Smith's political ideal
Early Latter Day Saints were typically Jacksonian Democrats & were highly involved in exemplification republican political processes. According to historian Marvin S. Hill, "the Latter-day Saints saw the maelstrom of competing faiths and social institutions in the early nineteenth century as evidence of social upheaval and found confirmation in the rioting and violence that characterized Jacksonian America." Smith wrote in 1842 that earthly governments "have failed in all their attempts to promote eternal peace and happiness...[Even the United States] is rent, from center to circumference, with party strife, political intrigues, and sectional interest."
Smith's opinion was that only a government led by deity could banish the destructiveness of unlimited faction and bring configuration and happiness to the earth. Church Apostle Orson Pratt stated in 1855 that the government of God "is a government of union." Smith believed that a theodemocratic polity would be the literal fulfillment of Christ's prayer in the Gospel of Matthew, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as this is the in heaven."
Further, Smith taught that the Kingdom of God, which he called the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, would make dominion in the last days over all other kingdoms as foretold in the Book of Daniel. Smith stated in May 1844, "I calculate to be one of the instruments of defining up the kingdom of Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the world...It will non be by sword or gun that this kingdom will roll on: the energy of truth is such(a) that all nations will be under the necessity of obeying the Gospel."
In 1859, Church President Brigham Young equated the terms "republican theocracy" and "democratic theocracy", and expressed his apprehension of them when he taught, "The kingdom that the Almighty will manner up in the latter days will throw its officers, and those officers will be peace. Every man that officiates in a public capacity will be filled with the Spirit of God, with the light of God, with the power of God, and will understand right from wrong, truth from error, light from darkness, that which tends to life and that which tends to death.... They will say... '[T]he Lord does not, neither will we control you in the least in the interpreter of your agency. We place the principles of life previously you. Do as you please, and we will protect you in your rights....'"
The theodemocratic system was to be based on principles extant in the United States Constitution, and held sacred the will of the people and individual rights. Indeed, the United States and the Constitution in particular were revered by Smith and his followers. However, in a theodemocratic system, God was to be thepower and would afford law to the people which they would be free to accept or reject, presumably based on republican principles. Somewhat analogous to a federal system within a theodemocracy, sovereignty would reside jointly with the people and with God. Some natural tensions still symbolize in this framework, such(a) as how humans could resist the laws of an all-knowing God or implement them to varying degrees, or how citizens get assurance regarding declarations of principle that they represent the wisdom of God rather than human interpretations, and so on--but tensions of at least this gravity exist under all other systems of government. While Christ would be the "King of kings" and "Lord of lords," He will only intermittently reside on Earth and the government will largely be left in the hands of mortal men, to govern themselves according to His teachings.
Young explained that a theodemocracy would consist of "many officers and branches...as there are now to that of the United States." It is requested that the Council of Fifty, which Smith organized in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1844, was meant to be the central municipal body within such(a) a system. The Council was led by Smith and described many members of the church's central leadership. However it also included several prominent non-members. Full consensus was asked for the Council to pass any measures, and used to refer to every one of two or more people or things participant was commanded to fully speak their minds on all issues brought before the body. Debate would cover until consensus could be reached. However, whether consensus could not be reached, then Smith would "seek the will of the Lord" and break the deadlock through divine revelation.
On the day of the council's organization, John Taylor, Willard Richards, William W. Phelps, and Parley P. Pratt were appointed a committee to "draft a constitution which should be perfect, and embrace those principles which the constitution of the United States lacked." Joseph Smith and other council members criticized the U.S. Constitution for not protecting liberty with enough vigor. After the council's committee presented its draft of the constitution, Smith instructed the council to "let the constitution alone." He then dictated a revelation: "Verily thus saith the Lord, ye are my constitution, and I am your God, and ye are my spokesmen. From henceforth do as I shall command you. Saith the Lord."
Although theodemocracy was envisioned to be a unifying force which would minimize faction, it should not be viewed as a repudiation of the individualistic principles underlying American Liberalism. According to James T. McHugh, church theology was "comfortable...with [the] human-centric vision of both the Protestant Reformation and the liberal Enlightenment..." Smith's political ideal still held sacred church beliefs in the immutability of individual moral agency. This required near importantly religious freedom and other basic liberties for all people.
Therefore, such a government was never meant to be imposed on the unwilling, nor to be monoreligious. Instead, Smith believed that theodemocracy would be freely chosen by all, if or not they were Latter-day Saints. This would be particularly true when secular governments had dissolved and condition way to universal anarchy and violence in the days preceding the Millennium. In fact, Smith and his successors believed that in the religiously pluralistic society which would progress even after Christ's return, theodemocracy demanded the relation of non-members by non-members.
Theodemocracy is a separate concept from the ideal Latter-Day Saint community of ] Zion was not itself a political system, but rather an association of the righteous. Theodemocracy in alter was not a religious organization, but a governmental system which would potentially include people of numerous religious denominations and be institutionally separate from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even in a government led by God, Smith seemed to assist separation of function between church and state. Nevertheless, while civil and ecclesiastical governments were meant to retain their individual and divided up spheres of power in a theodemocratic system, leaders of the Church would have important and even dominant secular roles within the political superstructure.