Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 December 1839
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Source Note
JS and , Letter, , to and Nauvoo high council, [, Hancock Co., IL], 5 Dec. 1839. Featured version copied [between Apr. and June 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 85–88; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 5 December 1839, JS and wrote to —the remaining member of the in , Illinois—and the to inform them of their safe arrival in a week earlier. JS and Higbee apprised Smith and the high council of their recent efforts to obtain redress from the federal government for the persecutions members experienced in and described their meeting with President , in which the president declined to help the Saints.JS and , accompanied by representative , went to the President’s House on 29 November seeking a meeting with . In the 1830s, visitors commonly arrived at the President’s House without an appointment. Many Americans, including legislators and office seekers, discussed their business with the president in social settings, and Van Buren frequently met with guests in the parlor outside his office for hours at a time. In this setting, JS and Higbee would have had to compete with other visitors for the president’s attention, which may explain why Reynolds introduced them.It is unclear what JS and asked to do to support their petitioning efforts. They may have requested an executive order that would result in redress and reparations for church members’ losses, but no documentary evidence exists to support this possibility. It is unlikely that Van Buren would have considered executive action to force , a state led predominantly by Democrats, to restore the Saints’ property rights. Van Buren was a staunch advocate of states’ rights and was at this time widely considered the architect of the Democratic Party, which had elected his predecessor, Andrew Jackson, to two consecutive presidential terms. However, JS and Higbee possibly believed Van Buren was amenable to lending his political influence to the church’s memorial for redress to Congress. Evidence suggests they tried to enlist him to assist in their appeal. In their ongoing correspondence while in , members of the church’s delegation indicated they were awaiting publication of the president’s annual message to Congress, hoping that Van Buren would therein urge Congress to act in the Saints’ behalf.JS and also described their plan to meet with all the congressional delegates the following day, mentioned the delayed travel of and , and asked and the high council to help expedite financial arrangements for the delegation. They then requested that the Saints continue their efforts to encourage influential men in Illinois and to write letters to Congress in support of the church. After closing by asking that the letter be forwarded to their wives, JS and Higbee included a postscript that criticized the behavior of Congress and recounted more of their travels.received the letter by 2 January 1840. The original letter is not extant. The version featured here was copied into JS Letterbook 2 by between April and June 1840.
Footnotes
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1
An account of an April 1840 JS discourse states that JS met with Van Buren at the President’s House over two successive days, whereas according to this letter to Hyrum Smith—the earliest extant account of the meeting—and a March 1840 discourse, the parties met at the President’s House only once. All three of these accounts, however, reported the same sentiment in Van Buren’s response. (Discourse, 7 Apr. 1840; Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.)
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2
See Allgor, Parlor Politics, 76–79, 232.
Allgor, Catherine. Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
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3
Reynolds, My Own Times, 575. According to Lucy Mack Smith’s account of this meeting between JS, Higbee, and Van Buren, the parlor in which these men met was filled with several other visitors. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 17, [12].)
Reynolds, John. My Own Times: Embracing Also, the History of My Life. Belleville, IL: B. H. Perryman and H. L. Davison, 1855.
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4
Presidents rarely issued executive orders during this period. Van Buren’s seven predecessors in office had issued a combined total of thirty executive orders over forty-three years. Van Buren issued ten executive orders during his term as president. (Peters and Woolley, “Executive Orders,” in American Presidency Project.)
Peters, Gerhard, and John T. Woolley. “Executive Orders.” In The American Presidency Project, 1999–. Hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php.
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5
Silbey, Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics, chaps. 3–4.
Silbey, Joel H. Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.
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6
A report of JS’s discourse at an April 1840 general conference of the church states that JS and Higbee were seeking Van Buren’s assistance with their plan to petition Congress and makes no mention of a possible executive order. (Discourse, 7 Apr. 1840.)
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7
Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839; Letter from Robert D. Foster, 24 Dec. 1839. At this time, the president’s annual message to Congress (later known as the State of the Union address) was not delivered as a speech but instead was sent to Congress as a letter. (Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 1–7.)
