Joseph Smith and the members of the in , Illinois, were on high alert in September 1842. Three months earlier, —a member of the church’s governing and the mayor of Nauvoo—left the church, resigned his civic office, and departed the city, and he was now publishing incendiary accusations against Joseph Smith and the Saints. These accusations fueled rising animosity toward the church throughout the country and prompted legal action, leading authorities in and to seek Joseph Smith’s arrest. Their efforts and Smith’s resulting legal appeals hindered his ability to lead the church and the city government of Nauvoo. The 105 documents in this volume of The Joseph Smith Papers chronicle the ways Joseph Smith and others continued the work of growing the church and building the city of Nauvoo amid these and other trying circumstances.

One of the most pervasive themes in these documents is Joseph Smith’s effort to elude officers of the law who attempted to arrest him and extradite him to . These extradition attempts stemmed from the failed assassination of former Missouri governor , who was shot by an unknown assailant on 6 May 1842 while he sat in his home in , Missouri. Although initial suspicion pointed elsewhere (including to Boggs’s opponents in an upcoming election for a seat in the Missouri Senate), rumors circulated that the Saints in were responsible for the act. These reports gained wider attention when the disgruntled claimed that Joseph Smith had directed to shoot Boggs, a rumor Smith repeatedly denied. Just days after Bennett published his accusations, however, Boggs swore an affidavit against Smith, prompting Missouri governor to issue a requisition demanding that authorities apprehend Smith and extradite him to Missouri to stand trial for his alleged crime. Smith maintained that the arrest attempts were illegal and conducted by “the most blood-thirsty kind of men” who threatened “death, and destruction, and extermination upon all the Mormons.” He feared, with good cause, that if he returned to Missouri his enemies there would kill him “at all hazards.”

In August 1842, after receiving the requisition order from , governor dispatched officers from , Illinois, to to arrest Smith and . Shortly after their arrests, however, the Nauvoo Municipal Court issued a writ of , a legal order that required the court to hold a hearing to determine whether the basis of the arrest warrant was justified. Unsure about the legality of these proceedings, the arresting officers returned to Quincy to consult with Carlin. Meanwhile, Smith went into hiding, finding refuge in the homes of friends in Nauvoo, in the surrounding rural parts of , and across the in , Iowa Territory. He remained in hiding for most of August.

By 1 September 1842, Joseph Smith returned to his home in . On 2 September, however, reports arrived that had once again sent officers to the city to apprehend Smith. Despite hearing these reports, Smith was caught off guard the next day when the officers—, Illinois, constable , state agent , and Adams County undersheriff —entered his home while he was dining with his family. Smith’s friends distracted the officers, and he quickly fled through the back door of his house, through his garden, and to the nearby home of . Later that evening, he moved to ’s home, where he remained in hiding for several days. A month later, the risk had not abated, and on 7 October he traveled to the home of in Henderson County, Illinois, approximately thirty miles northeast of Nauvoo. He remained there until 28 October.

After issued his warrant, several of Joseph Smith’s associates began communicating with Carlin and other state officials, pleading on Smith’s behalf. Their appeals had no effect, however, as the governor remained committed to the extradition process. In fact, on 20 September 1842, Carlin issued a proclamation in which he offered a reward for Smith’s capture. Nevertheless, Smith’s fortunes began to change in November. After the City Council, led by Smith as mayor, passed an ordinance that dramatically expanded the municipal government’s power to issue writs of habeas corpus, Smith felt secure enough to remain in Nauvoo and return his attention to his ecclesiastical, municipal, and familial responsibilities. His legal outlook also brightened in December when was inaugurated as governor. Church members living in Nauvoo voted overwhelmingly for Ford in the gubernatorial election earlier that year and were hopeful that the new governor would be more persuaded by Smith’s legal defense than Carlin had been.

