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Minutes, 4 December 1843

Source Note

Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 4 Dec. 1843; handwriting of ; one page; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ (25 × 20 cm) and ruled with thirty blue horizontal lines, now faded. The document was inscribed on the first three pages. The first leaf was inscribed with minutes of 29 November 1843; the minutes for 4 December were inscribed on the recto of the second leaf. A docket was later added to the verso of the second leaf. The document was 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 were likely part of the documents in possession of the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) in Utah Territory. In 2012 the document was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers at the CHL. The document’s early docket and its 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]

    This collection comprises correspondence addressed to JS’s clerks, correspondence to other recipients that was forwarded to JS for his perusal, copies of miscellaneous documents created by JS’s clerks, and miscellaneous financial documents. (See “Introduction to Joseph Smith Office Papers”.)

Historical Introduction

On 4 December 1843, in , Illinois, a meeting of citizens reconvened after a five-day adjournment to discuss obtaining redress from the government for the persecutions of the 1830s. The reconvened meeting was held at six o’clock in the evening in the second-floor assembly room of . chaired the 29 November 1843 meeting, but it is unclear who chaired the 4 December 1843 meeting. The minutes, however, feature JS as the principal speaker. He opened by instructing his listeners to actively resist future mob violence. JS also charged the audience to cultivate a revolutionary attitude toward their enemies: “let the spirit of 76 burn in their bosoms.” Despite the charged nature of the gathering, JS urged order and requested that a “calm and cool” atmosphere predominate in the meeting.
Following this introduction, a few meeting members read three petitions for assistance aloud: JS’s appeal to the male citizenry of the state of , published as General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys; ’s appeal to the citizens of ; and a memorial to Congress that was written on 28 November 1843. JS’s and Pratt’s appeals were part of a broader campaign to secure individual state support for efforts to obtain redress from the federal government. At the 29 November meeting, JS requested that all “who could w[i]eld a pen write an address to his mother count[r]y,” as JS and Pratt had done. In the months following this 4 December 1843 meeting, other Saints wrote similar appeals addressed to the citizens and legislatures of , , , and Tennessee.
After the appeals and memorial were read, JS delivered a two-and-a-half-hour speech about the persecutions and his general views on government, a discourse not preserved in the minutes. The Nauvoo Neighbor later lauded JS’s speech, gauging it to be “one of the most powerful interesting addresses that we ever heard,” and reported that JS’s audience listened “with breathless silence.” Despite the speech’s sober subject matter, the editors described the lecture as animated and delivered in JS’s “happy, eloquent, masterly manner.”
recorded the featured minutes on the same loose sheets of paper containing the minutes of the 29 November 1843 meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  3. [3]

    General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 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; see also Pratt, Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, 1–6. Pratt’s appeal was published in early 1844. Any prior draft of Pratt’s appeal is apparently not extant. (“A New Publication,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1844, 5:472.)

    Pratt, Parley P. An Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, Letter to Queen Victoria: (Reprinted from the Tenth European Edition,): The Fountain of Knowledge, Immortality of the Body, and Intelligence and Affection. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844.

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

  4. [4]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  5. [5]

    Benjamin Andrews, “An Appeal to the People of the State of Maine,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Jan. 1844, [1]; Sidney Rigdon, “To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in Legislative Capacity Assembled,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 31 Jan. 1844, [1]; Richards, “An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” 1 Feb. 1844, CHL; Phineas Richards, “An Appeal, to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 Feb. 1844, [2]; Packard, House. . . .No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial; Noah Packard, “House—No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 24 Apr. 1844, [2]; Alphonso Young, “An Appeal to the State of Tennessee, by A. Young,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 28 Feb. 1844, [1].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Richards, Phineas. “An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” 1 Feb. 1844. CHL.

    Packard, Noah. House....No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial. To the Honorable the Governor, Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, in Legislative Capacity Assembled. [Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1844].

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 4 Dec. 1843.

  7. [7]

    News Item, Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [8]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 4 December 1843 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 4 December 1843
ID #
12497
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:322–326
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