Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon, February 19, 1793 (St. Clair Township, Penn.) – July 14, 1876 (Friendship, NY)

VP candidate for Reform Party 1844

Running mate with nominee: Joseph Smith (1805-1844)
Popular vote: 0        
Electoral vote: 0/275

The campaign:
Historians of all stripes debate the motives of why Joseph Smith, who is considered a prophet by those in the Mormon faith, would ever run for President. Had he lived, the Reform Party of 1844 would no doubt have changed the tone of that election season.

The plans were set early in the year. On May 17, 1844 a convention was held in the LDS city of Nauvoo, Ill. nominating Smith with Sidney Rigdon for Vice-president. A more formal national convention was planned for Baltimore on July 13. Over 200 "electioneer missionaries" were sent to all 26 states, including nearly everyone in the top LDS echelon. As far as minor political parties go, this one was well organized but also created intense reactions. Reform Party political conventions in Boston, Mass. and Dresden, Tenn. sparked riots.

The Reform Party platform included "compensated emancipation," creation of a national bank, moderate tariffs, downsizing the federal government including reducing the number of representatives in the US House, open borders, abolish prisons, invite Canada and Mexico to join the US, annexing Texas, California and Oregon. The Party's Latin campaign slogan, "Super hanc petram aedificabo" roughly translates to "Upon this rock."

While Rigdon and most of the other Mormon inner circle were spread around the nation starting the electioneering, Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill. on June 27, 1844, ending the campaign and creating a leadership vacuum which resulted in a power struggle known as a classic "Succession Crisis." By Election Day 1844 the Reform Party had dissolved and the Church had split into several schisms, one of them being led by Sidney Rigdon who was initially based in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Election history: none

Other occupations: Baptist minister, tanner, Postmaster of Nauvoo, Ill.,

Buried: Maple Grove Cemetery (Friendship, NY)

Notes:
Converted to the Mormon faith in 1830.
Although Rigdon and Joseph Smith shared the bond of being jailed, tarred and feathered they also had a contentious relationship as the LDS Church was being formed.
Rigdon was Smith's third choice as a running mate.
Rigdon remains a controversial figure in LDS history to this day

Thomas Morris

Thomas Morris, January 3, 1776 (Berks County, Penn.)– December 7, 1844 (Bethel, Ohio)

VP candidate for Liberty Party 1844
Running mate with nominee: James G. Birney (1792-1857)
Popular vote: 62,103 (2.3%)
Electoral vote: 0/275

The campaign: It can be argued the Liberty Party ticket were spoilers in this very close election, resulting in an outcome counter to their interests with the elevation of James K. Polk. They were on the ballot in half the states, all in the North, and probably flipped New York and Michigan in favor of Polk instead of Clay, which in turn decided the election. They did well in New Hampshire (8.46%), Massachusetts (8.2%), Vermont (8.13%), Michigan (6.53%), and Maine (5.69%).

Election history:
1806-1811 Ohio House of Representatives (Democratic-Republican)
1813-1815 Ohio State Senate (Democratic-Republican)
1820-1821 Ohio House of Representatives (Democratic-Republican)
1821-1823 Ohio State Senate (Democratic-Republican)
1825-1829 Ohio State Senate (Jacksonian (1825-1828) Democratic (1828-1829))
1826 US House of Representatives (Ohio) (Jacksonian) - defeated
1831-1833 Ohio State Senate (Democratic)
1832 US House of Representatives (Ohio) (Democratic) - defeated
1833-1839 US Senate for Ohio (Democratic)

Other occupations: brick-maker, attorney, Justice on the Ohio State Supreme Court 1809, soldier.

Buried: Early Settlers Burial Ground, Bethel, Ohio

Notes:
Two of his sons, Isaac Newton Morris and Jonathan David Morris, served in the US Congress.
His sudden and unexpected death a month after the 1844 election would have left the country
   without a Vice-President had the Liberty Party emerged victorious.
Considered one of the earliest US Senators to be an activist abolitionist.
No contemporary portrait or photograph of Sen. Morris is known to exist. A drawing was created in
 1922 by Richard M. Brand of the Columbus Evening Dispatch based on the memory of Dr. W.E.
 Thompson, who lived in Bethel, Ohio and was nine years old at the time the Senator died in 1844.
Morris was essentially drummed out of the Democratic Party in 1838 for his strong abolitionist  
 views.