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Ordinance, 10 June 1844

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Ordinance, 10 June 1844

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Ordinance, [, Hancock Co., IL], 10 June 1844; handwriting of , with insertions in handwriting of and unidentified scribe; signature block in handwriting of ; three pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes endorsement, docket, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). A rectangular embossment appears in the top left corner of the recto of the first leaf. The recto and verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf are ruled with twenty-nine printed horizontal lines (now faded). The verso of the second leaf is not ruled and contains unrelated graphite notations. The document was folded for filing.
An endorsement, a docket, and a filing notation were inscribed on the ordinance by , who became the city recorder for in August 1843. The document was presumably kept among Nauvoo city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Family and Church History Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. The Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection was arranged and cataloged by the Family and Church History Department (now CHL) in 2006. The document’s likely inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories and its later inclusion in the Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection suggest continuous church custody since 1845.

Footnotes

  1. Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Aug. 1843, 20.

  2. “An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2018, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  3. “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  4. “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  5. See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 10 June 1844, the , Illinois, city council passed an ordinance penalizing libel, slander, and other actions that disturbed the peace. The ordinance was created in direct response to the first issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, which was published on 7 June 1844. The Nauvoo City Council discussed the Expositor as well as the character of various individuals associated with it at the council’s regularly scheduled meeting on 8 June. During the afternoon session, JS, Nauvoo’s mayor, suggested that the city pass an ordinance against misrepresentations and libelous publications “to p[r]eve[n]t all. conspiracy against the peace of the city.” City councilor and , a city councilor and the city’s attorney, were appointed to a committee to write the ordinance. Before the end of the meeting, they produced an initial draft. Phelps read this draft to the city council, after which JS requested that the committee add a preamble. Alderman , who was acting as president pro tempore during the meeting, then suggested that city councilor be added to the drafting committee to write the preamble. City councilor also suggested that the committee add language to “prevent attempts to take away” Nauvoo’s city charter, the legislative act incorporating the city of Nauvoo. Harris then told the committee to make every effort to provide a “full report” on the ordinance, presumably at the council’s next meeting.
Two days later, on 10 June, the city council met again to discuss the Nauvoo Expositor. During the morning session, the committee presented its latest draft of the ordinance, which included a preamble detailing the alleged motives of the Expositor’s proprietors. Later, in the afternoon session, the ordinance was read a second time, and JS and suggested certain additions. It was then read a third time, and JS motioned that the council approve it. JS’s brother , a city councilor, seconded the motion, and the ordinance passed unanimously. , who was again serving as president pro tempore for the meeting, then signed it. The final version declared that anyone guilty of libeling, slandering, or bribing ’s citizens with the intent of raising opposition to the city’s charter or undermining its peace could be fined up to $500, be imprisoned for six months, or be both fined and imprisoned.
The state of already had a statute against libel. However, the act incorporating Nauvoo, often called the charter, permitted the Nauvoo City Council to pass any ordinance deemed “necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness” of the city, as long as the ordinance was “not repugnant” to the or Illinois constitutions. By adopting a libel ordinance, the city council ensured that persons responsible for alleged libelous publications, including any future issues of the Expositor, would be prosecuted within Nauvoo’s court system rather than in the state courts.
The libel ordinance, however, was ultimately not used against those involved with the Nauvoo Expositor. Instead, JS suggested that the council suppress the Expositor. The city council then passed a resolution declaring the Expositor’s printing equipment and any copies of the newspaper in its printing office a nuisance and ordering JS as mayor to remove them in a manner of his choosing.
The passage of the libel ordinance apparently encouraged some of the Nauvoo Expositor’s proprietors to abandon . , for instance, claimed that the libel ordinance “was resorted to” so the mayor and city council “might by a form of law rob us of our property, and get us into their prisons to take away our lives.” According to Law, these suspicions led him and others involved with the Expositor to leave Nauvoo on 12 June.
, who served as a clerk for JS, made a fair copy of the ordinance sometime between 8 and 10 June, which was most likely the version presented to the city council on 10 June. An insertion in the ordinance’s text corresponds with an addition that JS requested during the 10 June 1844 city council meeting. A published version of the ordinance appeared in the 12 June 1844 edition of the Nauvoo Neighbor. McEwan’s fair copy is featured here because it was the version of the ordinance passed by the council and signed by .

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 7 June 1844; Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844.

  2. Minutes, 8 June 1844.

  3. Minutes, 8 June 1844; “An Ordinance concerning Libels and for Other Purposes,” 8 June 1844, draft, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  4. The preamble reflects the Nauvoo City Council’s lengthy deliberations about the character and actions of the Nauvoo Expositor’s proprietors and their associates on both 8 and 10 June. (Minutes, 8 June 1844; Minutes, 10 June 1844.)

  5. Minutes, 10 June 1844; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 10 June 1844, 210–211.

  6. An Act Relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois (1839), p. 220, sec. 120; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  7. Minutes, 10 June 1844; Resolution, 10 June 1844.

  8. Law, Diary, 11–12 June 1844, in Cook, William Law, 56.

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

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

  10. “An Ordinance concerning Libels, and for Other Purposes,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 12 June 1844, [3].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Draft of Ordinance, 8 June 1844 Preamble to Ordinance, between 8 and 10 June 1844 Ordinance, 10 June 1844 Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 1841–1845 Ordinance, 10 June 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
Sec. 2. Be it farther ordained that nothing <​in the for[e]going section​> shall be <​so​> construed as to interfere <​with​> the right of any person to be tried by a jury of his own vicinage; with the freedom of speech or the liberty of the press, according to the most liberal meaning of the constitution; the dignity of freemen; the voice of truth; and the rules of virtue.
Sec. 3. and be it farther ordained that this ordinance shall be in force from and after its passage.
Pres. Protem—
Passed June 10 1844
R[e]corder [18 lines blank] [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Ordinance, 10 June 1844
ID #
12038
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • John McEwan
  • Unidentified
  • William W. Phelps
  • George W. Harris
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. Insertion in unidentified handwriting.

  2. Insertion in the handwriting of William W. Phelps.

  3. Section 6 of article 8 of the 1818 Illinois constitution stated that “the right of the trial by Jury shall remain inviolate.” Section 9 of the same article guaranteed “a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage” in criminal prosecutions “by indictment or information.” The Nauvoo charter permitted the municipal court to impanel juries to hear appeals. (Illinois Constitution of 1818, art. 8, secs. 6, 9; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

    Illinois Office of Secretary of State. First Constitution of Illinois, 1818. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  4. Blackstone defined the liberty of the press as “laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published.” He further stated that “every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press: but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity.” He concluded that “to censure the licentiousness, is to maintain the liberty of the press.” (Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 2, bk. 4, p. 113, italics in original.)

    Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.

  5. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Section 22 of article 8 of the 1818 Illinois constitution established that “the printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the general assembly, or of any branch of government; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.” (U.S. Constitution, amend. 1; Illinois Constitution of 1818, art. 8, sec. 22.)

    Illinois Office of Secretary of State. First Constitution of Illinois, 1818. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  6. Signature block in the handwriting of George W. Harris.

  7. JS, as mayor, asked alderman Harris to chair, or preside over, the 10 June city council meeting. (Minutes, 10 June 1844.)

  8. Endorsement in the handwriting of Willard Richards.

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