. (Sept. 9, 1860, JD 8:301)
We cannot took forward with any very bright hope for the future of this nation, unless there is heartfelt repentance on the part of the people. Affairs will grow worse and worse, and all the evils that have befallen and are befalling other nations will come upon this. (July 15, 1881, JI 16:162)
Another civil war predicted. The day will come when our own nation will be convulsed with intestine strife. The civil war that is past is not the only war that will take place in this land. It is a matter of regret to think it should be otherwise. But God has spoken. There will be intestine strife in our own nation. Already we can see, as it were, the seeds of this germinating and sprouting in the midst of neighborhoods and of communities, and it will break out after a while, and men will flee to Zion.
The prediction was made . . . by Joseph Smith that the time would come when those who would not take up their sword to fight against their neighbor in this blessed land . . . would be compelled to come here for protection, for we will be the only people that will be at peace on the continent. . . . It will be fulfilled just as sure as God has spoken it. (June 22, 1884, JD 25:238-44)
Tyranny of a republic. While the people are pure, while they are upright, while they are willing to observe law, the best results must follow the establishment and maintenance of a government like this: but, on the other hand, if the people become corrupt, if they give way to passion, if they disregard law, if they trample upon constitutional obligations, then a republican form of government like ours becomes the worst tyranny upon the face of the earth. An autocracy is a government of one man, and if he be a tyrant, it is the tyranny of one man; but the tyranny and the irresponsibility of a mob is one of the most grievous despotisms which can exist upon the face of the earth. . . .
Innocent blood not atoned for. Deeds of violence will become more common, whether the world believe it or not. The Lord inspired His servants to predict these things, if the spirit of mobocracy were permitted to reign unchecked and unpunished. Innocent blood has been shed in our land, the blood of innocent men, the blood, as we believe, of Prophets and Apostles and Saints of God; and other blood stains the escutcheon of the States where it was shed, and it has not been atoned for. There has been no voice of protest against those deeds. . . .
Nations held responsible. When men permit the spirit of mobocracy and violence to prevail, when they suffer crime to go unpunished, when innocent blood is shed and is not atoned for, the time must come sooner or later when the evil results will become widespread. As men sow, so will they reap. It is an eternal law and can only be avoided by deep repentance. Every nation which commits a crime must atone for that crime. God holds nations responsible as He does individuals. (July 3, 1881, JD 22:135-38)
A great revolution coming. It is not going to be a great while—and many of you will see it too—before there will be a great revolution in the earth. Just as sure as the Lord lives the day will come when there will be consternation not only in foreign nations but in our own nation. The people of this republic are actually treading upon a volcano, and they do not know how soon the fires may burst forth, how soon the governmental fabric of this nation, the most glorious the sun has ever shone upon, the best that man without the Priesthood has had upon the earth, shall tumble. And why? Through the corruption of the people.
The best government becomes the worst government when the people become corrupt, when bribery in high places rules, when political parties condescend to purchase votes. The power of a government is weakened when Senators, Representatives and Presidents get their places by the use of money. Woe to a nation when this becomes the case. It is doomed and sooner or later it must fail. (Oct. 6, 1879, JD 20:339)
Saints should live above need for laws. Now the Latter-day Saints, as far as they are personally concerned, ought to be perfectly indifferent as to prohibition; they ought to live above the necessity of such a clause in the Constitution of Utah. There should be no need of such a thing for them. But is this the case? No, it is not. Latter-day Saints, so-called, patronize saloons; Latter-day Saints, so-called, do other vicious things, and disgrace their name and their calling by their conduct.
Now, if we live as we should do, it would make no difference what the laws were concerning the sale of liquor; it would make no difference what the laws are concerning theft, slander, bearing false witness, fornication or adultery. We would live above all these laws. And we will not be the people of God till we do live above them. We shall not see the millennium, of which we speak and sing, and which we are looking forward to, unless we do live above the laws that are enacted to restrain and punish evil practices. (Mar. 3, 1895, DEN, Mar. 4, 1895)
We must maintain our rights. In our contention for liberty—for we today are the defenders of the Constitution, and we shall have Constitutional principles to maintain and defend in the courts of the nation, we are being forced into this duty and position—God will bless us and preserve us, and carry us off triumphantly, and the words of Joseph, which were inspired by the Almighty, will be fulfilled to the very letter, namely, that the Elders of this Church will be the men who will uphold and maintain the Constitution of the United States, when others are seeking to trample it in the dust, and to destroy it.
We are a free people—let others seek to bring us into bondage as they may—we are a free people, with the perfect right to worship our God and to carry into effect the principles that He has revealed. And if the whole world array themselves against us, and the combined power of the nation puts itself against this work, they must go down in the struggle, because they are occupying a false position. If fifty hundred millions of people were to say to the contrary, no matter, the principle still remains true, that under the Constitution in this land, a man has a perfect right to do that which God requires at his hands as long as he does not intrude upon the rights of his neighbor.
