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Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 November 1843
Source Note
Source Note
JS and 3,418 others, Memorial, , Hancock Co., IL, to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, , 28 Nov. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of memorialists; fifty-three pages; Records of the United States Senate, Record Group 46, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. Transcription from digital images of the document provided by the National Archives, Washington DC.
The memorial was presented to Congress as one long scroll, with all the pages attached together. This website presents all of the rectos first and then all of the versos. On the verso of the first page, an unidentified scribe docketed the memorial after the pages were attached together. The remaining versos are blank except for the notation “Ramus” on the verso of page 45.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
In early November 1843, in , Illinois, JS accepted a proposal from Colonel to help prepare a memorial to the Congress on behalf of members of the . Frierson was a United States surveyor, , Illinois resident, and outsider to the church who knew about and sympathized with the Saints’ suffering during the persecutions of the 1830s. Having learned that JS and the Saints were planning to petition the United States Congress to secure redress for their losses, Frierson offered in October 1843 to assist with their attempt to obtain justice. After learning of Frierson’s willingness to help the Saints petition Congress, JS wrote a letter on 2 November 1843, inviting him to come to Nauvoo.
On 25 November 1843, arrived in and the next morning met with church leaders at the , where he listened to several affidavits about the Saints’ treatment in . Conversation about the Missouri experience lasted throughout the day. Beyond these affidavits, it is unclear what other documents Frierson had access to as he drafted the memorial. He likely consulted a copy of a 27 January 1840 memorial to Congress that JS, , and prepared because the document that Frierson helped create both follows the structure of and contains phrases from this earlier petition. The 27 January 1840 memorial was also the model for two other memorials to Congress dated 28 November 1840 and 10 January 1842. Differences between the featured document and the 27 January 1840 memorial are noted in the annotations herein.
The most notable difference between this and prior memorials is the 3,419 names appended to the petition. Efforts to collect signatures began immediately after the memorial was completed on 28 November 1843. The next day, left and returned to to gather signatures there. That afternoon, a group of Nauvoo citizens met to discuss the memorial and organize efforts to find signatories. Signatures were collected on loose sheets of paper, which were then gathered and rolled up in a scroll. When unrolled, the memorial measured fifty feet.
The memorial summarizes the experiences of the Saints in , from their settlement in 1831 to their expulsion beginning in 1838. It is measured in its descriptions of Missouri persecutions, providing general descriptions of suffering along with accounts of property loss. It informs members of Congress that all attempts to secure redress at the state and federal levels have failed and closes with a vague petition for relief.
On 29 November 1843, JS read the memorial to a group of citizens who gathered to discuss measures for securing redress from the persecutions. When this meeting reconvened on 4 December 1843, the memorial was read again and unanimously approved by a vote of those present. On 16 December 1843, JS and the Nauvoo City Council signed the memorial. , who was assigned to convey the document to , left Nauvoo for the capital in March 1844. On 5 April 1844, Senator of presented the memorial to Congress. The Senate then referred it to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which took no action in responding to the Latter-day Saint request.
used ’s text to make several copies, including the version sent to Congress, featured here with the pages of signatures attached.
Footnotes
- [1]
JS, Journal, 25 Nov. 1843; Letter from Joseph L. Heywood, 23 Oct. 1843. Frierson was apparently well connected with members of Congress and willing to use his influence for the Saints’ benefit. In a letter dated 12 October 1843, Frierson informed erstwhile congressman Franklin H. Elmore of the Saints’ intention to petition Congress: “I have understood from one of the brethren, it is possible they may memorialize Congress at the approaching session on the subject of their wrongs in Missouri.” Frierson’s Latter-day Saint contact is not identified, but it was likely Joseph L. Heywood who acted as the liaison between Frierson and JS. (John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Hon. Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [3]; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774–2005, 1017; see also Letter from Joseph L. Heywood, 23 Oct. 1843; Letter to Joseph L. Heywood, 2 Nov. 1843.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.
