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Documents, Volume 13, Part 1 Introduction: August 1843

Part 1: August 1843

Regional and national politics played a significant role in JS’s life during August 1843. In preparation for the 7 August congressional election, candidates and spent considerable time electioneering in , Illinois, hoping to secure the vote. Because JS previously pledged to vote for Walker—the Whig candidate and one of JS’s personal attorneys—most observers believed that Walker would easily win the election. However, at a public meeting held two days before the election, announced that he had received a revelation indicating that the Saints should support Hoge, the Democratic candidate. At a public Sunday worship service held the next day, JS delivered a discourse in which he affirmed his personal pledge to vote for Walker but endorsed Hyrum Smith’s revelation. In the 7 August election, Nauvoo residents voted overwhelmingly for Hoge, who carried the election in ’s sixth congressional district.

Outraged over the failed attempt to extradite JS to earlier that summer as well as a physical altercation between JS and a county tax collector on 1 August, JS’s opponents seized on his involvement in the political sphere as an impetus to organize a new political organization in . On 19 August, about two hundred people attended a “Great Meeting of Anti-Mormons” in , Illinois. Affirming its opposition to supposed “Mormon aggressions,” the group organized several committees and then adjourned until September. Shortly afterward, JS received word from attorney that opposition to JS was on the rise in Missouri and northern . JS forwarded these reports to Illinois governor to keep him abreast of the situation.

Meanwhile, JS continued to preside over the and attend to the ongoing demands of its administration. He authorized one of his scribes, , to respond to a publishing firm’s request for a brief history of the Latter-day Saints to include in a forthcoming book on churches in the . JS also received letters from reporting on the conditions of the church in and D. S. Perry declaring his intention to join the church. JS attended and preached at three of the four public Sunday worship services held in one of the near the ’s construction site. Most of these sermons discussed or , two doctrines that played a critical role in planned for the temple. JS also publicly accused , his somewhat-estranged first counselor in the , of colluding with state authorities from and in the earlier attempts to arrest and extradite JS. At the 13 August worship service, the assembled church members voted to withdraw fellowship from Rigdon at JS’s request. Public discussion of Rigdon’s situation continued for the next two months before being resolved.

In his capacity as trustee-in-trust for the church, landowner, and coproprietor of the steamboat Maid of Iowa, JS also engaged in a number of financial transactions in August. This part features two documents that represent the financial aspect of his duties, including a pledge to donate a city lot in a subscription taken up for his scribe and a pay order for lumber. Other prominent facets of JS’s life during this period are not reflected in the documentary record. Most notably, as presiding justice of the city’s mayor’s court and municipal court, JS presided over eleven trials over the course of five days. While these court sessions represent a significant portion of JS’s activities during August, the documents from those cases are apparently not extant.

Toward the end of August, JS moved his family into the newly completed , a spacious residence and hotel. The edifice was nearing completion around the beginning of the month. On 6 August, traveled to to procure furniture, linens, china, and other supplies necessary to run the hotel. She returned six days later. On 27 August, noted that he attended a meeting with JS in the new home. JS’s 31 August journal entry stated that the final days of the month were spent moving his family into the new home “to commence keeping tavern.”

One of the main reasons JS needed a new home was to provide a place for the many visitors who traveled to to conduct business with him or to satisfy their curiosity about the religious leader. In addition to visits from and , who were in the city to electioneer, visits by three other groups or individuals are recorded in documents featured in this part. In late August, JS met with a delegation of Potawatomi Indians, during which he received and responded to a letter from the tribe asking for his advice and assistance. On 29 August, , the senior editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette, visited JS’s home and interviewed him about politics and revelation. Finally, H. King of , Iowa Territory, wrote a letter to JS on 31 August 1843 asking him to show kindness to a “Mr. Campfield of ,” who was visiting the region and wanted to tour Nauvoo with his friends.

Part 1 comprises seventeen documents, including letters, discourses, financial records, a newspaper notice, and an interview.

1
“To the Editor of the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 2 Aug. 1843, [2]; JS, Journal, 1 Aug. 1843.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
2
Discourse, 6 Aug. 1843.
3
Discourse, 6 Aug. 1843.
4
Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848, 140.
Pease, Theodore Calvin, ed. Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923.
5
See Historical Introduction to Letter from Edward Southwick, 7 Aug. 1843; and Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–B.
6
JS, Journal, 19 Aug. 1843; “Notice,” Warsaw (IL) Message, 6 Sept. 1843, [2]; “Great Meeting of Anti-Mormons!,” Warsaw Message, 13 Sept. 1843, [1]. For more information on this organization, see “Part 2: September 1843.”
Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.
7
Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 Aug. 1843.
8
Letter to Clyde, Williams & Co., 1 Aug. 1843.
9
Letter from Jedediah M. Grant, 17 or 18 Aug. 1843; Letter from D. S. Perry, ca. 8 Aug. 1843.
10
See Discourse, 6 Aug. 1843; Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–A; Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–B; Discourse, 27 Aug. 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 20 Aug. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
11
JS, Journal, 13 Aug. 1843; Clayton, Journal, 13 Aug. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
12
See Clayton, Journal, 20 Aug. 1843; Discourse, 27 Aug. 1843; and Historical Introduction to Minutes and Discourses, 6–9 Oct. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
13
Subscriptions for Willard Richards, 2 Aug. 1843–12 Mar. 1844; Pay Order to Lucien Woodworth for Daniel Luce, 17 Aug. 1843.
14
See JS, Journal, 17, 21–23, and 29 Aug. 1843.
15
JS, Journal, 6 and 12 Aug. 1843; JS History, vol. E-1, 1688; Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, “The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith,” Saints’ Herald, 22 Jan. 1935, 110.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
16
Richards, Journal, 27 Aug. 1843.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
17
JS, Journal, 31 Aug. 1843.
18
Letter from Paicouchaiby and Other Potawatomi, ca. 14 Aug. 1843; Letter to Paicouchaiby and Other Potawatomi, 28 Aug. 1843.
19
Interview, 29 Aug. 1843.
20
Letter of Introduction from H. King, 31 Aug. 1843.

Part 1: August 1843

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