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Appendix: Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 March 1840

Source Note

United States Senate, Report,
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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, 4 Mar. 1840. Featured version published in Public Documents Printed by Order of the Senate of the United States, during the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the United States, vol. 5, Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840, [1]–2. Transcription made from digital images obtained from Oxford University by Google Books in 2006.
The volume contains eighty-two documents, numbered 197–278, printed with an index on a total of 1,151 pages. The document featured here is number 247. The pagination restarts with each document.

Historical Introduction

On 4 March 1840, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary wrote a report to the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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Senate containing the committee’s resolution to dismiss the
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
’s memorial to Congress. Senator
Richard M. Young

20 Feb. 1798–28 Nov. 1861. Attorney, judge, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Moved to Jonesboro, Union Co., Illinois Territory. Admitted to Illinois bar, 1817, in Jonesboro. Served as state representative from Union Co., 1820–1822. Married Matilda...

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of
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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had submitted the memorial to the Senate on 28 January 1840, at which time it was read aloud. The Senate initially voted to table the memorial, but on 12 February it referred the memorial to its Committee on the Judiciary.
1

Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 28 Jan. and 12 Feb. 1840, 138, 173; Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 149 (1840).


Comprehensive Works Cited

Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

Though accounts of congressional proceedings do not explicitly mention the judiciary committee’s tasks, this report and other documents related to the memorial suggest that the Senate assigned the committee to determine whether the case fell within the jurisdiction of Congress before it considered the memorial’s merits.
2

Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840; Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.


Between 20 and 22 February, the committee heard testimony from at least four men: church representative
Elias Higbee

23 Oct. 1795–8 June 1843. Clerk, judge, surveyor. Born at Galloway, Gloucester Co., New Jersey. Son of Isaac Higbee and Sophia Somers. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, 1803. Married Sarah Elizabeth Ward, 10 Sept. 1818, in Tate Township, Clermont Co. Lived at ...

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, Senator
Lewis F. Linn

5 Nov. 1795/1796–3 Oct. 1843. Physician, politician. Born near Louisville, Jefferson Co., Kentucky. Son of Asahel Linn and Nancy Hunter. Served in War of 1812. Studied medicine in Louisville and Philadelphia. Established medical practice, 1816, in Sainte ...

View Full Bio
of
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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, Representative
John Jameson

6 Mar. 1802–24 Jan. 1857. Farmer, lawyer, politician. Born in Mount Sterling, Montgomery Co., Kentucky. Moved to Callaway Co., Missouri, 1825. Served in Missouri House of Representatives, 1830–1836, and served as Speaker of the House, 1834, 1836. Served in...

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of Missouri, and a Mr. Corwin of
St. Louis

Located on west side of Mississippi River about fifteen miles south of confluence with Missouri River. Founded as fur-trading post by French settlers, 1764. Incorporated as town, 1809. First Mississippi steamboat docked by town, 1817. Incorporated as city...

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.
3

Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A; Letter from Elias Higbee, 21 Feb. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840.


Higbee wrote to JS on 22 February that if the committee decided the Senate should consider the church’s memorial further, the church could send several witnesses to
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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to testify.
4

Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840.


In this report, however, the committee stated that Congress had no jurisdiction over the church’s petitioning efforts and resolved that the committee—and by extension the Senate—should no longer consider the memorial. Even though this report is dated 4 March, Higbee reported that the committee had made its decision by 26 February.
5

Letter from Elias Higbee, 26 Feb. 1840.


The report primarily summarized the church’s memorial to Congress.
6

See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.


It is unclear which of the five Committee on the Judiciary members composed this report.
7

At this time, the Committee on the Judiciary consisted of five senators: Garret D. Wall of New Jersey, Thomas Clayton of Delaware, Robert Strange of North Carolina, John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, and Oliver H. Smith of Indiana. (Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 16 Dec. 1839, 11; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 835–836, 894–895, 1937, 1990, 2107.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989: The Continental Congress September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First through the One Hundredth Congresses March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, Inclusive. Edited by Kathryn Allamong Jacob and Bruce A. Ragsdale. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.

An extant manuscript draft of the report written in unidentified handwriting contains numerous phrases and entire sentences that were canceled with new text inserted in their place.
8

Substantive differences between the published report and the manuscript draft are noted in the annotation herein. (“Report from the Committee on the Judiciary on the Memorial of the ‘Latter Day Saints’ Commonly Called Mormons,” 4 Mar. 1840, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Memorial of Ephraim Owen, Jr. H.R. Doc. no. 42, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1838).

On 23 March 1840, the Senate received the report, voted in favor of the resolution, and ordered that the report be printed.
9

Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 23 Mar. 1840, 259–260.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

Two copies of this report were apparently sent to JS—one by Senator John M. Robinson of
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
and another by
Higbee

23 Oct. 1795–8 June 1843. Clerk, judge, surveyor. Born at Galloway, Gloucester Co., New Jersey. Son of Isaac Higbee and Sophia Somers. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, 1803. Married Sarah Elizabeth Ward, 10 Sept. 1818, in Tate Township, Clermont Co. Lived at ...

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—although the report itself was not addressed to JS or any member of the church’s delegation to the federal government.
10

See Letter from Elias Higbee, 9 Mar. 1840.


An 1840 general
conference

A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...

View Glossary
of the church approved a resolution that declared this report “unconstitutional, and subversive of the rights of a free people.”
11

Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.