In early December 1842, Joseph Smith dispatched several of his associates to , the state capital. Accompanied by prominent Springfield church member , the group met with several state officials and , the attorney for the District of . They discussed various legal matters, the most pressing being Smith’s extradition case. After Smith’s associates retained Butterfield as Smith’s Springfield attorney, Butterfield spoke with prominent state officials, including , and noted that even if Smith had supported a plan to assassinate , that alleged crime would have occurred in Illinois, not . Butterfield convincingly argued that since Joseph Smith had not fled Missouri, he was not a fugitive from the law there and therefore was not subject to the extradition laws of the United States, so Missouri had no claim on him. Those with whom the group consulted generally agreed that Missouri’s requisition was in fact illegal. Afterward, Ford, Butterfield, and Adams each wrote to Smith urging him to travel to Springfield for a hearing. Although Ford believed that ’s support of extradition had been legally flawed, he was unsure whether he could simply dismiss the previous governor’s order. He decided it would be best to discharge Smith only after the issue was settled in court. Ford assured Smith that the court would treat him fairly, and he guaranteed Smith’s physical safety during the proceedings.

Accordingly, on 26 December, Joseph Smith submitted to a prearranged arrest made by , major general of the . Accompanied by Law and other friends, Smith then proceeded to . After arriving in the capital, they spent several days meeting with and various state officers. Because the Circuit Court for the District of needed a warrant in order to hear Smith’s case and the sheriff still had the original arrest warrant, Smith petitioned for a new warrant; he likewise petitioned the circuit court for a writ of habeas corpus. He also swore out an affidavit averring that he had not been in at the time of the attempted assassination. As a result, the circuit court determined to hear Smith’s case.

On 4 January 1843, the habeas corpus hearing for Joseph Smith commenced in a courtroom, with federal district judge presiding over the proceedings. represented the state of ; and represented Smith. The hearing lasted for most of the day. Pope accepted Butterfield’s and Edwards’s legal reasoning, and, after the involved parties reconvened in the courtroom the next morning, he ruled that the charges in the requisition and warrant for Smith failed to prove that he should be extradited to for trial. Abiding by Pope’s decision, Ford discharged Smith from state custody.

The judge’s ruling was welcome news not just to Joseph Smith but to the Latter-day Saints generally. As Smith and his companions traveled back to , some members of the group celebrated the court’s decision by quickly composing songs, which the traveling party repeatedly sang. When news of the ruling reached Nauvoo, the city’s residents were similarly jubilant. In poems and songs—and at parties held in Smith’s honor—they praised and for preserving their rights and the provisions in Nauvoo’s city charter. Even though Smith received news that might not relent in its efforts to extradite him, the hearing represented a major legal victory for him and the Saints. reported to his brother that “President Smith said the church never had so good a prospect before them as at the present time.”

Amid the events associated with his extradition case, Joseph Smith attended to several matters of church business. Among the most urgent was a response to ’s lecture tour and published letters criticizing the church. At a special of the church held in on 29 August 1842, called on “every who can” to go east to counteract Bennett’s “false statements,” preach the gospel, and collect donations for the completion of the Nauvoo and . Approximately four hundred men volunteered to serve such missions. Several documents featured in this volume are letters some of these missionaries wrote to Joseph Smith and other church leaders in Nauvoo reporting on the impact of Bennett’s publications and lectures as well as their success in countering his claims. In addition, a September 1842 letter from , a friend of the Saints in , informed Smith that John C. Bennett was trying to publish his exposé, The History of the Saints. Bennett eventually found willing publishers in , , and , and his book was released in October 1842.

Central to ’s public attacks on Joseph Smith and the church, which Bennett continued making on his lecture tour, was the allegation that Smith practiced polygamy. Although Bennett embellished and seemingly fabricated several of his claims on the matter, Smith was, in fact, secretly practicing plural marriage in by this time. He had introduced the practice to a small circle of Latter-day Saints, but most church members were not aware of it. It appears that Smith was not to any additional plural wives during the six months covered by this volume and that his communication and interaction with his plural wives were limited.

