Discourse, 29 August 1842

JS seems to have had in mind the “Mormon War” of 1838 and his escape from Missouri in 1839, as well as his recent efforts to avoid those seeking to extradite him from Illinois to Missouri. (See Introduction to Part 2: 8 July–29 Oct. 1838; Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839; and Letter to Wilson Law, 14 Aug. 1842; see also Thomas R. King, Fillmore, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 21 Feb. 1868, Obituary Notices and Biographies, CHL.)  

Obituary Notices and Biographies, 1854–1877. CHL. MS 4760.

According to later accounts, during the conflict between Latter-day Saints and their neighbors in northern Missouri, John Killian, a Caldwell County militia officer, advised Jacob Hawn, who was not a member of the church, to lead the Saints located near his mill to safety in Far West, Missouri, and JS gave the same counsel. Hawn apparently failed to convey the message to the settlement of Saints. According to one account, he told church members living at Hawn’s Mill that JS had counseled them that if they thought they “could maintain the mill” and “thought not to come to Farewest,” they should not move, particularly since local Missouri residents “had agreed to be at pease.” Seventeen church members at Hawn’s Mill were killed in an attack in October 1838. (Daniel Tyler, “Recollections of the Prophet,” 94–95; Lewis, Autobiography, 11–12; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 16, [7]; Brigham Young, Discourse, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 20 May 1866, in George D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1866, George D. Watt, Papers, CHL, as transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 78–79.)  

Tyler, Daniel. “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Juvenile Instructor, 1 Feb. 1892, 93–95.

Lewis, David. Autobiography, 1854. CHL. MS 13716.

Watt, George D. Papers, ca. 1846–1865. CHL.

Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.

The actions of antagonistic individuals inside and outside the church had precipitated JS’s sudden departure from Kirtland, Ohio, in January 1838 and led to his arrest in Far West, Missouri, in November 1838. (See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–C; and Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839.)  

Tension between Orson Pratt and JS escalated in mid-July 1842 as Pratt struggled with allegations raised regarding his wife, Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt. Bennett alleged that JS had proposed marriage to Sarah Pratt, an allegation that Sarah apparently corroborated. In contrast, Jacob B. Backenstos and others alleged that Bennett had an affair with Sarah while Pratt was on a mission to England. Unable to reconcile these allegations, and with Bennett’s actions becoming more public, a distraught Orson Pratt left Nauvoo on 15 July but returned later that night. (See Account of Meeting, 15 July 1842; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; Stephen H. Goddard, “Letter to Orson Pratt” and “Testimony of Mrs. Goddard,” in Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL; and Jacob B. Backenstos, Affidavit, Hancock Co., IL, 28 July 1842, JS Office Papers, CHL.)  

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.

In a letter JS received just over a week earlier, Wilson Law had written of the wicked “people who crucified Christ.” (Letter from Wilson Law, 17 Aug. 1842.)  

In a letter sent to Parley P. Pratt in mid-July, Brigham Young noted that Orson Pratt did “not know whether his wife is wrong, or whether Joseph’s testimony and others are wrong.” Young echoed this theme when Orson Pratt was reinstated into the Quorum of the Twelve in January 1843; he “said all he had against Orson was when he came home he loved his wife better than David.” Young here used the biblical David as a type for JS. Decades later, Sarah Pratt made several claims after she was disaffected from the church, some of them dubious, and again insisted that JS had proposed to her. (Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 17 July 1842, CHL; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 20 Jan. 1843; Von Wymetal, Joseph Smith the Prophet, 61–63.)  

Young, Brigham. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 17 July 1842. CHL. MS 14291.

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

Von Wymetal, Wilhelm [W. Wyl, pseud.]. Joseph Smith the Prophet: His Family and His Friends; A Study Based on Facts and Documents. Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing, 1886.

See Malachi 4:3.  

See Matthew 26:14–15.  

See Ephesians 6:17; and Revelation, ca. Aug. 1835 [D&C 27:18].  

In two editorials in the Warsaw Signal, Thomas Sharp attacked the Nauvoo charter and the issuing of writs of habeas corpus by the Nauvoo Municipal Court. Governor Thomas Carlin also criticized the city ordinances on habeas corpus. The state legislature eventually heard complaints about the powers granted to the city of Nauvoo by its charter on 9 and 10 December 1842. (“Recent Attempt to Arrest the Prophet,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 13 Aug. 1842, [3]; “An Ordinance,” Warsaw Signal, 20 Aug. 1842, [2]; Thomas Carlin, Quincy, IL, to Emma Smith, [Nauvoo, IL], 7 Sept. 1842; JS, Journal, 9–20 Dec. 1842.)  

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

JS might have been alluding to the fact that the right of habeas corpus is set forth in the United States Constitution. (U.S. Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9.)  

As Governor Thomas Ford later explained, the Nauvoo charter could in fact be repealed through legislative or judicial means. While efforts to repeal the charter failed during JS’s lifetime, it was finally repealed in January 1845. (Thomas Ford, Springfield, IL, to “the Citizens of Hancock County, Mormons and all,” 29 Jan. 1844, Warsaw [IL] Signal, 14 Feb. 1844, [2]; An Act to Repeal the Act Entitled “An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo” [29 Jan. 1845], Laws of the State of Illinois [1844–1845], pp. 187–188.)  

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Incorporation Laws of the State of Illinois; Passed at a Session of the General Assembly, Begun and Held at Vandalia the 6th Day of December, 1836. Vandalia, IL; William Walters, 1837.