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Discourse, 9 December 1843

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 9 Dec. 1843]. Featured version published in Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, vol. 1, no. 31, [3]. For more complete source information, see the source note for Notice, 26 Aug. 1843.

Historical Introduction

On 9 December 1843, JS addressed citizens of , Illinois, at a public meeting called by the city council in the aftermath of the kidnappings of and his father, , which occurred in November and December. The previous day, the Nauvoo City Council had issued orders that “the Citizens of this city be called together” to hear a public reading of an ordinance intended to protect JS from possible extradition to . A large group of Nauvoo residents assembled on the corner of Main and Water streets on 9 December in accordance with the appointment.
When the public meeting opened, the city council elected , an and a member of the city council, as chair and appointed , a prominent physician, as secretary. , an apostle and a city alderman, spoke first, though the meeting minutes do not disclose his subject. —a city councilor, an apostle, and a newspaper publisher—followed Smith and read the extra issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor that had been published the night before. The extra contained the resolutions from a public meeting held 7 December, the city ordinances passed on 8 December, quotations from the Constitution, and letters from attorney general and his predecessor concerning the status of the . McDougall and Lamborn dismissed financial claims from the city’s legion officers to the state of Illinois and stressed the legion’s financial independence. McDougall further stated that the legion was “entirely independent” from the state militia and was exempt from state militia laws or regulations. He claimed that according to the legislative act incorporating , the legion was “designed to sustain the Municipal authorities of Nauvoo” rather than to function as a regular unit of the state militia. After his public reading of the Nauvoo Neighbor extra, Taylor addressed the attendees presumably on the subjects covered in the extra.
JS then spoke to the assembly. According to ’s account, JS delivered an “interesting address to the assembly,” in which he “Spoke of our persecutions, the manner that our rights & liberti[e]s had been trampled upon & that it was time it was stoped.” ’s meeting minutes, however, said nothing about the Saints’ history of persecution and instead reported that JS critiqued the letters from and , insisting that the Nauvoo Legion was part of the state militia and subject to the governor’s orders. Woodruff noted that following JS’s address, the assembly “all sanctioned the speach of the general & were dismissed in good order & retur[n]ed to their homes.”
’s meeting minutes were forwarded to the Nauvoo Neighbor, which published them in its 20 December issue. In the intervening days, the Nauvoo Neighbor published the letters from the attorneys general for a second time in its 13 December issue, expressing satisfaction that the opinions conveyed in the letters “correspond so much with our own.” The contradiction between JS’s published remarks and the statements in the Nauvoo Neighbor—as well as JS’s apparent reliance on the letters to justify mobilizing the legion on 8 December—possibly reflected the city leadership’s desire to claim that the legion was both independent from and authorized by the . Given the Nauvoo Neighbor’s later publishing date and the differences between ’s contemporaneous summary of the discourse and the published minutes, it is possible that Bernhisel selectively reported or revised his account to reflect the more conciliatory position that JS adopted after 18 December.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For more on the kidnappings, see “Part 5: December 1843.”

  2. [2]

    Minutes, 8 Dec. 1843; Ordinance, 8 Dec. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Minutes, Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, [3]. It is unclear what time the meeting took place. The city council called for the meeting to take place in the morning. Wilford Woodruff recorded in his journal that it occurred after another meeting. It is possible that the public meeting occurred in the afternoon in connection with the mobilization of a portion of the Nauvoo Legion. The previous day, JS issued orders to Major General Wilson Law to activate a portion of the legion, and on 9 December, Law issued orders for two regiments to mobilize and assemble at three o’clock in the afternoon at JS’s home—located on the northeast corner of Main and Water streets—to receive ammunition. (Minutes, 8 Dec. 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 9 Dec. 1843; Military Order to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843; Wilson Law to Charles C. Rich, Order, Nauvoo, IL, 9 Dec. 1843, Charles C. Rich, Collection, CHL; Charles C. Rich to Hosea Stout, Order, Nauvoo, IL, 9 Dec. 1843, in Order Book, 1843–1844, 13, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Nauvoo Legion Arsenal Account Book, 1844–1849. Charles C. Rich, Collection, 1832–1908. CHL.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  4. [4]

    Minutes, Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, [3]; Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 9 Dec. 1843, [1].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  5. [5]

    Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 9 Dec. 1843, [1].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  6. [6]

    Minutes, Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, [3].

  7. [7]

    Woodruff, Journal, 9 Dec. 1843.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  8. [8]

    Woodruff, Journal, 9 Dec. 1843.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  9. [9]

    “Public Meeting,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 13 Dec. 1843, [1], [2]. With ordinances passed by the city council and enforced by the legion, the Nauvoo Neighbor expressed satisfaction that the Saints could legally “punish the aggressors” without threat of persecution.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  10. [10]

    See Historical Introduction to Mayor’s Order to Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843.

  11. [11]

    See Woodruff, Journal, 9 Dec. 1843; Complaint, 18 Dec. 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 19 Dec. 1843.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Discourse, 9 December 1843
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [3]

After some pertinent remarks by , General Joseph Smith briefly addressed the meeting; he dissented entirely from the opinion of the , and observed that it was stated in the charter that the was a part of the militia of , and that his commission declared that he (General Smith) was the Lieutenant General of the , and if [of] the militia of the State of , and as such, it was not only his duty to enforce the ordinances, but the laws of the when called on by the Governor. He also stated that he had been informed that the of had it in contemplation to make another requisition on the of for him, Joseph Smith. [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 9 December 1843
ID #
1219
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:350–353
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    According to the act incorporating Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Legion was to function as “a body of independent military men” that was required to “perform the same amount of military duty as is now . . . required of the regular militia of the State.” The language of this provision apparently referenced a type of independent or volunteer unit in the state militia. However, state law provided only for the creation of independent companies, battalions, and regiments and made no mention of independent brigades or divisions. Except for JS’s role as lieutenant general, the legion’s organization of two cohorts supervised by a major general and led by brigadier generals structurally paralleled a division, the largest militia unit described in state law. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; An Act for the Organization and Government of the Militia of This State [2 Mar. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], pp. 469–470, 472, 478–479, secs. 2–3, 9–10, 35.)

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  2. [2]

    Illinois governor Thomas Carlin commissioned JS as lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion and as an Illinois militia officer in March 1841. (Commission from Thomas Carlin, 10 Mar. 1841.)

  3. [3]

    The Nauvoo city charter placed the Nauvoo Legion “at the disposal of the Mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the City Corporation, and the laws of the State,” as well as “at the disposal of the Governor for the public defence, and the execution of the laws of the State or of the United States.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

  4. [4]

    On 6 or 7 December, a rumor reached Nauvoo that Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds was making another attempt to extradite JS. Although it caused considerable excitement in the city, the rumor proved groundless. (Affidavit from Dellmore Chapman and Letter to Thomas Ford, 6 Dec. 1843.)

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