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Authorization for Orson Pratt, 12 March 1844
Source Note
Source Note
JS, Authorization, , Hancock Co., IL, for , 12 Mar. 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 12 Mar. 1844]; handwriting of ; signatures of and JS; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes redactions and dockets.
Single leaf measuring 9⅞ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The document is ruled with twenty-seven horizontal lines printed in blue ink. An embossment of “H & E Goodwest Hartford, CT” inside a rectangle appears on the upper left corner of the recto. The authorization was inscribed on the recto of the leaf. The lower left corner of the recto was unevenly hand cut and separated; that excised fragment, which likely contained a representation of the city seal, is not extant. The document contains redactions by repurposing the document as an authorization for on 30 March 1844. The document was folded twice horizontally, and dockets and a numerical calculation of unknown origin were inscribed.
The authorization was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. Revisions were made to the docket by Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1856. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket with its accompanying revisions and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
- [2]
Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.
Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.
Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.
- [3]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 12 March 1844, presumably at JS’s direction, was authorized to act as an for the city council of , Illinois, in . The previous December, JS proposed to the members of the city council that they petition Congress to protect the city. In response, a committee drafted a memorial requesting that Nauvoo be granted all the powers and rights belonging to a federal territory of the until provided redress for the losses the had sustained in the state in the 1830s. The memorial also asked that the mayor of Nauvoo be authorized to call upon federal troops as necessary to help the repel mobs and keep the peace. The city council accepted the memorial on 21 December 1843 and signed it on 12 February 1844. Pratt was appointed to travel to Washington DC to deliver the memorial to Congress. Shortly after receiving this authorization, Pratt departed Nauvoo for Washington to complete his assignment.
The featured version of the authorization, which was inscribed by , bears the notation “copy,” suggesting that it was a draft or a retained copy of the version that took with him to . A docket in ’s handwriting suggests that Richards inscribed the original letter at JS’s request. JS signed the copy of the authorization, as mayor, and Richards also signed it, as city recorder. This version was later repurposed as a copy of an authorization for by , who changed the date and the name of the subject of the letter. The document is the only extant version of Pratt’s authorization.
Footnotes
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
Pratt was present on 11 March at the inaugural meeting of the Council of Fifty but does not appear in subsequent meeting minutes. Given that Illinois senator James Semple presented to Congress the memorial that Pratt delivered on 5 April, Pratt arrived in Washington DC prior to that date. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. 1844; Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 482 [1844].)
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.
- [6]
The Council of Fifty sent Orson Hyde to Washington DC to deliver a memorial petitioning the government to appoint JS as a member of the United States Army with the authorization to gather one hundred thousand armed volunteers to secure westward migration for American citizens. (See Letter from Orson Hyde, 25 Apr. 1844; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 24–26 Mar. 1844.)
City of <Ill.>)
March 12, 1844.)
To whom it may concern. We, the mayor, and of said , do certify that Esq. the bearer, a councillor in the city council <of> said , is sent as an for said or corporation, to transact such business as he may deem expedient and beneficial <for.> the community which he represents; And as such agent, and gentleman of principle, and character, he by us, is recommended to the due consideration of all the Executive officers of the government, both houses of Congress, and gentlemen generally of the United States.
In witness where of we have hereunto set our hands and affixed the seal of said Corporation.
<Corporation>
Joseph Smith Mayor
Recorder [p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [1]
Pratt had served on the city council since 1841.
Insertion in the handwriting of Willard Richards.
Signature of JS.
- [2]
TEXT: Signature of Willard Richards.