- [2]
- [3]
JS, Journal, 25 and 26 Nov. 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 26 Nov. 1843. The testimonies in these affidavits were originally intended for JS’s habeas corpus trial, which took place on 1 July 1843 in Nauvoo. From these affidavits, Frierson would have learned disturbing details about the abuse that Latter-day Saints endured during the Missouri persecutions: men were whipped, women were raped, and children were compelled to flee until their feet bled. While Frierson’s memorial recounted some acts of violence against the Saints, its descriptions of persecution never approximated the graphic content of these affidavits. These details were possibly omitted because, as the memorial indicates, the Saints’ persecution “has been published to the world.” Moreover, early Americans were generally careful with their language when discussing sexual assault. For instance, the details of sexual assaults in published trial transcripts were often omitted. (Docket Entry, 1–ca. 6 July 1843, Extradition of JS for Treason (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1843), Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 55; JS, Journal, 1 July 1843; see, for example, Hyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, 3, 24; Parley P. Pratt, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, 4; Brigham Young, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, 2; Lyman Wight, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, 6, 9; Sidney Rigdon, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, [21]–[22], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Block, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, 111–112; see also George Pitkin, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Block, Sharon. Rape and Sexual Power in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
- [4]
Woodruff, Journal, 26 Nov. 1843.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
- [5]
JS indicated previously that he would aid Frierson’s investigation of the Saints’ treatment in Missouri by providing him “with documents and evidence to substantiate all the necessary facts.” In his journal entry for 26 November 1843, Wilford Woodruff only noted that the above affidavits were read. The entry suggests that Woodruff arrived after the meeting commenced, thereby opening the possibility that other documents were reviewed before he arrived. (Letter to Joseph L. Heywood, 2 Nov. 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 26 Nov. 1843.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
- [6]
Elias Higbee was one of the signatories of the 27 January 1840 memorial and a member of the delegation that brought it to Washington DC. After the Senate discharged the Committee on the Judiciary from considering the memorial, Higbee informed JS that he retrieved a copy of the document. If Frierson consulted the 27 January 1840 memorial, it is likely that he used the copy that Higbee procured. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840.)
- [7]
The 28 November 1840 memorial is a nearly word-for-word copy of the 27 January 1840 memorial. Beyond the omission of a few passages, the primary difference between the 28 November 1840 and the 27 January 1840 memorials is the conclusion. The 27 January 1840 memorial closes by informing Congress that this will be the Saints’ only attempt to appeal for redress—“To your decision, favorable or otherwise, we will submit.” The 28 November 1840 memorial, however, omits this phrase in its concluding argument. The 10 January 1842 memorial is an almost identical copy of the 28 November 1840 memorial. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; “Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons, H.R. Doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1840], 13; Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to Congress, 10 Jan. 1842, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL; see also Edward Partridge, Memorial to U.S. Congress, ca. Jan. 1839, Edward Partridge Papers, CHL; Memorial of Ephraim Owen, Jr., H. R. Doc. no. 42, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess. [1838].)
“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons. House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1840).
Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.
Edward Partridge, Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Memorial of Ephraim Owen, Jr. H.R. Doc. no. 42, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1838).
- [8]
The petition also stands apart because of the brevity of its main text. While consulting with Illinois representatives in December 1839 about securing an audience with Congress, JS and Elias Higbee were advised “that a memorial and petition be drawn up in a concise manner.” Of these four memorials, the 28 November–16 December 1843 petition is the most condensed. (Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839.)
- [9]
- [10]
Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843. It is possible that the assessors and collectors of Nauvoo wards participated in gathering signatures. A note on the verso of one of the signature pages indicates that the names were gathered from the “1s. Ward,” suggesting that the process of collecting signatures was organized and methodical. (Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.)
- [11]
Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 563.
Johnson, Clark V., ed. Mormon Redress Petitions: Documents of the 1833–1838 Missouri Conflict. Religious Studies Center Monograph Series 16. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992.
- [12]
- [13]
Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Session, p. 482 (1844); see also Orson Pratt, Washington DC, to Hon. John Berrien, Washington DC, 11 May 1844, in Pratt, Prophetic Almanac for 1845, 18–19; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1996, 655, 1801.
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the First Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. Vol. 13. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1844.
Pratt, Orson. Prophetic Almanac for 1845. Being the First after Bissextile or Leap Year. Calculated for the Eastern, Middle and Western States and Territories, the Northern Portions of the Slave States, and British Provinces. New York: Prophet Office, 1845.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1996: The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First through the Ninety-First Congress March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1971, Inclusive.
- [14]
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, John Frierson Copy, JS Office Papers, CHL. Three of the other Bullock copies are extant, as well as a copy made by Willard Richards. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Thomas Bullock First Copy, JS Office Papers, CHL; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Thomas Bullock Second Copy, CHL; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Thomas Bullock Third Copy, Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Willard Richards Copy, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843. CHL. MS 27289.
