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“The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), Simon Gratz autograph collection.” (12)
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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co.], NY, 17–18 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; signature of JS by ; three pages; Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, dealer marking, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12⅜ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The document was inscribed with blue and brown ink. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red wax seal, and postmarked. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf, resulting in the loss of some text. Damage along a fold also resulted in the loss of one character. The document was later repaired, and the lost text was inaccurately reconstructed in graphite.
The letter left the possession of or his heirs at an unknown time and was subsequently acquired by attorney, legislator, and autograph collector Simon Gratz. Gratz’s entire collection was deeded to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1917, and the transfer was finalized in 1928.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 17 and 18 March 1843, JS composed a letter in , Illinois, to , a prominent attorney and educator in , New York, regarding the ongoing fallout from ’s 1842 excommunication from the . In 1841, John C. Bennett had introduced James Arlington Bennet to the Latter-day Saints and in April 1842 had secured a commission for Bennet as the inspector general of the , as well as an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Nauvoo. Following John C. Bennett’s May 1842 excommunication for sexual misconduct and his subsequent endeavors to damage the church, JS began an extensive correspondence with James Arlington Bennet, who quickly became a close political adviser and advocate for the Saints. Bennet’s public endeavors on behalf of the church were largely in response to John C. Bennett’s allegations that JS was an accessory before the fact to the May 1842 shooting of former governor .
On 20 February 1843, wrote to JS to congratulate him on his discharge from arrest after officials attempted to extradite him to answer charges in the case. In addition, Bennet recounted his efforts to challenge ’s claims by corresponding privately with interested public officials and by publishing editorials in the public press. James Arlington Bennet mailed the letter on 27 February. JS received it in by 15 March.
JS likely began composing a response to ’s letter on the morning of 17 March 1843, when he spent “a part of the fore noon in the office.” He worked through multiple drafts of the letter, as evidenced by an extant draft in the handwriting of scribe . The draft contains only one revision, an insertion on the verso of the second leaf; the lack of pervasive editorial changes suggests that the draft was based on one or more prior versions. In the evening, JS “heard read . . . his own [letter] to [James] Arlington Bennet.” On 18 March, JS “closed Letter to Arlington Bennett.” It was presumably at this time that Phelps made a new copy—featured here—incorporating the insertion from the earlier draft. JS may have dictated additional minor changes at this time, as Phelps made revisions on the featured version. Phelps signed JS’s name on both copies. The letter was mailed from on 19 March. Correspondence between Nauvoo and generally arrived in two to three weeks. Bennet received the letter by 10 April 1843, when he replied to JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1842, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; Certificate, Moses K. Anderson to James Arlington Bennet, Springfield, IL, 30 Apr. 1842, Thomas Carlin, Correspondence, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; JS History, vol. C-1, 1325.

    Carlin, Thomas. Correspondence, 1838–1842. In Office of the Governor, Records, 1818–1989. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  2. [2]

    See Notice, 11 May 1842; and Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, chaps. 7–9.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; and Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 15 Mar. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 17 and 18 Mar. 1843; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.

  7. [7]

    See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841; and Historical Introduction to Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  8. [8]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 10 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843, Draft *Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

Page [3]

the of God, independent of mobs, persecutions, this world’s goods, or the highest honors of the Mammon of unrighteousness. <​Nothing could give me more joy.​> Were I to labor for gold, or for conquest, or for empires like thousands that have flourished and fell, in all ages, of before me, I might amass means; gather hosts; extend power, and gratify ambition, like an Alexander, or a Napoleon, and the world, in its ordinary course, would soon leave a wide waste for future conjecture and desecration:— but I stand up in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, for a general reformation of all; by the voice of truth; by the accomplishments of virtue; by the blessings of pure religion, and by the holy revelations of God, and thus far, over vexatious laws suits, mobs, “spiritual wickedness in hi[g]h places,” demons, devils and dev[ilish] men[,] in the name and by the power o[f] God, [I] [a]m triumphant: And while I have knowledge of heaven to guide me, and the riches of eternity to back me, I shall continue to strive for the emancipation of all kinds of slavery, as well as the slavery of sin; yea, until I can exclaim like Caësar: Veni, vidi, vici!
Please to accept my best respects as also. t[h]ose of , and others. With considerations of the highest esteem, I have the honor to be your most obt. sev’t.
Joseph Smith [p. [3]]
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Source Note

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Page [3]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843
ID #
2216
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:66–71
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. [21]

    See Luke 16:9.

  2. [22]

    This discussion of empire may have been partly prompted by James Arlington Bennet’s remark to Willard Richards that “the mormon Empire” would not be “of the west alone; but eventually to overrun the world.” Alexander the Great, the fourth-century-BC Macedonian ruler, created an extensive empire through military conquest that stretched from Greece to India. French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte created a vast empire in the early nineteenth century by conquering much of Europe. (Letter from Willard Richards, 9 Aug. 1842.)

  3. [23]

    See Revelation, Oct. 1830–B [D&C 33:2].

  4. [24]

    TEXT: “hi[page torn]h”. Text missing because of page damage here and in the remainder of the document has been supplied from the earlier draft of the letter. (JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.)

  5. [25]

    Ephesians 6:12.

  6. [26]

    TEXT: “dev[page torn] men [page torn]”.

  7. [27]

    TEXT: “o[page torn]”.

  8. [28]

    TEXT: “[page torn]m”. The bottom portions of “I” and “a” and the underlining beneath those letters are extant on the page.

  9. [29]

    Gaius Julius Caesar, emperor of Rome during the first century BC, reportedly coined the phrase Veni, vidi, vici, Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered.” (Goldsworthy, Caesar, 447.)

    Goldsworthy, Adrian. Caesar: Life of a Colossus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.

  10. [30]

    TEXT: “t[page torn]ose”.

  11. [31]

    In his 20 February 1843 letter, Bennet closed by stating: “You will be pleased my dear Sir to give our best respects to Mrs Smith Mr. [Willard] & Mrs [Jennetta Richards] Richards, Gen [Wilson] Law & all other friends at Nauvoo who take an interest in the inmates of Arlington House.” (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.)

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