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Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 October 1841
Source Note
Source Note
JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , New Haven Co., CT, 9 Oct. 1841; handwriting of ; four pages; JS, Papers, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, IL. Includes address, postal stamp, and postal notation.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm). The letter was written on all four pages and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and mailed from , Illinois. The paper has separated along the bottom fold on both leaves. An adhesive wafer remains on the verso of the second leaf.
The custodial history of the letter is unknown before it came into the possession of the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago, Illinois, who sold it in 1972 to the Illinois State Historical Library (now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum).
Footnotes
- [1]
This letter was apparently one of ten documents relating to JS purchased by the library at the time. (Schroeder-Lein, Treasures of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 59; see also the full bibliographic record for JS, Papers, 1839–1844, in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum catalog.)
Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R., ed. Treasures of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Carbondale: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Southern Illinois University Press, 2014.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 9 October 1841, JS wrote a letter from , Illinois, to his creditor in , Connecticut, regarding debts owed to Tuttle and his business partners. Tuttle, , and had sold land in to JS, , and in 1839. JS had been corresponding with Hotchkiss about the money owed and was striving to find ways to pay the debt, but tensions had arisen between the parties. Because of miscommunication and JS’s failure to make the scheduled payments, recent letters between the two men had included “harsh remarks.”
While and were dissatisfied with the lack of timely payment, JS was also frustrated because he believed several obstacles had prevented him from making payments. For instance, JS was temporarily detained in , Illinois, in early June 1841, when governor attempted to have him extradited. Although he was released five days later when his arrest warrant was deemed invalid, the trip to , Illinois, for his hearing delayed his business dealings. Additionally, , an for the , was sent to deliver land deeds as payment to Hotchkiss and Tuttle but failed to fulfill this assignment. Hotchkiss had eagerly awaited Galland’s arrival, but without informing JS, Galland wrote to Hotchkiss, informing him that he, Galland, was headed west and would not be arriving in after all. Galland’s absence surprised both Hotchkiss and JS and added to their frustrations.
After learning of the increasingly hostile communications between and JS, wrote a conciliatory letter to JS in mid-September 1841. Tuttle’s letter was read aloud during the church’s October 1841 general . JS’s letter of 9 October, featured here, was written in response. In this letter, JS explained his inability to make payments on schedule, his intention to pay the debts as soon as possible, and his desire to maintain friendly relations with his creditors.
JS apparently dictated the letter to his clerk . The letter was mailed to through the post office on 12 October 1841. Before Tuttle received the letter, sent JS another letter regarding the debts on 11 October.
Footnotes
or any degree of importance, unjustly should have any dominion in our bosoms. We are the sons of Adam. We are the free born sons of , and as having been trampled upon, & our constitutional rights taken from us, by a great many who boast themselves of being valiant in freedom’s cause, while their hearts possess not a spark of its benign & enlivening influence. This will afford a sufficient excuse, we hope, for any harsh remarks that may have been dropped by us, when we thought there was an assumption of superiority designed to gall our feelings. We are very sensative, as a people; we confess it, but we want to be pardoned for our sins, if any we have committed.
With regard to the time when the first payment of interest should be made, it appears we did not understand each other, but it is a matter, which I hope we can amicably adjust when we see each other. I do not intend that it shall prevent our making an arrangement concerning the whole matter, for unless we can accomplish this, it will be useless for us to think of profitting by the purchase.
With sentiments of respect, I remain as ever Yours &c.— Joseph Smith
< Ills. OCT 12>
<Paid 25>
Esqr.
C.t. [p. [4]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [14]
This phrase echoes language used in the early American republic. For example, in a proclamation to Tennessee militia troops during the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson wrote, “We are the free born sons of america; the citizens of the only republick now existing in the world; and the only people on Earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which the[y] dare call their own.” (Andrew Jackson to the 2nd Division, 7 Mar. 1812, in Moser et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, 291.)
Moser, Harold D., Sharon MacPherson, and Charles F. Bryan Jr., eds. The Papers of Andrew Jackson. Vol. 2, 1804–1813. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985.
- [15]
JS may here be alluding to the fact that in 1840 the United States Senate rejected the church’s petition for redress for property the Saints lost during the conflicts in Missouri. (See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [16]
In his mid-September letter to JS, Tuttle described JS’s letter to Hotchkiss as containing “harsh remarks.” (Letter from Smith Tuttle, ca. 15 Sept. 1841.)
- [17]
JS believed that Hotchkiss had verbally agreed not to “exact the payment, of the interest that would accrue” on the lands for the first five years. Hotchkiss responded to JS stating he remembered agreeing to only one year of leniency for the first interest payment. (Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 Aug. 1841; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 13 Sept. 1841.)
Postal place and date stamped in brown ink.
Postage in unidentified handwriting.