Benjamin F. Grouard and Addison Pratt were also serving as missionaries in the Society Islands. (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 May 1843; “From the Society Islands,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1845, 6:835–838.)

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

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

James Arlington Bennet, New York, to Brigham Young et al., Nauvoo, IL, 27 Feb. 1845; James Arlington Bennet to Brigham Young et al., 3 Mar. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL. Bennet’s letters responded to one written by Brigham Young and other church leaders on 1 February 1845 asking for advice on how to respond to the Illinois legislature’s repeal of the Nauvoo charter. Bennet, a prominent New York author, educator, and attorney, had previously supported the Latter-day Saints. He was baptized by Young in 1843, though he afterward characterized the event as “a glorious frolick in the clear blue ocean” and never took an active role in the church. In his first response, dated 27 February 1845, Bennet advised church leaders to “take no notice of the Legislative Act of Repeal” until the state took further action. The city’s best defense, according to Bennet, would be the precedent of the 1819 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dartmouth College v. Woodward. In that case, Daniel Webster had argued for the college that New Hampshire had no right to repeal the college’s charter, as this action violated article 1, section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited states from passing laws “impairing the obligation of contracts.” The Supreme Court accepted this reasoning in its ruling. Bennet thus advised the church leaders that if the Nauvoo charter had “conveyed the smallest amount of property or the management of property,” then they would be “safe” because the repeal of the charter would thus be an unconstitutional impairing of the contract by which the property was conveyed. If the city had not conveyed property, Bennet warned, “your existance as a city is doubtful.” Bennet’s second letter, dated 3 March 1845, suggested a slightly different approach. He advised that rather than wait for the state of Illinois to bring an action against Nauvoo, city officials should take the initiative and create a situation that raised the question of contract by conveying some property in Nauvoo to an individual, which could then be sold to another individual “for an advanced sum of money.” The final purchaser should then remove to another state and “commence a Suit in the U States Courts for the money paid,” which would “bring up the question of title under your City Charter & will involve the Constitu[tio]nal queston of the Power of your Legislature to impair the obligation of Contracts” by repealing the charter. The final purchaser needed to move to another state so that the Supreme Court would have jurisdiction to hear the case; if the seller and the purchaser both resided in Illinois, then the Illinois courts would have jurisdiction. Bennet offered his own legal services for free and counseled the Latter-day Saints to hire another New York attorney as well. (James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 Peters 518 [1819].)

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Peters / Peters, Richard. Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States. 17 vols. Various publishers, 1828–1843.

Like Bennet, Daniel Webster had received a 1 February 1845 letter from church leaders seeking advice on the repeal of the Nauvoo charter. Webster, a former U.S. senator and secretary of state, on 4 March 1845 had begun another term as a U.S. senator for Massachusetts from the Whig Party. In his response to Young dated 3 March 1845, Webster wrote, “It has generally been understood, that corporations, merely political, like those of Counties & Cities, were subject to legislative alterations, provided such alterations did not affect private property. I could not give any useful opinion, respecting your case, till I know more of the circumstances.” (Brigham Young et al., Nauvoo, IL, to Daniel Webster, Boston, MA, 1 Feb. 1845, microfilm, Illinois State Historical Society Papers, CHL; Daniel Webster, Washington DC, to Brigham Young et al., 3 Mar. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

Young, Brigham, et al. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Daniel Webster, Boston, MA, 1 Feb. 1845. Illinois State Historical Society Papers. Microfilm. CHL.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

These are probably letters from Asher and Effelender Gressmen and Sophia Munroe, written between November 1844 and January 1845, to friends in Iowa Territory. Archival markings on the letters suggest they were given to Willard Richards shortly after they were received. The Gressmens described the favorable conditions the company had experienced while traveling to Wisconsin as well as the state of the company; at a 6 November 1844 conference, the Gressmens reported, “a vote of thanks [was] taken to the grate god fore his goodness . . . fore truley the Lord god has been with us.” (Asher Gressmen and Effelender Gressmen, Valley of Loami, Wisconsin Territory, to Levi Moffett, Des Moines Co., Iowa Territory, 6 Nov. 1844, CHL; Sophia Munroe, Valley of Loami, Wisconsin Territory, to Jane Rigby, Augusta, Iowa Territory, 26 Dec. 1844 and 13 Jan. 1845, CHL.)

Gressmen, Asher, and Effelender Gressmen. Letter, Valley of Loami, Wisconsin Territory, to Levi Moffett, Des Moines Co., Iowa Territory, 6 Nov. 1844, CHL.

Munroe, Sophia. Letter, Valley of Loami, Wisconsin Territory, to Jane Rigby, Augusta, Iowa Territory, 26 Dec. 1844 and 13 Jan. 1845. CHL.