[], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, second edition; i-vi, 7–60 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Shepard and Stearns, 1840. The copy used herein is held at CHL.
A manuscript draft of this pamphlet, simply titled “To the Publick” was presented to a conference of church members at , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve the manuscript and authorized its publication on behalf of the church. The pamphlet, when published, carried the endorsement of JS, , and as “Presidents of said Church.”
and collaborated on the publication of the text, which was available in print by May 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, was acknowledged as author in an 1840 Times and Seasons newspaper article, and when the pamphlet was advertised in that church periodical in 1841. JS and held some expectation that funds from the sale of An Appeal would eventually help defray costs of their late-1839 trip to .
By July 1840, and had been authorized to produce a second, revised edition to be published by Shepard & Stearns in . Page related some of the circumstances surrounding its publication and circulation in a letter sent to JS, “. . . at [Ohio] we parted for a few days . . . Elder Hyde went to Cincinnati where in my absince he published a second Edition of the ‘Apeal to the American people’ (2000 copies)[.] when I arrived the work was about completed[.] after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about cincinnati and the adjacient country he left me with some fourteen or fifteen hundred on hand, to dispose of” (John E. Page, Philadelphia, PA, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 1 Sept. 1841, JS Collection, CHL). Funds from this printing were to be for the express purpose of subsidizing Hyde and Page’s imminent mission to in Palestine.
The second edition was essentially a lightly edited reprint of the first, with a four-page “Publisher’s Preface” added. In the preface, and noted the purpose of the publication, explained the severe hardships imposed by the persecutions upon Page’s own family, provided a detailed account of a vision experienced by Hyde, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospects of the mission. The preface also contained a copy of an official letter of appointment and commendation for Hyde and Page from an April 1840 church conference at , Illinois, signed by JS, and a letter of reference from , governor of .
Although many of the events reported in both editions of ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology of events is often inaccurate. However, Rigdon’s account does contain the texts of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document from a historical perspective is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some important material not readily found elsewhere.
The “Latter Day Saints” commenced their settlements in , in August, 1831. The first settlement was made in , on the west line of the ; not far from the missionary station of the Rev. , a Baptist missionary among the Indians. At this time, was very thinly settled; the quarter part of its settlers were what is called, in the western country, “squatters;” that is, persons who settle on the public lands without purchasing them. Some considerable part of had not come into market. On these lands considerable settlements had been made; cabins built, and some land cleared.
When the “Latter Day Saints” began to emigrate into the country, there was a good deal of uneasiness manifested by a certain portion of the settlers, at first; principally, by those who had settled on the public lands, lest the new settlers should be disposed to purchase, at the land sales, which were expected to take place that season, the lands on which they had made improvements; or enter such lands as might be subject to entry, that had been taken possession of. But this uneasiness gradually lessened, until it finally died away. The sales came on, purchases were made by every man as suited him; and no difficulty occurred: every man went to building on, and improving his land, as seemed good to himself.
Shortly after the first settlement was made, a considerable tide of emigration set in, which continued to increase until the summer of 1833; by this time, the emigration of the saints was far greater than that of all others. This began to create great uneasiness; murmurings, and complainings were heard continually about it, and about the rapid improvements which were making in that . From murmurings they went to holding public meetings, to take measures to put a stop to the emigration, and not only put a stop to the emigration, but drive those out of the , who were settled there.
These meetings were public, called and held in the face of the government, published in the public papers. At these meetings, they publicly declared that they would put the laws of the country at defiance, in order to accomplish their object, as well as justice and humanity,which finally they did.
In order to justify themselves in violating the laws of both God and man; the laws, both of the State of and the , they had recourse to fabricating, and circulating the most [p. [7]]