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Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to the editor of Daily Globe [], [], 15 Apr. 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 15 Apr. 1844]; handwriting of ; signature of JS; three pages; Stephen A. Douglas, Papers, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm). The third page of the bifolium is ruled with twenty-nine lines printed in blue ink and is the only ruled page in the bifolium. inscribed the letter in brown ink; JS signed it in black ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style.
A docket was written on the verso of the second leaf in unidentified handwriting. It is unknown how this document came into the possession of , although both he and , to whom JS forwarded this copy of the letter, were prominent politicians and undoubtedly had common acquaintances among the editorial staff of the Daily Globe. In 1861 Douglas died. Sometime thereafter his private papers were acquired by the University of Chicago.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter to John J. Hardin, 19 Apr. 1844.

  2. [2]

    See “Guide to the Stephen A. Douglas Papers, 1764–1908,” Stephen A. Douglas, Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

    Douglas, Stephen A. Papers, 1764–1908. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, University of Chicago.

Historical Introduction

On 15 April 1844, JS wrote a letter from , Illinois, to prominent journalist in responding to Blair’s criticism and mockery of JS’s presidential campaign platform in one of the nation’s most influential newspapers. JS had mailed copies of his presidential campaign pamphlet, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, to the principal newspapers in the on 27 February 1844. The Daily Globe, published in the nation’s capital, was the premier organ of the Democratic Party, and Blair was its longstanding editor. As editor of the paper in the 1830s, Blair had functioned as an unofficial adviser to President Andrew Jackson, and he still wielded significant influence in national politics through his personal connections and his editorship of the Globe.
On 14 March 1844, published an editorial in the Daily Globe titled “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” in which he mocked JS’s pamphlet. His main points of criticism were JS’s calls for a new national bank and for substantial criminal justice reform. The national bank had been a polarizing issue in the 1830s when it was politically opposed by Jackson and championed by the National Republicans who eventually formed the Whig Party. Jackson ultimately vetoed a proposal to renew the bank’s charter. Accordingly, Blair wrote in his editorial that JS “seems to be thoroughly imbued with the whig financial doctrines.” Alluding to JS’s call for criminal justice reform, Blair suggested sarcastically that the sudden release of thousands of incarcerated men and women at the time that the country was establishing a new national bank would inevitably lead to a rise in financial crime. Blair disdainfully quipped that if Whig presidential hopeful were elected that fall, he could make JS the president of the new national bank and that it could be headquartered in .
It is unclear when JS first read ’s editorial, but portions of it were reprinted in newspapers as early as 4 April. In his letter to Blair, JS defended his proposal for criminal justice reform by describing the living conditions of incarcerated men and women. He also criticized the legal system that sentenced them to prison in the first place and argued that American prisons contradicted the principles celebrated in the Declaration of Independence. JS also defended his proposal for a new national bank, emphasizing that it would guard against the alleged corruption that scandalized the Second Bank of the United States. Following a four-verse song parodying the inequality that existed in the , JS made his first public declaration that he believed the country should be governed as a “Theodemocracy,” an idea that he and the had recently discussed.
In drafting a response to ’s editorial, JS may have worked with his scribe , who had helped him compose other publications and letters related to his presidential campaign. If Phelps helped compose the letter, the extent of his role is unknown. The letter was published in the 15 April 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons and in the 17 April issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor. Other newspapers throughout the country reprinted large sections of the letter. JS sent a manuscript copy of the letter to Illinois congressman on 19 April and asked him to solicit the Daily Globe to publish it. The newspaper never published JS’s response to Blair. The version JS sent to Hardin is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844; JS, Journal, 27 Feb. 1844.

  2. [2]

    Smith, Francis Preston Blair, xii–xiii, 45–61; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 341; Sheppard, Partisan Press, 96–99.

    Smith, William Ernest. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 1933.

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

    Sheppard, Si. The Partisan Press: A History of Media Bias in the United States. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008.

  3. [3]

    “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” Daily Globe (Washington DC), 14 Mar. 1844, 251.

  4. [4]

    Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 375–395.

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  5. [5]

    “A New Advocate for a National Bank,” Daily Globe (Washington DC), 14 Mar. 1844, 251.

  6. [6]

    “The Globe and Joe Smith,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 4 Apr. 1844, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  7. [7]

    Murphy, Other People’s Money, 80–85.

