[], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, second edition; i-vi, 7–60 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Shepard and Stearns, 1840. The copy used herein is held at CHL.
A manuscript draft of this pamphlet, simply titled “To the Publick” was presented to a conference of church members at , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve the manuscript and authorized its publication on behalf of the church. The pamphlet, when published, carried the endorsement of JS, , and as “Presidents of said Church.”
and collaborated on the publication of the text, which was available in print by May 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, was acknowledged as author in an 1840 Times and Seasons newspaper article, and when the pamphlet was advertised in that church periodical in 1841. JS and held some expectation that funds from the sale of An Appeal would eventually help defray costs of their late-1839 trip to .
By July 1840, and had been authorized to produce a second, revised edition to be published by Shepard & Stearns in . Page related some of the circumstances surrounding its publication and circulation in a letter sent to JS, “. . . at [Ohio] we parted for a few days . . . Elder Hyde went to Cincinnati where in my absince he published a second Edition of the ‘Apeal to the American people’ (2000 copies)[.] when I arrived the work was about completed[.] after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about cincinnati and the adjacient country he left me with some fourteen or fifteen hundred on hand, to dispose of” (John E. Page, Philadelphia, PA, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 1 Sept. 1841, JS Collection, CHL). Funds from this printing were to be for the express purpose of subsidizing Hyde and Page’s imminent mission to in Palestine.
The second edition was essentially a lightly edited reprint of the first, with a four-page “Publisher’s Preface” added. In the preface, and noted the purpose of the publication, explained the severe hardships imposed by the persecutions upon Page’s own family, provided a detailed account of a vision experienced by Hyde, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospects of the mission. The preface also contained a copy of an official letter of appointment and commendation for Hyde and Page from an April 1840 church conference at , Illinois, signed by JS, and a letter of reference from , governor of .
Although many of the events reported in both editions of ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology of events is often inaccurate. However, Rigdon’s account does contain the texts of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document from a historical perspective is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some important material not readily found elsewhere.
the State, where they live. Threatenings were again heard from , , Clinton, Platt and counties, that they were going to raise another mob and come and drive the citizens out of . The emigration was so rapid, and so great, that in the space of eighteen months after the first settlement in , there was not room enough for the people in that , and they were under the necessity of seeking habitations some where else; and a number went into , which was north of . Soon after the settlements commenced in , a mob made its appearance, forbidding them to settle there under pain of death. However, this was not regarded, and the settlements which were made in different parts of the , were increasing daily, until one or two whole townships were entered, besides large bodies of land entered in other parts of the , in such parts of the as had come into market; besides, a large number of improvements were bought, under the expectation of getting pre-emption rights. The mob spirit which first made its appearance in , for a season seemed to sleep, and there was no hindrance offered to the settlements, which were increasing very fast. All parties remained quiet; many of those who had been engaged in the first mob in , came forward and made confession of their wrongs; and all, so far as was concerned, was peace: but , ,Clinton and Platt, kept up a continual threatening, until it could not be borne any longer: and the saints openly declared that it should cease, for they would suffer it no longer. No person should come into the streets of as they had been accustomed to do, and there threaten the people with mobs. This had the desired effect; it ceased, and no persons ventured to do so any more. But the before-mentioned counties kept up a continual threatening at home, whenever they saw any of the people of .
This order of things continued without any violence, until the election which took place in August, 1838. The saints had been in from August, 1836, making two years.
Threatenings were making that they should not vote at the election. Not only was it threatened that they should not vote in , but there were insinuations thrown out, that there would be a mob in to prevent the people there from voting. There were no great fears, however, entertained that any attempt of the kind would be made. The election at last came on; and the saints went to discharge what they considered not only a privilege but a duty also. One of the candidates for representative in , was by the name of , a very ignorant, ambitious creature, who was determined to carry his election if possible, and that at all hazards, 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 manoeuvres during the electioneering 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 mention has been made. When the electioneering campaign [p. 15]