This report and the conference’s official response to it were published in the March and April issues of the Times and Seasons, respectively.
12

“Important from Washington,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:74–75; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Later in 1840, the Senate published the final version of this report in a collection of other documents from the first session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. The report as published by the Senate is reproduced here as an appendix because it represents the Senate’s response to JS’s and his fellow delegation members’ petition to the federal government.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 28 Jan. and 12 Feb. 1840, 138, 173; Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 149 (1840).

    Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840; Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A; Letter from Elias Higbee, 21 Feb. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840.

  4. [4]

    Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840.

  5. [5]

    Letter from Elias Higbee, 26 Feb. 1840.

  6. [6]

    See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.

  7. [7]

    At this time, the Committee on the Judiciary consisted of five senators: Garret D. Wall of New Jersey, Thomas Clayton of Delaware, Robert Strange of North Carolina, John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, and Oliver H. Smith of Indiana. (Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 16 Dec. 1839, 11; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 835–836, 894–895, 1937, 1990, 2107.)

    Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

    Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989: The Continental Congress September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First through the One Hundredth Congresses March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, Inclusive. Edited by Kathryn Allamong Jacob and Bruce A. Ragsdale. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.

  8. [8]

    Substantive differences between the published report and the manuscript draft are noted in the annotation herein. (“Report from the Committee on the Judiciary on the Memorial of the ‘Latter Day Saints’ Commonly Called Mormons,” 4 Mar. 1840, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.)

    Memorial of Ephraim Owen, Jr. H.R. Doc. no. 42, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1838).

  9. [9]

    Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 23 Mar. 1840, 259–260.

    Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.

  10. [10]

    See Letter from Elias Higbee, 9 Mar. 1840.

  11. [11]

    Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.

  12. [12]

    “Important from Washington,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:74–75; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.

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

Page [1]

-[SENATE.]-
-[247]-
1

This document was numbered 247 within the series of Senate documents published by the first session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress.


26th Congress,
1st Session.
 
IN SENATE OF THE
UNITED STATES

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
.
March 4, 1840.
Submitted, laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. (Seal)
2

TEXT: Illegible circular seal.


Mr. [Garret D.] Wall made the following
REPORT:
The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of a delegation of the
Latter Day Saints

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
, commonly called Mormons, report:
The petition of the memorialists sets forth, in substance, that a portion of their sect commenced a settlement in the county of
Jackson

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

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, in the State of
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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, in the summer of 1831: that they bought lands, built houses, erected churches, and established their homes, and engaged in all the various occupations of life: that they were expelled from that
county

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

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in 1833, by a mob, under circumstances of great outrage, cruelty, and oppression, and against all law, and without any offence committed on their part, and to the destruction of property to the amount of $120,000: that the society thus expelled amounted to about 1,200 souls: that no compensation was ever made for the destruction of their property in
Jackson

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info
: that after their expulsion from
Jackson county

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info
, they settled in
Clay county

Settled ca. 1800. Organized from Ray Co., 1822. Original size diminished when land was taken to create several surrounding counties. Liberty designated county seat, 1822. Population in 1830 about 5,000; in 1836 about 8,500; and in 1840 about 8,300. Refuge...

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, on the opposite side of the
Missouri river

One of longest rivers in North America, in excess of 3,000 miles. From headwaters in Montana to confluence with Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri River drains 580,000 square miles (about one-sixth of continental U.S.). Explored by Lewis and Clark...

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, where they purchased lands, and entered others at the land office, where they resided peaceably for three years, engaged in cultivation and other useful and active employments, when the mob again threatened their peace, lives, and property and they became alarmed, and finally made a treaty with the citizens of
Clay county

Settled ca. 1800. Organized from Ray Co., 1822. Original size diminished when land was taken to create several surrounding counties. Liberty designated county seat, 1822. Population in 1830 about 5,000; in 1836 about 8,500; and in 1840 about 8,300. Refuge...

More Info
that they should purchase their lands, and the Mormons should remove; which was complied with on their part, and the Mormons removed to the county of
Caldwell

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...

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, where they took up their abode, and re-established their settlement, not without heavy pecuniary losses and other inconveniences: that the citizens of
Clay county

Settled ca. 1800. Organized from Ray Co., 1822. Original size diminished when land was taken to create several surrounding counties. Liberty designated county seat, 1822. Population in 1830 about 5,000; in 1836 about 8,500; and in 1840 about 8,300. Refuge...

More Info
never paid them for their lands, except for a small part. They remained in
Caldwell

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...

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from 1836 until the fall of 1838, and during that time had acquired, by purchase from the Government, the settlers, and pre-emptioners, almost all the lands in the county of
Caldwell

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...

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, and a portion of the lands in
Davies

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Latter-day Saint settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest...

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and Carroll counties; the former county being almost entirely settled by the Mormons, and they were rapidly filling up the two latter counties. Those counties, when the Mormons first commenced their settlement, were, for the most part, wild and uncultivated, and they had converted them into large and well-improved farms, well stocked. Lands had risen in value to $10 and even $25 per acre, and those counties were rapidly advancing in cultivation and wealth: that in August, 1838, a riot commenced, growing out of an attempt of a Mormon to vote, which resulted in creating great excite [p. [1]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Appendix: Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 March 1840
ID #
19819
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:538–543
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This document was numbered 247 within the series of Senate documents published by the first session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress.

  2. [2]

    TEXT: Illegible circular seal.

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