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Discourse, 11 April 1844–B

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. [116]–[123]; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Council of Fifty, “Record.”

Historical Introduction

On 11 April 1844, JS delivered a discourse to the in , Illinois, on the religious affiliation of council members, his support of “universal freedom,” and the role of state and federal governments in protecting the rights of the people. JS gave these remarks in the afternoon meeting held in the . During an earlier meeting, which occurred from nine o’clock in the morning to one o’clock in the afternoon, the council deliberated on several items of business, including the state of a draft of the council’s constitution and the extent to which JS should be involved in writing it. JS also spoke on the role of revelation in a theocracy. Before the morning session adjourned, council members unanimously accepted JS as their “Prophet, Priest & King.”
When the council reconvened at two o’clock in the afternoon, JS opened the meeting by acknowledging ’s absence. Bonney was not a member of the but had joined the Council of Fifty a week prior while visiting in search of a place to relocate his family. Discussing Bonney’s absence provided JS an opportunity to reiterate his position that those who were not affiliated with the Latter-day Saints could join the Council of Fifty. Bonney was the second of three councilmen who were not members of the church: joined the council on 19 March and was added to the council in the morning meeting on 11 April. JS further explained that a person’s religious beliefs should have no bearing on his or her standing before the law and that, when necessary, federal troops should be employed to enforce America’s promise of equality by protecting civil rights. recorded that JS was holding a two-foot ruler while delivering his remarks. According to Clayton, JS was “animated” in his delivery and made use of the ruler “pretty freely,” breaking it in half at some point while he was speaking.
At the conclusion of ‘'s remarks, expressed his wish that oppressive governments would fracture like the ruler had. then thanked JS for explaining the open admission policy for men who were not members of the church. In the discourse, JS had stated that he would “appeal to every man in this council beginning at the youngest that when he arrives to the years of Hoary age he will have to say that the principles of intollerance and bigotry never had a place in this kingdom.”
It is likely that recorded this discourse on loose-leaf paper. Clayton’s 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 second 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.

  2. [2]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844; Discourse, 11 Apr. 1844–A.

  3. [3]

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

  4. [4]

    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.

  5. [5]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 19 Mar. and 11 Apr. 1844.

  6. [6]

    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.

  7. [7]

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

  8. [8]

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

  9. [9]

    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.)

  10. [10]

    Events of June 1844.

  11. [11]

    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.

  12. [12]

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

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

Page [120]

enough to enjoy the society of these my friends as long as I want to. Let us from henceforth drive from us every species of intollerance. When a man is free from it he is capable of being a critic. When I have used every means in my power to exalt a mans mind, and have taught him righteous principles to no effect—he is still inclined in his darkness, yet the same principles of liberty and charity would ever be manifested by me as though he embraced it. Hence in all governments or political transactions a mans religious opinions should never be called in question. A man should be judged by the law independant of religious prejudice, hence we want in our [p. [120]]
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Source Note

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Page [120]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 11 April 1844–B
ID #
13247
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [7]

    JS was concerned about threats to his life. In a discourse he gave a few weeks earlier on 24 March 1844, he claimed that Chauncey L. Higbee, Robert D. Foster, Joseph H. Jackson, and William and Wilson Law had hatched a murderous plot against him and his family. JS had previously expressed sentiments about his own mortality. In 1842 he stated that he was “as liable to die as other men.” (Discourse, 24 Mar. 1844–A; Discourse, 9 Apr. 1842.)

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