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.
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8
According to this letter and others that JS, Rigdon, and Higbee wrote to Commerce during the ensuing months, the delegation was constantly concerned about insufficient funds during their travels. (Letter from Jacob W. Jenks, 31 Dec. 1839; Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–B; Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 3 Apr. 1840.)
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9
This campaign to have influential men write to Congress was apparently an extension of the petitioning plan Rigdon set forth in April 1839. (Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 10 Apr. 1839.)
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11
Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
JS and Higbee composed the letter at the boardinghouse in which they were staying on the corner of Missouri Avenue and Third Street in Washington DC, which was approximately four miles from the President’s House.
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2
See James 5:15.
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3
See Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; 10:21; and Luke 9:23.
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4
Van Buren was criticized by several of his political rivals for the opulent way in which he remodeled and decorated the President’s House during the early part of his term in office. (Seale, President’s House, 214–215, 221–224.)
Seale, William. The President’s House: A History. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
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5
The meeting most likely occurred in an upper-floor room adjacent to the president’s office where the president regularly received large groups of visitors. According to architectural plans of the President’s House, that room was called the Audience Room at the time. (Phillips-Schrock, White House, 157–161.)
Phillips-Schrock, Patrick. The White House: An Illustrated Architectural History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013.
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6
See Historical Introduction to Letter of Introduction from Sidney Rigdon, 9 Nov. 1839.
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7
“Come in contact with” was an idiom meaning to contradict or to disagree with. (See “Contact,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 2:889.)
Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
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8
See 2 Peter 1:16.
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9
This sentence appears to be a humorous reference to the Westminster Confession of Faith, which states, “There is but one only, living, and true God . . . a most pure Spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.” (Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament Sitting at Westminster, concerning a Confession of Faith, 5.)
The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament Sitting at Westminster, concerning a Confession of Faith: With the Quotations and Texts of Scripture Annexed. Presented by Them Lately to Both Houses of Parliament. Edinburgh: Evan Tyler, 1647.
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10
The church’s critics in Missouri frequently claimed that church members represented a sizeable voting bloc that could sway elections in the direction church leaders desired. While in Indiana on his return trip to Commerce, JS reportedly announced his support of the leading Whig presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison. (“A Glance at the Mormons,” Alexandria [VA] Gazette, 11 July 1840, [2]; Corrill, Brief History, 33; Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840.)
Alexandria Gazette. Alexandria, VA. 1834–1877.
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11
In December 1839, the Illinois delegation to the United States Congress consisted of representatives Zadok Casey (Democrat), John Reynolds (Democrat), and John Todd Stuart (Whig); and senators John M. Robinson (Democrat) and Richard M. Young (Democrat). (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 119, 797, 1800, 1823, 1995, 2214.)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.
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12
JS and Higbee parted company with Rigdon and Robert D. Foster while en route to Washington DC because Rigdon’s illness was slowing down the group. (Historical Introduction to Letter of Introduction from Sidney Rigdon, 9 Nov. 1839.)
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13
Washington, Pennsylvania, is a town in the southwestern part of the state. In 1840 the town had a population of over four thousand and was a prominent stop on the National Road. (Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants and Statistics of the United States, 24–26; Raitz, National Road, 17, 113.)
Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants and Statistics of the United States, as Obtained at the Department of State, from the Returns of the Fifth Census. . . . Washington: Thomas Allen, 1831.
Raitz, Karl. The National Road. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
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14
Rigdon stayed with his brother Carvel, a member of the church who resided in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, which bordered Washington County and was near Rigdon’s childhood home. (“Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 27 [Oct. 1936]: 156–158; “History of Luke Johnson,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; 1840 U.S. Census, Upper St. Clair Township, Allegheny Co., PA, 128.)
“Records of Early Church Families.” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 27 (Oct. 1936): 156–162.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
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15
Rigdon’s peers celebrated him as a particularly gifted orator. In 1838 Edmund Flagg described Rigdon as having “a full face of fire, a fine tenour voice, and a mild and persuasive eloquence of speech.” Amos S. Hayden recalled decades later that Rigdon’s language was “copious, fluent in utterance, with articulation clear and musical.” ([Flagg], Far West, 2:113; Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 192.)
