Nauvoo City Council, Draft of Preamble and Resolutions, , Hancock Co., IL, 13 Jan. 1845; handwriting of , , and ; docket in handwriting of ; five pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, CHL.
succeed the old citizens will be involved in continue[al] Larcenies & neighborhood broils & crimes the end of which cannot <now> be foreseen. We deprecate such evils <and calamities> because we desire the good of all mankind as our gratuitous labors <of the greater portion of citizens> in spreading truth throughout the world under much poverty & suffering abundantly prove. As for us, our course is fixed & while we are peaceable & Loyal to the constitution of the <& laws of our > & are ever willing to join hands with the honest virtuous & patriotic in suppresing crime & punishing criminals we are firmly <we will leave leave our enemies to judge whether it would not be better> resol[v]ed as the God of Israel is our help never to yield to oppression, however artfully devised & executed. As the Roman muti◊◊s burnt his hand in a slow fire in token of the bravery of the army to which he belonged So our enemies may rest assured that this <> shall be <to make> one universal burying ground before we will suffer ourselves to be driven from our hard earned and lawful homes but <by> such high handed oppression.* But for the satisfaction of all concerned we reiterate in the following resolutious sentiments that we have always expressed in all places as occasion demanded.
Resolved, first that the greater part of the thefts which have been complained of are not in our opinion true in fact, but have been trumped up by <inimical> persons inimical to this . in order to cover their aggressive doings, with plausibility & entice honest & unwary citizens to unite with them in the same uncompromising hostility against this people [p. [2]]