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Discourse, 7 April 1840

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL], [7] Apr. 1840. Featured version published in “The Mormons for Harrison,” Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 17 Apr. 1840, [2]. Transcription from a digital color image obtained from the Library of Congress in 2016.
The 17 April 1840 issue of the Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer consists of four leaves; each leaf contains six columns. The copy used for transcription is bound in a volume with other issues of the newspaper.
Samuel H. Davis began publishing the newspaper around 1837. It was published weekly.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Masthead, Peoria (IL) Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 18 Nov. 1837, [8].

    Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer. Peoria, IL. 1837–1843.

Historical Introduction

On 7 April 1840, JS delivered a discourse at a general of the held in the , Illinois, area in which he recounted his November 1839 meeting with President in . JS had returned to the Commerce area in late February 1840, about a month before the discourse. He had previously given at least three other discourses recounting his meeting with Van Buren, two of which have extant records. A portion of JS’s 7 April discourse was reported by an unknown correspondent ten days later in the Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer under the title “The Mormons for Harrison.” Although the article states that JS spoke on 6 April—the first day of the general conference—the church’s official minutes indicate that he gave this discourse on 7 April.
Some of the details in this account differ from those in earlier accounts of JS’s meeting with . The chief difference is that in this account JS described two meetings with Van Buren in the President’s House on sequential dates; earlier accounts suggest that the parties only met once in the President’s House. JS’s description of Van Buren’s position, however, is consistent in all three accounts: Van Buren would not support the church’s petitioning efforts for fear of losing ’s support in the presidential election of 1840.
According to the Peoria Register, two church members who attended the conference— and Benjamin Dobson—vouched for the accuracy of the newspaper’s report of JS’s sermon. However, the author of the article (who was apparently offering his report secondhand) doubted JS’s claim that would openly acknowledge political motives for declining to help the Saints because such a statement was “not in accordance with his [Van Buren’s] non-committal character.” Instead, the author speculated that “this reason instantly struck the mind of Mr. Smith, and that he substituted his own belief for the direct avowel of the president.” Nevertheless, the author indicated that the effect of Van Buren’s alleged statement had been “to turn the Mormons, almost to a man, against Mr. Van Buren, and to make them equally unanimous for General [William Henry] Harrison.” Based on the praise the author then bestowed upon Harrison, it appears that the writer celebrated this shift in party allegiance that many church members experienced.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    John Smith, Journal, 1836–1840, 29 Feb. 1840, [58].

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1.

  2. [2]

    Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.

  3. [3]

    Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840. JS informed Robert D. Foster that he had delivered another sermon in which he recounted his trip to Washington DC, but records of that discourse are apparently not extant. (Letter to Robert D. Foster, 11 Mar. 1840.)

  4. [4]

    For more information on JS’s meeting with Van Buren, see McBride, “When Joseph Smith Met Martin Van Buren,” 150–158.

    McBride, Spencer W. Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017.

  5. [5]

    The newspaper indicated that Thompson and Dobson were members of the church living in Peoria County, Illinois, and Tazewell County, Illinois, respectively. (“The Mormons for Harrison,” Peoria [IL] Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 17 Apr. 1840, [2].)

    Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer. Peoria, IL. 1837–1843.

  6. [6]

    “The Mormons for Harrison,” Peoria [IL] Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 17 Apr. 1840, [2]. At the time of this discourse, the Whig party had already nominated Harrison as its presidential candidate. Van Buren’s nomination as the Democratic candidate was widely expected but did not become official until that party’s nominating convention the following month. (“The Harrisburg Convention,” Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 10 Dec. 1839, [2]; “National Democratic Convention,” Albany [NY] Argus, 12 May 1840, [2].)

    Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer. Peoria, IL. 1837–1843.

    Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

    Albany Argus. Albany, NY. 1825–1856.

  7. [7]

    “The Mormons for Harrison,” Peoria (IL) Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 17 Apr. 1840, [2]. In the 1840 presidential election, church members in Hancock County, Illinois, appear to have voted overwhelmingly for Harrison. It is unclear, however, the extent to which this represented a lasting shift in church members’ partisan allegiance. In 1843 JS stated that a large number of church members remained Democrats. (Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848, 117; [David Nye White], “The Prairies, Nauvoo, Joe Smith, the Temple, the Mormons, &c.,” Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 14 Sept. 1843, [3].)

    Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer. Peoria, IL. 1837–1843.

    Pease, Theodore Calvin, ed. Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923.

    Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette. Pittsburgh, PA, July 1786–.

Page [2]

He said that soon after reaching , he called on , and asked permission to leave with him the memorial with which he had been entrusted, at the same time briefly stating its contents. ’s manner was very repulsive, and it was only after his (Smith’s) urgent request that he consented to receive the paper and to give an answer on the morrow. The next day Smith again called, when cut short the interview by saying, “I can do nothing for you, gentlemen. If I were to, I should go against the whole state of , and that state would go against me at the next election.” Mr. Smith said he was thunderstruck at this avowal. He had always believed to be a high-minded statesman, and had uniformly supported him as such; but he now saw that he was only a huckstering politician, who would sacrifice any and every thing to promote his re-election. He left him abruptly, and rejoiced, when without the walls of the palace, that he could once more breathe the air of a freeman. [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 7 April 1840
ID #
7492
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:258–260
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS arrived in Washington DC on 28 November 1839. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.)

  2. [2]

    The Saints had prepared a memorial to the United States Congress that recounted their suffering and losses in Missouri and requested federal redress. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)

  3. [3]

    In two earlier accounts, JS reported Van Buren’s statement similarly. He and Higbee wrote on 5 December 1839 that Van Buren had said, “What can I do? I can do nothing for you,— if I do any thing, I shall come in contact with the whole State of Missouri.” On 1 March 1840, JS stated that Van Buren had said, “Help you! how can I help you? All Missouri would turn against me.” (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.)

  4. [4]

    It is unknown if JS voted for Van Buren in 1836. Residents in Kirtland, Ohio, voted overwhelmingly for Van Buren that year, even though he lost at the county and state levels. In 1838 JS and other church leaders supported Democratic candidates in Missouri elections. Furthermore, Elias Higbee explained to a congressional committee in February 1840 that the majority of church members had traditionally voted for Democratic candidates for political offices “in consequence of the democratick principles having been taught us [them] from our [their] infancy.” (“Gross Distortion and Abuse,” Painesville [OH] Republican, 1 Dec. 1836, [2]; JS, Journal, 5–7 May 1838; Harper, “‘Dictated by Christ’: Joseph Smith and the Politics of Revelation,” 287–288; Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 Feb. 1840.)

    Painesville Republican. Painesville, OH. 1836–1841.

    Harper, Steven C. “‘Dictated by Christ’: Joseph Smith and the Politics of Revelation.” Journal of the Early Republic 26, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 275–304.

  5. [5]

    An October 1839 issue of a Sangamon County, Illinois, newspaper speculated that the 1840 presidential election would be a close contest between Van Buren and the expected Whig challenger, William Henry Harrison, and that Missouri was one of the states upon which Van Buren could depend for its electoral votes. (“Presidential Prospects in 1840,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 4 Oct. 1839, [2].)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  6. [6]

    In a March 1840 discourse, JS stated that “he felt at home in the White House” and that “he felt that he had a perfect right there, as much right as Van Buren, because it belonged to the people, and he was one of the people.” (Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.)

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