Did Joseph Smith run for president to set up a theocracy?

Joseph accepted the nomination on January 29, before the council formed on March 11. The council later helped organize electioneering. Both dates matter.

You separate who launched the candidacy from who later helped run it.

The council came later, so it had nothing to do with the campaign.

The sequence answers who launched the candidacy. The March 21 minutes still show the council arranging campaign work.

The vote shows that council members envisioned a civil role for Joseph in their proposed kingdom. I’d also read what they said about religious freedom and where they hoped to establish it.

You take the title seriously and keep it tied to the body that granted it. The April 11 discussions also show what the council hoped to protect.

The vote by itself tells us what Joseph planned to do with the U.S. presidency.

The vote concerns Joseph’s place in the proposed kingdom. An additional source would need to connect that role to his intended use of federal office.

It shows he wanted religious principles to shape government. Combined with the council’s election work, that’s a real connection. I’d still look for a proposal to use the presidency to put the council’s constitution into effect.

You grant the connection and identify the additional evidence that could establish the stronger claim.

Since Joseph wanted religious freedom, we can dismiss the idea that his politics and his theology overlapped.

Joseph explicitly combined religious and civil ideals. His support for freedom of belief tells us something about the government he imagined and still leaves the practical details open.