Discourse, 25 February 1843

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Discourse, 25 February 1843
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JS, Discourse, [
Nauvoo
Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....
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, Hancock Co., IL, 25 Feb. 1843]. Featured version copied [ca. 25 Feb. 1843] in JS, Journal, bk. 1, 21 Dec. 1842–10 Mar. 1843, pp. [219]–[222]; handwriting of
Willard Richards
24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...
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; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, journal, 1842–1844.

Historical Introduction
On 25 February 1843, JS delivered a discourse in
Nauvoo
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, Illinois, to the Nauvoo City Council regarding the city government’s ability to demand payment for fees and taxes in gold and silver coin. At the time of this sermon, Nauvoo was in a dire financial situation owing to a proliferation of city scrip. This discourse demonstrated JS’s increasing preference for using “hard money” to finance the city and the construction of the
temple
Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...
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and the
Nauvoo House
Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. JS revelation, dated 19 Jan. 1841, instructed Saints to build boardinghouse for travelers and immigrants. Construction of planned three-story building to be funded by fifty-dollar...
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.

During the financially depressed years of the late 1830s and early 1840s, many Americans became either “soft money” or “hard money” supporters.
1
See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 373–395; and Lepler, Many Panics of 1837, chap. 1.
Comprehensive Works Cited
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Lepler, Jessica M. The Many Panics of 1837: People, Politics and the Creation of a Transatlantic Financial Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Soft money advocates called on municipalities and private banks to continue printing paper money to increase inflation and relieve debtors, while hard money advocates believed the proliferation of paper currency would destabilize the economy and unfairly disadvantage creditors. Consistent with the soft-money trends,
Nauvoo
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began issuing its own city scrip in early 1842. Because the scrip was redeemable by the city treasury, however, it became a source of financial problems for Nauvoo.
2
Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842.
On 13 January, a little more than a month before this February discourse,
William Clayton
17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...
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informed the Nauvoo City Council that the city treasury then had only about forty dollars of currency that could be accepted in other towns. Evidently aware of the limited acceptability of the city scrip, several Nauvoo residents had asked to exchange the scrip for currency that would be honored in locations outside of Nauvoo.
3
William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, to Nauvoo City Council, 13 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
The following day, the city collector presented a report to the council showing that during 1841, only $43.06 of taxes was paid in cash, while $430.50 was paid in city scrip.
4
Collector’s Report, 14 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Together with Clayton’s letter, the report demonstrated the city’s growing financial difficulties occasioned by the city scrip, which had been issued in order to promote growth in the city but held no worth in other towns.

Responding to these problems, JS expressed his own displeasure about the decreasing worth of
Nauvoo
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’s paper money and encouraged the Saints not to use it to purchase stock in the
Nauvoo House
Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. JS revelation, dated 19 Jan. 1841, instructed Saints to build boardinghouse for travelers and immigrants. Construction of planned three-story building to be funded by fifty-dollar...
More Info
or to donate toward the
temple
Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...
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. During a 21 February discourse, JS called for gold and silver coin rather than jewelry, brass kettles, and other items—including paper money—to fund the construction of buildings, promising his audience that using gold and silver would establish sound currency in the city.
5
Discourse, 21 Feb. 1843.
On 23 February, JS burned twenty-three dollars of Nauvoo city scrip and reportedly declared, “So may all uncurrent. & unsound money go down as this burns.”
6
JS, Journal, 23 Feb. 1843.
On the morning of 25 February 1843, the Nauvoo City Council met and debated “a Bill for regulating the Currency.”
7
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 25 Feb. 1843, 9.
The bill mandated that “Gold and Silver Coin only be received as lawful tender in payment of City Taxes, and of debts, and also of fines.” In addition, the proposed ordinance prohibited the further release of city scrip and fined individuals for passing any paper currency within the city.
8
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 167. The council amended the ordinance between the time the group discussed it on 25 February and passed the final version on 4 March to ensure that city scrip could still be used for payment in certain instances. (See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 10.)

