The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Discourse, 11 April 1844–A

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 11 Apr. 1844]. Featured version inscribed [between ca. Aug. 1844 and ca. Feb. 1845] in Council of Fifty, “Record,” pp. [103]–[108]; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Council of Fifty, “Record.”

Historical Introduction

In an 11 April 1844 meeting of the held in , Illinois, JS gave a discourse on the role of revelation in a theocracy. The Council of Fifty met that day in the newly dedicated . The first of two sessions held that day occurred from nine o’clock in the morning to one o’clock in the afternoon. During the morning session, the committee charged with drafting a constitution for the Council of Fifty reported on its lack of progress in producing the assigned document. Committee member explained that the committee—which also included , , and —had been unable to meet because of “public engagements” during the ’s April . After the council approved a motion to give the committee more time, Phelps stated that “the document in progress was the most important ever undertaken by any committee” and motioned that JS be added to the committee. Richards seconded the motion, and JS made the following remarks.
In his address, JS declared that he would not join any committees but would review committee members’ activities independently and seek revelation on their behalf. JS explained that a theocracy required council members to exercise their collective wisdom in decision making and align themselves with the directions and revelations given. Council members were hopeful that the best elements of a democracy could be paired with a righteous theocracy to create a theodemocracy that would protect religious minority rights, include other American religious groups, and help prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. JS also admonished council members to study geography, languages, and government.
recorded JS’s discourse as part of the minutes he kept for council meetings. He presumably wrote the original minutes on loose sheets of paper. These original minutes are not extant. Before his death, JS instructed Clayton to destroy or safely secure the Council of Fifty’s records. Clayton opted to bury the records, but he dug them up after JS’s death and copied them in August and September 1844 and in February 1845. It was presumably during this period that Clayton copied JS’s first 11 April discourse into a small bound volume that he titled “Record of the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God.” The copied version is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 11 Apr. 1844; Clayton, Journal, 5 Apr. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [2]

    On 11 March 1844, this committee was appointed to write a constitution for the council. The members of the committee delivered a preliminary report on their work at a council meeting held on 5 April, at which they requested more time to produce a draft. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 19 Mar. and 5 Apr. 1844.)

  3. [3]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844.

  4. [4]

    “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.”

  5. [5]

    See Historical Introduction to Council of Fifty, “Record.”

  6. [6]

    Clayton generally burned the original minutes after he finished copying them into the Council of Fifty record books. (See Historical Introduction to Council of Fifty, “Record”; and Council of Fifty, “Record,” 1 Mar. 1845.)

  7. [7]

    Events of June 1844.

  8. [8]

    Clayton, Journal, 3 July 1844; 18 Aug. 1844; 6 Sept. 1844; 6, 11, and 12 Feb. 1845; see also Historical Introduction to Council of Fifty, “Record.”

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  9. [9]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.

  10. [10]

    See Historical Introduction to Council of Fifty, “Record”; and Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 11 April 1844–A *Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845

Page [105]

on the necks of others. There has always been some man to put himself forward and say I am the great I &c. I want the council to exert all their wisdom in this thing, and when they see that they cannot get a perfect law themselves, and I can, then, they will see from whence wisdom flows. I know I can get the voice of God on the subject. Vox populi, Vox Dei. The voice of the people assenting to the voice of God. There never has been a man in this age who could tell the people what the true principles of liberty was. Washington did not do it. I dont want to be ranked with that committee I am a committee of myself, and cannot mingle with any committee in such [p. [105]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [105]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 11 April 1844–A
ID #
13225
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Isaiah 14:12–15; Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:25–27]; Book of Abraham Excerpt and Facsimile 2, 15 Mar. 1842 [Abraham 3:27–28]; Luke 10:18; and Revelation 12:7–9.

  2. [2]

    Two years earlier, on 28 April 1842, JS told the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo “of the difficulties he had to surmount ever since the commencement of the work in consequence of aspiring men, ‘great big Elders’ as he call’d them, who had caused him much trouble, whom he had taught in the private counsel; and they would go forth into the world and ploclaim [proclaim] the things he had taught them; as their own revelations.” (Discourse, 28 Apr. 1842; see also Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839.)

  3. [3]

    Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” During JS’s era, Americans generally understood this phrase to mean that in a democratic society, the popular will is the ultimate law. (“Vox,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 12:322; see also Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, 18 July 1836, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; and Lund, “American Localism and the Mormon Expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri,” 98–101.)

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

    Lund, Matthew. “The Vox Populi Is the Vox Dei: American Localism and the Mormon Expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri.” Master’s thesis, Utah State University, 2012.

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06