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Minutes, 3 February 1841, Copy

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, , Hancock Co., IL, 3 Feb. 1841. Featured version copied [ca. 3 Feb. 1841] in Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, pp. 1–5; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 1841–1845.

Historical Introduction

On 3 February 1841, the newly constituted city council of , Illinois, met for the first time and began to establish the organizational foundations of the municipal government. Two days earlier, a municipal election for the city council was held in accordance with the legislature’s 16 December 1840 act establishing the city of Nauvoo, known as the Nauvoo charter. Section 4 of the charter specified that the city council would consist of “a Mayor, four Aldermen, and nine Councillors.” From the ballot, voters selected as mayor; , , , and as aldermen; and JS, , , , , , , , and as councilors.
The charter for the city of , which was modeled on other liberal city charters in , granted a large variety of powers to the city council. JS and the commented that the Nauvoo charter contained “the most plenary powers, ever conferred by a legislative assembly on free citizens.” Among the powers vested in the city council was the authority to establish and execute city ordinances—so long as they were “not repugnant to the Constitution of the ” or to the Illinois state constitution. In essence, the municipal government had the power to create any legislation it deemed “necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness, of said city; for the protection of property therein from destruction by fire, or otherwise, and for the health, and happiness, thereof.” The charter also authorized the city council to organize a militia and a university and to impose and collect taxes, to license and regulate commerce, to regulate police, and to impose fines and penalties for violating city ordinances. Other enumerated powers included the license to appoint “a Recorder, Treasurer, Assessor, Marshal, Supervisor of Streets, and all such other officers as may be necessary, and to prescribe their duties, and remove them from office at pleasure.”
The minutes of this first city council meeting indicate that much of the council’s business related to remarks made by Mayor in his inaugural address. JS played an active role as a city councilor in this opening meeting. He presented two bills: one to organize the and the other to organize the University of the City of . After those ordinances were passed, JS proposed and the council passed a resolution of gratitude to the citizens of , Illinois, and to the state government for the assistance rendered to the Saints upon their arrival in the state. Finally, the city council established five committees, all of which JS was appointed to serve on as a member or chairperson.
After this initial meeting of the City Council, , editor of the Times and Seasons, published the mayor’s inaugural address, some of the ordinances passed by the city council, and an editorial that predicted the council would create wise laws and regulations that would lead Nauvoo to “prosper and increase in population to an extent unparallelled by any city.” The editorial further expressed the hope that such governance would help Nauvoo “become the brightest ‘star in the west.’”
recorded the meeting’s original minutes in a notebook. Sloan then used those original minutes to record the official minutes in the council’s ledger, titled “A Record of the proceedings of the City Council of the City of .” The official 3 February minutes include the text of city ordinances, which is not found in the original minutes. Because the ledger contains a more comprehensive version of the council’s discussion and decisions and represents the official minutes, that version is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

  2. [2]

    “Municipal Election,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:309.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841.

  4. [4]

    Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

  5. [5]

    When the Illinois state legislature passed the Nauvoo charter, it also permitted the creation of the legion and the university, allowing each entity to become a self-governing body after being organized by the city council. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

  6. [6]

    See John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:316–318.

  7. [7]

    See also Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841.

  8. [8]

    “The City Council, and General Bennett’s Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:319.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 Feb. 1841, 1–2.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Minutes, 3 February 1841 Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February–December 1841 *Minutes, 3 February 1841, Copy Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 1841–1845 City Charter: Laws, Ordinances, and Acts, July 1842 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 5

