On 7 March 1840, clerk wrote a letter to containing instructions about representing the before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. At a 6 March 1840 meeting of the Iowa high council held in , Iowa Territory, JS declared that “the affair now before Congress was the only thing that ought to interest the saints at present.” The high council then directed Elias Smith “to inform Judge Higbee, that it is the wishes of this council that he should not upon any consideration consent to accept of any thing of Congress Short of our just rights & demands for our losses & damages in .” Elias Smith wrote this letter as a result of that direction, and JS approved the letter’s content in a postscript.

In addition to declaring support for ’s mission, relayed the disdain the high council members felt for political leaders who refused to back the Saints’ petition for redress. Despite expressing a negative view of various politicians, the letter signaled the high council’s optimism that the federal government would award reparations to church members who were expelled from their property in . JS and the high council in were unaware that the judiciary committee had already decided that the Senate should no longer consider the church’s memorial, indicating JS had not yet received the letter Higbee had written on 26 February 1840.

presumably sent this letter by post to , but the original letter is not extant. If or when received the letter is unknown. copied it into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between April and June 1840.