    Murphy, Sharon Ann. Other People’s Money: How Banking Worked in the Early American Republic. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017.

  8. [8]

    “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.” For most contemporary Americans, theocracy connoted the tyrannical rule of religious leaders, conjured images of the collusion of Catholicism with European governments, and seemed the antithesis of American democracy and constitutional principles. However, JS and other members of the Council of Fifty believed that theocracy could be fused with the best elements of democracy in a system that JS termed “Theodemocracy.” JS and the Council of Fifty maintained that a system that blended theocracy with democracy would protect the rights of minority groups, allow for dissent and free discussion, involve the input of both Latter-day Saints and others, and increase righteousness in preparation for Jesus Christ’s second coming.

  9. [9]

    See, for example, Historical Introduction to General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844; and Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.

  10. [10]

    “The Globe,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1844, 5:508–510; “The Globe,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Apr. 1844, [2].

  11. [11]

    See, for example, “From the Buffalo Advertiser,” Niles’ National Register (Baltimore), 8 June 1844, 235.

    Niles’ National Register. Washington DC, 1837–1839; Baltimore, 1839–1848; Philadelphia, 1848–1849.

  12. [12]

    Letter to John J. Hardin, 19 Apr. 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844 Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844, as Published in New York Herald History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

unfettered by chain cable opinions, and untrammelled by Cast Iron rules. Why slur the noble project of letting the prisoners go free by petition? It is sanctioned by ancient custom; it is the counsel of God, and would be the only visible testimony to the world that this realm is what it professes to be, a Government of Liberty! Heaven, Earth, and Hell know that the penitentiaries of the several States are a disgrace to the , and a stink in the nostrils of the Almighty. And the County and City Prisons are still worse. Unfortunate men, and in nine cases out of ten, innocent, are hurled into prison by corrupted Judges, suborned Witnesses, or ungodly men, who gamble themselves into Congress, into Legislatures, into Courts, into Churches, and into notice and power, and then damn their friends and fellow beings to prison, wretchedness and ruin. and in ninety and nine cases out of a hundred the prisoners are treated meaner than dogs; half starved to put money into the pockets of speculators; fed upon unwholesome provisions; whipt without mercy, and even murdered with impunity. Look at the beastly conduct of * * * * to the female in Auburn State Prison N.Y. Remember a man was whipped to death not long since, in penitentiary, Illinois, and it is not uncommon to lacerate with the “rope’s end” thirty men at once, in the parish prisons of , so that the voice of reason now cries from the vast number of prisons and the multiplying number of Prisoners in the , for relief; and the death like groans from cells, bastiles, castles, and cursed holes throughout the whole earth, is ascending up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, to be avenged of such cruelty. And when great men in high places, see a shoot out his own brains with a rifle; or gaze upon the havoc made by the bursting of a “great gun,” among the “Executives” of the , then know ye, the hour of his judgment is come!
The is the boasted Land of “Liberty,” where “these truths are held self evident,”— “that All men are created equal; and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness[”]: but at the same time, in the face of these truths, slavery is tolerated by law: imprisonment is tolerated by law: and murder is tolerated by law: and even fifteen thousand free citizens are exiled from one State to another— and the General Government has no power (according to the opinions of and ) to redress the wrong. O. Queen Victoria, and ye Lords and Commons of Great Britain, what think ye of a Republican Government? and how do you imagine your daughter will come out in her attempt at equal rights, and reigning in righteousness? Pshaw! (will they answer) your coffers are robbed with impunity; your Citizens are mobbed, and driven like chaff from the threshing floor, and the government, controlled by a set of money gambling, chicken hearted, public fed cowards, cannot redress you! Ask the reigning sovereigns of Europe, Africa and Asia, what they think of the boasted Republic in ! and will not they laugh in the face of the whole world, and taunt the , by exclaiming: Ah! hah! Ah! hah! If there is any power in a Republican Government, in a real case of necessity, you have failed to find just men to exercise it. Party spirit cuts the cords of Union; patronage veils the face of justice, and bribery closes the lips of honor, and when the wicked rule, the people mourn.
Perhaps it may be said, the government has been adequate to the calls of justice, and I answer, if it has, it was because the officers in authority considered their honor and the rights of the people, paramount to patronage, pelf, and popularity!
They were patriots who carried out the poet’s explanation of true greatness: [p. [2]]
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Editorial Title
Letter to Editor, 15 April 1844
ID #
7817
Total Pages
4
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  • Thomas Bullock

