Documents, Volume 7, Part 2 Introduction: 8 November 1839–25 January 1840
Part 2: 8 November 1839–25 January 1840
On 29 October 1839, JS left the , Illinois, area for , where
he intended to petition the federal government for redress and
reparations for the property members lost
during the conflict of 1838. and accompanied JS as members of the official
church delegation to the federal government, and traveled
with the group as well. The delegation briefly
stopped in , Illinois,
arriving there on 30 October. During the group’s
stay, the Quincy of the church provided JS with a recommend, and physician joined the group to
care for Rigdon, who had been ill for several months prior to the
trip. The traveling party also
tarried in ,
Illinois, from 4 to 9 November
to allow Rigdon to rest. While
there, JS obtained support for the church’s petitioning efforts from
at least two prominent Springfield citizens, and .
Although the delegation considered leaving and in to
allow Rigdon to recuperate under Foster’s care, the group continued
on intact until reaching , Ohio, later in the month. At that point, JS and traveled ahead of the group by stagecoach,
instructing Foster, Rigdon, and to
rejoin them as soon as Rigdon’s health would allow. JS and Higbee
arrived in on
28 November.
The next day, JS and met with President in the President’s
House (a contemporary term for the White House). They asked him to
assist in their petitioning efforts and may have wanted him to voice
support for their memorial in his annual message to Congress. Although Van
Buren declined to extend aid, the delegation still held out hope
that the president would address the church’s cause in his annual
message.
After meeting with , JS and turned their attention to the United States
Congress. Prior to arriving in the capital, the church’s delegation
had started drafting a memorial. The senators and representatives
from met with JS and Higbee on three
consecutive days (5–7 December),
agreed that the memorial was the best method for petitioning
Congress, and offered to help them prepare the document for Senator
to present in the
Senate. JS and Higbee
also continued writing to church leaders in and , urging them to gather additional affidavits
that itemized and valued church members’ lost property in .
About 21 December, while waiting for the
Senate to consider the church’s memorial, JS, , and —who by
this time had arrived in —traveled to meet with church members in and other parts of the Delaware
River Valley. In this region, they
were reunited with several other church leaders, including members
of the who were
ministering to the Saints in eastern and while awaiting
passage to .
and eventually
joined JS in Philadelphia, where JS presided at a church on 13 January.
Part 2 contains twenty-four documents and primarily
comprises correspondence between JS and various
individuals while JS was on his trip to Other
documents include a blessing JS pronounced upon in ; phrenology
charts JS obtained while in ; an affidavit signed by JS, , and as supporting
documentation for their memorial to Congress; and a letter JS wrote to the editor of a newspaper in ,
Pennsylvania. In addition, this part contains a land
record signed by the for
, which demonstrates that
business continued for the church in the area even in JS’s absence.