Footnotes
Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.
Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.
Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.
Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.
Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.
Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL. The JS Collection includes five letters that Orson Hyde wrote in 1844. The circa 1904 inventory references a letter from Hyde to the “council of the Church.” During his trip to Washington DC in spring 1844, Hyde addressed three letters, including this one, specifically to the Council of Fifty. (See Orson Hyde, Washington DC, to “Dear Brethren,” Nauvoo, IL, 9 June 1844; and Orson Hyde, Washington DC, to “Dear Brethren,” Nauvoo, IL, 11 June 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
“Texas Treaty,” Daily Madisonian (Washington DC), 12 Apr. 1844, [2]; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 679.
Daily Madisonian. Washington DC. 1841–1845
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
See “Mr. Clay’s Letter,” and “To the Editor of the Globe,” Globe (Washington DC), 29 Apr. 1844, 139, 140.
Globe. Washington DC. 1831–1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 19 Mar. 1844; “List of Letters,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Jan. 1844, [3]. As a postmaster, Rigdon was entitled to franking privileges, meaning he could receive mail for free.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
JS, Journal, 25 May 1844. In this letter, Richards informed Hyde that the council was still committed to electing JS as president of the United States and that if Congress were to pass all or part of the memorial, the council would decide whether to accept or reject the final product. (Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to Orson Hyde, [Washington DC], 25 May 1844, copy, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.)
On 29 April 1844, the Washington Globe printed letters written by Clay and Van Buren in which both men voiced their opposition to annexing Texas. Clay wrote, “Annexation and war with Mexico are identical. . . . I certainly am not willing to involve this country in a foreign war for the object of acquiring Texas. . . . I regard all wars as great calamities, to be avoided, if possible, and honorable peace as the wisest and truest policy of this country.” Van Buren’s letter, a lengthy response to Congressman William H. Hammett’s inquiry about the former president’s views on the question of Texas, dissected the constitutionality and prudence of annexation. Van Buren held that while annexing Texas was not unconstitutional, he opposed it because Mexico was still engaged in trying to retain Texas and it would reflect unfavorably on the United States by those who “look upon us and our institutions with distrustful and envious eyes.” (See “Mr. Clay’s Letter,” and “To the Editor of the Globe,” Globe [Washington DC], 29 Apr. 1844, 139, 140.)
Globe. Washington DC. 1831–1845.
In early spring 1844, Van Buren was a likely candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, but after publicly announcing his opposition to annexing Texas, he lost critical support at the party’s convention in May. Instead, the Democrats nominated James K. Polk, a former Speaker of the House from Tennessee and a proponent of annexing Texas. The Democratic Party further demonstrated its support for expansionist policies by adopting a measure that favored the annexation of Texas and affirming in its party platform the United States’ right to the Oregon territory. (See Klotter, Henry Clay, 298–299; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 682–683.)
Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
With the help of William W. Phelps, JS articulated his support for expansionist policies in General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States. JS favored congressional action that would potentially join the United States with all of North America, including not only Texas and Oregon but also Mexico and Canada, into “one great family” and held that “if Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship.” (JS, Journal, 29 Jan. 1844; General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)
Semple, a Democratic senator representing Illinois, did not read the memorial until the next Monday, 6 May 1844. The memorial was then referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1887; Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 575 [1844].)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.
Congressman Wentworth attempted to present the memorial prepared by the Council of Fifty to the House of Representatives on 25 May 1844. Congressman Joseph R. Ingersoll, a Whig from Pennsylvania, objected to the memorial’s reception by the House, and Congressman John B. Weller, a Democrat from Ohio, argued that other memorials should be read by the House if it were to hear this one from the Latter-day Saints. Wentworth moved to suspend the rules so that he could bring the memorial into a discussion about Oregon in a Committee of the Whole, but his motion failed. When Wentworth reported this result in a letter to JS on 25 May 1844, he announced that he would let JS know who had voted against the motion to suspend the rules so that “you may see who prefer surrendering Oregon to the British rather than protect American settlers in going & in remaining there.” The Illinois representatives with whom Hyde met in Washington—Wentworth, John J. Hardin, Joseph P. Hoge, and Stephen A. Douglas—all voted in favor of Wentworth’s motion. (Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 624 [1844]; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1312, 2136; John Wentworth, Washington DC, to JS, [Nauvoo, IL], 25 May 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.