[Flagg, Edmund]. The Far West; or, A Tour beyond the Mountains. Embracing Outlines of Western Life and Scenery; Sketches of the Prairies, Rivers, Ancient Mounds, Early Settlements of the French, Etc., Etc. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1838.
Hayden, Amos Sutton. Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio; with Biographical Sketches of the Principal Agents in Their Religious Movement. Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1875.
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16
Likely An Appeal to the American People, which was approved for publication by a 1 November 1839 conference at Quincy, Illinois. ([Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, [2].)
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17
Likely the Quincy branch of the State Bank of Illinois. (Richard M. Young, Washington DC, to Elias Higbee, 9 Apr. 1840, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 133–134.)
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18
Hyrum Smith subsequently deposited $300 with merchants in Quincy, which JS and Higbee could then withdraw in Washington DC. (Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840.)
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19
Wight wrote his petition pursuant to JS’s request that the Saints gather “a knowledge of all the facts and suffering and abuses put upon them by the people of this state [Missouri].” There are two petitions authored by Wight to which this letter may be referring, though there are only minor textual differences between the two documents. (Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839 [D&C 123:1]; Lyman Wight, Petition, ca. 1839, microfilm, Martin Van Buren, Correspondence, 1839–1844, CHL; Lyman Wight, Petition, ca. 1839, CHL.)
Van Buren, Martin. Correspondence, 1839–1844. Photocopies. CHL. MS 12809. Original at Library of Congress, Washington DC.
Wight, Lyman. Petition, Liberty, MO, 15 Mar. 1839. CHL. MS 24547.
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20
As the Twenty-Sixth Congress commenced, two separate delegations from New Jersey—one Whig, one Democrat—arrived at the United States Capitol, each claiming to be that state’s duly elected delegation to the House of Representatives. Of the six seats New Jersey held in the House, five were contested due to actions of local elections officials. Because of the strong partisan divide within the House of Representatives (which contained 119 Democrats and 118 Whigs, not including the contested New Jersey seats), the question of which New Jersey delegates to seat elicited a heated and prolonged debate that prevented the House from formally organizing and conducting legislative business for fourteen days. The House ultimately decided to seat the Democratic representatives. (Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 2–16 Dec. 1839, 3–80; 10 Mar. 1840, 569–578; Alexander Johnston, “Broad Seal War,” in Lalor, Cyclopaedia of Political Science, 309.)
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.
Lalor, John J. Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States, by the Best American and European Writers. Vol. 1, Abdication–Duty. Chicago: Melbert B. Carey, 1883.
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21
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 5 Dec. 1839, 6. The chair pro tem is a placeholder, in this case a person who acted as Speaker of the House of Representatives until the legislative body was fully organized and ready to elect one of its members to that position.
Journal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Nineteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight. Jefferson City, MO: Calvin Gunn, 1839.
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22
This “warm feeling” pertained to the controversy that surrounded the seating of delegates from New Jersey, about which several passionate speeches were made by delegates supporting one side of the conflict or the other. (See Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 17–20.)
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.
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23
See Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:89].
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24
The four men representing Missouri in the Twenty-Sixth Congress were Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Senator Lewis F. Linn, Representative John Jameson, and Representative John Miller. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 120, 646, 1324, 1452, 1586.)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, inclusive. Edited by Andrew R. Dodge and Betty K. Koed. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005.
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25
Wheeling, Virginia (later in West Virginia), was a town through which the National Road passed. (Raitz, National Road, 7, 113–114.)
Raitz, Karl. The National Road. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
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26
Decades later, Robert D. Foster gave a detailed account of this incident to Joseph Smith III, but because Foster was not present during the event, his memory likely came from accounts he heard from JS and Higbee. (Robert D. Foster, Loda, IL, to Joseph Smith III, 14 Feb. 1874, in Saints’ Herald, 14 Apr. 1888, 225–226.)
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.