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Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 December 1840

Source Note

“An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo,” , Sangamon Co., IL, 16 Dec. 1840. Featured version published in “Miscellaneous,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1841, 281–286. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

In December 1840, a bill titled “An Act to Incorporate the City of ” was passed by the legislature and signed into law. Frequently referred to as the Nauvoo charter, the act provided charters for three organizations: the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, itself, as well as a university and a militia (the ), both to be organized by the city council. The act officially created the city of Nauvoo, outlined its organizational structure, and provided its citizens with extensive legal powers and protections. After having been driven from one part of to another during the 1830s—a conflict that culminated in the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from the state altogether and the incarceration of JS and other leaders in 1838 and 1839—the Saints settled in , Illinois, in 1839 with the intent to legally protect their property and interests. The city’s charter was crafted to provide the Saints with safeguards to prevent a repeat of their Missouri experience. It granted Nauvoo its own legislative city council, authority to issue writs of to protect citizens from unlawful arrest, and a state-authorized military body to guard citizens’ property.
JS and other church leaders may have been prompted to create a charter and initiate the process of incorporating as a city after arrived in Nauvoo in September 1840. Bennett, the quartermaster general of the militia, wrote to JS repeatedly and enthusiastically during July and August stating his intention to move from , Illinois, to Nauvoo and join the church. In this correspondence, Bennett advised JS to “concentrate all of your church at one point” and promised that he would quickly come to the Saints’ assistance. He moved to Nauvoo sometime in early September. On 4 October, the church’s general appointed Bennett, JS, and as a committee to draft a bill to incorporate Nauvoo. Bennett was also appointed by the conference to travel to , the Illinois capital, during the next legislative session to lobby for the passage of the city’s charter.
Evidence suggests that both JS and played prominent roles in drafting the bill. Bennett—who had experience crafting legislation in , , , and —“reported the outlines” of the city charter at the October church conference, which possibly indicates that he either had already formulated ideas for the charter or had begun drafting it. When the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, printed the act to incorporate the city, an editorial preface stated that the act had been procured “by the politeness of Doctor Bennett,” though this may have referred more to his efforts in lobbying for the act’s passage than to his authoring the act. In a letter written two years later (only weeks after he resigned amidst scandal as Nauvoo’s first mayor), Bennett claimed that he “wrote, and procured” both the Nauvoo city charter and the charter for the Nauvoo Legion. However, the draft notes of JS’s history, compiled years later by church historians and written as if from JS’s perspective, stated, “The city charter of Nauvoo is of my own plan, & devise, I concocted it for the salvation of the church.” In a later autobiographical reminiscence, JS’s clerk described JS as having the dominant role in the charter’s composition. According to Coray, “John C. Bennet was . . . engaged in writing the Nauvoo Charter: Joseph dictated much of the Charter. I could overhear the instructions he gave Bennett, and know it was gotten up mainly as Joseph required.” In either case, JS and Bennett had access to the charters of other Illinois cities and borrowed much of their language for Nauvoo’s charter.
As assigned by the October conference, traveled to in November 1840, and the bill was introduced in the Senate on 27 November by Sidney Little, the senator representing . On 5 December, the bill was read a second time, after being returned from the committee on the judiciary with a recommended amendment, though it is unclear what adjustments were made. By 9 December, the Illinois House of Representatives had approved the bill, which was read a final time and passed by the Senate. The Council of Revision—consisting of Governor and the Illinois Supreme Court justices—approved the bill on 16 December, with the act to take effect on 1 February 1841.
On the day the act was passed, wrote a letter to the editors of the Times and Seasons, sending word of the good news to . Bennett described the charters as “very broad and liberal, conferring the most plenary powers on the corporators.” In spite of the expansive powers it bestowed, the act received overwhelming support in the legislature among both Whigs and Democrats, as both parties were interested in courting the Mormon vote. Senator Little, a Whig, and Illinois secretary of state , a Democrat, played key roles in the act’s passage. Bennett wrote in December 1840 that even Abraham Lincoln, a Whig congressman whom the Saints had erased from their electoral ticket in November, approached Bennett after the final vote and “cordially congratulated” him. Describing the Nauvoo charter’s passage in his History of Illinois, former Illinois governor later wrote that “no one opposed it, but all were busy and active in hurrying it through.”
Because of the powers it granted—particularly those regarding the municipal court’s authority to grant writs of habeas corpus, the city council’s ability to create legislation, and the chartering of the Nauvoo Legion—the act to incorporate the city became the primary focal point of anti-Mormon hostility in the coming years. This hostility resulted in the deaths of JS and , the repeal of the act in January 1845, and ultimately the expulsion of the Saints from . While the combination of powers included in the act made Nauvoo’s charters atypical among those of Illinois cities, most of the individual powers and stipulations were not unique to Nauvoo’s incorporating act. In fact, much of the act’s language, including that describing the powers that the Saints’ neighbors in saw as the most threatening, was borrowed directly from the charters of other organizations and Illinois cities.
Between March 1837, when was incorporated as a city, and December 1840, when ’s charter was passed, four other cities in were incorporated—, , , and . Like the charters for each of these cities, the act to incorporate Nauvoo specified the physical boundaries of the municipality and created an organizational structure for the city’s government. Borrowing from earlier Illinois city charters, Nauvoo’s act gave both executive and judicial authority to the mayor, provided the city council with legislative powers for crafting ordinances and resolutions specific to the city’s needs, and created a municipal court to ensure the city’s laws were adhered to. Even the act’s provisions for establishing a school and a militia unit were features present in some of the other Illinois city charters. However, except for the description of the city council’s legislative powers—which was copied directly from Springfield’s charter—nearly every element from these earlier charters was modified in Nauvoo’s act. The most significant of these alterations are identified in annotation to the document transcript herein.
The version of the act featured here was printed in the 15 January 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons under the heading “Miscellaneous.” It was prefaced by two short paragraphs that noted ’s role in assisting with the act and identified the act as three separate charters for the city, university, and Nauvoo Legion. The certification, signed by following ’s signature, suggests that this Times and Seasons version was copied from a handwritten copy based on the original filed manuscript. The Times and Seasons version faithfully reproduces the text of that original manuscript, housed in the State Archives, except that this printed version concludes by reproducing the section of the charter that discusses the legislative powers of the city council, which the filed manuscript and other early printed versions of Nauvoo’s act only referenced. The Times and Seasons version, apparently the earliest published version of the act, became the city’s official version and the one consulted by the city council.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 17 Dec. 1840, 89.

