Thomas C. Sharp
Encyclopedia
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in the 1840s. Sharp promoted his anti-Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
views largely through the Warsaw Signal
Warsaw Signal
The Warsaw Signal was a newspaper edited and published in Warsaw, Illinois during the 1840s and early 1850s. For most of its history, the Signals editorial stance was one of vigorous anti-Mormonism and the advancement of the policies of the Whig Party....
newspaper, of which he was the owner, editor, and publisher. Sharp was one of five defendants tried and acquitted of the murders
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
of Smith and his brother Hyrum
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
.
Early life
Sharp was born in Mount Holly Township, New JerseyMount Holly Township, New Jersey
Mount Holly Township is a township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States as well as an eastern suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 10,728. It is the county seat of Burlington County....
, the son of prominent Methodist preacher Solomon Sharp. He attended Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
and was admitted to the legal bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
of Cumberland County, Illinois in April 1840. However, Sharp was partially deaf, which made his functioning in courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
s difficult and he gave up his Illinois legal practice after a few months.
Warsaw Signal and anti-Mormonism
Warsaw, Illinois
Warsaw is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,793 at the 2000 census. The city is notable for its historic downtown and the Warsaw Brewery, which operated for more than 100 years beginning in 1861...
in September 1840. Approximately 18 months earlier, Latter Day Saints had begun to arrive in the same county
Hancock County, Illinois
Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 19,104, which is a decrease of 5.1% from 20,121 in 2000. Its county seat is Carthage. Hamilton is the largest city in Hancock County, with Carthage being the second largest...
and settle in the town of Commerce, which by 1840 had been renamed Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
. In November, Sharp and a business partner purchased a Warsaw newspaper entitled Western World, which they renamed Warsaw Signal
Warsaw Signal
The Warsaw Signal was a newspaper edited and published in Warsaw, Illinois during the 1840s and early 1850s. For most of its history, the Signals editorial stance was one of vigorous anti-Mormonism and the advancement of the policies of the Whig Party....
in 1841. Sharp used the paper to promote his opposition to the Mormon presence in Hancock County.
Within a few months, "Old Tom Sharp" had become a feared opponent of the Latter Day Saints. Sharp and some associates formed the Anti-Mormon Party
Anti-Mormon Party (Illinois)
The Anti-Mormon Party was a short-lived political party in Illinois in the early 1840s that espoused Anti-Mormonism. The party was formed in Hancock County to oppose the political power Joseph Smith, Jr. held in Nauvoo, Illinois, as the mayor of the city, head of the Nauvoo Legion, and prophet to...
to oppose Mormon influences in Hancock County. In 1841, Joseph Smith noted in his journal that Sharp "devoted his entire time to slandering, to lying against and misrepresenting the Latter-day Saints." Sharp also opposed non-Mormons who assisted or were sympathetic to the Latter Day Saints, dubbing them "Jack Mormon
Jack Mormon
The term Jack Mormon is a slang term originating in nineteenth-century America. It was originally used to describe a person who was not a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but who was friendly to Church members and Mormonism, sympathized with them, and/or took an...
s". However, due to financial losses Sharp was forced to sell the Signal to its original owner in 1842.
In 1842, Sharp ran as a candidate for the Hancock County
Hancock County, Illinois
Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 19,104, which is a decrease of 5.1% from 20,121 in 2000. Its county seat is Carthage. Hamilton is the largest city in Hancock County, with Carthage being the second largest...
seat in the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
as a representative of the Whig Party
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
. His principal opponent was William Smith, a Mormon apostle who ran for the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. Smith won the election easily as a result of overwhelming Mormon support from voters in Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
.
In February 1844, Sharp resumed ownership of the Warsaw Signal. The Signal was vigorously anti-Mormon in its editorial stance. In a June 11, 1844 editorial, Sharp wrote:
War and extermination is inevitable! Citizens ARISE, ONE and ALL!!!—Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! to ROB men of their property and RIGHTS, without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER AND BALL!!!
In a June 14, 1844 extra edition, the Signal published the minutes of a meeting of Warsaw residents organized by Sharp whereby those in attendance condemned Smith's destruction of the printing press of the anti-Mormon Nauvoo Expositor
Nauvoo Expositor
The Nauvoo Expositor was a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois that published only one issue, which was dated June 7, 1844. Its publication set off a chain of events that led to the death of Latter Day Saint movement founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
and resolved that "the Prophet [Smith] and his miscreant adherents, should ... be demanded at their [the Latter Day Saints'] hands, and if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his adherents."
After Smith and his brother Hyrum
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
were assassinated
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
by a mob on June 27, Sharp editorialized in the July 10 edition:
Joe and Hiram [sic] Smith, at the time their lives were taken, were in the custody of the officers of the law; and it is asked by those who condemn the act, why the law was not first allowed to take its course before violence was resorted to? We answr that the course of law in the case of these wretches would have been a mere mockery; and such was the conviction of every sensible man.
Arrest and trial
On September 25, 1844, a deputy sheriff attempted to arrest Sharp as a suspect in the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Sharp refused to go with the sheriff, arguing that his fellow citizens of Warsaw would not want him to surrender himself. Two days later, Illinois governorGovernor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
Thomas Ford
Thomas Ford (politician)
Thomas Ford was the eighth Governor of Illinois, and served in this capacity from 1842 to 1846. A Democrat, he is remembered largely for his involvement in the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., and the subsequent Illinois Mormon War...
issued a proclamation offering a reward of two hundred dollars for the arrest of Sharp. Soon afterwards, Sharp crossed the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and went into hiding in Alexandria, Missouri
Alexandria, Missouri
Alexandria is a city in Clark County, Missouri, USA. The population was 166 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1848 and is named after Alexandria, in Egypt.Alexandria is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA-MO Micropolitan Statistical Area....
.
By October 1, Sharp agreed to surrender himself on condition that he would be tried at Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...
as opposed to Nauvoo and that the governor would instruct the courts to release Sharp on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
pending his trial. The next day, Sharp was indicted for the murders and released on $2000 bail. At trial, Sharp and four other accused persons were acquitted by a jury of the murders of the Smiths.
Later life
Sharp gave up ownership and editorship of the Warsaw Signal in 1846. He was an elected delegate to the Illinois state constitutional convention in 1847 and was elected to three successive terms as the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Warsaw beginning in 1853. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for an Illinois seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1856. In 1865, Sharp was elected as a judge in Hancock County. Later, he served as a school principal and eventually returned to the newspaper publishing business with ownership of the Carthage Gazette. He died in Carthage, Illinois
Carthage, Illinois
Carthage is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,725 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hancock County. Carthage is most famous for being the site of the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844.- History :...
at the age of 75.