Adams Family Papers, 1639–1889. Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA.
shot down and killed Eighteen, as they would so many Wild Beasts.
They were finally compelled to fly from those Counties; and on the 11th. of October 1838, they sought safety by that means, with their families, leaving many of their effects behind; that they had previously applied to the constituted authorities of for protection but in vain. The Society were pursued by the Mob, Conflicts ensued, deaths occurred on each side, and finally a force was organized under the authority of the of the State of , with orders to drive us from the , or exterminate us. Abandoned and attacked by those to whom we had looked for protection, we determined to make no further resistance but submit to the authorities of the , and yield to our fate however hard it might be. Several members of the Society were arrested and imprisoned on a charge of treason against the ; and the rest amounting to above 14,000 Souls, fled into the other states, principally into , where they now reside.
Your memorialists would further state, that they have heretofore petitioned your Honorable Body praying redress for the injuries set forth in this memorial but the Committee to whom our petition was referred, reported, in substance, that the general government had no power in the case; and that we must look for relief to the Courts and the Legislature of . In reply, your Memorialists would beg leave to state that they have repeatedly applied to the authorities of in vain, that though they are American Citizens, at all times ready to obey the laws and support the institutions of the , none of us would dare enter for any such purpose, or for any purpose whatever. Our property was seized by the Mob, or lawlessly confiscated by the , and we were forced at the point of the Bayonet to sign Deeds of Trust relinquishing our property but the exterminating order of the of is still in force and we dare not return to claim our just rights— the Widows and Orphans of those slain, who could legally sign no deeds of Trust, dare not return to claim the Inheritance left them by their Murdered Parents.
It is true the Constitution of the gives to us in Common with all other native or adopted Citizens, the right to enter and settle in , but an executive order has been issued to exterminate us if we enter the , and that part of the Constitution becomes a nullity so far as we are concerned.
Had any foreign State or power committed a similar outrage upon us, we cannot for a moment doubt that the strong arm of the general government would have been stretched out to redress our <wrongs, and we flatter ourselves that the same power will either redress redress our> grievances or shield us from harm in our efforts to regain our lost property, which we fairly purchased from the general government.
Finally your Memorialists, pray your Honorable Body to take their wrongs into consideration, receive testimony in the case, and grant such relief as by the Constitution and Laws you may have power to give.
And your Memorialists will every pray &c
, Illinois, November 28th. 1843.
Whole number of Names 3419
| Joseph Smith Mayor | Counsellor | ||
| Counsellor | |||
| ) | Aldermen | ) | Counsellors |
| ) | ) | ||
| ) | ) | ||
| ) | ) | ||
| ) | ) | ||
| City Marshal | ) | ||
| , Recorder | ) |
[p. 3]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [50]
The 27 January 1840 memorial does not include “as they would so many Wild Beasts.” Vigilantes attacked the small Latter-day Saint settlement at Hawn’s Mill on 30 October 1838. Seventeen men and boys died from the attack. (See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; see also Baugh, “Call to Arms,” appendix J.)
Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).
- [51]
The 27 January 1840 memorial indicates that this date marked the expulsion of Latter-day Saints from De Witt in Carroll County. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [52]
Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued an order authorizing the extermination or expulsion of Latter-day Saints from Missouri on 27 October 1838. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, MSA.)
Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.
- [53]
The 27 January 1840 memorial indicates that Judge Austin A. King’s November 1838 “Court of inquiry <Examination>” charged Lyman Wight, George W. Robinson, JS, Parley P. Pratt, and Sidney Rigdon with “treason against the state.” According to the printed transcript of King’s inquiry, JS, Lyman Wight, Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin were to be tried for treason in Daviess County on 7 March 1839, and Sidney Rigdon was to be tried for treason in Caldwell County on 1 April 1839. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Document Containing the Correspondence, 150.)
- [54]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reports that “Fifteen thousand souls, between the <time of the> sacking of ‘Far West’ and the following spring, abandoned their homes, and their property, and fled in terror from the Country.” According to contemporary letters and the estimates of historians, the total number of Saints expelled from Missouri was likely between eight thousand and ten thousand. The 27 January 1840 memorial assesses the value of the Saints’ lost property at $2,000,000. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Elias Smith, Far West, MO, to Ira Smith, East Stockholm, NY, 11 Mar. 1839, Elias Smith Correspondence, CHL; Heber C. Kimball, Far West, MO, to Joseph Fielding, Preston, England, 12 Mar. 1839, in Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, CHL; LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 35–36; Leonard, Nauvoo, 31, 671n33.)
