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.