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Minutes, 4 December 1843

Source Note

Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 4 Dec. 1843; handwriting of ; one page; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ (25 × 20 cm) and ruled with thirty blue horizontal lines, now faded. The document was inscribed on the first three pages. The first leaf was inscribed with minutes of 29 November 1843; the minutes for 4 December were inscribed on the recto of the second leaf. A docket was later added to the verso of the second leaf. The document was 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 were likely part of the documents in possession of the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) in Utah Territory. In 2012 the document was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers at the CHL. The document’s early docket and its 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]

    This collection comprises correspondence addressed to JS’s clerks, correspondence to other recipients that was forwarded to JS for his perusal, copies of miscellaneous documents created by JS’s clerks, and miscellaneous financial documents. (See “Introduction to Joseph Smith Office Papers”.)

Historical Introduction

On 4 December 1843, in , Illinois, a meeting of citizens reconvened after a five-day adjournment to discuss obtaining redress from the government for the persecutions of the 1830s. The reconvened meeting was held at six o’clock in the evening in the second-floor assembly room of . chaired the 29 November 1843 meeting, but it is unclear who chaired the 4 December 1843 meeting. The minutes, however, feature JS as the principal speaker. He opened by instructing his listeners to actively resist future mob violence. JS also charged the audience to cultivate a revolutionary attitude toward their enemies: “let the spirit of 76 burn in their bosoms.” Despite the charged nature of the gathering, JS urged order and requested that a “calm and cool” atmosphere predominate in the meeting.
Following this introduction, a few meeting members read three petitions for assistance aloud: JS’s appeal to the male citizenry of the state of , published as General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys; ’s appeal to the citizens of ; and a memorial to Congress that was written on 28 November 1843. JS’s and Pratt’s appeals were part of a broader campaign to secure individual state support for efforts to obtain redress from the federal government. At the 29 November meeting, JS requested that all “who could w[i]eld a pen write an address to his mother count[r]y,” as JS and Pratt had done. In the months following this 4 December 1843 meeting, other Saints wrote similar appeals addressed to the citizens and legislatures of , , , and Tennessee.
After the appeals and memorial were read, JS delivered a two-and-a-half-hour speech about the persecutions and his general views on government, a discourse not preserved in the minutes. The Nauvoo Neighbor later lauded JS’s speech, gauging it to be “one of the most powerful interesting addresses that we ever heard,” and reported that JS’s audience listened “with breathless silence.” Despite the speech’s sober subject matter, the editors described the lecture as animated and delivered in JS’s “happy, eloquent, masterly manner.”
recorded the featured minutes on the same loose sheets of paper containing the minutes of the 29 November 1843 meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  3. [3]

    General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 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; see also Pratt, Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, 1–6. Pratt’s appeal was published in early 1844. Any prior draft of Pratt’s appeal is apparently not extant. (“A New Publication,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1844, 5:472.)

    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.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  5. [5]

    Benjamin Andrews, “An Appeal to the People of the State of Maine,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Jan. 1844, [1]; Sidney Rigdon, “To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in Legislative Capacity Assembled,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 31 Jan. 1844, [1]; Richards, “An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” 1 Feb. 1844, CHL; Phineas Richards, “An Appeal, to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 Feb. 1844, [2]; Packard, House. . . .No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial; Noah Packard, “House—No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 24 Apr. 1844, [2]; Alphonso Young, “An Appeal to the State of Tennessee, by A. Young,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 28 Feb. 1844, [1].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Richards, Phineas. “An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” 1 Feb. 1844. CHL.

    Packard, Noah. House....No. 64. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Memorial. To the Honorable the Governor, Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, in Legislative Capacity Assembled. [Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1844].

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 4 Dec. 1843.

  7. [7]

    News Item, Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [8]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 4 December 1843
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [3]

[See Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.]
Monday evening December 4.— 1843. 6 oclock P. M. Meeting assembled according to adjourm met, house filled to overflowing.
The mayor made some observations at the opening of the meeting stating the object & its origin, be requested the assembly be calm and cool, but let the spirit of 76 burn in their bosoms, and when occasion requires say little, but act,— and when the mob comes mow a hole through them,
Moved by the mayor, that his appeal to the Freemen of the State of should be read with by Esqr carried, & read,
Moved by the mayor & voted that read his appeal to the state of ,— and read accordingly,
Moved by the mayer & voted to have the read the Memorial to Congress,— & read
By vote, the assembly expressed their unanimous approbation of the memorial
General Jos. Smith followed with remarks relating circumstances in , not mentioned in the Memorial.
vexatious Lawsuits 38 time Paid $150,000 for land out of my own pocket Borrowed $500 gold of at , [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 4 December 1843
ID #
12497
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:322–326
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    There was not enough room to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend the meeting. JS’s journal indicates that two individuals from Missouri were present. (JS, Journal, 4 Dec. 1843.)

