Minutes, 21 December 1843

Footnotes

1. 1

   According to the meeting’s attendance record, those present were city councilors Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, Orson Pratt, William W. Phelps (acting on behalf of Sylvester Emmons), Heber C. Kimball, Daniel Spencer, and Brigham Young; aldermen Orson Spencer, Daniel H. Wells, George A. Smith, and Samuel Bennett; mayor JS; city recorder Willard Richards; and city marshal Henry G. Sherwood. (“The Attendance of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, Commencing August. 12th 1843,” Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)  

2. 2

   JS apparently missed the beginning of the meeting. He first appears in the minutes during the discussion of where to build the city jail. Following the opening prayer, the review of the previous meeting’s minutes, a committee report regarding the site for a city jail, and a resolution for that committee to select a location, Brigham Young—who was selected at the meeting’s outset as its president pro tem—is referred to in the minutes as “Counsellor Young,” possibly indicating that JS had joined the council by this point. Other records confirm that JS was present at the meeting. (JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1843, in JSP, J3:149; “The Attendance of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, Commencing August. 12th 1843,” Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)  

3. 3

   The Nauvoo City Council last met on 16 December 1843. At that meeting, the council appointed William W. Phelps as substitute for absent councilor Sylvester Emmons. The council discussed the memorial to Congress that it had assigned a committee to write on 8 December. The council passed two ordinances: “An ordinance regulating Merchants’ and Grocer’s Licences” and “An Ordinance concerning the Landing of Steam Boats in Nauvoo.” It appointed Jonathan Dunham as wharfmaster and voted that Heber C. Kimball replace Charles Warner as city auctioneer. The council also appointed Kimball to obtain a block of land from Davidson Hibbard on which to build a jail—a subject that was addressed again in the 21 December meeting. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 194–197; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 27; see also Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844, p. 374 herein.)  

4. 4

   Hibbard, a longtime resident of Hancock County and a convert to the church, owned a significant portion of land along the southeast edge of the plat of the city of Nauvoo. The referenced land was in Hibbard’s second addition to the city. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, p. 52, “Hibard’s Second Addition to Nauvoo,” 2 May 1842, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also map 7, p. 485 herein.)  

5. 5

   According to the map of Hibbard’s Second Addition to Nauvoo, lots 3 and 4 of blocks 3 and 4 and all four lots of block 11 were vacant. The city council eventually agreed to a bond with Hibbard to obtain lot 3 in block 4 for “the erection of public buildings” for $500. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, p. 52, “Hibard’s Second Addition to Nauvoo,” 2 May 1842, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Feb. 1844, 1; Corporation of the City of Nauvoo to Davidson Hibbard, Bond, Nauvoo, IL, Jan. 1844, draft, in Committee Reports, 1841–1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)  

6. 6

   Huntington, the sexton of the city cemetery, requested twenty-nine dollars for the interment of twelve individuals and for a coffin. (William D. Huntington, Claim, Nauvoo, IL, 20 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; see also Woods, “Cemetery Record of William D. Huntington, Nauvoo Sexton,” 135–144.)  

7. 7

   The Nauvoo Treasury credited Huntington the twenty-nine dollars on 26 December 1843. (Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 109.)  

8. 8

   On 8 December, JS proposed the idea of petitioning Congress “to take the city under their protecti[o]n.” That day, the Nauvoo City Council created a committee consisting of John Taylor, Orson Spencer, and Orson Pratt to draft a memorial requesting federal assistance and protection. By 16 December, the committee prepared a draft, which was read to the Nauvoo City Council. Councilors suggested amendments, and JS stated: “We wished to ask the privilege of calling on U. S troops to protect us in our privileges, which is not unconstitutional,— but lays in the breast of congress.” JS and the council debated the constitutional merits of the memorial before referring it back to the committee for revision. (Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844, p. 374 herein.)  

9. 9

   The council added the following language to the memorial to create section 4: “And be it further ordained, that, for all services rendered in quelling Mobs, and preserving the public peace, the said Nauvoo Legion shall be under the same regulations, rules, and laws of pay as the troops of the United States.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844, p. 393 herein.)  

10. 10

    Pratt did not depart for Washington DC to present the memorial to Congress until March 1844. (Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844, p. 376 herein.)  

11. 11

    Assembling a delegation to present the bill follows the procedures Latter-day Saints took when submitting an 1840 memorial to Congress. (See Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840, in JSP, D7:139–143.)  

12. 12

    By “foreign,” the council meant any legal process initiated outside Nauvoo. (See Ordinance, 21 Dec. 1843, pp. 421–423 herein.)  

