Footnotes
For more information on the Avery kidnappings, see “Part 5: December 1843.”
JS, Journal, 8 Dec. 1843. Before calling the council, JS gave “instructi[o]n concern[in]g dam across the Missisippi. and other ord[i]nance”; this is likely the other ordinance.
“An Extra Ordinance for the Extra Case of Joseph Smith and Others,” 8 Dec. 1843, copy, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
“An Extra Ordinance for the Extra Case of Joseph Smith and Others,” 8 Dec. 1843, copy, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL; Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 9 Dec. 1843, [1].
“Meeting at Green Plains,” Warsaw (IL) Message, 3 Jan. 1844, [2]; “Meeting of Citizens at Carthage,” Warsaw Message, 17 Jan. 1844, Extra, [2]–[3]; Editorial, Warsaw Message, 10 Jan. 1844, [2]; 17 Jan. 1844, [1], [4].
Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.
“Nauvoo City Council—Gen. Joseph Smith—Special Privileges, &c.,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 27 Dec. 1843, [2].
Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.
See, for example, “The Mormons,” Daily National Intelligencer (Washington DC), 9 Jan. 1844, [3]; “The Mormons,” New-York Commercial Advertiser (New York City), 10 Jan. 1844, [1]; “The Mormons and Their Prophet—Legislation at Nauvoo—the Temple,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York City), 27 Jan. 1844, [1]; and “The Mormons,” Niles’ National Register (Baltimore), 3 Feb. 1844, 354.
Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.
New-York Commercial Advertiser. New York City. 1831–1889.
New-York Daily Tribune. New York City. 1841–1924.
Niles’ National Register. Washington DC, 1837–1839; Baltimore, 1839–1848; Philadelphia, 1848–1849.
Nauvoo did not have a city jail, but the city council initiated proceedings a week later to have one constructed. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 27.)
Presumably, this section was included to bring the ordinance into compliance with the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, given the ordinance’s punishment of life in prison. The Fifth Amendment states that “no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury,” while the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to trial before an “impartial jury” in all criminal cases. The wording of this section and its references to these specific constitutional amendments implies that the city council believed it had the power to summon a grand jury and issue indictments based on its findings. No other city council ordinance suggests that the city had this right. According to Illinois statutes, only a county commissioners’ court could assemble a grand jury. (An Act Prescribing the Mode of Summoning Grand and Petit Jurors, and Defining Their Qualifications and Duties [7 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], pp. 395–396, sec. 2.)
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.
Thomas Bullock inserted this same abbreviation at the end of both the 8 December 1843 ordinance authorizing the construction of a wing dam in the Mississippi River and the 12 December 1843 ordinance amending an 1842 ordinance regarding public revenue. He also included this abbreviation on his copies of the correspondence from the Illinois attorney general and his predecessor regarding the Nauvoo Legion. (“An Ordinance to Erect a Dam in the Mississippi River, and for Other Purposes,” 8 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 Dec. 1843, 193; William Ewing, [Springfield, IL], to John Bills, [Nauvoo, IL], ca. 30 Nov. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; see also Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Dec. 1843, 192–193; 12 Feb. and 14 Dec. 1844, 203, 227.)