    Journal of the Senate of the Thirteenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Regular Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1842.

  2. [2]

    The Nauvoo high council met on 1 December 1839 and appointed Hyrum Smith, George W. Harris, and Oliver Granger as a committee to petition the legislature “to discontinue certain parts of the City of Nauvoo— and also of Commerce and all other needful acts and alterations in relation to the aforesaid Cities.” Smith was also appointed to furnish the “needful maps and plats for the alteration of the Cities.” These “other needful acts” may have included legislation to incorporate the city, though it may be more likely that the alterations referred to were only intended to notify the state of the boundary changes to the Commerce, Illinois, plat. In either case, there is no record that the city council’s decision was carried out or that the committee went to Springfield to petition the eleventh general assembly, which was in session from 9 December 1839 to 3 February 1840. (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1 Dec. 1839, 31; Laws of the State of Illinois [1839–1840]; Journal of the House of Representatives . . . of Illinois, 9 Dec. 1839; 3 Feb. 1840, 3, 338; see also Kimball, “A Wall to Defend Zion,” 491.)

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly, at Their Special Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Ninth of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Nine. Springfield: William Walters, 1840.

    Journal of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

    Kimball, James L., Jr. “A Wall to Defend Zion: The Nauvoo Charter.” BYU Studies 15, no. 4 (Summer 1975): 491–497.

  3. [3]

    Commission for John C. Bennett, 20 July 1840, Governor’s Correspondence, 1840, Military Affairs, in Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840; 15 Aug. 1840.

    Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  4. [4]

    Letter from John C. Bennett, 27 July 1840.

  5. [5]

    Bennett, History of the Saints, 18.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

  6. [6]

    Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.

  7. [7]

    Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 60; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  8. [8]

    “Miscellaneous,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1841, 2:281.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 14 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Wasp, 18 June 1842, [2]–[3].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  10. [10]

    Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 16 Dec. 1840, 18.

  11. [11]

    Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 4–5.

    Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.

  12. [12]

    Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 59; Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 27 Nov. 1840, 23; Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 273, 277–278.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

    Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

    Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

  13. [13]

    Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 5 Dec. 1840, 45. Although the senate journal did not identify the adjustments, they may have been cancellations in section 25 of the act (dealing with the Nauvoo Legion), which are the only significant edits recorded in the manuscript version of the bill. These changes are identified in notes to section 25 herein. (“A Bill for an Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo,” 12th General Assembly, 1840–1841, House Bill no. 219 [Senate Bill no. 3], Illinois General Assembly, Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.)

    Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

    Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  14. [14]

    Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 9 and 17 Dec. 1840, 61, 89.

    Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.

  15. [15]

    1818 Constitution of the State of Illinois, art. III, sec. 19.

  16. [16]

    John C. Bennett [Joab, pseud.], Springfield, IL, 16 Dec. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:266–267.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  17. [17]

    Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 273; John C. Bennett [Joab, pseud.], Springfield, IL, 16 Dec. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:266–267.

    Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  18. [18]

    John C. Bennett [Joab, pseud.], Springfield, IL, 16 Dec. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:267.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  19. [19]

    Ford, History of Illinois, 263. Ford also wrote in his history that “one would have thought that these charters stood a poor chance of passing the legislature of a republican people jealous of their liberties. Nevertheless they did pass unanimously through both houses. Messrs. Little and Douglass managed with great dexterity with their respective parties. Each party was afraid to object to them for fear of losing the Mormon vote, and each believed that it had secured their favor.” (Ford, History of Illinois, 265.)

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

  20. [20]

    “An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  21. [21]

    An Act to Incorporate the City of Chicago [4 Mar. 1837], Laws of the State of Illinois [1836–1837], pp. 50–80; An Act to Incorporate the City of Alton [21 July 1837], Laws of the State of Illinois [1837], pp. 17–29; An Act to Amend the Several Acts Incorporating the Town of Galena [15 Feb. 1839], Laws of the State of Illinois [1838–1839], pp. 25–36; An Act to Incorporate the City of Springfield [3 Feb. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1839–1840], pp. 6–15; An Act to Incorporate the City of Quincy [3 Feb. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1839–1840], pp. 113–122; An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 52–57.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837. Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly, at Their Special Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Ninth of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Nine. Springfield: William Walters, 1840.

  22. [22]

    The preface reads: “By the politeness of Doctor Bennett, we have been favored with the following legislative act, incorporating our city, legion, and university, for publication, which will, no doubt, be read with great satisfaction by all who have an interest in the future greatness and prosperity of our people; to wit:— Charters of the ‘City of Nauvoo,’ the ‘Nauvoo Legion,’ and the ‘University of the City of Nauvoo.’” It is unclear whether the “politeness of Doctor Bennett” referred to his role in lobbying the Illinois legislature for the act’s passage or more literally to his bringing a copy of the act back to Nauvoo for publication in the Times and Seasons. (“Miscellaneous,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1841, 2:281.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  23. [23]

    Bennett apparently either sent to Nauvoo or carried on his return from Springfield a certified copy of the act. In his History of Illinois, Ford wrote regarding Bennett’s efforts in lobbying for the act’s passage: “Bennet managed matters well for his constituents. He flattered both sides [political parties] with the hope of Mormon favor; and both sides expected to receive their votes.” Times and Seasons editor Ebenezer Robinson reminisced decades later that “Dr. J. C. Bennett went to Springfield and attended the legislature, where he exerted all the influence he could bring to bear, to secure the passage of the Nauvoo City Charter, and other bills which he had prepared.” (Ford, History of Illinois, 263; Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, June 1890, 286.)