13. 13

    According to established city council rules, all bills must be read aloud three times before they were passed: once to introduce the bill, a second time prior to opening debate and amendments, and a final time prior to passage. In this instance, the city council suspended the usual rules and simply passed this ordinance after hearing the title and text read twice and the title read a third time. (“Rules of Order of the City Council,” 22 Jan. 1842, 5–6, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)  

14. 14

    This statement reflects JS’s stance on slavery in the United States at the time. On 30 December 1842, JS stated in a private conversation that “he had decided that he would not vote for a Slave holder” because keeping slaveholders in political office empowered them to continue to subdue minority peoples. When asked how he would advise a man who held a hundred enslaved people, JS responded, “I have always advised such to bring their slaves into a free county— & set them free— Educate them & give them equal Rights.” A few days later, JS spoke again on slavery and enslaved persons. He stated that “Slaves in washington [are] more refind than the presidents” and that if given an equal opportunity with whites, they would rise to an exalted and respected state. By early February 1844, just over a month after this 21 December 1843 statement, JS decided to run for president. As part of his political platform, he called for the emancipation of enslaved persons in the United States, which would be paid for from the sale of lands by the federal government. (JS, Journal, 30 Dec. 1842 and 2 Jan. 1843, in JSP, J2:197, 212; JS, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, 9.)  

15. 15

    Although Illinois was nominally a free state, its constitution and anti-Black laws allowed slaveholders to bring their enslaved persons into the state and even sell them under the guise of voluntary indentured servitude contracts lasting up to a year. Additionally, all free Blacks living in the state had to be registered by the county and carry with them certificates proving their free status. Any Black person found without a certificate was to be arrested as a fugitive enslaved person. The kidnapping of Black people to put them into bondage was also a common occurrence in the early United States. In 1793, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which enabled slaveholders to recapture escaped enslaved persons. The act also put free Blacks in danger of being kidnapped and sold into slavery based upon the color of their skin. For example, Solomon Northup, a free Black man living in New York, was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he remained enslaved for twelve years before regaining his freedom. An editorial equating the kidnapping of white Illinois citizens with slaveholders stealing free people of color appeared in the Nauvoo Neighbor the day before this city council meeting. JS’s remarks were part of a larger national discussion about the rights of people of color and appealed to a broader concept of protecting the rights of all Americans, including racial and religious minorities. (Constitution of the State of Illinois [1818], art. 6, secs. 1–3; An Act respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves [30 Mar. 1819]; An Act respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves [17 Jan. 1829], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], pp. 32–33, 501–505, 506–508; Foner, Fiery Trial, 7–8; An Act Respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons Escaping from the Service of Their Masters [12 Feb. 1793], Public Statutes at Large, 2nd Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 7, pp. 302–305; Northup, Twelve Years a Slave; Editorial, Nauvoo Neighbor, 20 Dec. 1843, [2].)  

16. 16

    In June 1842, Warner was unanimously elected city auctioneer. On 16 December 1843, the city council elected Kimball to that office and carried the motion to remove Warner as city auctioneer. Warner was reinstated later in this 21 December meeting, and he remained city auctioneer until October 1844. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 11 June 1842, 85; 16 Dec. 1843, 194; 12 Oct. 1844, 219; see also Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 21 Dec. 1843, 198; and Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 11 June 1842, 31; 16 Dec. 1843, 26; 12 Oct. 1844, 49.)  

17. 17

    In February 1841, the Nauvoo City Council appointed Sherwood as marshal “to continue for two years ensuing.” He was elected to another two-year term in February 1843. (Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841, in JSP, D8:19; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 11 Feb. 1843, 159.)  

18. 18

    For more on the creation of the Nauvoo police, see Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–A, pp. 366–370 herein; and Minutes and Discourse, 29 Dec. 1843, pp. 439–445 herein.  

19. 19

    In March 1842, JS submitted a motion to the city council calling for “the inhabitents of this City” to “keep their children at home except on lawful business on Sundays and from skayting on the ice and from marauding upon their neighbours property.” Joseph Smith III later recalled that JS gave his children strict instructions to never go on the ice in the Mississippi River without permission, because “a number of accidents had occurred upon the ice at the river.” (Motion, 5 Mar. 1842–B, in JSP, D9:220; Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, “The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith,” Saints’ Herald, 27 Nov. 1934, 1513.)  

20. 20

    Sherwood was appointed the assessor and collector for Nauvoo’s fourth political ward on 11 November 1843. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 11 Nov. 1843, 190.)  

21. 21

    Phelps replaced Emmons as a councilor pro tempore at the previous city council meeting. (See Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 194.)  

22. 22

    According to JS’s journal, which Willard Richards kept in addition to these minutes, JS remained “till. 2 P M.” (JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1843, in JSP, J3:149.)  

23. 23

    The city council met again for a special session on 29 December 1843. The next regular city council session took place on 13 January 1844. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 29 Dec. 1843, 30; 13 Jan. 1844, 41; see also Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 29 Dec. 1843, 199; 13 Jan. 1844, 200.)