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Minutes, 29 November 1843

Source Note

Minutes, , Hancock Co., IL, 29 Nov. 1843; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes dockets and use marks.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ (25 × 20 cm) and ruled with thirty horizontal lines printed in blue ink, now faded. The document was inscribed on the first three pages. Minutes of 4 December were also inscribed on the third page. The document was later folded and docketed for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. The document also has redactions in the handwriting of , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. This document and other papers from JS’s office were likely part of the documents in possession of the Church Historian’s Office in Utah Territory. The document was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers collection in 2012. The document’s early docket and later inclusion in the JS Office Papers suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [3]

    See Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Office Papers, ca. 1835–1845, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 29 November 1843, several prominent citizens of , Illinois, including JS in his role as mayor, convened to discuss plans to secure redress from Congress for the persecutions of the 1830s. The citizens, many of them officers, met at four o’clock in the afternoon in the second-floor assembly room of . JS’s journal indicates that the meeting’s purpose was “to appoint committee to get subscribers” for a new memorial to Congress, which wrote the previous day. chaired the meeting and accepted responsibility for organizing the subscription committee for Nauvoo and other places, while and accepted the appointment to do the same in and , Illinois, respectively.
During the meeting, several speakers reflected on their traumatic experiences in and resolved to never again submit to mob violence. This rhetoric was reminiscent of that employed by JS five months earlier when, after narrowly escaping another extradition attempt by the state of Missouri, he authorized the Latter-day Saints to defend themselves against mobs. According to an account of this 30 June 1843 discourse, JS “tur[n]ed the key according to the that the saints might defend themselvs agai[n]st the Missouri[a]ns— & mob law.” Still hurt by their treatment in Missouri in 1838 and 1839, the Latter-day Saints had wearied of Missouri officials’ repeated attempts to extradite their leader. These frustrations contributed to the pointed rhetoric used in the meeting, the minutes of which are featured here.
A few meeting members also read aloud three documents pertaining to the Saints’ attempts to either secure redress from the government or ensure protection from violent threats. read JS’s appeal to the Green Mountain Boys of , and JS read a letter he received from presidential candidate as well as the new memorial to Congress. JS requested that those present “who could w[i]eld a pen write an address to his mother count[r]y,” or solicit aid from their home states. Although JS declared that “the state right doctrine is what feeds mobs,” he simultaneously viewed states as powerful political entities that could assist the Latter-day Saints in combating mobocracy.
The meeting occurred on a Wednesday and adjourned until the following Monday, 4 December 1843. served as the clerk and took the meeting minutes on loose sheets of paper, which he used again five days later to record the minutes of the reconvened meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS used this room for municipal and ecclesiastical business. (See JS History, vol. D-1, 1379; Historical Introduction to Floor Plan for JS’s Store, between Feb. and Dec. 1841; and Brown, “Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo,” 362–364.)

    Brown, Lisle G. “The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 361–374.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 29 Nov. 1843. Frierson, a United States surveyor from Quincy, Illinois, who was sympathetic to the church, arrived in Nauvoo on 25 November 1843. The next morning, he met with church leaders at the Nauvoo Mansion, where he listened to several affidavits about the Saints’ treatment in Missouri, and their conversation lasted throughout the day. Frierson offered to help the Saints petition Congress for redress and reparations. He wrote a new memorial and presented it to church leaders by 28 November. The Saints had previously submitted memorials to Congress in 1840 and 1842 without success. (JS, Journal, 25–26 and 28–29 Nov. 1843; JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; 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.)

    Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

    Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 30 June 1843.

  4. [4]

    For more on the Missouri extradition attempts, see “Part 4: June–July 1843”.

  5. [5]

    General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843; Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843; JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.

