Footnotes
JS, Journal, 12 Apr. 1843; Pratt, Autobiography, chap. 41; Woods, Gathering to Nauvoo, 153.
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Woods, Fred E. Gathering to Nauvoo. American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2002.
“The Mormons,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 19 May 1841, [2].
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
“The ‘Latter-day Saint’ Swindle,” Preston (England) Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser, 18 Sept. 1841, [4].
Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser. Preston, England. 1831–1893.
See Historical Introduction to Discourse, 4 July 1843.
Brigham Young and Willard Richards wrote a letter to JS from England in 1840 commenting on the conditions of the people there. They explained the oppressive economic conditions that the working class in Great Britain faced and reported that priests encouraged factory superintendents to dismiss any employee who listened to missionaries. This may have been part of the “sectarian bondage” to which JS referred. “National bondage” may have referred to the fact that England was a monarchy while the United States was a republic where property-holding white men could vote. In 1842, Alfred Cordon wrote a letter to JS from England, claiming that “the state of this country is very awful, and is according to prospects on the eve of a mighty revolution.” Cordon continued, stating that “poverty, and distress, and starvation abounds on every hand.” He expressed gratitude that God had “chosen the west for a refuge for his people” so that Saints could escape such conditions. (Letter from Brigham Young and Willard Richards, 5 Sept. 1840; Letter from Alfred Cordon, 17 Feb. 1842.)
Just a week earlier at a special conference, Hyrum Smith discussed “a band of men,” including “some who pretend to be strong in the faith of the doctrine of the Latter Day Saints,” who were stealing from both Latter-day Saints and those outside the faith and had bound themselves with “secret oaths, and obligations and penalties, to keep the secret.” Hyrum Smith condemned such dealings and asked conference participants to “exert your wit and your power to bring such characters to justice.” JS followed his brother’s speech by condemning stealing, stating that “thieving must be stopped.” (Revised Minutes and Discourses, 23 Apr.–ca. 8 May 1843, italics in original.)
Brigham Young and Willard Richards explained to JS in 1840 that there were “taxes of every kind” levied on the British working class. “Smoke must not go up chimney in England without a tax,” they stated. “Light must not come in at the window without paying duties,” and “many must pay from 1 penny to 6 pence per week for water.” (Letter from Brigham Young and Willard Richards, 5 Sept. 1840, underlining in original.)