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Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 July 1836

Source Note

, JS, , , and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , Peter Rogers, Andrew Robertson, James Thompson, , Woodson Moss, James Hughs, , and , , MO, 25 July 1836. Featured version published in “Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:355–359. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Oliver Cowdery, Dec. 1834.

Historical Introduction

After disbanding the in , Missouri, in 1834, JS encouraged to emigrate there. The revelation calling for the discontinuance of the camp directed the Saints “to gather up the strength of my house” into the county, and a letter JS wrote the following August instructed church leaders in to “prevail on the churches to gather to those regions and situate themselves to be in readiness” to return to by the fall of 1836.
By summer 1836, more than 100 Latter-day Saint families joined the 250 families already residing in , many of whom had been forced out of in 1833. With this immigration, unrest grew among the non-Mormon citizens of the county. The factors that gave rise to the tension in Clay County had marked similarities to the causes of earlier violence in Jackson County. In late 1833 and early 1834, Clay County residents who were sympathetic to the Mormon exiles had agreed to give them temporary asylum after their troubles in Jackson County. By mid-1836, however, because of the rapid and increasing immigration of church members to the county and their extensive land purchases, non-Mormon Clay County residents feared that their county was becoming the new , or permanent church center. They also accused Mormons of opposing slavery and causing problems for slaveholders, as well as having unauthorized communications with American Indians in the area to turn them against non-Mormon whites.
By late June 1836, violence broke out between the communities. Anderson Wilson, a citizen who organized forces against the Saints, wrote, “There were Several outrages Committed on the night of the 28 [June 1836]. Six of our party went to a mormon town. Several mormons Cocked their guns & Swore they would Shoot them. After Some Scrimiging two white men took a mormon out of Company & give him 100 lashes & it is thought he will Die of this Beating.” Latter-day Saint remembered that in late spring 1836, “it appeared that war was even at our doors.” Believing that the Mormons’ increased immigration, efforts to redeem Zion, and apparent sympathy for slaves and Indians would lead to bloodshed and “civil war” in Clay County, local citizens and community leaders met in to devise a resolution to the impending conflict.
At the meeting, held 29 June 1836 at the courthouse, citizens organized a “Committee of nine.” This body was composed of community leaders and included , a Democrat and former judge in who served as the committee chair, and three attorneys previously employed by the Saints during their efforts to obtain redress and justice for their expulsion from —, , and . The committee wrote a preamble and resolutions to present to the Saints. The preamble expressed residents’ belief that a crisis had arrived and that if it was not resolved, harmony, good order, and peace would no longer exist in the county. The committee listed what they believed were the county residents’ collective complaints against the Saints and requested as a solution that church members stop immigrating to the county and completely withdraw from it. The resolutions detailed how they would negotiate the departure of the Latter-day Saints from the county.
While the committee did not intend to include JS as part of these negotiations, , assistant church president in , forwarded to him the committee’s preamble and resolutions, which had been published in a local newspaper. The letter featured here is the response JS and other members of the church in wrote directly to the committee led by . The letter from the Kirtland leaders countered rumors about the Missouri Saints and explained their defensive actions, addressing issues that had spurred tensions leading to the request for them to vacate the county. This letter was sent along with another letter JS and the other church leaders wrote to Phelps and the Missouri church leaders on the same date. Wording in the Phelps letter indicates that it was written after the letter featured here. Both letters were apparently sent to Phelps, with the intent that he pass on the letter addressed to Thornton and the rest of the committee. Both letters were printed in the August issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate; the printed copies are the only known extant versions.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See “Joseph Smith Documents from April 1834 through September 1835.”

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1836; Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:24, 27–31]; Letter to Lyman Wight and Others, 16 Aug. 1834; Minutes, 2 Apr. 1836.

  3. [3]

    Murdock, Journal, 27 July 1836; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 269, 318–319.

    Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.

    Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

  4. [4]

    Lewis, “Mormon Land Ownership,” 25–28; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 318–319; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:162–190.

    Lewis, Wayne J. “Mormon Land Ownership as a Factor in Evaluating the Extent of Mormon Settlements and Influence in Missouri, 1831–1841.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981.

    Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

    Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

  5. [5]

    “Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:359–360; “Another Mormon Invasion,” Daily Missouri Republican, 17 May 1836, [2]; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1833 through March 1834.”

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

  6. [6]

    Anderson Wilson and Emelia Wilson, Clay Co., MO, to Samuel Turrentine, Orange Co., NC, 4 July 1836, Wilson Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; see also Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 242–279.

    Wilson Family Papers, 1835–1849. Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

    Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

  7. [7]

    Holbrook, Reminiscences, 41.

    Holbrook, Joseph. Reminiscences, not before 1871. Photocopy. CHL. MS 5004. Original in private possession.

  8. [8]

    “Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 353–355; “Public Meeting,” Far West (Liberty, MO), 30 June 1836; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 June 1834.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.

  9. [9]

    “Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:353–355.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  10. [10]

    For the response of the Saints in Clay County, see Historical Introduction to Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836.

