Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”), circa 1838–1839
Source Note
, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”), ca. Sept. 1838–ca. Oct. 1839; handwriting of , , , , and two unidentified scribes; 112 inscribed pages with eight inserted slips of paper; JS Collection, CHL.
Historical Introduction
While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the church “at Illinois and scattered abroad and to in particular,” instructing the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this state.” Edward Partridge responded with an account that became the three opening installments of “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” an eleven-part series published in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, between December 1839 and October 1840. “A History, of the Persecution” receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website.
may have intended to tell the entire story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of “A History, of the Persecution” began and died on 27 May 1840. Prompted by Partridge’s illness and subsequent death, the editors of the Times and Seasons, and , sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. It is probable that they composed the fourth installment to provide a brief transition from Partridge’s account, which ends in 1836, and the conflicts in and adjoining counties beginning in 1838. The fifth and seventh installments reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839). In May 1840, the sixth installment drew upon ’s eighty-four page pamphlet, An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840), a draft of which is presented here. Though no author is named on the title page of the pamphlet, Rigdon was acknowledged as responsible for that publication when it was advertised in the Times and Seasons in 1840 and 1841. Also, much of this draft is in Rigdon’s hand. More of Rigdon’s work was reprinted in the eighth through tenth installments published from July to September 1840. The series concluded with an eleventh installment in the October 1840 issue, featuring General ’s callous speech to the Saints after their surrender at , Missouri, in November 1838.
The manuscript version of ’s Appeal to the American People presented here is referred to as the “petition draft” titled “To the Publick”. On 1 November 1839, Rigdon’s recently completed petition draft, endorsed by JS, Rigdon, and , was read to a conference of Saints in , Illinois, who then voted to approve its publication in the name of the church. and then collaborated to arrange for publication of the text in late 1839 and early 1840.
Although many of the events reported in ’s draft and pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology is often inaccurate. (Consult the annotation in Histories,Volume 2 for corrections to portions published as part of “A History, of the Persecutions.”) However, his account contains the text of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s 5 September 1838 affidavit concerning his 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some material not readily found elsewhere.
a very ignorant ambitious creature; who was determined to carry his election, if possable, and that at all hazzards, whether the people were willing to elect him or not. Those who were not willing to vote for him, he determined by the force of mob law, to prevent from voting.
It may not however be amiss here to give an account of this said ’s maneouvres during the elect[i]oneering campaign. He was at the time the Colonel of the militia in , and had been the leader in the first mob which had been raised to prevent the saints from making settlements in in the first instance, of which previous mention has been made. When the electioneering campaign had fairly commenced, great exertions were made by the different candidates, and their friends, to obtain the votes of the saints; each man in his turn making his application. , like the rest, made application also. A , who was a man of influence among the saints, was the man to who<m> said made overtures. , knowing that had always been an enemy to the saints, took the liberty to ask , about his former hostilities and his previous attempt to drive thesaints <them> from ther homes; as well as many abusive things which he had said. declared that he never had any intention of driving them from ther homes; he only tried to scare them, and if he could not, he intended to let them alone. And as to the many abusive things which he had said, he said “they were very wrong; he had been deceived by fals reports, without being acquainted with the people; and, since he had become a acquainted with them, he found that they were firs[t] rate citizens.” And by many such sayings, did he attempt to gain votes: but the saints all the time knowing that he was a corrupt man, and every way disqallified for the office, after which he was strugling, would not be inducced to vote for him at all. This he fully understood, before the election, and made [p. [9[b]]]