In addition, Joseph Smith’s earlier plural marriages and proposals of plural marriage—along with the rumors spread—shaped some of the conflicts and events that occurred between September 1842 and February 1843. For instance, the plural marriage controversy partly influenced a dispute over the operation of the post office in , an issue that occupied much of Joseph Smith’s attention in late 1842 and early 1843. was appointed Nauvoo’s postmaster when the post office opened in 1840. Although he was replaced in that position by his father-in-law and member of the First Presidency, , in 1841, Robinson continued assisting Rigdon in managing the post office. As early as August 1842, Joseph Smith expressed displeasure with the manner in which Rigdon and Robinson were managing the mail and accused them of corruption. Among other claims, Smith asserted that Rigdon and Robinson opened some of his letters, took others, and even stole money from mail that was intended for him or the church. These accusations were likely influenced to some degree by Smith’s relationships with Rigdon and Robinson, which had recently been deteriorating, especially after John C. Bennett alleged that Joseph Smith proposed marriage to in spring 1842 and Nancy declined. Robinson distanced himself from the church and subsequently assisted Bennett in his public attacks on Smith and the Saints. Although Rigdon and Robinson denied the charges of misconduct in their management of the post office, Joseph Smith and other Nauvoo residents sought to have Smith replace Rigdon as postmaster.

Rumors of plural marriage also provided the context for one of the most important cases of church discipline that occurred during this six-month period. The case centered on and his position in the . In summer 1842, the relationship between Joseph Smith and Pratt grew strained due to rumors circulating in . One story was that while Pratt was serving his mission in , his wife, , engaged in an extramarital affair with , who resided in the Pratts’ home for a time. According to another rumor, Smith had proposed marriage to Sarah Pratt, an allegation Smith denied.

In July 1842, opposed a public resolution in that proclaimed Joseph Smith “a good, moral, virtuous, peaceable and patriotic man.” As a result, Pratt was excommunicated the following month and was appointed to take his place in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In January 1843, however, Pratt reconciled with Smith, renewed his support for the church, and was reinstated both in the church and the . Smith and the apostles in Nauvoo met to decide on Pratt’s status within the quorum, and they ultimately determined that his earlier removal was void due to a procedural technicality. Pratt afterward reassumed his place among the Twelve Apostles, effectively nullifying Lyman’s membership in the quorum.

Joseph Smith also dealt with matters of church discipline that members in of the church outside of brought to him. In some cases, branch leaders wrote to him asking for his prophetic counsel on how to proceed with disciplinary actions covering a range of matters that included theft and adultery. Several cases of church discipline in also demanded Smith’s attention, including ’s confessions of adultery and a dispute between two church members over the ownership of in the .

Another church matter that required Joseph Smith’s consideration was the accusation that the was mismanaging funds and other materials donated for the building of the . The committee managed the temple’s construction, including the collection and distribution of money and other materials in support of the project. The accusations against the committee included claims that it was dispensing food and other resources unfairly to those working on the temple, favoring relatives of temple committee members. In a statement published in October 1842, Joseph Smith indicated that as a result of the allegations of impropriety he had reviewed the account books that the committee maintained and found them to be in order. Then, in November, Smith presided over a hearing in which he determined that the temple committee should continue as previously constituted. Despite Smith’s public claims of confidence in the temple committee, the review of the account books and the later hearing resulted in significant procedural changes, particularly regarding how the committee maintained its records.

Joseph Smith also focused on the ’s construction by pleading frequently with the Saints to remain committed to that project as well as to the construction of the . He made these appeals in editorials in the church newspaper Times and Seasons as well as in a public discourse. In October 1842, Smith and other church leaders determined that a temporary floor should be installed in the unfinished temple. They may have hoped that the installation of a temporary floor and the resultant meetings in the unfinished building would reinvigorate the Saints’ commitment to the construction of the temple, a commitment that had apparently started to wane.

