Documents, Volume 12, Part 3 Introduction: May 1843
Part 3: May 1843
JS spent much of May 1843 in routine activities related
to his roles as president of the , mayor of , Illinois, and
lieutenant general of the . For
example, he led a Nauvoo Legion parade on 6 May and spoke to the gathered
crowd about his determination to protect the oppressed.
He also continued to oversee land sales and development in Nauvoo,
and he received letters from individuals interested in selling land
to the Latter-day Saints and obtaining JS’s help in other land
transactions. One man wrote him
seeking work as a clerk in Nauvoo.
JS made two short trips in May to outlying settlements of Saints.
From 13 to 15
May, he traveled to ,
Illinois, with
and . The day
after returning to , he departed
for and —both in , Illinois—traveling from 16 to 18
May. While on these trips,
JS gave a few discourses to the Saints, addressing topics found in 2
Peter 1—primarily what it meant to have one’s calling and election
made sure and what was meant by the “more sure word of
prophecy.”
While in Macedonia, JS discussed the principle of eternal marriage
with ; Benjamin’s
wife, ; and clerk . He
taught them that a couple married by the power and authority of the
would “continue to increase & have
children in the ” unless they
committed “the unpardonable sin,” which was “to shed innocent blood
or be accessory thereto.”
As president of the church, JS performed several administrative
tasks during May. For instance, he reviewed minutes
of the church’s April 1843
for publication in the Times and
Seasons. He also continued
receiving donations for construction of the
,
including funds forwarded from Andrew Hains, a
Latter-day Saint from . In addition, he
received a letter from apostle
requesting permission to establish a newspaper in ,
where Page was laboring.
On 27 May, JS presided over a council of the
and
other church leaders that reviewed the conduct of , the former
of the
. Earlier that month, JS
received two communications complaining of disparaging comments
Winchester allegedly made about certain Latter-day Saint women in
the Philadelphia branch and asking that the Quorum of the Twelve
review the allegations. At the 27 May council,
these letters were read, and Winchester defended himself against the
accusations. At the end of the council, church leaders required
Winchester to give up his to preach and move with
his family to , which he
complied with by fall 1843.
JS’s interest in ancient languages
continued in May. Several individuals visited JS
because they were interested in metal plates that had been unearthed
near Kinderhook, Illinois, and given to him.
These plates supposedly contained ancient characters, which JS had
been asked to translate. In addition, a
letter published in the 15 May 1843 issue of the
Times and Seasons and attributed to JS discussed
the meaning of the word Mormon. It argued
that the word meant “more good” and derived
from the English and Egyptian languages.
Part 3 features eighteen documents created in May 1843, including correspondence,
accounts of discourses, and minutes of meetings.