Footnotes
This serialized history drew on the journals herein beginning with the 4 July 1855 issue of the Deseret News and with the 3 January 1857 issue of the LDS Millennial Star.
The labels on the spines of the four volumes read respectively as follows: “Joseph Smith’s Journal—1842–3 by Willard Richards” (book 1); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843” (book 2); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843–4” (book 3); and “W. Richards’ Journal 1844 Vol. 4” (book 4). Richards kept JS’s journal in the front of book 4, and after JS’s death Richards kept his own journal in the back of the volume.
“Schedule of Church Records, Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office G. S. L. City July 1858,” 2; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]–[12], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
Footnotes
Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.
Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
See Appendix 3.
The Council of Fifty met from nine o’clock in the morning to one in the afternoon and again at two o’clock. In the morning meeting, three men were admitted to the council. Sidney Rigdon, chairman pro tempore, explained to the new members that the “nature & object” of the council “was to form a Theocracy according to the will of Heaven, planted without any intention to interfere with any government of the world.” The council granted more time to the committee that had been appointed to write a constitution, after which William W. Phelps, a member of the committee, asked JS to assist them. JS declined, saying it was “necessary for the council to exhaust their wisdom, and except they do they will never know but they are as wise as God himself.” Near the end of this morning session Erastus Snow moved that the council “receive from this time henceforth and forever, Joseph Smith, as our Prophet, Priest & King,” which was endorsed “with shouts of Hossanna to God and the Lamb Amen and Amen.” JS opened the afternoon meeting by explaining that men who were not members of the church were included in the council because “all men have equal rights, and ought to be respected.” JS also spoke on the United States Constitution and the need to not only proclaim rights but to also protect them. Several members of the council made comments about the kingdom that the council intended to establish and about the blessings it would provide to the inhabitants of the earth. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844; Clayton, Journal, 11 Apr. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 11 Apr. 1844; JS, Journal, 16 and 23 July 1843.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.