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Letter from Editor, circa 21 February 1844

Source Note

Editor of Warsaw Signal [], Letter, [, Hancock Co., IL], to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. 21 Feb. 1844]. Featured version published in Warsaw Signal, 21 Feb. 1844, New Series, no. 2, [2].
Warsaw Signal (, Hancock Co., IL), New Series, nos. 1–52 (14 Feb. 1844–26 Feb. 1845); edited by .
The Warsaw Signal was one iteration of a newspaper printed in the town of , in Hancock County, Illinois, during the 1840s and early 1850s. Each weekly issue was printed on a single sheet, folded once to make four pages measuring 21¼ × 15¾ inches (54 × 40 cm). Each page was printed in six columns, with each column measuring 2¼ inches (6 cm) wide.
On 13 May 1840, resident D. N. White inaugurated a weekly newspaper known as the Western World. In November 1840, White sold the paper to , a Warsaw lawyer. Sharp continued to publish the paper under the name Western World through 5 May 1841. Beginning with the 12 May 1841 issue, Sharp changed the name of the newspaper to Warsaw Signal. On 7 January 1843, the name of the paper was changed to Warsaw Message, under the new editorship and ownership of . In early 1844, Sharp repurchased the paper from Gregg, and on 14 February the name reverted to Warsaw Signal. The 1844 reiteration of the Signal was labeled “New Series” and continued to be published each Wednesday, culminating in the 4 May 1842 issue. In addition to national news, the newspaper contained news articles, editorials, and advertisements for and the surrounding region.

Historical Introduction

In the 21 February 1844 issue of the Warsaw Signal, a newspaper published in , Illinois, the paper’s editor, , published an open letter to JS criticizing his public response to . JS first wrote to Calhoun in November 1843, when Calhoun was a prospective presidential candidate, asking what he would do, if elected president, to grant redress and reparations to the for their lost property in . Calhoun responded that, while he supported the equal administration of the law regardless of religious affiliation, he believed restrictions on the powers of the federal government prevented the president from acting in support of the Saints. On 2 January 1844, JS wrote an open letter to Calhoun criticizing his devotion to the philosophy of states’ rights, claiming that it allowed individual states to persecute religious minorities without consequences.
had long been a vocal critic of JS and the Latter-day Saints in , Illinois, and in his published letter he particularly decried the harsh language JS used to describe the government and citizens of . In a series of questions, Sharp implied that if JS were elected president he might exact an unjust form of revenge on the state that had expelled the Saints from its borders under the threat of extermination in 1838–1839.
The letter was probably written close to the time of its publication in the 21 February issue of the Warsaw Signal. It is unknown whether JS read this letter; he apparently did not respond to it.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Letter from John C. Calhoun, 2 Dec. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.

  4. [4]

    Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1838 through August 1839.”

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

Page [2]

To Jo Smith—Prophet—Candidate for the Presidency—Mayor of the City of —Lieutenant General of the Legion—President of the Church—Tavern Keeper—Grog Bruiser—&c., &c.
Sir: Understanding that you are a candidate for the highest office within the gift of the People, we claim as the unalienable right of an American Citizen to ask you a few questions, as regards the policy which you, as “His Excellency, the President of the ,” will pursue.
Well Jo! if you should be so fortunate as to be elected President of the , what would you do with the State of ? Would you pluck out the eyes of her sovereignty? Or would you take her up in your expanded arms, and giant-like stride across the Western Prairies—leap the and hurl her headlong into the angry Pacific, there to remain until purged of every Anti-Mormon sin? Or Jo, would you Xerxes-like muster your myriads, and every man armed with a hoop-pole, march across the icy bridge in the winter time, and give her , a most transcendent drubbing?
From the manner in which you write to , we conclude that you had some design of chastising , and we would like to know how you are going to do it, and so no doubt would the people of that . [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Editor, circa 21 February 1844
ID #
1279
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS owned the Nauvoo Mansion, which functioned as both a hotel and JS’s residence, with a bar for hotel guests and other customers and living quarters for him and his family. Sharp was likely criticizing an ordinance passed by the Nauvoo City Council in 1843 that allowed JS alone to sell liquor by the drink, “for the health, comfort or convenience of such travellers or other persons as shall visit his House from time to time.” Church opponents in western Illinois condemned the ordinance, stating that it “sets Smith above the license laws of the State, ‘for the health and convenience of travelers.’” (Historical Introduction to Lease to Ebenezer Robinson, 23 Jan. 1844; JS, Journal, 1 and 21 Dec. 1843; Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–B; Editorial, Warsaw [IL] Message, Extra, 17 Jan. 1844, [1]; see also Historical Introduction to Petition from Ebenezer Jennings and Others, 17 Jan. 1844.)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  2. [2]

    “Grog Bruiser” may refer to when the Nauvoo Legion stopped the operation of a grog shop in Nauvoo under an order from the city council in 1841. Sharp had mocked the action in the Warsaw Signal, writing that the Nauvoo Legion “made a most valiant assault upon said grog shop, and totally demolished it.” JS was the lieutenant general of the legion—its highest-ranking officer—as well as the mayor of Nauvoo, with executive authority over the legion. (“Mormon Military Operations,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 8 Dec. 1841, [2], italics in original; Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 4 Feb. 1841, 4–5; JS History, vol. C-1, 1161–1162; “City Election,” Wasp, 8 Feb. 1843, [2]; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Sharp and other critics of JS in Illinois often complained of the merging of church and state in Nauvoo generally and in the person of JS particularly, as he held high-ranking positions in both ecclesiastical and civic affairs. (Smith, “Untouchable,” 24–28.)

    Smith, Alex D. “Untouchable: Joseph Smith’s Use of the Law as Catalyst for Assassination.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 112, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 8–42.

  4. [4]

    This sentence is an allusion to the question JS asked John C. Calhoun and four other prospective presidential candidates in November 1843: “What will be your rule of action, relative to us, as a people, should fortune favor your ascension to the Chief Magistracy?” (Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843, underlining in original.)

  5. [5]

    Xerxes, a king of Persia in the fifth century BC, led an invasion of Greece facilitated by the construction of bridges over the Hellespont (now Dardanelles). (Stoneman, Xerxes, 1, 128–130.)

    Stoneman, Richard. Xerxes: A Persian Life. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.

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