  2. [2]

    The phrase “spirit of 76” was commonly used in the United States to refer to the patriotism of the American Revolution, which began in 1776. A variation of the phrase appears in both JS’s and Parley P. Pratt’s appeals. JS referred to the “spirit of 76” on other occasions as well. For example, in an 1842 letter to Major General Wilson Law indicating how to respond to potential mob violence, JS instructed him to “let them [the mob] know that the spirit of old seventysix; and of George Washington yet lives.” (General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843; Pratt, Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, 4; Letter to Wilson Law, 14 Aug. 1842; see also Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 513; Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; and JS, Journal, 9 July 1843.)

    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.

    Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. With the assistance of Jed Woodworth. New York: Knopf, 2005.

  3. [3]

    During a 30 June 1843 address, JS authorized the Saints to defend themselves; an account of that discourse in JS’s journal indicates that he “tur[n]ed the key according to the Pri[e]sthood that the saints might defend themselvs agai[n]st the Missouri[a]ns— & mob law.” The language in this 4 December meeting mirrors JS’s attitude in the 29 November 1843 meeting, in which he indicated that he was wrong “to prevent the brethren from fighting when mobbed in Missouri” and encouraged them to kill the mob in the future. (JS, Journal, 30 June 1843; Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.)

  4. [4]

    See General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843. After receiving instructions from JS, Phelps wrote the appeal on his behalf. (JS, Journal, 21 Nov. 1843.)

  5. [5]

    JS’s and Pratt’s respective appeals are similar in content and organization. They both identified America as “the asylum of the oppressed”; referenced the figures Cain, Judas, and Nero to describe the rise of what they gauged to be pernicious forces threatening the nation; criticized Martin Van Buren’s 1839 assertion that the federal government was unable to help the Saints; characterized God as an avenging deity and listed moments of divine vengeance in the Bible; pointed to a need to cultivate the “patriotism of ’76”; indicated that their fathers were war veterans; and questioned why the Saints were persecuted for worshiping God. (General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843, italics in original; Pratt, Appeal to the Inhabitants of the State of New York, 1–4, 6, italics in original.)

    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.

  6. [6]

    The mayor, city council members, and other officials signed the memorial on 16 December 1843. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 194.)

  7. [7]

    The memorial depicted the Latter-day Saints’ history in Missouri and requested that the federal government “redress our grievances or shield us from harm in our efforts to regain our lost property, which we fairly purchased from the general government.” The memorial described Missouri persecution in a measured way, providing general descriptions of suffering along with accounts of property loss. JS’s lengthy address likely provided a more detailed account of the Missouri experience, but whatever specifics he detailed in his speech, they cumulatively cast the guilty Missourians as a “degraded bloody herd.” (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; News Item, Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [2].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [8]

    Estimations of how much JS paid for land with his own money and the value of the Saints’ lost property varied. JS claimed $100,000 in his 1839 “Bill of Damages.” The 1840 and 1842 memorials to Congress estimated the value of lost property at $2 million. In his 2 January 1844 letter to John C. Calhoun, JS wrote that the Saints purchased “some two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of land” and demanded $2 million in reparations. JS’s 13 May 1844 letter to Henry Clay stated that “the saints have been plundered of three or four millions of land and property.” (Bill of Damages, 4 June 1839; 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; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Calhoun, Fort Hill, SC, 2 Jan. 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL; JS, “Gen. Smith’s Rejoinder,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 29 May 1844, [2].)

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

  9. [9]

    During JS’s 1839 visit to Washington DC, Richard M. Young—who had previously served as an Illinois circuit court judge, was then serving as a state senator, and was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1843—“proposed to furnish us [JS and Elias Higbee] with expense money.” It is likely that the $500 referenced here was the “expense money” they borrowed from Young. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; compare JS, Journal, 9 Oct. 1843.)

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