If one man stood alone in this position, and millions of men were to say it is not so, that lone man would still be right. We have that right. God has given it to us under the Constitution of the land in which we dwell, and if men enact laws and pile one law upon another until they reach to the sky, it would not change this. It is an eternal principle, and it will stand—this principle of liberty, the liberty that God has given unto every human being—the right to do that which seemeth good in his own sight, to follow the dictates of his own conscience, as long as, in so doing, he does not trespass upon the rights of his fellow man. We stand by that fearlessly, and stand by it for ourselves, and for our children after us. I would not abate one iota, not a hair's breadth, myself, in this feeling. I would feel that I was a traitor to myself and to my posterity if I were to yield in the least upon this.
We must maintain our rights, not aggressively, not in any quarrelsome spirit, but in a spirit of quiet firmness, quiet determination to maintain our rights, to contend for them, and to never yield one hair's breadth in maintaining them. This is our duty as individuals and as a people. (Jan. 18, 1885, JD 26:142-43)
Let us guard well our franchise, and in one unbroken phalanx, maintain and sustain our political status, and, as patriots and freemen, operate together, in the defense of what few liberties are left us, in the defense of the Constitution, and in the defense of the inalienable rights of man, which rights always exist and are before and above all constitutions, and thus perpetuate to posterity the inestimable blessings of freedom, including the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to pursue happiness, unmolested by any influence, power, or combination. (Aug. 29, 1882, MS 44:614)
Saviors of liberty. The days are fast approaching concerning which the Prophet Joseph Smith often spoke. He taught the Elders that the time would come when the Constitution of the United States would be treated with contempt and trampled upon as of no value. . . .
I was much impressed by a remark made to me lately by an eminent man. "It is very wonderful," said he, speaking of the Latter-day Saints, "that a colony of religious exiles in the heart of the continent should be contending today for precisely the same principles of liberty that the men of our American revolution battled for."
He could see our true position. It is the exact position that the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the spirit of prophecy, said we should occupy. He said that the day would come when it should devolve upon the people of this Church to uphold the Constitution and the liberty guaranteed by it upon this continent. That is being literally fulfilled before our eyes. We are struggling to maintain its principles and to preserve its liberties. We are assailed in our own persons. The Constitution is being trampled upon in the attempts which are being made to reach and destroy us. It becomes, therefore, an act of self-preservation on our own part to save it. We shall rescue and uphold it. The liberties it guarantees we shall preserve, not for ourselves alone but for all men.
It may seem at some times as if we must go down, the odds against us will be so great. But the Lord is on our side. He never has deserted, He never will desert, His people. All that we have to do is to go about the business He has assigned us without being disturbed, and He will take care of us. We must borrow no trouble, but trust Him. And His peace will flow unto us like a river and His salvation will surround us. (Apr. 1, 1883, JI 18:99)
Church organization to stem anarchy. As God lives the day will come that constitutional government and the rights of man will have to be maintained by the Latter-day Saints, and that at a time when there will be no other power upon this land that will be able to make headway against the tide of evil that will flood the country. And it will be due to our organization that is magnificent as our enemies freely admit. We are a consolidated power. And when anarchy reigns, as it will do, for it is coming, and every man that opens his eyes to see the evils that abound—if he does not persistently resist the truth—must have a secret dread of it in his heart, when that comes, there will be no power upon this continent that will be able to stem it, except the organization which God has given to us. . . .
We are gaining experience day by day. God is training us in this way. We are receiving a training such as no other people receive. Men are being made statesmen in spite of themselves. . . . The day will come when we will exercise this authority in a far wider sphere than in this limited territory. The same wisdom that has maintained the organization of this people, and that enables us to withstand attacks that would swamp any other people, will enable us to act in a far more extended sphere. (June 20, 1883, JD 24:222-23)
There will be trouble. You may look for it. God has said it, and it will come; and the day will come, just as sure as God has spoken it, when the Latter-day Saints will be the only people upon this North American continent that will have the power to uphold constitutional government. (May 20, 1894, DW 49:227)
Evils of mob rule. The case of many of the great evils under which our government suffers at the present time is that the mob rules. Men who are dependent upon votes for office bend to the wishes of the mob and comply with their most insolent demands, regardless of principles or of the question of right or wrong that may be involved in the demand. . . .
Now, there are thousands of men in these United States who are as much opposed to the evils under which the country suffers as are the Latter-day Saints—thousands of patriotic, liberty-loving men and women; but they are scattered throughout the country, without organization and without the power to act in concert. Amid the noisy clamors which prevail, their voices are unheard in the protest against these evils.