  6. [6]

    Frierson previously expressed a similar idea when he indicated that South Carolina was “ready to cast the first stone at the monster mobocracy” since it was “the only state in the Union which has never been disgraced by a mob.” (John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [3].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  7. [7]

    See Minutes, 4 Dec. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 29 November 1843
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

November 29, 1843— 4 P. M.
A meeting of the citizens of was called at the Mayors assembly room (where was chosen chairman of the meeting, and clerk.
The object of the meeting was briefly explained by the followed by , which was to petition congress for redress of grevances in relation to Persecution,
Voted that the appoint a committe to get the names of Memorialists in this
The appointed the assessors & Collectors in their several wards,
Voted that the same committe collect meens to purchase paper
go to . , , agreed to furnish committes for all other places
The mayor made some remarks— and his address appeal to the green mountain Boys was read by .
spoke— confessed he was wrong, in one thing <​in , that is he left alive & left them alive, & asked forgiveness— & promised never to do so again​>
Voted offered to deliver the presdents appeal to the green Mountain Boys to all the large towns in , if he could have a copy,— The president offered a copy and it was voted that , shall have this mission granted him, and <​voted​> in addition that he go to all the towns in ,
The spoke. [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 29 November 1843
ID #
7672
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:290–294
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS became mayor in May 1842 and was elected to another term in February 1843. (JS, Journal, 19 May 1842 and 6 Feb. 1843; “City Election,” Wasp, 8 Feb. 1843, [2].)

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Phelps was a county judge in Caldwell County, Missouri. The use of “judge” here may also refer to Phelps’s position as a pro tempore alderman in Nauvoo city government. (Lilburn W. Boggs to William W. Phelps, Commission, Jefferson City, MO, 4 Feb. 1837, William W. Phelps Commissions, CHL; Historical Introduction to Deed to Samuel F. Whitney, 8 July 1838.)

    Phelps, William W. Commissions, 1837–1838. CHL.

  3. [3]

    This was part of a continuing effort. The church first began seeking redress for the Missouri persecutions from government officials in 1833. While imprisoned in 1839, JS instructed the Saints to collect affidavits of their “suffering and abuses” as well as property losses and to appeal their case to the Supreme Court. The Saints eventually presented hundreds of affidavits to the federal government. (Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839; see also, for instance, Historical Introduction to Letter, 30 Oct. 1833; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:76–88]; Letter to Emma Smith, 21 Mar. 1839; Historical Introduction to Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839.)

  4. [4]

    Nauvoo was divided into four geographical districts or wards on 1 March 1841. A city ordinance passed on 31 October 1842 indicated that an assessor and collector be assigned to each ward. The assessors and collectors in November 1843 were Albert P. Rockwood (First Ward), Daniel Hendrix (Second Ward), Jonathan H. Hale (Third Ward), and Henry G. Sherwood (Fourth Ward). (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 22 Feb. 1841, 9–10; 1 Mar. 1841, 12; 31 Oct. 1842, 107; 11 and 23–25 Nov. 1843, 190, 191.)

  5. [5]

    The paper was likely needed to gather signatures of the Saints in favor of the memorial by John Frierson. Earlier in the month, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles appointed Wilford Woodruff, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor as a committee to collect five hundred dollars “to get paper &c to pri[n]t the Doctrin and covenets [covenants].” (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 7 Nov. 1843; see also JS, Journal, 5 Dec. 1843.)

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

  6. [6]

    A March 1843 entry in JS’s journal identifies the importance of the Illinois cities La Harpe and Ramus: “There is a wheel. this is the Hub we will drive the fir[s]t spoke in Ramus 2d— Laharpe. 3d Shokokon. 4. Lima that is 1/2 the wheel. the other half is over the river.” The “other places” that the minutes referred to likely included church branches in western Illinois along with Montrose, Iowa Territory, which was on the other side of the Mississippi River. The committees gathered a total of 3,419 signatures for the memorial. (JS, Journal, 4 Mar. 1843; JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, 3, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC; see also Letter from Brigham Young, 23 Oct. 1843.)

  7. [7]

    Phelps wrote the appeal with instruction from JS. (See JS, Journal, 21 Nov. 1843; and Historical Introduction to General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843.)

  8. [8]

    While Pratt traveled to New York in April 1844, he did so to support JS’s presidential campaign, not to share the appeal, and there is no evidence that Pratt traveled to Vermont. (Parley P. Pratt, Chicago, IL, to JS and the Quorum of the Twelve, Nauvoo, IL, 19 Apr. 1844, JS Collection, CHL; Givens and Grow, Parley P. Pratt, 215–217.)

    Givens, Terryl L., and Matthew J. Grow. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

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