While directing church affairs, Joseph Smith also communicated important doctrinal teachings to church members. During his time in hiding during September 1842, Smith wrote two significant letters to the church regarding for the dead. These two letters provided instruction about the practice in past Christian eras and direction on systematizing the procedure for recording the , including what information the general church recorder was to include in the general church book. Smith emphasized that it was the will of God to keep precise records of the baptisms for the dead that church members performed and that such a record, faithfully kept by a recorder, would constitute an offering to God and a record in heaven. Connecting record keeping for baptisms for the dead to the doctrine of sealing, Smith taught church members that the ordinance was vital to creating “a welding link” between all generations of humankind.

Following the extradition hearing in January 1843, Smith resumed his practice of regularly speaking to church members on religious matters. He preached several sermons in his home and in the unfinished on its temporary floor. He spoke on a range of topics, including the establishment of the kingdom of God and the importance of John the Baptist. Speaking contrary to the belief of some Christian denominations at that time, Smith stated that the kingdom of God predated the day of Pentecost described in the New Testament and that the baptisms performed by John the Baptist therefore constituted a necessary Christian rite for the remission of sins. In a different discourse, Smith chastised those who focused on their own business ventures rather than giving priority to the construction of the . Finally, Smith used private settings as opportunities to explain and expound upon previous teachings about the nature of angels, distinguishing between “resurrected personages” and “the spirits of just men made perfect” who were still awaiting resurrection.

At the start of the period covered by this volume, Joseph Smith was the owner and operator of the church’s and the editor of the Times and Seasons, the church periodical in . and assisted Smith with his editorial responsibilities, but when he was occupied with other business, Taylor and Woodruff commonly performed most—if not all—of the editing required for the publication of each issue, including the writing of editorial content. While it is unclear how involved Joseph Smith was in preparing the issues published in September and October 1842, he nevertheless assumed editorial responsibility for all issues produced during his time as editor. Selections of the editorial content in the four issues published during September and October are featured in this volume. In the 15 November 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, Smith notified readers that he had resigned as the newspaper’s editor and turned that responsibility over to Taylor. In December, Smith leased the paper and the printing office to Taylor and Woodruff.

In May 1842, Joseph Smith took on one of his most significant civic duties when the City Council appointed him mayor of the city following ’s defection from the church and resignation as mayor. Smith continued to serve the remainder of Bennett’s mayoral term in the final months of 1842 and the early months of 1843. In November and early December 1842, Smith—whose mayoral duties included serving as a justice of the peace for Nauvoo—presided over, testified in, and initiated trials against several individuals accused of violating the city’s religious and legal moral codes. A representative sample of documents from such cases is featured in this volume.

At the same time that Smith was settling into his role as mayor, the city government passed many ordinances regulating unruly behavior. One of these regulations was an omnibus bill passed on 30 January 1843 that included ordinances to prevent fires, to thwart the spread of animal-borne illnesses, to keep the streets and alleys clean, to regulate the disposal of garbage, and to broaden the definition of disturbances of the peace. Indeed, the rapid growth of , celebrated by Joseph Smith and other city leaders, generated a need for greater and more detailed regulations. A selection of the city ordinances is included in this volume.

Much of the rapid growth experienced during late 1842 and early 1843 came from a steady stream of new converts pouring into the city. Many of these migrants joined the church and moved to the as a result of the mission of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to Great Britain in 1840. The British mission presidency and its appointed agents managed the emigration process in while Joseph Smith and other church leaders assisted with the new converts’ settlement in the Nauvoo area. As trustee-in-trust for the church, Smith owned much of the land in and around Nauvoo, and he and his clerks played a major role in helping converts and others settle in the region.

