, Letter, , to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL?], 24 Mar. 1840. Featured version copied [between Apr. and June 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 105–107; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
Historical Introduction
While in on 24 March 1840, wrote a letter to JS, the last in a series of letters apprising JS of the actions of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which was considering the ’s memorial to Congress. In this letter, Higbee informed JS that the Senate approved the committee’s resolution to no longer consider the church’s memorial and that he had retrieved all the documents the church’s delegation had submitted along with the memorial. He also updated JS on the prospect of submitting the memorial to the House of Representatives and on his plans to travel back to the , Illinois, area.
presumably sent this letter to . The original letter is not extant. copied the version featured here into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between April and June 1840.
I have done all I could in this matter; depending on the good judgment of to legislate for us to the best advantage— I am inclined however to think if it was an error, it was one of the head and not of the heart. has addressed a letter to yourself & myself, which seems to [be] written with much good feeling, (sd. letter is from Connt.) he desires to know concerning our business here, inviting us to make his home our home should we travel in that region
He writes that his health is very bad— I have been talking with Mr. <Steward> [John Todd Stuart] concerning a Memorial— requesting him to bring it before the house; who has promised so to do if he can; he says he will talk with some of the members respecting it— I have answered ’ letter this day, and sent him the Report of the Committee
Stuart represented Illinois in the House of Representatives. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 119, 1995.)
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.
The memorial was not submitted to the House of Representatives during the first session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. During the second session, however, a very similar petition drafted by Higbee and Robert B. Thompson was submitted to the House and considered by the House Committee on the Judiciary. (“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons, House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. [1840].)
“Latter-day Saints,” Alias Mormons: The Petition of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Known as Mormons. House of Representatives doc. no. 22, 26th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1840).