In winter 1835–1836, JS studied Hebrew under Joshua Seixas in Kirtland, Ohio. Hebrew scholar Louis C. Zucker has explained that Seixas’s Manual Hebrew Grammar for the Use of Beginners, which Seixas used in instructing JS, indicated in a “List of Peculiar and Anomalous Forms Found in the Hebrew Bible” that “the first words under the letter Nun are na-avauh and nauvoo—verb forms whose anomalous ‘voice’ is designated, without translation. The first word the Authorized Version renders ‘becometh’ (Psalms 93:5), and the word nauvoo is rendered ‘are beautiful’ (Isaiah 52:7), ‘are comely’ (Song of Solomon 1:10). This verb may be used of person, thing, or place. The idea of rest may have stolen in from idyllic verse two of the Twenty-Third Psalm, where a homonymous root is used meaning ‘pastures’ (ne-ot or ne-oth).” (Zucker, “Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew,” 48, italics in original; Seixas, Manual Hebrew Grammar, 111.)

Zucker, Louis C. “Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 3 (Summer 1968): 41–55.

Seixas, Joshua. Manual Hebrew Grammar for the Use of Beginners. 2nd ed., enl. and impr. Andover, MA: Gould and Newman, 1834.

The Des Moines rapids were an eleven-mile stretch of “blue limestone reaching from shore to shore, at all times covered with water” along the Mississippi River between Nauvoo and Keokuk, Iowa Territory. (Robert E. Lee, St. Louis, MO, to Charles Gratiot, 6 Dec. 1837, in Report from the Secretary of War, Senate doc. no. 139, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1838], p. 2.)

Report from the Secretary of War, in Compliance with a Resolution of the Senate of the 25th Instant, in relation to the Rock River and Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River. Senate doc. no. 139, 25th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1838).

Malaria epidemics had afflicted the Saints in the summers of 1839 and 1840. During both years, deaths from malaria and several other diseases were higher in the months of August and September than in other months of the year. (See Ivie and Heiner, “Deaths in Early Nauvoo,” 167–168.)

Ivie, Evan L., and Douglas C. Heiner. “Deaths in Early Nauvoo, 1839–46, and Winter Quarters, 1846–48.” Religious Educator 10, no. 3 (2009): 163–173.

Others shared JS and Bennett’s view of the region. In 1833 non-Mormon Anthony Hoffman, writing about this region of Illinois, stated, “I can confidently say it is Healthy, except on the Bottom lands near the Rivers.” (Anthony Hoffman, Rushville, IL, to John Reid, Argyle, NY, 1 Nov. 1833, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.)

Hoffman, Anthony. Letter, Rushville, IL, to John Reid, Argyle, NY, 1 Nov. 1833. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.

In his inaugural address as Nauvoo’s mayor on 3 February 1841, Bennett argued that “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.” (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318.)

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

JS worried that few Saints from urban areas of England would have the necessary agricultural experience to prosper in Nauvoo. In a 15 December 1840 letter to the Twelve Apostles, he recommended that skilled workers who could build the necessary machinery to establish manufacturing in the region should immigrate to Nauvoo before those “who must have certain preparations made for them before they can support themselves in this country.” (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.)

See Revelation, 10 Mar. 1831 [D&C 48:6].

On 12 October 1840, workers began quarrying stone for the temple. (Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 4.)

Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

In a statement read before the general conference in Nauvoo on 5 October 1840, JS stated, “Sacrifices as well as every ordinance belonging to the priesthood will when the temple of the Lord shall be built and the sons [of] Levi be purified be fully restored and attended to.” (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Instruction on Priesthood, ca. 5 Oct. 1840.)

Magna Carta is a Latin term meaning “the great charter.” Historically, the term was used to refer to a thirteenth-century English document that was signed by King John and promised certain rights to England’s barons.

The Nauvoo charter authorized the city to develop a “body of independent military men to be called the ‘Nauvoo Legion.’” Illinois required that all white male residents of the state between the ages of eighteen and forty-four be enrolled in a state militia unit. A law enacted in 1837 allowed for volunteer or independent militia companies to “adopt a constitution and by-laws for the regulation and government” of their own company, as long as they were not “inconsistent with the constitution of the United States or of this State.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; An Act for the Organization and Government of the Militia of This State [2 July 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 469, sec. 1; An Act Encouraging Volunteer Companies [2 Mar. 1837], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 500, sec. 1.)

The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

The Nauvoo charter called for the selection of twenty-three regents, who, with the chancellor and registrar, would serve on a board of trustees. On 3 February 1841, the Nauvoo City Council passed a bill that organized the University of Nauvoo and appointed John C. Bennett as the chancellor, William Law as the registrar, and twenty-three regents, including JS. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 3 Feb. 1841, 4.)