Footnotes
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441; JS History, vol. C-1, 1014–1015.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
“Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, draft, 4; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 4, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Footnotes
“Death of Another Old Resident,” New-York Commercial Advertiser (New York City), 22 June 1850, [2]; “The Late Matthew L. Davis,” New-York Commercial Advertiser, 27 June 1850, [1]. Davis wrote under the pseudonym “Spy in Washington” for the New York Courier and Enquirer and the pseudonym “A Genevese Traveller” for the London Times.
Commercial Advertiser. New York City. 1820–1863.
Matthew L. Davis, Washington DC, to Mary Davis, New York City, NY, 6 Feb. 1840, CHL.
Davis, Matthew L. Letter, Washington DC, to Mary Davis, New York City, NY, 6 Feb. 1840. CHL. MS 522.
According to Representative John Reynolds of Illinois, JS “stood at the time fair and honorable, as far as we knew at the City of Washington, except his fanaticism on religion. The sympathies of the people were in his favor,” and he “preached often in the city.” Robert D. Foster recalled organizing around the end of January 1840 a large meeting “in the open air on Pennsylvania Avenue” and another in “Carusi’s Saloon” (on the corner of 11th and C streets), which he called “one of the largest and most suitable rooms in the city, outside the capitol building.” JS, having just arrived by train from Philadelphia, addressed an audience that, according to Foster, included “a great many of the members of Congress and heads of departments,” including Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and President Martin Van Buren. (Reynolds, My Own Times, 575; Robert D. Foster, “A Testimony of the Past,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, 15 Apr. 1875, 228–229; Watterson, New Guide to Washington, 85, 145.)
Reynolds, John. My Own Times: Embracing Also, the History of My Life. Belleville, IL: B. H. Perryman and H. L. Davison, 1855.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Watterson, George. A New Guide to Washington. Washington DC: Robert Farnham, 1842.
Cookman was a chaplain in the United States Senate and a well-known preacher in the national capital. On 29 December 1839, Cookman reportedly preached against JS and the church, claiming falsely that he had interviewed JS the week before. (Ridgaway, Life of the Rev. Alfred Cookman, 76–80; Robert D. Foster, “A Testimony of the Past,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, 15 Apr. 1875, 227–228; Letter from Robert D. Foster, 24 Dec. 1839.)
Ridgaway, Henry B. The Life of the Rev. Alfred Cookman; with Some Account of His Father, the Rev. George Grimston Cookman. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1873.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Four days after this discourse, Parley P. Pratt and Elias Higbee also wrote an address to the people of Washington DC attempting to explain the church’s beliefs to the public and win support for the church’s appeal to Congress. (Letter from James Adams, 4 Jan. 1840; Letter to Editor, 22 Jan. 1840; Elias Higbee and Parley P. Pratt, “An Address,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:68–70.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
M. L. Davis to M. Davis, 6 Feb. 1840, underlining in original.
Davis, Matthew L. Letter, Washington DC, to Mary Davis, New York City, NY, 6 Feb. 1840. CHL. MS 522.
M. L. Davis to M. Davis, 6 Feb. 1840, underlining in original.
Davis, Matthew L. Letter, Washington DC, to Mary Davis, New York City, NY, 6 Feb. 1840. CHL. MS 522.
M. L. Davis to M. Davis, 6 Feb. 1840, underlining in original.
Davis, Matthew L. Letter, Washington DC, to Mary Davis, New York City, NY, 6 Feb. 1840. CHL. MS 522.
Missionaries passing through New York City between 1840 and 1845 included several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who were returning from England in May 1841 and Parley P. Pratt, who traveled to New York City when campaigning for JS in the presidential election of 1844. (Woodruff, Journal, 23 May 1841; “Jeffersonian Meeting,” Prophet, 15 June 1844, [3].)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.
The early Latter-day Saints believed strongly in exercising gifts of the Spirit but insisted on attributing the power to God rather than to human ability. In 1838 JS presented this viewpoint as an answer to a commonly asked question: “Can they [the Latter-day Saints] raise the dead. Answer. No, nor any other people that now lives or ever did live. But God can raise the dead through man, as an instrument.” JS followed this with a closely related question and answer: “What signs do Jo Smith give of his divine mission. Answer. The signs which God is pleased to let him give: according as his wisdom thinks best: in order that he may judge the world agreably to his own plan.” (Questions and Answers, 8 May 1838.)
The Book of Mormon.
Likely influenced by public discourses JS gave at this time, Orson Pratt published a pamphlet in fall 1840 that similarly asserted that “the gospel in the ‘Book of Mormon’ is the same as that in the New Testament, and is revealed in great plainness, so that no one that reads it can misunderstand its principles.” (Pratt, Interesting Account, 30.)
In 1832 JS and Sidney Rigdon gave an account of a vision in which they saw three degrees of postmortal glory. They wrote that, whereas only faithful Latter-day Saints would receive the highest “kingdom” of glory, the middle kingdom of heaven would include “honorable men of the earth” who would “receive of the presence of the son but not of the fulness of the father.” (Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:75, 77].)
JS was named as the “AUTHOR AND PROPRIETOR” of the Book of Mormon on its title page, but only to satisfy copyright conventions. JS provided only a general description of the translation of the Book of Mormon in the preface to the book’s 1830 edition, in which he wrote that he had translated the book “by the gift and power of God.” Even before the book was published, critics of JS and the church accused him of fabricating the entire book or copying it from another source. (Title Page of Book of Mormon, ca. Early June 1829; Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 278–280; “Joseph Smith Documents Dating through June 1831.”)
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.