The ’s founding “Articles and Covenants” allowed for to be issued to , , , and , declaring their office. A license demonstrated to those both inside and outside the church that an individual had been granted authority for a particular assignment or office. A JS revelation from February 1831 required that no one “go forth to preach my gospel or to build up my church except they be by some one that hath authority & it is known to the church that he hath authority & have been regularly ordained by the leaders of the church.” As early as March 1833, licenses issued by the church began attesting to moral character and spiritual worthiness. Whereas earlier licenses were handwritten documents, in February 1834 individuals began receiving printed licenses with blank lines on which the issuer wrote in his name, the date, and the name of the person receiving the license.

At a 3 March 1836 of church leaders, a committee consisting of , , and presented its draft of regulations for licensing priesthood holders. After the council unanimously accepted the licensing resolutions, all “”—that is, men ordained to a priesthood office—were evaluated for worthiness and obtained a new license. In this system, men ordained to offices of the , or higher, priesthood were issued an elder’s license, even if they had already been ordained as a or to another office. The term elder was used in two ways: sometimes it referred generically to all men ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood, and in other cases it pertained specifically to the particular priesthood office of elder. Once an official member received the signed license from the chairman and clerk, it was his responsibility to have it copied into a record book maintained by as part of the church’s larger effort to standardize licensing and track the growing body of men ordained to offices in the higher priesthood. The recipient would retain possession of the original license, such as the one featured here, as proof of his authority.

The license featured here is representative of hundreds of similar licenses that bear JS’s signature; as chairman appointed on 3 March 1836 to sign licenses, JS signed nearly 250 of these new licenses before the end of May 1836. Unlike those licenses, however, JS was the recipient of this license, rather than the signatory.