In an 11 April 1844 meeting of the held in , Illinois, JS gave a discourse on the role of revelation in a theocracy. The Council of Fifty met that day in the newly dedicated . The first of two sessions held that day occurred from nine o’clock in the morning to one o’clock in the afternoon. During the morning session, the committee charged with drafting a constitution for the Council of Fifty reported on its lack of progress in producing the assigned document. Committee member explained that the committee—which also included , , and —had been unable to meet because of “public engagements” during the ’s April . After the council approved a motion to give the committee more time, Phelps stated that “the document in progress was the most important ever undertaken by any committee” and motioned that JS be added to the committee. Richards seconded the motion, and JS made the following remarks.

In his address, JS declared that he would not join any committees but would review committee members’ activities independently and seek revelation on their behalf. JS explained that a theocracy required council members to exercise their collective wisdom in decision making and align themselves with the directions and revelations given. Council members were hopeful that the best elements of a democracy could be paired with a righteous theocracy to create a theodemocracy that would protect religious minority rights, include other American religious groups, and help prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. JS also admonished council members to study geography, languages, and government.

recorded JS’s discourse as part of the minutes he kept for council meetings. He presumably wrote the original minutes on loose sheets of paper. These original minutes are not extant. Before his death, JS instructed Clayton to destroy or safely secure the Council of Fifty’s records. Clayton opted to bury the records, but he dug them up after JS’s death and copied them in August and September 1844 and in February 1845. It was presumably during this period that Clayton copied JS’s first 11 April discourse into a small bound volume that he titled “Record of the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God.” The copied version is featured here.