Footnotes
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844. JS also expressed his view that the United States Constitution was ineffective because it did not include measures for compelling government officers to protect civil rights equally. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844.)
Clayton copied this draft into the Council of Fifty’s records. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 18 Apr. 1844.)
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Apr. 1844; JS, Journal, 25 Apr. 1844; Richards, Journal, 25 Apr. 1844.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
At a meeting held in December 1846, Clayton recounted that in the 25 April 1844 meeting JS “wrote on a scrip of paper the constitution.” (Minutes, 25 Dec. 1846, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1845–1883, CHL.)
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
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JS gave similar instruction at the organizational meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo on 17 March 1842. Speaking of a proposed presidency for the organization, he stated, “Let this Presidency serve as a constitution— all their decisions be considered law; and acted upon as such.” He then expanded this notion of a constitution to include the actions of the organization as a whole, explaining that “the minutes of your meetings will be precedents for you to act upon— your Constitutio[n] and law.” (Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842, 8, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 31.)
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