In this respect, though few in number, we have the advantage. We are organized. Through the union which God has given unto us we can bear the shock of conflict. It is the design of Providence that we shall stand in the gap, that we shall struggle for and maintain that liberty which was bought by the shedding of precious blood in the founding of this government. Those who understand the nature of the conflict now in progress perceive that we are contending for more than the superficial observer imagines. We are contending for the fullest civil and religious liberty of all men of every creed and of every nationality—a liberty that will permit every man to serve his God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to perform all other matters to suit himself, so long as in doing so he does not intrude upon the rights and liberties of his fellow-men.
The occurrences of every day prove to us how necessary it is that some people should stand up for liberty and right, and endeavor to induce the nation to walk in the old paths, to put down mobocracy in every form, to befriend the friendless, to protect the unprotected, to defend the weak and the powerless, and to maintain justice and fair dealing in the land, and not suffer any combination of men to attempt to crush our individual or weaker people, because they are unpopular. . . .
The Latter-day Saints have been predicting . . . what the fate of this nation would be unless there should be repentance, and every day the significance of their predictions becomes more apparent. If liberty be preserved, we are the people to preserve it. If anarchy were to reign in these United States today, and our present form of government were to be broken up by civil strife, we, through the blessing of God, are the people, and, I may say, the only people on the continent, capable of self-government, and of maintaining order and every attribute of good government. When those days shall come, as come they undoubtedly will, then the superiority of our system will be made plain, and thousands will be glad to seek refuge in Zion, and protection for life and property from that people whom many of them, today, in their ignorance, would be willing to see destroyed. (Jan. 11, 1886, MS 48:18-20)
The Priesthood to save the nation. God has chosen this people with the express purpose of making them a great people. We shall be, if we fulfill the destiny that is assigned to us. We shall be the saviors of our nation, and we shall save the nation through the Priesthood that God has established in His Church. This may come in contact with some of your ideas. You may think it will be done through party conventions, through politics, or through political leaders. It will never be done in that way.
It will be done through the power of God, through the revelations of Jesus Christ. It will be done through the medium of that authority He has placed on the earth, and which He recognizes as His. That will be the way in which this will be brought about. It will be brought about in God's own time and God's own way, and these Latter-day Saints—you who are here today, with other Latter-day Saints throughout these valleys—will be the people that will accomplish this under the direction of the Almighty. . . . (Jan. 1, 1897, DW 54:292)
The need of patriotism. Every day magnifies the importance of a saving, patriotic element which shall hold aloft the purity of American institutions. With each recurring campaign the opportunity for the labor of such an element becomes more apparent. Every year makes it a necessity nearer and more absolute. In various ways. and by almost imperceptible degrees, the Constitution is being assailed. Sometimes its plain provisions are distorted if not openly violated. . . . Sometimes it is evaded and undermined, and by gradual processes is made to cover proceedings at which the fathers of the country would have stared. Laws which are not in accord with its spirit are sometimes enacted, and very frequently proposed. Men are becoming strangers to patriotism, and are striving after position and pelf.
Every year, according to careful authorities on the subject, the evils and corrupt practices of politics are increasing, and each year the perils which menace the nation become more imminent. Of course there are thousands and tens of thousands of brave men and woman who still love the institutions of our land and would maintain them in purity with their lives. But the elements of an opposite character are increasing with great rapidity, and thoughtful men, in even their most sanguine moments, cannot but view the future with some dread.
A duty of preparation. We have alluded to this condition and tendency, not to cause gloom or alarm, or to give rise to political fears or discussion, but to invite the attention of our young people to a duty which clearly rests upon them. They should study the history of the country we live in, not only since, but before the arrival of Columbus and the establishment of the American government. The lessons of the ancient people dwelling here abound in instruction and in comparisons with events occurring in our own days. The views and lives of the founders of American liberty, if examined with patriotic impartiality, will be found almost prophetic in many respects.