In February 1843, the city of held its second biennial election, in which city residents cast ballots for mayor, aldermen, and city council members. For the first time in a general election, Joseph Smith was elected mayor, running unopposed. Smith’s new mayoral term commenced on 11 February with a swearing-in ceremony, after which Smith reorganized the city council’s standing committees and delivered a discourse. Once installed, Nauvoo’s new city government commenced a busy session. Much of the flurry of municipal business focused on the development of Nauvoo’s economy. Like the rest of , Nauvoo was extremely cash poor in the early 1840s. In part to remedy this problem and to facilitate growth and construction in the city, Nauvoo, like many other cities in the state, had printed city scrip. Nauvoo’s city scrip, however, had no value in other cities and towns, and its rapid depreciation within Nauvoo itself placed the city government in difficult circumstances. On 25 February 1843, at a meeting concerning the city’s financial troubles, Joseph Smith and the city council debated what to do to alleviate the city’s financial burden. The council ultimately passed an ordinance stipulating that Nauvoo’s citizens were to pay taxes, debts, and fines only in gold and silver coin and prohibiting further city scrip from being issued and circulated.

Joseph Smith was also personally involved in several land transactions during the six months covered in the volume. In 1842 and 1843, land speculators who had invested in the settlement and development of western offered to sell land to Smith and the church. Smith declined the offer of one such speculator, who tried to sell Smith the ferrying rights he claimed to own on the several miles north of . In another instance, Smith purchased the land offered: a large portion of the town of , Illinois, which had been platted but not developed. Because the town was on a particularly shallow and swampy bend in the Mississippi River, the purchase ultimately proved to be a poor investment and a health hazard. Smith also purchased two tracts of land bordering his farm, a few miles east of Nauvoo.

Although this volume illustrates many of Joseph Smith’s business concerns, one major issue from this period—his bankruptcy proceedings—is largely absent from the documents presented in this volume. While very little information on these proceedings appears in the featured documents, other surviving records from the time give insight into the proceedings. Pursuing relief from his debts through the Bankruptcy Act of 1841, Smith filed for bankruptcy in April 1842, but by the end 1842, the process had stalled. Several complicating factors contributed to the delay, including Smith’s conflation of his personal debts with those he had assumed as the trustee-in-trust for the church, ’s accusations of fraudulent land transactions, and a significant debt Smith owed to the government for a steamboat purchased in 1840. In December 1842, the church members whom Smith had sent to to discuss the ongoing extradition efforts with state officials also consulted with concerning Smith’s bankruptcy. Butterfield acted as Joseph Smith’s attorney during the extradition hearing even though as the attorney assigned to Smith’s bankruptcy case he had expressed concerns about the legality of Smith’s bankruptcy petition. Shortly after agreeing to represent Smith in his extradition proceedings, however, Butterfield wrote to his supervisors that the bankruptcy petition might be viable after all. The bankruptcy proceedings were still pending at the close of February 1843.

As in previous periods of his life, Joseph Smith relied heavily on clerks and scribes in the production of documents. Several of the documents featured in this volume were copied into Smith’s journal. From September to mid-December 1842, this journal was kept by , , and . Of these three scribes, Clayton was the most active. While in hiding, Joseph Smith appointed Clayton to serve as his . In addition to managing much of Smith’s personal business, Clayton officially served as the temple recorder and worked for Smith as clerk for the church’s trustee-in-trust and as clerk for the Nauvoo registrar of deeds. , another prominent scribe, was absent from Nauvoo during much of fall 1842. Shortly after he returned to the city, however, Richards was appointed by Smith to “act as his private se[c]retary & historian.” Thereafter, he took over Smith’s daily journal and frequently served as a clerk for Smith’s church business. Many of Smith’s documents related to city business were written by , who served as the Nauvoo city recorder and clerk of the municipal court.

The six months between September 1842 and February 1843 were a turbulent period of Joseph Smith’s life. Together, these documents illuminate that period, demonstrating how it commenced with his earnest attempts to elude law officers and concluded with legal decisions and election results that seemed to signal a brighter future for Smith, the church, and .

Joseph Smith Documents from September 1842 through February 1843

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