Footnotes
Though this letter and others that Hotchkiss wrote to his business partners and to JS are either addressed or postmarked from Fair Haven, Connecticut, Hotchkiss’s residence was a mile or two away in New Haven. (Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.)
Higbee wrote to Hotchkiss on 24 March 1840 and enclosed a copy of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s report regarding the rejection of the Saints’ memorial for redress. (Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840; Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)
See Psalm 146:3.
The Committee on the Judiciary’s report to the Senate recommended that the Mormons should “seek relief in the courts of judicature of the State of Missouri, or of the United States, which has the appropriate jurisdiction to administer full and adequate redress for the wrongs complained of, and doubtless will do so fairly and impartially.” (Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)
As an alternative to appealing to the United States or Missouri courts for redress, the Committee on the Judiciary suggested that “the petitioners may, if they see proper, apply to the justice and magnanimity of the State of Missouri—an appeal which the committee feel justified in believing will never be made in vain by the injured or oppressed.” The committee was presumably proposing that the Saints petition Missouri’s executive rather than the state’s judiciary. (Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)