Predictions made since the foundation of the Church with reference to the part our people would enact in preserving the Constitution should also be studied prayerfully and in faith. We think, if this be done, every reader will reach the conclusion that perhaps in the past we have been, and in the present are, paying too little attention to our preparation for the work in hand and are but feebly conscious of the importance of the destiny in store. (Sept. 15, 1896, JI 31:544)
Seeking for political office despicable. I want to say that whenever you see men aspiring for office and planning to get office do not encourage them. Let the office seek the man, and let us not be plotting and resorting to all sorts of dodges to secure success to our party, in order that some of us may get into office. Such arts are despicable. They are the arts of the low politician. We want to stand on a higher plane, and took at these things as men who have been enlightened by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Apr. 8, 1894, DW 48:704)
Let men go into office free and untrammeled. Let them be elected because they are the men most suitable, and not because they want the office. Let us, as a people, endeavor to find men who do not seek for office, and who do not want it, but who take it because it is the wish of their fellow citizens. (Nov. 20, 1884, JD 26:17)
Political campaigns. I will not read a political paper. I will not allow one to come into my house. My children shall not read the misrepresentations and falsehoods that are circulated by men through papers. The atmosphere of my family shall not be defiled by their presence. I will not read the speeches which contain these attacks. If men cannot tell the truth, if they cannot speak truly of principles, I do not want to read their utterances; and if they do speak the truth, and then are assailed for it, I do not want to read the assaults made upon them. (Oct. 14, 1894, MS 56:757)
Politics a noble profession. A time is coming when the youth of these mountains will have to take part in governing the nation, and a greater or less knowledge of political history will be absolutely necessary to them. First of all, the general proposition may be laid down that such a thing as purity in politics is not impossible, though at present somewhat rare. The science or profession, as it may be called, is in its proper phase a noble one; and for a man who is conscientious, full of moral courage, able to resist the temptations which beset the politician's path in a thousand alluring forms, and can restrain his ambition within proper limits, no more inviting or more praiseworthy direction could be desired in which to exercise his talents than to study and solve questions of statesmanship and devise measures which shall be of lasting benefit of his race. Viewed in this light politics are worthy of the best endeavors of the brightest minds; and such a system would we wish to see introduced to and studied by our young men whose destiny is to uphold and sustain pure government, and be in this direction as the servants of God are in all others—benefactors of the world of mankind. (Mar. 15, 1885, JI 20:87)
The Saints and politics. It becomes a question of some importance in these days whether the Latter-day Saints can divide on politics and still be Latter-day Saints, still have fellowship for one another and still preserve that respect one for the other that the Gospel requires.
The discussion of politics has brought to the surface many strange exhibitions of feeling among members of the Church. . . . Many have yielded to a spirit that produces anything but harmony and love, and there is considerable danger that this agitation may almost prove too strong an ordeal for the faith of many men who have passed through a good many trials in the past and been undisturbed thereby.
Some of us can speak with the utmost confidence and say that it was not and is not contrary to the will of the Lord that this division on party lines should take place. This being the case, it necessarily follows that members of our Church can take sides in politics without doing anything that is inconsistent with their character as Saints of the Lord. Because evil passions arise, because men grow angry and contend, because men even descend to falsehood and defamation, and resort to tricks to gain their ends, this conduct does not prove that there is any defect in our religion, or that a division on party lines is not proper; it only shows the fallibility of men and their failure to practically apply the principles of their religion to the affairs in which they are engaged. . . . If men cannot retain the Spirit of God, and cannot treat each other as Latter-day Saints, then there is some failure in the men who place themselves in such a condition. . . .
We have been taught from the beginning to be governed by the principles of our religion in all the relations of life—in our buying, in our selling, in our trading, in fact, in every department of human transactions. The whole burden of the teachings of the leaders of this Church has been to this effect. We have been informed that our religion is a practical religion, an everyday religion, not to be put on with our Sunday clothes, nor to be laid off when we assume our working apparel. And these teachings will apply to politics as well as everything else.
If members of the Church should be guilty of conduct in politics that would not be justified in other transactions and in the ordinary affairs of life, then they step out of the path which as Saints they should walk in. Men can grieve the Spirit of God by overstepping the bounds of right in political matters as well as in other directions. Because a man is engaged in politics, he has no right to break the divine laws which have been given to us for the regulation of our lives as the children of God; and those who do this will lose His Holy Spirit. . . . (Nov. 1, 1892, JI 27:645-46)
No faith in political parties. We do not place our faith in political parties, either Democrats or Republicans. We believe one would be as willing as the other to crowd us to the wall if it could be sure of winning popular applause for the act. While we have warm friends in both parties, we cannot expect especial favor from either. The Lord is determined to have the glory for carrying on and consummating His own work, and to do this He is fully able. Therefore, to sum up the condition of the world in brief words, it may be stated that the only opposition to the Kingdom and power of God is found in the power of Satan. Those who are not for the one are for the other, and it is only a question of a short time as to which will be triumphant. (Mar. 15, 1885, JI 20:87)
Discipline of Church officers. The Church asks that its principal officers, whose duties are of a character necessary for the maintenance of the Church and its perfect organization, should devote themselves to the ministry that is assigned to them and which they accept in taking office. The Church asks that if at any time they are invited to assume other duties, the Church, through its Authorities, shall be consulted as to the propriety of these officers accepting these or not. Is there anything improper in this? Is there any interference with the rights of free men? Not in the least. . . . If any officer should think that his rights are interfered with by this rule of discipline, he is at perfect liberty to resign his ecclesiastical office. But I am prepared to say that no man of any party would be refused permission to accept office if it were at all possible for him to hold it consistently with his ecclesiastical duties.
(George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 549.)