The report referred to here is apparently not extant. In June 1840, Alanson Ripley reported that approximately one thousand acres of land had been divided into town lots of eleven by twelve rods (35,937 square feet or nearly five-sixths of an acre) and that about 250 houses had been constructed in the area that would become Nauvoo. Ripley also stated that it was “the duty and the privilege of the saints in the east, to gather themselves together, to this place, even the place where God has appointed for them.” (Alanson Ripley, “Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:123.)

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

Church leaders had purchased on credit much of the land that would become Nauvoo. For example, for land purchased from the partnership of Horace Hotchkiss, Smith Tuttle, and John Gillet, church leaders owed over $110,000 due in annual installments over a period of twenty years. (Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.)

Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840. According to a newspaper account of the conference, JS also declared that President Martin Van Buren “was no more a Democrat” than JS’s dog. The newspaper stated that JS vowed to “blow the ram’s horn around Jericho” until church members’ “rights as American citizens were respected.” (“The Mormons,” North American and Daily Advertiser [Philadelphia], 30 May 1840, [2].)

North American and Daily Advertiser. Philadelphia. 1839–1845.

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended to the Senate that the Saints’ petition be denied because it was a matter of state jurisdiction. (Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)

The report states: “The petition is drawn up at great length, and sets forth, with feeling and eloquence, the wrongs of which they complain; justifies their own conduct, and aggravate that of those whom they call their persecutors.” (Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)

United States senator Lewis F. Linn of Missouri told Elias Higbee that the Saints’ claims “should be fully investigated” and that the judiciary committee “should have power to send for persons and papers.” The committee, however, deemed it unnecessary to conduct a full investigation. (Letter from Elias Higbee, 21 Feb. 1840; Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)

Although church members apparently interpreted the committee’s report to mean that the Saints’ petition exaggerated the conduct of Missourians, the committee may have been using “aggravate” in the sense of making an action “more enormous, or less excusable.” (“Aggravate,” in American Dictionary [1841], 39.)

An American Dictionary of the English Language; First Edition in Octavo, Containing the Whole Vocabulary of the Quarto, with Corrections, Improvements and Several Thousand Additional Words. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Haven: By the author, 1841.

The report states: “Or, the petitioners may, if they see proper, apply to the justice and magnanimity of the State of Missouri—an appeal which the committee feel justified in believing will never be made in vain by the injured or oppressed. It can never be presumed that a State either wants the power, or lacks the disposition, to redress the wrongs of its own citizens committeed within her own territory, whether they proceed from the lawless acts of her officers, or any other persons.” (Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.)

Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued orders in late October 1838 that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state [Missouri] if necessary.” (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.)

Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

In December 1838, church leaders called upon the Missouri legislature for relief, and in March 1839, JS and his fellow prisoners petitioned the Missouri Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. JS explained in a December 1839 letter that he told the Illinois congressional delegation about the church’s appeals to the governor and courts of Missouri, the state’s refusal to help the Saints, and the futility of returning to the Missouri court system for aid. (Edward Partridge et al., Petition, 10 Dec. 1838, copy, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL; Petition to George Tompkins, between 9 and 15 Mar. 1839; Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839.)

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

The memorial prepared by JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee stated that the church would submit to the decision of Congress, “favorable or otherwise,” with the belief that “if our grievances do not admit of remedy, that it is not the fault of your honourable Bodies.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)