Rules of Order for Nauvoo City Council, 22 January 1842
Source Note
, Rules of Order, for Nauvoo City Council, , Hancock Co., IL, 22 Jan. 1842; handwriting of ; docket in handwriting of ; eight pages with an inserted slip; Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, CHL.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
Rules of Order for Nauvoo City Council, 22 January 1842
“The Council then received the following communication from the ; to wit:
Mayor’s Office, City of . Illinois, Jan. 22nd, AD. 1842.
Gentlemen of the City Council,
Aldermen, and Councillors:—
I have carefully selected and prepared the following “Rules of Order of the City Council of the City of ,” and present them for your adoption; to wit,—
Rules of Order
of the
City Council of the City of .
Duties of the Mayor.
1st. The Mayor, or President pro tempore, shall take the chair and organize the council, them within thirty minutes after the arrival of the hour to which it shall have been adjourned, and, while presiding, shall restrain all conversation irrelevant to the business then under consideration.
2nd. The Mayor having taken the chair, and a quorum (which shall consist of a majority of the entire council) being present, the council shall be opened by prayer, after which the journal of the preceding meeting shall be read <by the Recorder>, to the end that any mistake may be corrected that shall have been made in the entries; after which no alteration of the journal shall be permitted, without the unanimous consent of the members present.
3rd. He <The> <Mayor> shall decide all questions of order— subject, nevertheless, to an appeal to the council, by any member.
4th. When the question is taken on any subject under consideration, the Mayor shall call on the members in the affirmative to say, aye,— those in the negative to say, no— and he shall declare the result. When doubts arise on the decision, he may call on the members voting to rise, or take the yeas and nays— the yeas and [p. 1]