As Donna Hill observes, when Joseph Smith published his Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States in 1844,

. . . he deplored the fact that two or three millions were held as slaves “because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours,” and advocated that the slaves be freed within six years, with federal compensation to the slaveholders. (Ibid.)

Even though Joseph Smith disagreed with the methods of the abolitionists, he condemned acts of persecution against them. For example, when Joseph learned that some abolitionists had been jailed in Missouri without due process, he said such treatment of the abolitionists made his “blood boil” (Ibid., p. 383)

In the same month in which Joseph wrote the above-quoted letter in the Latter-Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, that journal’s editors published the following statement titled “The Abolitionists”:

The Abolitionists — We particularly invite the attention of our readers to those communications upon the subject of Slavery. We have long looked upon this as a matter of deep moment involving the dearest interests of a powerful, a wealthy, a free and happy republic. No one can appreciate more highly than ourselves the freedom of speech, the liberty of conscience, and the liberty of the press.-Most sincerely do we believe ours to be one of the most happy forms of government ever established by men. But to see it distracted and rent to the center with local questions-questions which cannot be discussed without the sacrifice of human blood, calls forth the feelings and sympathy of every Christian heart.

There is no disposition in us to abridge the privilege of free discussion–far from this; but we wonder at the folly of men who push this important subject before communities, who are wholly unprepared to judge of its merits, or demerits, and call for public sentiment before the opposite side of the matter has been touched.

If those who run through the free states, exciting their indignation against our brothers of the South, feel so much sympathy and kindness towards the blacks, were to go to the Southern states, where the alleged evil exists, and warn those who are guilty of these enormous crimes, to repent and turn from their wickedness, or would purchase the slaves and then set them at liberty, we should have no objections to this provided they would place them upon some other continent than ours. Then we should begin to believe they were acting honestly; but till something of this is manifested, we shall think otherwise.

What benefit can the slave derive from the long harangues and discussions held in the north? Certainly the people of the north have no legal right to interfere with the property of the South, neither have they a right to say they shall, or shall not, hold slaves. These states were admitted into the Union with the privilege of forming their own state governments; besides if they were not disposed, they are in no situation to let their slaves loose. If the evil is on them it was brought on them by the acts of their fathers, and endure it they must. But so long as they do not complain, why should we? If we dislike slavery we are free from it and are in no danger of being afflicted with it. If they are satisfied with it, it is their right as governments, and any interference with them on the subject, so as to endanger their lives, can have its origin from no other source than from such as seek the overthrow and dissolution of our government.

Where can be the common sense of any wishing to see the slaves of the South set at liberty, is past our comprehension. Such a thing could not take place without corrupting all civil and wholesome society, of both the north and the South! Let the blacks of the South be free, and our community is overrun with paupers, and a reckless mass of human beings, uncultivated, untaught and unaccustomed to provide for themselves the necessaries of life-endangering the chastity of every female who might by chance be found in our streets-our prisons filled with convicts, and the hang-man wearied with executing the functions of his office! This must unavoidably be the case, every rational man must admit, who have ever traveled in the slave states, or we must open our houses, unfold our arms, and bid these degraded and degrading sons of Canaan, a hearty welcome and a free admittance to all we possess! A society of this nature, to us, is so intolerably degrading, that the bare reflection causes our feelings to recoil, and our hearts to revolt.
http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/earlyldsviews.htm [emphasis added] (Mormon Danites removed this website from the internet. cc all Mormon attorneys)

http://www.marketwatch.com/, November 8, 2016 [note unopen arms]Mark E. Petersen, a present-day Apostle in the Mormon church, defended segregation in 1954:
…
I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat … it appears that the negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feeling to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, “First we pity, then endure, then embrace.” …
http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm [emphasis added]
Oscar Peterson 
(This painting is no longer hanging on the wall above the Lenovo brand computer, lobby alcove, YWCA Brooklyn; photo: summer 2016)

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