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Minutes, 29 November 1843

Source Note

Minutes, , Hancock Co., IL, 29 Nov. 1843; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes dockets and use marks.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ (25 × 20 cm) and ruled with thirty horizontal lines printed in blue ink, now faded. The document was inscribed on the first three pages. Minutes of 4 December were also inscribed on the third page. The document was later folded and docketed for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. The document also has redactions in the handwriting of , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. This document and other papers from JS’s office were likely part of the documents in possession of the Church Historian’s Office in Utah Territory. The document was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers collection in 2012. The document’s early docket and later inclusion in the JS Office Papers suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [3]

    See Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  4. [4]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Office Papers, ca. 1835–1845, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 29 November 1843, several prominent citizens of , Illinois, including JS in his role as mayor, convened to discuss plans to secure redress from Congress for the persecutions of the 1830s. The citizens, many of them officers, met at four o’clock in the afternoon in the second-floor assembly room of . JS’s journal indicates that the meeting’s purpose was “to appoint committee to get subscribers” for a new memorial to Congress, which wrote the previous day. chaired the meeting and accepted responsibility for organizing the subscription committee for Nauvoo and other places, while and accepted the appointment to do the same in and , Illinois, respectively.
During the meeting, several speakers reflected on their traumatic experiences in and resolved to never again submit to mob violence. This rhetoric was reminiscent of that employed by JS five months earlier when, after narrowly escaping another extradition attempt by the state of Missouri, he authorized the Latter-day Saints to defend themselves against mobs. According to an account of this 30 June 1843 discourse, JS “tur[n]ed the key according to the that the saints might defend themselvs agai[n]st the Missouri[a]ns— & mob law.” Still hurt by their treatment in Missouri in 1838 and 1839, the Latter-day Saints had wearied of Missouri officials’ repeated attempts to extradite their leader. These frustrations contributed to the pointed rhetoric used in the meeting, the minutes of which are featured here.
A few meeting members also read aloud three documents pertaining to the Saints’ attempts to either secure redress from the government or ensure protection from violent threats. read JS’s appeal to the Green Mountain Boys of , and JS read a letter he received from presidential candidate as well as the new memorial to Congress. JS requested that those present “who could w[i]eld a pen write an address to his mother count[r]y,” or solicit aid from their home states. Although JS declared that “the state right doctrine is what feeds mobs,” he simultaneously viewed states as powerful political entities that could assist the Latter-day Saints in combating mobocracy.
The meeting occurred on a Wednesday and adjourned until the following Monday, 4 December 1843. served as the clerk and took the meeting minutes on loose sheets of paper, which he used again five days later to record the minutes of the reconvened meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS used this room for municipal and ecclesiastical business. (See JS History, vol. D-1, 1379; Historical Introduction to Floor Plan for JS’s Store, between Feb. and Dec. 1841; and Brown, “Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo,” 362–364.)

    Brown, Lisle G. “The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 361–374.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 29 Nov. 1843. Frierson, a United States surveyor from Quincy, Illinois, who was sympathetic to the church, arrived in Nauvoo on 25 November 1843. The next morning, he met with church leaders at the Nauvoo Mansion, where he listened to several affidavits about the Saints’ treatment in Missouri, and their conversation lasted throughout the day. Frierson offered to help the Saints petition Congress for redress and reparations. He wrote a new memorial and presented it to church leaders by 28 November. The Saints had previously submitted memorials to Congress in 1840 and 1842 without success. (JS, Journal, 25–26 and 28–29 Nov. 1843; JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to Congress, 10 Jan. 1842, photocopy, Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL; see also Edward Partridge, Memorial to U.S. Congress, ca. Jan. 1839, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL.)

    Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

    Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 30 June 1843.

  4. [4]

    For more on the Missouri extradition attempts, see “Part 4: June–July 1843”.

  5. [5]

    General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843; Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843; JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.

