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Discourse, 15 October 1843

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Discourse, 15 October 1843

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 15 Oct. 1843]. Featured version copied [ca. 15 Oct. 1843] in JS, Journal, 1842–1844, bk. 3, pp. [128]–[135]; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, 1842–1844.

Historical Introduction

On 15 October 1843, in , Illinois, JS delivered a Sabbath-day discourse focused primarily on the economy of Nauvoo and the temporal welfare of its citizens. Because of Nauvoo’s proximity to the ’s Des Moines rapids, some —including JS—believed the city had tremendous industrial potential. In a December 1840 letter to the , JS had instructed missionaries in to encourage converts “accustomed to making machinery and those who can command a capital” to immigrate to Nauvoo to help build an industrial infrastructure for other British converts who were predominantly impoverished factory workers. “This place has advantages for a manufacturing and commercial purposes which but very few can boast of,” he continued, “and by establishing Cotton Factories, Founderies, Potteries &c &c would be the means of bringing in wealth and raising it to a very important elevation.” A January 1841 church proclamation encouraged British converts to relocate to Nauvoo and assured them that “the waters of the Mississippi can be successfully used for manufactoring purposes, to an almost unlimited extent.”
In February 1841, the General Assembly passed an act establishing the Agricultural and Manufacturing Association in order to promote “agriculture and husbandry in all its branches, and for the manufacture of flour, lumber and such other useful articles as are necessary for the ordinary purposes of life.” Although the association launched an effort to build a pottery, some residents grew impatient with the city’s lack of industrial jobs. A May 1843 Nauvoo Neighbor editorial asserted that no pursuit was “of more importance to the interest and prosperity of the citizens of Nauvoo” than manufacturing and bemoaned the fact that so many Nauvoo residents’ industrial skills were not being used. Though community members appealed to the church and each other for capital to induce various manufacturing projects, by October 1843 little progress had been made in industrializing the city.
At eleven o’clock in the morning on 15 October, JS addressed a group of Latter-day Saints gathered at the east of the construction site for approximately three hours. In addition to discussing his aspirations for Nauvoo’s economy and the temporal welfare of its citizens, JS addressed a variety of other subjects, including liberty of conscience, religious creeds, the original intent of biblical authors, and his distrust of doctors and lawyers. , JS’s private secretary and the general church recorder, was in the audience and produced a handwritten manuscript capturing elements of JS’s discourse. Richards likely recorded rough notes of the discourse on loose paper or in a notebook before inscribing a slightly more polished account in JS’s journal.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Willard Richards succinctly summarized the topic of JS’s discourse as “economy of Nauvoo.” (Richards, Journal, 15 Oct. 1843.)

    Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.

  2. [2]

    Alanson Ripley, “Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:122.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.

  4. [4]

    Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841.

  5. [5]

    An Act to Incorporate the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association, in the County of Hancock [27 Feb. 1841], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 139, sec. 2.

    General Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eighteenth General Assembly, Convened January 3, 1853. Springfield: Lanphier and Walker, 1853.

  6. [6]

    Sidney Rigdon, “To the Editor of the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 21 June 1843, [3].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  7. [7]

    The editorial further argued that workers were “not employed at what they ought to be. Men that have been accustomed to manufacturing cotton goods are making ditches on the prairie, woolen manufacturers are carrying the hod, and working at day labor, and silk weaver’s are mixing clay at the brickyard, iron smelters are turned farmers, and potters have got metamorphised into builders and wood choppers. . . . The prosperity of this place depends in a great measure upon the encouragement of home manufacture.” (“Home Manufacture,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 31 May 1843, [2].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [8]

    Lydia Knight, “Manufacturing Straw,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 10 May 1843, [3]; “Important to Weavers,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 May 1843, [2]; Sidney Rigdon, “To the Editor of the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 21 June 1843, [3]; James Spratley et al., “A Word from the Suffering Boot and Shoe Makers,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 13 Sept. 1843, [3]; Letter from Jared Carter, 14 Oct. 1843. Hoping to facilitate the construction of mills, the city granted JS a charter to build a wing dam on the Mississippi River in early December 1843. (JS, Journal, 23 Nov. 1843; “An Ordinance to Erect a Dam in the Mississippi River, and for Other Purposes,” 8 Dec. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; see also Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Dec. 1843, 192–193.)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  9. [9]

    Richards, Journal, 15 Oct. 1843.

    Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 15 October 1843 Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
and starve. go out in the county and get food. & <​in​> cities— and gird up your loins— &c— be sober.
when you— get food retu[r]n if you have.— a mind. to.—
<​some say​> It is better, say some, to give the poor than build the .— the building of the . has keept the poor who were driven from from starving. as has been the best means for this obj[e]ct which could be devised
all ye rich men. of the .— from abroad I would invite to br[i]ng up some of their money. <​and give to the .​> we want Iron steell powdrs.— &c—
a good plan to get up a forge. bring in [p. [133]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 15 October 1843
ID #
1184
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:185–190
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [12]

    See 1 Peter 1:13; Revelation, 12 Aug. 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 71:6, 1835 ed. [D&C 61:38]; and Revelation, 10 Jan. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 29:2, 1835 ed. [D&C 73:6].

  2. [13]

    George Miller, a Nauvoo House Association trustee and a bishop, later wrote of the need to provide employment for church members immigrating to Nauvoo from other states and from England: “The poor had to be cared for, and labor created that they might at least earn part of their subsistence—there not being one in ten persons that could set themselves to work. . . . My brethren of the Committee of the Nauvoo House Association, and the Committee of the Temple, all bore a part in the employment of laborers, and the providing food for them.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [3].)

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

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