St. James, June 27, 1855. . . .

After a hasty perusal, Joseph said to me, "Brother Miller, I perceive that the spirit of God is in the pineries as well as here, and we will call together some of our wise men, and proceed to set up the Kingdom of God by organizing some of its officers." And from day to day he called some of the brethren about him, organizing them as princes in the Kingdom of God, until up to the number of fifty-three were thus called. In this council it was agreed upon that we should run Joseph Smith for president of the United States, which we would certainly do, and also Sidney Rigdon for vice-president, and, in case they were elected, we would at once establish dominion in the United States, and, in view of a failure, we would send a minister to the then Republic of Texas to make a treaty with the cabinet of Texas for all that country north of a west line from the falls of the Colorado River to the Nueces, thence down the same to the Gulf of Mexico, and along the same to the Rio Grande, and up the same to the United States territory, and get them to acknowledge us as a nation; and, on the part of the church, we would help them defend themselves against Mexico, standing as a go-between the belligerent powers, and, if successful in this matter, we would have dominion in spite of the United States, and we would send the Black River Lumber Company to take possession of the newly acquired territory. . . . . . .

Saint James, June 28, 1855. . . .

It was further determined in council that all the elders should set out on missions to all the States to get up an electoral ticket, and do everything in our power to have Joseph elected president. If we succeeded in making a majority of the voters converts to our faith, and elected Joseph president, in such an event the dominion of the kingdom would be forever established in the United States; and if not successful, we could fall back on Texas, and be a kingdom notwithstanding.