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Minutes, 10 June 1844

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Minutes, 10 June 1844

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 10 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 10 June 1844] in Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 Feb. 1844–13 Jan. 1845, pp. 19–[31]; handwriting of ; Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb. 1844–Jan. 1845.

Historical Introduction

On 10 June 1844, the , Illinois, city council met to consider what action it should take in response to the publication of the Nauvoo Expositor. The first issue of this newspaper was published on 7 June. The city council subsequently gathered on 8 June for its regularly scheduled meeting and, among other things, heard from witnesses JS had brought in to testify about the character of certain individuals associated with the Expositor. During this meeting, JS stated his belief that the newspaper and its proprietors intended to destroy the peace in Nauvoo and that it was not safe to have this type of publication in the city, as it could lead to mob violence. Moreover, he explained that his statements and the testimony of the witnesses were meant to prepare the city council to act on the matter. In particular, JS urged the city council to pass an ordinance against libels, and city councilor and , who was a city councilor as well as the city’s attorney, received the assignment to craft this legislation. Later during the meeting, Phelps read a draft of the libel ordinance, and JS and city councilor requested certain additions to it. The council then adjourned until 10 June.
The city council held two sessions on 10 June, most likely in the . The first session lasted from ten o’clock in the morning until shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon, when the council adjourned for a recess. At half past two o’clock in the afternoon, the second session began, and it lasted until a little after six o’clock in the evening. During these sessions, the city council heard additional testimony about various men connected to the Nauvoo Expositor and unanimously approved the newest draft of the libel ordinance. At JS’s suggestion, the city council also discussed the possibility of suppressing the Nauvoo Expositor. Most of the council’s members expressed their approval of this course of action. Only , a city councilor who was not a member of the , urged caution and suggested instead giving the proprietors “a few days” notice to desist publishing the alleged libels and assessing heavy fines for noncompliance. After deliberating, the city council rejected Warrington’s suggestion. It then passed a resolution declaring the Expositor a nuisance and ordering JS as mayor to remove any printing equipment and copies of the newspaper found in its office in a manner of his choosing.
City recorder appears to have taken notes during the 10 June city council meeting on loose leaves of paper, one of which is still extant. It seems he then used these notes to craft the minutes of the 10 June city council meeting, which he recorded in the city council’s rough minute book. Later, on 15 and 16 June, Richards prepared a revised version of the minutes for the 8 and 10 June meetings focused on the city council’s deliberations regarding the Nauvoo Expositor. The Nauvoo Neighbor then published the revised version of the minutes in its extra issue dated 17 June and its regular issue dated 19 June. The version in the 19 June issue is identical to the version in the extra, except for some stylistic and clarifying changes. The 10 June minutes that Richards recorded in the city council’s rough minute book are featured here, with significant differences between them and the version published in the Neighbor’s 17 June extra noted.

Footnotes

  1. Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1]; see also Historical Introduction to Minutes, 8 June 1844.

  2. Minutes, 8 June 1844.

  3. Ordinance, 10 June 1844.

  4. Resolution, 10 June 1844.

  5. This loose leaf rests between pages [22] and [23] of Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb. 1844–Jan. 1845.

  6. Richards, Journal, 15–16 June 1844. A synopsis for a portion of the manuscript version of the 8 June minutes is extant; however, the manuscript version of the last portion of the 8 June minutes and the entirety of the 10 June minutes has not been located. (Synopsis of Nauvoo City Council Proceedings, 8 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

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

  7. “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 June 1844, [2]–[3].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Minutes, 10 June 1844, Partial Draft Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845
*Minutes, 10 June 1844
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845 Minutes, 10 June 1844, Extract, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844 Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 19

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Adjound [Adjourned] Session. Monday June 10th 1844. 10 A M.
Names of Members called. Quorum Present. prayer by Minutes of last council read and approved
Mayor called to the chair [p. 19]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 10 June 1844
ID #
17544
Total Pages
13
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. The regularly scheduled city council meeting on 8 June 1844 was adjourned until 10 June. One manual of parliamentary rules of order explained that “an adjourned meeting is regarded simply as a continuation of a former meeting, and after roll call, the business should be resumed, the same as if no adjournment had taken place.” (Minutes, 8 June 1844; [Matthias], Rules of Order, 46.)

    [Matthias, Benjamin]. Rules of Order. A Manual for Conducting Business in Town and Ward Meetings; Societies; Boards of Directors and Managers, and Other Deliberative Bodies. Philadelphia: James Harmstead, 1846.

  2. Attendance records show that fifteen of the nineteen members of the city council were present on 10 June. A majority was needed to constitute a quorum. (“The Attendance of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo— Commencing February 10th 1844,” Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.

  3. Greene was Nauvoo’s city marshal. The city council’s rules of order dictated that the city marshal serve as the “Door-Keeper, & Sergeant-at-Arms, to the council.” The rules of order also specified that the council’s meetings open with prayer. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 21 Dec. 1843, 29; “Rules of Order of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo,” 22 Jan. 1842, 1, 3, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

  4. Minutes, 8 June 1844. The city council’s rules of order dictated that after an opening prayer “the journal of the preceding meeting shall be read by the Recorder, to the end that any mistake may be corrected that shall have been made in the entries.” (“Rules of Order of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo,” 22 Jan. 1842, 1, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

  5. See Minutes, 8 June 1844, 16.

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