Footnotes

  1. [11]

    This is likely a reference to the jubilee year described in the Old Testament, in which the Israelites were to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” every fifty years. Alternately, it could also be a reference to the Jewish tradition of the paschal pardon described in the New Testament, in which the Roman governor commuted a prisoner’s sentence at Passover. (Leviticus 25:10; see also Matthew 27:15; Mark 15:6; and John 18:39.)

  2. [12]

    Several reformers decried the conditions of American prisons in the 1840s. For instance, social activist Dorothea Dix published her landmark essay on American prison reform in 1845. Dix’s essay described conditions in American prisons—including penitentiaries—in the 1840s and set forth detailed measures for reform. (D. L. Dix, Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States [Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1845].)

    Dix, Dorothea L. Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States. Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1845.

  3. [13]

    After visiting the United States, French political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the criminal justice system—which often incarcerated low-income individuals while those with more resources remained free by paying fines—was the “remains of aristocratic Institutions in the midst of a complete Democracy.” (Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1:46–48; see also Manion, Liberty’s Prisoners, 14.)

    Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Translated by Henry Reeve. 2 vols. London: Saunders and Otley, 1835.

    Manion, Jen. Liberty’s Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

  4. [14]

    It is unclear to which specific instance JS was referring. However, New York adhered early to the penitentiary system of incarceration. At the prison in Auburn, New York, prisoners spent much of each day in isolation. When they were with other prisoners to perform manual labor, they were required to remain silent. If they spoke, they were whipped. A critical observer of the treatment of inmates at the Auburn prison wrote, “At Auburn the convict is uniformly treated with harshness.” (Thibaut, “Prisoners and Discipline at the Eastern State Penitentiary, 1829–1835,” 190.)

    Thibaut, Jacqueline. “‘To Pave the Way to Penitence’: Prisoners and Discipline at the Eastern State Penitentiary, 1829–1835.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 106, no. 2 (Apr. 1982): 187–222.

  5. [15]

    The incident to which JS was referring is unclear. However, the Alton Penitentiary was regarded by advocates for prison reform as one of the harshest and most inhumane penitentiaries in the United States. (“Memorial of Miss D. L. Dix, in relation to the Illinois Penitentiary,” in Reports Made to the Senate and House of Representatives, of the State of Illinois, 97–112.)

    Reports Made to the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, at Their Session Begun and Held at Springfield, December 2, 1844. Vol. 1. Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, 1845.

  6. [16]

    In the nineteenth century, critics decried the living conditions and systems of punishment in the parish prisons in Louisiana as inhumane. (Vandal, “Regulating Louisiana’s Rural Areas,” 89.)

    Vandal, Gilles. “Regulating Louisiana’s Rural Areas: The Functions of Parish Jails, 1840–1885.” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 42, no. 1 (Winter 2001): 59–92.

  7. [17]

    Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds died by suicide in February 1844. (“Death of Gov. Reynolds,” Peoria [IL] Democratic Press, 21 Feb. 1844, [2].)

    Peoria Democratic Press. Peoria, IL. 1841–1846

  8. [18]

    In 1844 several government officials were killed aboard the USS Princeton when one of the ship’s guns exploded during a demonstration of the ship’s weaponry. Casualties included Secretary of State Abel Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 679.)

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  9. [19]

    See Revelation 14:7.

  10. [20]

    See the preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence.

  11. [21]

    In May 1839, the Quincy Whig published several letters from Lyman Wight that criticized Democratic leaders in Missouri, such as United States senator Thomas Hart Benton, for not aiding the Saints during or after their conflict in Missouri. In 1839 President Martin Van Buren declined to help the Saints obtain reparations for their lost property in Missouri despite JS’s personal appeal to him. (Lyman Wight, Quincy, IL, 1 May 1839, Letter to the Editors, Quincy [IL] Whig, 4 May 1839, [2]; Lyman Wight, Quincy, IL, 7 May 1839, Letter to the Editors, Quincy Whig, 11 May 1839, [2]; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.)

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  12. [22]

    See Proverbs 29:2.

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