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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 September 1842

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co., NY], 8 Sept. 1842. Featured version drafted 8 Sept. 1842; handwriting of ; eight pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Two bifolia, each measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm) when folded. The document was folded for filing. At a later time, each page was numbered in the outside top corners in graphite.
This draft was likely kept as a retained copy of the letter. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

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

Historical Introduction

On the morning of 8 September 1842, JS dictated to his scribe a letter from , Illinois, to in , New York, updating him on the state of affairs in the wake of ’s public criticisms of JS and the Latter-day Saints. JS wrote the letter in response to James Arlington Bennet’s 16 August 1842 letter, which JS received by 7 September. Although Bennet had started corresponding with John C. Bennett earlier that year, Bennet’s 16 August letter was the first that JS received from him, and the two men had never met in person.
In his 16 August letter, praised the character of several church members whom he had recently met, including , , and . He also gave JS his assessment of and noted that Bennett had approached him about publishing an exposé of JS and the church, a proposition he refused. In his reply, JS added his praise for Richards, Foster, and Bernhisel and asserted that the church was filled with thousands of men of similarly high character. JS also expressed his opinion of John C. Bennett and recounted the persecution he and several other church members experienced because of Bennett’s charges. JS described his and the Saints’ circumstances as inconsistent with the liberties and values celebrated throughout the country. He also conveyed his belief that the persecution would spread to other groups and eventually engulf the world in violence if other Americans did not rise up to protect the Saints’ citizenship rights. Finally, JS explained the difficulty he and others were having with the post office.
JS was hiding at ’s home in when he dictated this letter. Because it lacks addressing and postal markings, the version featured here appears to be a draft of the letter. Around the same time the letter was sent, and copied the text of the letter into JS’s journal. The Sangamo Journal published an excerpt of the letter in its 4 November 1842 issue, stating that the letter had been printed in the 22 October 1842 issue of the New York Herald. According to church member , the letter was read publicly to a congregation in Nauvoo on 11 September 1842. likely received the letter by late September or early October. On 24 October, he wrote a letter to in which he continued his discussion of JS’s challenges in the wake of ’s accusations.
Differences between the draft of the letter that JS dictated to and the version in JS’s journal are noted.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 8 Sept. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 16 Aug. 1842; JS, Journal, 7 Sept. 1842. Bennet wrote JS another letter on 1 September 1842, but JS had not yet received it. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842; JS, Journal, 14 Sept. 1842.)

  3. [3]

    Church leaders had contacted Bennet by mid-April 1842, at which time he was commissioned as an officer in the Nauvoo Legion. (Moses K. Anderson to James Arlington Bennet, Certificate, Springfield, IL, 30 Apr. 1842, Thomas Carlin, Correspondence, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.)

    Carlin, Thomas. Correspondence, 1838–1842. In Office of the Governor, Records, 1818–1989. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  4. [4]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 16 Aug. 1842.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 3–10 Sept. 1842.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 8 Sept. 1842.

  7. [7]

    “Joe Smith and the Governor,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 4 Nov. 1842, [2]; “From Nauvoo and the Mormons,” New York Herald (New York City), 9 Oct. 1842, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

  8. [8]

    George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 16 Sept. 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 248–249.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

  9. [9]

    As noted above, JS received Bennet’s 16 August letter in Nauvoo on 7 September. This and other correspondence between the two indicate that mail took about three weeks to travel between Nauvoo and New Utrecht.

  10. [10]

    James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 24 Oct. 1842, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 September 1842 Journal, December 1841–December 1842 History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 3

with him, may be assured that I will not persecute them; but I do not wish their association; and what I have said may suffice on that subject, so far as his character is concerned.
Now in relation to his book, that he may write, I will venture a prophecy, that whoever has any hand in the matter, will find themselves in a poor fix, in relation to the money matters. And as to my having any fears of the influence that he may have against me, or any other man, or set of men may have is the most foreign from my heart; for I never knew what it was, as yet, to fear the face of clay, or the influence of man. My fear, Sir, is before God. I fear to offend him, and strive to keep his commandments. I am realy glad that you did not join in relation to his book; from the assurances which I have, that it will prove a curse to all those who touch it.
In relation to the honors that you speak of, both for yourself, and for Mr of the Herald, you are <​both​> strangers to me; and as kept all his letters which he received from you, entirely to himself; and there was no corresponce between you and me that I knew of, I had no opportunity to share very largely, in the getting up of any of those matters. I could not, as I had not sufficient knowledge to enable me to do so. The whole therefore, was at the instigation of , and a quiet submission on the part of the rest, out of the best of feelings. But as for myself it was all done at a time when I was overwhelmed with a great many business cares, as well as the care of [p. 3]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 September 1842
ID #
929
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:74–83
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    Bennett had by this time completed his exposé of JS and the church, which was published in October 1842 in Boston. (John C. Bennett, The History of the Saints; or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism [Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842]; “Gen. Bennet’s Mormon Disclosures,” Daily Atlas [Boston], 15 Oct. 1842, [2].)

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

    Boston Daily Atlas. Boston. 1844–1857.

  2. [10]

    “Fear the face of clay” was a common saying in nineteenth-century America, usually used to admonish a person to fear God more than people. It appeared in a hymn sung in a number of Christian congregations. (See, for example, Hymn 89, in Campbell et al., Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, part 2, pp. 77–78; “Jeremiah,” Letter to the Editor, Columbian Star [Washington DC], 5 June 1824, [1]; “Hints on Anti-Abolition Mobs,” Anti-Slavery Record [New York City], July 1836, 9; and “Liberation of Gov. Dorr,” Working Man’s Advocate [New York City], 17 Aug. 1844, [1].)

    Campbell, Alexander, Walter Scott, Barton W. Stone, and John T. Johnson, comps. Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected. 19th stereotyped ed. Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1844.

    Columbian Star. Washington DC. 1822–1829.

    Anti-Slavery Record. New York City. 1835–1837.

    Working Man’s Advocate. New York City. 1830–184?.

  3. [11]

    In mentioning to JS that he had declined to publish John C. Bennett’s book, James Arlington Bennet explained that he thought James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the New York Herald, would publish it. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 16 Aug. 1842.)

  4. [12]

    On 12 April 1842, James Arlington Bennet was appointed inspector general of the Nauvoo Legion, with the rank of major general, an action that was instigated by John C. Bennett, who was the major general of the legion. On 28 May 1842, James Gordon Bennett was elected aide-de-camp to the major general of the Nauvoo Legion and was given the rank of brigadier general. James Gordon Bennett reprinted his commission, accompanied by a mocking editorial, in the New York Herald. (Moses K. Anderson to James Arlington Bennet, Certificate, Springfield, IL, 30 Apr. 1842, Thomas Carlin, Correspondence, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; James Gordon Bennett, “Rising in the World,” New York Herald [New York City], 13 Aug. 1842, [2].)

    Carlin, Thomas. Correspondence, 1838–1842. In Office of the Governor, Records, 1818–1989. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

  5. [13]

    These letters between James Arlington Bennet and John C. Bennett are apparently not extant.

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