  11. [11]

    Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 July 1836 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 358

in worldly fortune, improve in science and arts, rise to eminence in the eyes of the public, surmount these difficulties, so much as to bid defiance to poverty and wretchedness, it must be a new creation, a race of beings super-human. But in all their poverty and want, we have yet to learn, for the first time, that our friends are not industrious, and temperate, and wherein they have not always been the last to retaliate or resent an injury, and the first to overlook and forgive. We do not urge that there are not exceptions to be found: all communities, all societies and associations, are cumbered with disorderly and less virtuous members—members who violate in a greater or less degree the principles of the same. But this can be no just criterion by which to judge a whole society. And further still, where a people are laboring under constant fear of being dispossessed, very little inducement is held out to excite them to be industrious.
We think, gentlemen, that we have pursued this subject far enough, and we here express to you, as we have in a letter accompanying this, to our friends, our decided disapprobation to the idea of shedding blood, if any other course can be followed to avoid it; in which case, and which alone, we have urged upon our friends to desist, only in extreme cases of self-defence; and in this case not to give the offence or provoke their fellow men to acts of violence,—which we have no doubt they will observe, as they ever have. For you may rest assured, gentlemen, that we would be the last to advise our friends to shed the blood of men, or commit one act to endanger the public peace.
We have no doubt but our friends will leave your , sooner or later,—they have not only signified the same to us, but we have advised them so to do, as fast as they can without incurring too much loss. It may be said that they have but little to lose if they lose the whole. But if they have but little, that little is their all, and the imperious demands of the helpless, urge them to make a prudent disposal of the same. And we are highly pleased with a proposition in your preamble, suffering them to remain peaceably till a disposition can be made of their land, &c. which if suffered, our fears are at once hushed, and we have every reason to believe, that during the remaining part of the residence of our friends in your , the same feelings of friendship and kindness will continue to exist, that have heretofore, and that when they leave you, you will have no reflection of sorrow to cast, that they have been sojourners among you.
To what distance or place they will remove, we are unable to say: in this they must be dictated with judgment and prudence. They may explore the Territory of —they may remove there, or they may stop on the other side—of this we are unable to say; but be they where they will, we have this gratifying reflection, that they have never been the first, in an unjust manner, to violate the laws, injure their fellow men, or disturb the tranquility and peace under which any part of our has heretofore reposed. And we cannot but believe, that ere long the public mind must undergo a change, when it will appear to the satisfaction of all that this people have been illy treated and abused without cause, and when, as justice would demand, those who have been the instigators of their sufferings will be regarded as their true characters demand.
Though our religious principles are before the world, ready for the investigation of all men, yet we are aware that the sole foundation of all the persecution against our friends, has arisen in consequence of the calumnies and misconstructions, without foundation in truth, or righteousness, in common with all other religious societies, at their first commencement; and should Providence order that we rise not as others before us, to respectability and esteem, but be trodden down by the ruthless hand of extermination, posterity will do us the justice, when our persecutors are equally low in the dust, with ourselves, to hand down to succeeding generations, the virtuous acts and forbearance of a people, who sacrificed their reputation for their religion, and their earthly fortunes and happiness, to preserve peace, and save this land from being further drenched in blood.
We have no doubt but your very seasonable mediation, in the time of so great an excitement, will accomplish your most sanguine desire, in preventing further disorder; and we hope, [p. 358]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 July 1836
ID #
326
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:258–268
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [14]

    Of the Saints in Clay County, Joseph Thorp wrote, “The Mormons, in the main, were industrious, good workers, and gave general satisfaction to their employers, and could live on less than any people I ever knew. . . . They had the knack of economizing in the larder, which was a great help to the men, as they had mostly to earn their bread and butter by day’s work.” (Thorp, Early Days in the West, 76.)

    Thorp, Joseph. Early Days in the West: Along the Missouri One Hundred Years Ago. Liberty, MO: Irving Gilmer, 1924.

  2. [15]

    An August 1833 revelation counseled the Saints to bear repeated offenses from their enemies. (Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:39–45].)

  3. [16]

    On instructions to the Saints regarding self-defense, see Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836; and Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:23–31].

  4. [17]

    See Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836.

  5. [18]

    The United States Congress passed an act establishing Wisconsin Territory on 20 April 1836, which took effect on 4 July 1836. The Clay County citizens’ committee recommended that the Saints investigate and remove to Wisconsin, “which is peculiarly suited to their conditions and their wants.” The Clay County committee further said of Wisconsin, “It is almost entirely unsettled; they [the Mormons] can there procure large bodies of land together, where there are no settlements, and none to interfere with them. . . . We therefore, in a spirit of frank and friendly kindness, do advise them to seek a home where they may obtain large and separate bodies of land, and have a community of their own.” A short time later, a resident of Wisconsin Territory wrote, “Gentleman Mormons, we pray you to be assured, that your ‘promised land’ is not in Wisconsin.” (“Public Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 354; An Act Establishing the Territorial Government of Wisconsin [20 Apr. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 54, p. 10; “The Mormons—Unparallelled Impudence,” Far West [Liberty, MO], 18 Aug. 1836, 1.)

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

    The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.

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