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  24. [24]

    See “A Bill for an Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo,” 12th General Assembly, 1840–1841, House Bill no. 219 (Senate Bill no. 3), Illinois General Assembly, Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; and An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 54–55, sec. 13.

    Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

  25. [25]

    Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 9 Apr. 1842, 69.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 December 1840
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 16 December 1843–12 February 1844, Draft Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 16 December 1843–12 February 1844, Thomas Bullock First Copy Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 16 December 1843–12 February 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 281

“An act to incorporate the City of .”
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of represented in the General Assembly, That all that district of country embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: beginning at the north east corner of section thirty one, in township seven, north of range eight west of the fourth principal meridian, in the county of , and running thence west to the north west corner of said section, thence north to the , thence west to the middle of the main channel of the said , thence down the middle of said channel to a point due west of the south east corner of fractional section number twelve, in township six north of range nine west of the fourth principal meridian, thence east to the south east corner of said section twelve, thence north on the range line between township six north and range eight and nine west, to the south west corner of section six, in township six, north of range eight west, thence east to the south east corner of said section, thence north to the place of beginning, including the town plats of and , shall hereafter be called, and known, by the name of the “City of ,” and the inhabitants thereof are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic by the name aforesaid, and shall have perpetual succession, and may have, and use, a common seal, which they may change, and alter, at pleasure.
Sec. 2. Whenever any tract of land adjoining the “City of ” shall have been laid out into town lots, and duly recorded according to law, the same shall form a part of the “City of .”
Sec. 3. The inhabitants of said , by the name and style aforesaid, shall have power to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity, and in all actions whatsoever; to purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, in said city, to purchase, receive, and hold real property beyond the city for burying grounds, or for other public purposes, for the use of the inhabitants of said city; to sell, lease, convey, or dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of the city, to improve and protect such property, and to do all other things in relation thereto as natural persons.
Sec. 4. There shall be a City Council to consist of a Mayor, four Aldermen, and nine Councillors, who shall have the qualifications of electors of said , and shall be chosen by the qualified voters thereof, and shall hold [p. 281]
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Editorial Title
Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 December 1840
ID #
4705
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:472–488
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Commerce was surveyed and platted by Hancock County surveyor John Johnston in May 1834. The Nauvoo plat was surveyed by Hancock County surveyor James Brattle and attested by him on 30 August 1839. That plat was drawn in the Hancock County plat book by John Mather on 3 September 1839. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 10–11, 37–39, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [2]

    This stipulation that candidates for the positions of mayor, alderman, and city councilor must have the same eligibility requirements as voters was Nauvoo’s only requirement for these positions. Some earlier city charters, such as Alton’s, required that the mayor, aldermen, and other city officers be citizens of the United States. Galena’s, Springfield’s, and Quincy’s charters required the same, with the additional requirement that city officers be landowners. The process of reviewing the act to incorporate Nauvoo apparently prompted the Illinois legislature to revisit some of the other city charters. In the two months following the passage of Nauvoo’s charter, the general assembly passed acts amending the charters of Chicago, Quincy, and Springfield. Notably, the Springfield charter was amended to eliminate the United States citizenship requirements for both city officers and voters. (An Act to Incorporate . . . Alton, p. 18, sec. 3; An Act . . . Incorporating . . . Galena, p. 26, sec. 5; An Act to Incorporate . . . Springfield, pp. 7–8, art. 2, sec. 3; art. 3, sec. 2; An Act to Incorporate . . . Quincy, pp. 114–115, art. 2, sec. 3; art. 3, sec. 2; An Act to Amend an Act Entitled “An Act to Incorporate the City of Quincy,” . . . [7 Jan. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 57–58, sec. 1; An Act to Amend “An Act to Incorporate the City of Chicago,” . . . [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 58, sec. 2; An Act to Amend “An Act to Incorporate the City of Springfield,” . . . [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 61–62.)

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

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