JS’s journal suggests that during the city council’s morning session, JS questioned whether the council should pass the ordinance. Upon consulting the
United States
North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...
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Constitution between the morning and afternoon sessions, he determined that the first clause of article 1, section 10, allows states to accept gold and silver coin as legal tender and that the state of
Illinois
Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...
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allowed the
city
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to do the same.
9
Article 1, section 10, clause 1, reads, “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.” Nauvoo’s charter allowed the city to collect taxes and “enforce the payment of the same in any manner to be provided by ordinance, not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
In addition, JS’s reading of the clause apparently convinced him that the Illinois stay and appraisal laws were unconstitutional.
10
An Act to Amend “An Act concerning Judgments and Executions, Approved, January 17th, 1825” [19 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 168–171; An Act Entitled “Act Regulating the Sale of Property on Judgments and Executions” [6 Jan. 1843], Laws of the State of Illinois [1842–1843], pp. 186–189. The 1843 act expanded on an act passed in 1841. Following the financial panics of 1837 and 1839, many states passed similar stay and appraisal laws to allow relief for debtors. (An Act Regulating the Sale of Property [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 172–173; Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 12.)
Comprehensive Works Cited
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.
Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
Convinced that the proposed ordinance regulating currency was the proper course for the city to take, JS delivered his 25 February 1843 discourse to the Nauvoo City Council during its afternoon session.
11
The city council passed an ordinance regulating currency in Nauvoo at its 4 March meeting.
12
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 167–168.

Willard Richards
24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...
View Full Bio
made the only extant record of this sermon in JS’s journal. Although JS gave the discourse in a meeting of the
Nauvoo
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City Council, the city council minutes for 25 February 1843 do not include any of his comments to the group.
13
See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 25 Feb. 1843, 8–9.
Footnotes
[1]
See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 373–395; and Lepler, Many Panics of 1837, chap. 1.
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Lepler, Jessica M. The Many Panics of 1837: People, Politics and the Creation of a Transatlantic Financial Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
[2]
Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842.
[3]
William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, to Nauvoo City Council, 13 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
[4]
Collector’s Report, 14 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
[5]
Discourse, 21 Feb. 1843.
[6]
[7]
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 25 Feb. 1843, 9.
[8]
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 167. The council amended the ordinance between the time the group discussed it on 25 February and passed the final version on 4 March to ensure that city scrip could still be used for payment in certain instances. (See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 10.)
[9]
Article 1, section 10, clause 1, reads, “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.” Nauvoo’s charter allowed the city to collect taxes and “enforce the payment of the same in any manner to be provided by ordinance, not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
[10]
An Act to Amend “An Act concerning Judgments and Executions, Approved, January 17th, 1825” [19 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 168–171; An Act Entitled “Act Regulating the Sale of Property on Judgments and Executions” [6 Jan. 1843], Laws of the State of Illinois [1842–1843], pp. 186–189. The 1843 act expanded on an act passed in 1841. Following the financial panics of 1837 and 1839, many states passed similar stay and appraisal laws to allow relief for debtors. (An Act Regulating the Sale of Property [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 172–173; Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 12.)
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.
Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
[11]
[12]
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 167–168.
[13]
See Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 25 Feb. 1843, 8–9.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 25 February 1843 Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 1, 21 December 1842–10 March 1843 History Draft [1 January–3 March 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”
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I have read the Constitution. & find my doubts. removed.— the constitution is not a law. but empowers the people to make laws.— constitution govern the lands of
Iowa
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803. First permanent white settlements established, ca. 1833. Organized as territory, 1838, containing all of present-day Iowa, much of present-day Minnesota, and parts of North and South Dakota. Population in...
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but is not a law for the people. constitution tells what shall not be lawful tender— Constitution section 10 this is not saying gold & silver shall be lawful tender— it only provid[e]s the states may make a law— to make gold and silver— lawful Tender. [p. [219]]
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