Footnotes
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Apr. 1844. Bonney left his home in Indiana in February 1844 to find somewhere to live along the Mississippi River. While visiting Nauvoo, he became one of the few non–Latter-day Saints to join the Council of Fifty. Excited by the city’s commercial prospects, Bonney decided to move his family there. He later recorded, “I accordingly returned home to Indiana about the first of april and in the month of may 1844 Returned to Nauvoo with my family.” (Bonney, “Banditti of the Prairies,” 4–5; see also JS, Journal, 19 May 1844.)
Bonney, Edward. Banditti of the Prairies. No date. Ellison Manuscripts, 1790–1949. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.Bonney, Edward. “The Banditti of the Prairies,” ca. 1847–1849. Microfilm. CHL. The original manuscript is in the Ellison Manuscripts, 1790–1949, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844. The “24 inch gauge” (two-foot ruler) was apparently present in the Nauvoo Masonic Hall for use in Freemasonry ceremonies. It was one of the “implements” of an entered apprentice (new initiate) and symbolized the twenty-four hours in a day. (Webb, Freemason’s Monitor, 33.)
Webb, Thomas Smith. The Freemason’s Monitor; or, Illustrations of Masonry: In Two Parts. Salem, MA: Cushing and Appleton, 1818.
See Historical Introduction to Council of Fifty, “Record.”
Clayton generally burned the original minutes after 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.)
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.
Owenite socialist John Finch visited Nauvoo in September 1843 and commented on the tolerance JS showed toward other religions. Finch wrote that JS was “liberal and charitable, in speaking of other sects, said he considered that the great principle of christianity was love, and affirmed that there was more of this love-spirit among his followers than is to be found in any other sect.” Finch was impressed that JS requested that he stay in Nauvoo and deliver lectures on his beliefs. Finch stated, “Joe Smith was in the practice of inviting strangers, who visited Nauvoo, of every shade of politics or religion, to lecture to his people. . . . He said that he allowed liberty of conscience to all, and was not afraid of any party drawing his people away from him.” JS also reserved the right to speak after sermons preached by others in the venues he provided. (“Notes of Travel in the United States,” New Moral World: and Gazette of the Rational Society, 5 Oct. 1844, 113–114; JS, Journal, 17 Sept. 1843.)
New Moral World: and Gazette of the Rational Society. London, 1834–1837; Manchester, England, 1837–1838; Birmingham, England, 1838–1839; Leeds, England, 1839–1841; London, 1841–1845; Harmony, Hampshire Co., England, 1845; London, 1845.
In an 1842 letter to James Arlington Bennet, JS similarly wrote of tolerance: “This, is a good principle for when we see virtuous qualities in men, we should always acknowledge them, let their understanding be what it may, in relation to creeds and doctrine; for all men are, or ought to be, free; possessing inalienable rights, and the high and noble qualifications of the laws of nature, and of self preservation; to think, and act, and say as they please while they maintain a due respect, to the rights, and privileges of all other creatures; infringing upon none. This doctrine, I do most heartily subscribe to, and practise.” (Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 Sept. 1842.)