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Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 12–13 October 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , New York Co., NY, 12–[13] Oct. 1843. Featured version copied [ca. 13 Oct. 1843]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm). The letter was written on the first page only. It was trifolded twice in letter style for filing and docketed.
The copy of the letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s bearing of an early docket, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  3. [3]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 12 and 13 October 1843, JS worked with in , Illinois, to write a letter to in regarding the recently published “Carthage Resolutions.” The letter was in reply to a 27 September missive from Hotchkiss, who had inquired concerning rumors of “several severe resolutions . . . condemning the conduct of the mormons.” In his reply, JS explained that an assembly had met in , Illinois, and passed resolutions against JS and the , and he expressed hope that more principled citizens would ignore the resolutions and that God would reward the Saints for their “virtue and goodness.”
On 12 October, JS gave , one of his clerks, the 27 September letter and asked him to answer it. Although the letter featured here is clearly dated 12 October, JS’s journal indicates that JS “anserd letter to ” on 13 October. The extant version of the letter is in Phelps’s handwriting, so it is likely that Phelps drafted the response letter on 12 October at JS’s direction before working with JS to revise or complete the letter on 13 October. Hotchkiss received the letter by 30 October, when he penned a response to JS.
The original letter that was sent to is apparently no longer extant. Likely before the original was sent, made a copy of the letter, which was docketed as such by JS’s private secretary, , and was kept with JS’s papers. That retained copy is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 Sept. 1843.

  2. [2]

    For more information on the passage of these resolutions, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 Sept. 1843; and Letter to Thomas Ford, ca. 20 Sept. 1843.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 12 Oct. 1843.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 13 Oct. 1843.

  5. [5]

    See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 30 Oct. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 12–13 October 1843
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

, Ill. Oct. 12, 1843.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of the 27th ult. is at hand, soliciting information concerning the “Carthage Resolutions.” In answer to your very candid inquiry and expression “interest” relative to our welfare, brevity will suffice. Unprincipled men and disappointed demagogues with here and there an “untamed sucker,” composed that disgraceful and disgracing, as well as mobocratic assemblage: and I feel proud to say that patriots and honest men generally frown upon such audacious proceedings as beneath the dignity of freemen. It is to be hoped that public opinion will continue to spurn at such doings and leave the actors to fester in their own shame.
With the smiling prospects around us at present, success seems certain, <​and​> with the blessings of Jehovah we shall reap the reward of virtue and goodness. I go for the good of the world. and if all honest men would do so, mean men would be scarce. You are at liberty to use this to counter act falsehoods, as you may deem proper
Respectfully I am your Obt Sert.
Joseph Smith
By Clerk
)
) [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 12–13 October 1843
ID #
1180
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:177–179
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 Sept. 1843. These resolutions were made public in an issue of the Warsaw Message. (“Great Meeting of Anti-Mormons!,” Warsaw [IL] Message, 13 Sept. 1843, [1]–[2].)

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

  2. [2]

    In his letter, Hotchkiss explicitly stated that he had both a personal and a financial interest in the welfare of the Latter-day Saints. (Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 Sept. 1843.)

  3. [3]

    At the time, “sucker” referred to a person from Illinois, which was commonly nicknamed the “Sucker State” in the nineteenth century. The name apparently originated in the late 1820s as a comparison between the laborers from southern Illinois who traveled north to Galena, Illinois, to work in the lead mines in the summer and the migratory habits of sucker fish. (“The Lead Mines of the Upper Mississippi,” 224; Ford, History of Illinois, 67–68.)

    “The Lead Mines of the Upper Mississippi.” New-England Magazine 1 (Sept. 1831): 218–226.

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

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