Statesmen, & as an evidence of gratitude for the Signal powers recently conferred.— & that the Citizens of be held in everlasting remembrance for their unparalled liberality & marked kindness to our People, when in their greatest state of suffering & want.
That portion of the Message respecting a Canal, was referred to a Committee of three, namely, Colrs. , & Joseph Smith, & .
That portion of the Message respecting the vacating of the Town Plotts, & Town of , was referred to a Committee, Messrs. Joseph Smith, , & .
That Portion of the Message that relates to vending Spirituous Liquors, was referred to a select Committee, viz Joseph Smith, , & .
It was referred to a Committee of five, to prepare a Code of City Ordinances. Joseph Smith, , , , and .
It was adopted that the appointment of a Board of Health for the be referred to a Committee. to wit, Joseph Smith, , & .
It was unanimously adopted, that the inaugural Address, as also the proceedings of this Meeting, be published in the Times & Seasons.
The made some remarks concerning the powers vested in him, also respecting the Duties of the several officers.
Adjourned until Monday next, to meet at ’s at one OClock P. M.
February 3rd. 1841.
, Mayor.
, Recorder. [p. 5]
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Page 5

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 3 February 1841, Copy
ID #
10301
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:17–24
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Sloan

Footnotes

  1. [14]

    Bennett called for a “vote of thanks, couched in the strongest language possible” to the Illinois government and the citizens of Quincy, the latter of which provided refuge to the Saints when they “came from the slaughter in Missouri” in 1839. (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318. For more information on the reception of the Saints in Quincy, see Introduction to Part 4: 24 Apr.–12 Aug. 1839; Historical Introduction to Letter from Robert B. Thompson, 13 May 1839; Letter from Edward Partridge, 5 Mar. 1839; “Proceedings in the Town of Quincy,” Quincy [IL] Argus, 16 Mar. 1839, [1]; John Taylor, Quincy, IL, to “the Editor of the Argus,” Quincy, IL, 1 May 1839, CHL; and “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:165.)

    Quincy Argus. Quincy, IL. 1836–1841.

    Taylor, John. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “the Editor of the Argus,” Quincy, IL, 1 May 1839. CHL.

  2. [15]

    Bennett said he would “earnestly recommend the construction of a wing-dam in the Mississippi, at the mouth of the ravine at or near the head of Main street.” A wing dam is a structure that extends into a river from each shore without connecting in the middle in order to force water into a fast-moving center channel. It was intended to “afford, at the various outlets, the most ample water power for propelling any amount of machinery for mill and manufactoring purposes, so essentially necessary to the building up of a great commercial city” and to provide a safe harbor for steamboats. (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318.)

  3. [16]

    In the published version of Bennett’s inaugural address, there is no mention of vacating town plots or of Commerce.

  4. [17]

    JS produced a committee report and resolution for the city council two days later. (See Report of Committee, 5 Feb. 1841.)

  5. [18]

    Bennett spent much time in his speech on prohibition. Noting the public good that comes from prohibition, Bennett encouraged the city council to limit the “sales of spirituous liquors,” stating that “the liberty of selling the intoxicating cup is a false liberty—it enslaves, degrades, destroys.” The city council discussed and passed an ordinance on spirituous liquors at their 15 February 1841 meeting. (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:317, italics in original; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 7–8.)

  6. [19]

    The creation of this board of health was prompted by Bennett’s inaugural address, in which he stated, “The public health requires that the low lands, bordering on the Mississippi, should be immediately drained, and the entire timber removed. This can and will be one of the most healthy cities in the west, provided you take prompt and decisive action in the premises. A Board of Health should be appointed.” (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318)

  7. [20]

    The editors of the Times and Seasons printed the mayor’s inaugural address in the 15 February 1841 issue.

  8. [21]

    In his inaugural address, Bennett also made remarks about his role as mayor. He said, “As the Chief Magistrate of your city I am determined to execute all state laws, and city ordinances passed in pursuance to law, to the very letter. . . . The peaceful unoffending citizen shall be protected in the full exercise of all his civil, political, and religious, rights, and the guilty violater of law shall be punished, without respect to persons.” (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318, italics in original.)

  9. [22]

    The city council met again, pursuant to this adjournment, on 8 February. (See Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Feb. 1841, 5–7.)

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