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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 20 June 1844

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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 20 June 1844

Source Note

[at JS’s request], Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co.], NY, 20 June 1844; included enclosures. Featured version inscribed 20 June 1844; handwriting and signature of ; four pages; Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL. Includes docket, use marks, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). An embossment appears in the upper left corner of the recto of the first leaf. Each page is ruled with twenty-seven printed horizontal lines (now faded). It was trifolded for filing.
A docket and filing notation were inscribed by , who served as a clerk for JS in 1844. The Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) likely kept this with other papers of , some of which were used for the writing of church history; early Church Historian’s Office inventories refer to Richards’s private books, letters, and papers. Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1856, copied the letter into JS’s history sometime in 1856. The graphite notation “A.J” was added to the document by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The early docket and notation, the inclusion of the letter in JS’s history, and its later notation suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. See JS History, vol. F-1, 133; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 213–214; Source Note for Ordinance, 10 June 1844; and Source Note for Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844.

  2. See the full bibliographic entry for Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, 1821–1854, in the CHL catalog; and “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1]; “Historian’s Office Catalogue 1858,” 8, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  3. JS History, vol. F-1, 128; Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1; see also Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; and Wilford Woodruff, Great 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.

  4. 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.

Historical Introduction

On 20 June 1844, at JS’s request, wrote a letter from , Illinois, to in , New York explaining the ramifications of the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press and calling on Bennet for help against groups who were threatening the in Nauvoo. JS had first written to Bennet in 1842 after JS, at the recommendation of , appointed Bennet the inspector general of the . After John C. Bennett’s removal from the church in May 1842, JS sent Richards to to converse with James Arlington Bennet in person about the matter. Thereafter, JS and Bennet exchanged several letters, as did Bennet and Richards. Because Richards was familiar with Bennet, JS sometimes relied on Richards to correspond with and provide information to Bennet on JS’s behalf. Likewise, on at least one occasion, Bennet answered Richards’s questions in a letter to JS, suggesting that Bennet believed his letters would be read by both JS and Richards no matter to whom he addressed them.
In March 1844 wrote to , sending him a copy of JS’s presidential campaign pamphlet, requesting that Bennet consider serving as JS’s running mate, and stating that the Saints were exploring other regions where they might relocate, such as or . Bennet replied on 14 April 1844, expressing skepticism about the success of JS’s candidacy for president of the . Bennet also counseled Richards and the Latter-day Saints to move their headquarters from to somewhere outside the —perhaps California, Texas, or —where they could establish “an Empire of their own.”
In the weeks after wrote his April letter, relations between church members and their fellow residents in , Illinois, became increasingly tense. In response to the of the Nauvoo Expositor, groups of people opposed to the church met throughout the county and passed resolutions calling for JS and other church leaders to be “utterly exterminate[d].” Rumors quickly spread that Missourians were coming to help them carry out their plans.
In response to these threats, JS sent letters to several prominent individuals in an effort to garner support for the Saints. Among these was a 20 June letter to president in which JS asked Tyler to give the Saints “that protection which the constitution guarantees” by “Sav[ing] the innocent and oppressed from such horrid persecution.”
JS also requested that write a letter to , whom they considered an influential friend, effectively corresponding with Bennet for both Richards and JS. In the letter, Richards provided unflattering characterizations of the publishers of the Nauvoo Expositor, argued that the paper was destroyed in an orderly manner, asserted that JS was not trying to evade the law, and asked for Bennet to come to the Saints’ defense with as many people as he could recruit. In addition, Richards responded to Bennet’s pessimistic outlook on JS’s presidential campaign and cautioned that if mobs were allowed to trample the Saints’ rights, no one was safe from potential persecution.
The sent copy of the letter is apparently not extant, but the copy featured here—which may have been a draft of the letter, given its many contemporaneous revisions—was made and filed on 20 June. noted in his journal that on 19 August 1844 he received a letter from , which is apparently not extant. That letter may have been a reply to this 20 June letter.

Footnotes

  1. Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; “Military Appointment,” Wasp, 30 Apr. 1842, [3]; James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to James Gordon Bennett, 17 June 1842, in New York Herald (New York City), 21 June 1842, [2].

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

  2. Letter from Willard Richards, 9 Aug. 1842.

  3. See, for example, Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 Mar. 1843; Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 24 Oct. 1843; and James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1842; Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 15 Dec. 1843, copy, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.

  4. In 1842, for example, JS introduced Richards to Bennet as “my private secretary, and General Business Agent.” JS told Bennet that Richards would provide “any information” he might desire about John C. Bennett, the Nauvoo Legion, Nauvoo itself, “or any other matter.” After meeting Richards, Bennet told JS that Richards was “a very excellent representative of yourself.” (Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 16 Aug. 1842.)

  5. Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 10 Apr. 1843.

  6. Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, [Arlington House, Long Island, NY], 4 Mar. 1844, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; see also Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, [Arlington House, Long Island, NY], 24 Mar. 1844, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.

  7. James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 14 Apr. 1844, [1]–[2], Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.

  8. Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1]; Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  9. JS, Journal, 20 June 1844; Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844; see also Letter to Thomas Ford, 14 June 1844; and Letter to Thomas Ford, 16 June 1844.

  10. Richards, Journal, 19 Aug. 1844.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 20 June 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
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<​birth​> of our s fredom, for to live without the free excercise of thought, and the privilge of worshipping God according to the dictates of our consciens we will not!— we will die— rather and go where the wicked cease to trouble,— but we firmly beli[e]ve there are virtuous men & patriots enough yet left, to sustain those principles which alone are with [worth?] living for, Will You Come? Here is . Here is (o here is your Ambition? Patriotism? Your. “Sepeate [Separate] & Independent Empire[”]), if you sit calmly still and see the most vi[r]tuous & nobles people that ever trod upon the footstool of Jehovah, ground to powder by a miscreant Mob & not strecth [stretch] forth your potent arm for their defence in all the majisty of a God? <​& If so you <​do not your​> turn may come next. and where will it cease?​> Let the fi[r]st blow be struck upon us from this hour, and the field is open for every honest <​patriot​> from the east to the west sea, & from the to the ends of the earth, be : will you stand neutral? come and see and you will know <​for yourself​>,— I close in haste, with good wishes to your[s]elf and family—
—
Gen ,
N. Y.—
Flat bush P. O. [p. [4]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 20 June 1844
ID #
15081
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. Dictates of conscience was commonly used in the early American republic to describe religious liberty and appeared in several early state constitutions. JS paraphrased this language in the list of the church’s beliefs in his 1842 essay “Church History.” (“Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842; see also [Jones], “Protestantism,” 26–29.)

    [Jones, Joel]. “Protestantism.” Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1837): 1–29.

  2. See Job 3:17.

  3. TEXT: “(o here” possibly “where”.

  4. In his 14 April letter to Willard Richards, James Arlington Bennet asked: “Can you give us a Seperate and independent Empire? Can you lay the foundation of a mighty people? Where is your Ambition?” (James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 14 Apr. 1844, [2], Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.

  5. See Psalm 72:8; and Zechariah 9:10.

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