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Proclamation, 11 June 1844

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Proclamation, 11 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Proclamation, , Hancock Co., IL, 11 June 1844. Featured version published in “Proclamation,” Nauvoo Neighbor (Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL), 12 June 1844, vol. 2, no. 7, [2]–[3]. For more complete source information, see the source note for Notice, 26 Aug. 1843.

Historical Introduction

On 11 June 1844, JS, as mayor of , Illinois, instructed his clerk to compose a proclamation ordering the city officers and citizens of Nauvoo to assist JS in keeping the peace. The previous day, the Nauvoo City Council had passed a resolution declaring the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance. Pursuant to this decision, JS, as mayor, instructed city marshal to remove the nuisance by destroying the newspaper’s printing equipment. That evening, a posse led by Greene carried out the order, and several of JS’s enemies threatened to retaliate by demolishing the , burning down JS’s , or tearing down the Nauvoo Neighbor’s printing office. , for instance, stated that “if th[e]y lay their hand up[o]n it,” meaning the Expositor’s press, “or break it. th[e]y may date their downfall f[r]om that ve[r]y hour. and in 10 days there will not be a Mormon left in Nauvoo.” The following day, 11 June, pointed to these threats and reported that there was “considerable excitement” about the Expositor’s suppression.
Besides the threat of vengeance from JS’s opponents within , there was also the danger of mob violence originating outside the city. Tensions between the and some of their neighbors had been growing for years, and in 1844 a tenuous peace prevailed in . In late May, , the editor of the Warsaw Signal, warned that if one of JS’s “enemies be assailed, or the blood of one of them spilled, it will be the signal for general hostilities.” He further stated that “the feeling in this county is now lashed to its utmost pitch, and it will break forth in fury upon the slightest provocation.” JS’s opponents in Hancock County viewed the Expositor’s destruction as this provocation, and reports reached JS sometime on 11 June that “runners [had] gone in diff[er]ent directi[o]ns to get up a mob.”
On the morning of 11 June, JS met with his brother , , , and others in his in the . According to JS’s journal, which was kept by Richards, at some point during or after this meeting, JS instructed to write a proclamation about keeping the peace.
In the proclamation, JS requested that the city’s officers and citizens prevent the circulation of false statements, libels, and slanders, as well as the gathering of mobs. The proclamation was apparently completed later that day and was published in the 12 June issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor along with editorials defending the city council’s actions against the Expositor.
No draft by has been located. However, two manuscript versions of the proclamation are extant. Both appear to be fair copies made by scribe . As the proclamation was presumably intended to be published, the version printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. Minutes, 10 June 1844; Resolution, 10 June 1844.

  2. Mayor’s Order to Nauvoo City Marshal, 10 June 1844; Clayton, Journal, 11 June 1844; Richards, Journal, 11 June 1844; Willard Richards, Minutes concerning Threats, 11 June 1844, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL; JS, Journal, 11 June 1844; see also Testimonies, Nauvoo, IL, 12 June 1844, State of Illinois v. JS for Riot on Habeas Corpus (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844), pp. [2]–[3], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

  3. Clayton, Journal, 11 June 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  4. See “Joseph Smith Documents from 16 May through 28 June 1844.”

  5. Editorial, Warsaw (IL) Signal, 29 May 1844, [2].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  6. JS, Journal, 11 June 1844; “Unparalleled Outrage at Nauvoo,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 12 June 1844, [2].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  7. JS, Journal, 11 June 1844.

  8. “Retributive Justice,” and “To the Public,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 12 June 1844, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  9. JS, Proclamation, 11 June 1844, fair copy, JS Office Papers, CHL; JS, Proclamation, 11 June 1844, fair copy, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Proclamation, 11 June 1844, John McEwan First Copy Proclamation, 11 June 1844, John McEwan Second Copy
*Proclamation, 11 June 1844

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PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of my office as Mayor of the City of , I do hereby strictly enjoin it upon the Municipal Officers, and Citizens of said , to use all honorable and lawful means in their power, to assist me in maintaining the public peace and common quiet of said . As at [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Proclamation, 11 June 1844
ID #
1391
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text

Footnotes

  1. The act incorporating Nauvoo, often called the Nauvoo charter, stated that “the Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace within the limits of said city.” A contemporary legal dictionary explained that “all judges, justices, sheriffs and constables are conservators of the peace, and are bound, ex officio, to be aiding and assisting in preserving order.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; “Conservator,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:313.)

    Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

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