Smith, Elias. Correspondence, 1834–1839. In Elias Smith, Papers, 1834–1846. CHL.
Heber C. Kimball Family Organization. Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983. Unpublished typescript. CHL.
LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
- [55]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “Shall they apply to the Legislature of the State of Missouri for redress? They have done so.” The 4 March 1840 report from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary informed the Latter-day Saints that their case “is not such a one as will justify or authorize any interposition by this Government.” It also instructed the Saints to “seek relief in the courts of judicature of the State of Missouri, or of the United States.” The Saints concluded that this report was “unconstitutional, and subversive of the rights of a free people.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.)
- [56]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “Shall they apply to the Federal Courts in Missouri? They are not permitted to go there; and their juries would be made up of citizens of that state with all their prejudices against them.” The memorial continues by indicating that lawsuits against the state would be futile since Missourians would point to Governor Boggs’s extermination order to justify their treatment of the Saints. Church members appealed to Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin who offered them little help. In 1834, William W. Phelps concluded that “all hopes of ‘redress’” were blasted after having been informed by attorney Amos Rees and Missouri attorney general Robert W. Wells “that all hopes of criminal prosecution, was at an end.” On 19 December 1838, John Corrill introduced two memorials to the Missouri House of Representatives on behalf of the Latter-day Saints. The House acted on neither. During their imprisonment in Clay County, JS and his fellow prisoners petitioned the Missouri Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. Nothing came of these petitions. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; see, for example, “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 Feb. 1834; Corrill, Brief History, 44; Journal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, 19 Dec. 1838, 128; “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:164; Petition to George Tompkins, between 9 and 15 Mar. 1839.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Journal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Nineteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight. Jefferson City, MO: Calvin Gunn, 1839.
- [57]
The 27 January 1840 memorial adds “They have been driven from the State of Missouri at the point of the bayonet and treated worse than a foreign enemy.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [58]
Both the 28 November 1840 and 10 January 1842 memorials employ the phrase “widow and orphan” in their concluding sections. The 27 January 1840 memorial, however, does not include any variation of that phrase in its conclusion. It is therefore possible that Frierson reviewed the concluding sections of either the 28 November 1840 or 10 January 1842 memorials as he wrote his conclusion. (“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons, H.R. Doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1840], 13; Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to Congress, 10 Jan. 1842, 23, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons. House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1840).
Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.
- [59]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “It [the Constitution] guarrantees alike, to all the citizens of the several States, the right to become citizens of any one of the States; and to enjoy <upon their removal> all the rights and immunities of the Citizens of the state of their adoption.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [60]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “[The Saints have been] threatened with destruction if they should ever venture to return.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [61]
Article 4, section 2, clause 1 of the United States Constitution states that “the Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” This reasoning was also possibly influenced by the Fifth Amendment, which states that citizens shall not “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “Yet, of all these rights and immunities, the Mormons have been deprived.” (U.S. Constitution, art. 4, sec. 2; U.S. Constitution, amend. V; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [62]
The 27 January 1840 memorial closes by specifically addressing “your honourable Bodies.” The 28 November 1840 and 10 January 1842 memorials close by addressing “your honourable bodies” but differ from the 27 January 1840 memorial, in part, by requesting Congress to act “so that the great body of people who have been thus abused may have redress for the wrongs which they have suffered.” “Wrongs” does not appear in the concluding section of the 27 January 1840 memorial. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; “Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons, H.R. Doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1840], 13; Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to Congress, 10 Jan. 1842, 23, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL.)
“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons. House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1840).
Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.
- [63]
The 27 January 1840 memorial elaborates on the protections of the Constitution. “The constitution, you are sworn to support, alike guarrantees to every citizen, the humblest in society, the enjoyment of life, liberty and property.” It also indicates that the Constitution is the only guarantee of redress: “we see no redress, unless it be awarded by the Congress of the United States.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [64]
The 27 January 1840 memorial reads “And your memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray &c——”. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
- [65]
TEXT: Written vertically in left margin.
Signatures of memorialists. On many of the signature pages it appears that one person signed several names.
- [66]
TEXT: Written vertically alongside names of aldermen.
- [67]
TEXT: Written vertically alongside names of councilors.