No petition to President Andrew Jackson from church leaders in Kirtland has been located.

In instructing members of the church in Missouri to petition government authorities for help, the 16–17 December 1833 revelation referenced the parable given in Luke 18:1–5 about a widow who importunes an unjust judge for justice. (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:81–89].)

The 16–17 December 1833 revelation warned that if the president did not heed the Mormons’ call for help, the Lord will “arise and come forth out of his hiding place & in his fury vex the nation and in his hot displeasure and in his fierce ander [anger] in his time will cut off these wicked unfaithful and unjust stewards and appoint them their portion among hypocrits and unbelievers even in outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:89–91].)

Dunklin and other Missouri authorities anticipated that the legal proceedings against members of the Jackson County mob would begin in the February 1834 term of the Jackson County circuit court. On 23 February 1834, Phelps and several other church members, including John Corrill and Edward Partridge, entered Jackson County under a heavy guard to testify at the proceedings. The men, however, were escorted out of Independence the following day—without having offered any testimony in the case—after Judge John F. Ryland, circuit attorney Amos Rees, and Missouri attorney general Robert W. Wells concluded that it was “entirely unnecessarry to investigate this subject on the part of the State, as the jury were equally concerned in the outrages committed it was therefore not likely that any bills [of indictment] would be found and consequently no good could possibly result from any further investigation.” (Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 Feb. 1834; “Mormon Difficulties,” Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser [Columbia], 8 Mar. 1834, [1].)

Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser. Franklin, MO, 1819–1827; Fayette, MO, 1827–1830; Columbia, MO, 1830–1835.

Marsh, one of the church’s leaders in Missouri, had worked at a Boston type foundry for several years in the 1820s. A new printing press, replacing the one lost in a mob attack in Jackson County in July 1833, began operation in Kirtland in December 1833. (JS, Journal, 4–6 and 18 Dec. 1833; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, 30 Mar. 1834, Cowdery, Letterbook, 36–38; “T B Marsh,” [1], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.)

Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

According to the 16–17 December 1833 revelation, all the branches of the church were to “gather to gether all their monies” and purchase “all the Land which can be purchaced in Jackson County and the counties round about.” (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:71–72].)

Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:1–2, 6].

The information in this sentence was given in a March 1833 revelation. (Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90:34].)

The top of the second column of the printed version of the 16–17 December 1833 revelation states, “Behold, here is wisdom concerning the children of Zion: even many, but not all: they were found transgressors, therefore, they must needs be chastened. He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that abaseth himself shall be exalted.” (Verily, I Say unto You, concerning Your Brethren Who Have Been Afflicted, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 101:41–42].)

Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.