At a meeting at the Nauvoo Temple, William W. Phelps read Smith's presidential platform and he was "unanimously, with one exception" nominated as a candidate for President of the United States. Explaining his views on slavery and westward expansion, Smith said that he would free the slaves from a few states, compensate their owners, annex Texas, and settle the freed slaves in Texas, where they would act as a buffer of human flesh against the British, who were also attempting to gain control of Texas:
"British officers are now running all over Texas to establish British influence in that country.... It will be more honorable for us to receive Texas and set the negroes free, and use the negroes and Indians against our foes....How much better it is for the nation to bear a little expense than to have the Indians and British upon us and destroy us all.... The South holds the balance of power. By annexing Texas, I can do away with this evil. As soon as Texas was annexed, I would liberate the slaves in two or three States, indemnifying [i.e. compensating] their owners, and send the negroes to Texas, and from Texas to Mexico, where all colors are alike. And if that was not sufficient, I would call upon Canada, and annex it."
[LDS (or related) Documents on Walker Lewis, the Lowell, Mass. Branch of the Mormon Church and its missionaries and members, and the Priesthood Ban against Blacks, Compiled by Connell O'Donovan, http://people.ucsc.edu/~odonovan/Mormon_Chronology.html]
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