  6. [6]

    Frierson previously expressed a similar idea when he indicated that South Carolina was “ready to cast the first stone at the monster mobocracy” since it was “the only state in the Union which has never been disgraced by a mob.” (John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [3].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  7. [7]

    See Minutes, 4 Dec. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 29 November 1843 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

The mayor spoke, said he rose to make confission, that he used all his influence to prevent the brethren from fighting when mobbed in , he did wrong, it was a suggestion of the head. he would never do so again. but when the mob come upon you, kill, them, I never will restrain you again but will go and help, you,
spoke, when any of the Missourians are sick I call upon you help me on you to heal them,
said he would help
The spoke again, acknow[ledg]ed his wrong, said he would never put his hand on brother s shoulder again to hold him back when he was abused.
spoke of , said he would never submit to such treetment again,
Mayor . . . spoke again, if I do not stand with those who will stand by me in the hour of troubl and danger, without faulting I give you leave to shoot me—
, there is not a man woman or child, from to the Gulf of Mexico, who is a freeman.
Mayor Read a letter in reply to one he wrote to
stated that the history of the perscutin [persecution] was put into the hand of .
Motioned that every man in the meting who could w[i]eld a pen write an address to his mother count[r]y by J. Smith carried
Mayor read the memorial to congress,— The state right doctrine is what feeds mobs.— they are <​a dead carcass◊​> a stinck, & they shall ascend up as a stink offering in the nose of the Almighty so long as a mee [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 29 November 1843
ID #
7672
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:290–294
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    In an interview in late August 1843, JS said that while he had nothing to do with fighting, “when the Missourians came marching up, Col. Hinckle ordered us to retreat, when I lifted up my hand, and said, ‘Boys I think we won’t go yet; we’ll stand our ground,’ and they stood firm, but Col. Hinckle run like the devil. For doing this, they charged me with treason.” (Interview, 29 Aug. 1843.)

  2. [10]

    Ten years earlier, JS dictated a revelation that stated, “If men will smite you or your families once and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them . . . ye shall be rewarded,” but that if the unrepentant enemy struck a second and third time and ignored a warning to cease its attacks, the Saints were justified in defending themselves and seeking revenge. (Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98].)

  3. [11]

    Stout fought against mobs in Daviess County, Missouri, and against the Ray County, Missouri, militia in the Battle of Crooked River. It appears that Young and Stout were acquainted during the 1838 Missouri conflicts. In a December 1838 letter to his wife, Stout indicated that he gave his sword to Young. (Stout, Autobiography of Hosea Stout, 56; Hosea Stout, [Quincy, IL], to Samantha Peck Stout, Far West, MO, 23 Dec. 1838, Hosea Stout, Papers, CHL.)

    Stout, Reed A., ed. The Autobiography of Hosea Stout. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2010.

    Stout, Hosea. Papers, 1832–1875. CHL.

  4. [12]

    Taylor moved to Missouri shortly before the 1838 persecutions and published an account of the experience in 1839. (“Taylor, John,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:15; John Taylor, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, upon the Latter Day Saints . . . [Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839].)

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

    Taylor, John. A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints. Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839.

  5. [13]

    On 4 November 1843, JS wrote to presidential candidate Henry Clay to ascertain how he would treat the Saints if elected president. On 15 November, Clay wrote back and informed JS that while he “sympathised” with their plight and believed they should be protected by the Constitution, he could not promise or pledge them anything. (Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843; Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.)

  6. [14]

    This likely refers to Pratt’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons . . . (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839). The Times and Seasons incorporated portions of Pratt’s history into its serialized history of the Missouri persecution published from December 1839 through October 1840. (See “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Dec. 1839–Oct. 1840.)

  7. [15]

    In response to this request, several individuals wrote appeals for political persuasion as part of the Saints’ continued effort to secure redress and reparations. These appeals were written generally to state populations. (See, for example, Parley P. Pratt, An Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, Letter to Queen Victoria, [Reprinted from the Tenth European Edition,]; The Fountain of Knowledge, Immortality of the Body, and Intelligence and Affection [Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844]; and Benjamin Andrews, “An Appeal to the People of the State of Maine,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Jan. 1844, [1].)

    Pratt, Parley P. An Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, Letter to Queen Victoria: (Reprinted from the Tenth European Edition,): The Fountain of Knowledge, Immortality of the Body, and Intelligence and Affection. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [16]

    The memorial summarized the Saints’ Missouri experiences and asked Congress for protection, relief, and redress of grievances. Richards read the memorial again at the 4 December 1843 meeting, where those present voted unanimously to approve it. (JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC; Minutes, 4 Dec. 1843.)

  9. [17]

    See Isaiah 65:5.

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