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Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

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, Hancock Co., IL, to
Henry Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

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,
Ashland

Kentucky estate of Henry Clay. Clay purchased 125 acres near Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Sept. 1804, and there built mansion constructed largely of sand brick. Clay resided at Ashland, likely by 1808. Size of estate eventually grew to approximately ...

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, Lexington, Fayette Co., KY, 13 May 1844. Featured version published in “Correspondence between Gen Joseph Smith and the Hon. Henery Clay,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 29 May 1844, vol. 2, no. 7, [2]. For more complete source information, see the source note for Notice, 26 Aug. 1843.

Historical Introduction

On 13 May 1844, JS wrote a letter from
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

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, Illinois, to prominent
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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senator and fellow presidential hopeful
Henry Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
in
Ashland

Kentucky estate of Henry Clay. Clay purchased 125 acres near Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Sept. 1804, and there built mansion constructed largely of sand brick. Clay resided at Ashland, likely by 1808. Size of estate eventually grew to approximately ...

More Info
, Kentucky, regarding Clay’s position on redress for the
Latter-day Saints

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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if he were elected president. When JS visited
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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in December 1839 and January 1840, Clay became aware of the church’s efforts to obtain redress and reparations from the federal government for property that the Saints had lost when they were expelled from
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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in 1838 and 1839. Clay was sympathetic to those petitioning efforts in 1839 and 1840.
1

See Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.


The church continued to seek redress in the ensuing years, and Clay had supposedly advised the Saints to move to the
Oregon territory

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

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.
2

See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844. During JS’s 1839–1840 trip to Washington DC, Clay apparently recommended that the Saints consider moving to Oregon territory as an alternative to redress, but this fact was not recorded until 1855, when it was included in the manuscript history of the church. In addition, as early as 1842 at least one Whig newspaper had advised the Saints to move to Oregon. An anonymous letter to the editors of the Times and Seasons rejected the idea that the Saints must leave Illinois to preserve their citizenship rights. Although JS criticized Clay for supposedly advising the Saints to move to Oregon, feeling that this stance was unjust and callous, the Council of Fifty was pragmatically considering such a move at this time. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1552; “Joe Smith,” Quincy [IL] Whig, 24 Sept. 1842, [2]; “Cold Comfort,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:953; Letter from Orson Hyde, 26 Apr. 1844.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

In early November 1843, JS wrote to
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

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and other prospective candidates for the upcoming presidential election, asking them what action they would take in behalf of the Latter-day Saints if elected.
3

JS, Draft Letter to Presidential Candidates, 4 Nov. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843.


Clay responded on 15 November, informing JS that he watched the progress of the Saints with “lively interest” and “sympathised in their sufferings under injustice.” However, Clay refused to publicly commit to help the Saints and wrote that as a candidate he intended to “enter into no engagements, make no promises, give no pledges, to any particular portion of the people of the
U. States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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” so that if he were elected president, he could assume office “free and unfettered, with no guarantees but such as are to be drawn from my whole life, character and conduct.”
4

Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


Responding to
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

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, JS criticized him for being fickle in his political positions, accusing the senator of choosing to support or oppose policies based not on principle but on how those positions would affect his popularity with American voters. JS lamented Clay’s refusal to openly promise to defend a persecuted segment of the country’s citizenry as a symptom of a calculating politician.
5

JS’s frustration with Clay’s public reticence regarding the Latter-day Saints may have been influenced by a letter from John Cowan. According to the letter, Clay reportedly had pledged to defend the rights of all citizens, including the Saints, in a conversation with Cowan. (Letter from John Cowan, 23 Jan. 1844.)


Furthermore, JS decried several aspects of Clay’s public record, including his involvement with the Missouri Compromise and his ineffectiveness in finding a resolution to the dispute with Great Britain over the
Oregon territory

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
.
Although JS received
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

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’s letter by 29 November 1843, he did not respond until 13 May 1844.
6

Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.


Clay, who had run for president previously, had been the presumptive nominee of the Whig Party since the party expelled President
John Tyler

29 Mar. 1790–18 Jan. 1862. Lawyer, politician. Born on Greenway Plantation, Charles City Co., Virginia. Son of John Tyler and Mary Armistead. Attended College of William and Mary. Following graduation, returned to Greenway, 1807. Served as Virginia state ...

View Full Bio
from its ranks in late 1841.
7

Klotter, Henry Clay, 291; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 594.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

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.

In his response, JS stated that he was waiting for Clay to clearly explain to the American public what he would do as president to protect the rights of the people. However, JS may have timed the drafting and publication of his response to Clay until after the Whig Party nominated Clay for the presidency at the party’s national convention in
Baltimore

City located on north side of Patapsco River about forty miles northeast of Washington DC. Laid out as town, 1729. Received city charter, 1797. Population in 1830 about 80,600. Population in 1840 about 102,300. David S. Hollister wrote to JS from Baltimore...

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on 1 May 1844.
8

“Whig National Convention,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York City), 3 May 1844, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

New-York Daily Tribune. New York City. 1841–1924.

William W. Phelps

17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...

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, whom JS had assigned to draft responses to presidential candidates
Lewis Cass

9 Oct. 1782–17 June 1866. Teacher, lawyer, soldier, author, politician. Born in Exeter, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire. Son of Jonathan Cass and Mary Gilman. Attended Phillips Academy, 1792–1799, in Exeter, where he also taught. Teacher in Wilmington, New ...

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and
John C. Calhoun

18 Mar. 1782–31 Mar. 1850. Lawyer, politician. Born near Hutchinson’s Mill, Ninety-Sixth District (later Calhoun Mill, Mount Carmel, McCormick Co.), South Carolina. Son of Patrick Calhoun and Martha Caldwell. Graduated from Yale, 1804, in New Haven, New Haven...

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, likely participated in the drafting of this response as well.
9

JS, Journal, 27 Dec. 1843; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.


JS apparently did not send the letter directly to
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
, choosing instead to publish it as an open letter. The Nauvoo Neighbor published the letter in the newspaper’s 29 May 1844 issue, preceded by several articles criticizing Clay’s public record, JS’s 4 November 1843 letter to Clay, and Clay’s 15 November 1843 response.
10

See “The Great Meeting in Favor of the Annexation of Texas,” “The Annexation Question,” “Henry Clay under Bonds to Keep the Peace,” “Henry Clay under Bonds,” “Do It,” “Truth Is Mighty,” “Henry Clay,” “Mr. Clay against Texas,” “Clay and Adams—The Bargain,” and “Correspondence between Gen Joseph Smith and the Hon. Henry Clay,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 29 May 1844, [1]–[2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

The 13 May letter was later published in the 1 June 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons.
11

JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry Clay, Ashland, KY, 13 May 1844, in Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:544–548.


There is no known response from Clay.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.

  2. [2]

    See Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844. During JS’s 1839–1840 trip to Washington DC, Clay apparently recommended that the Saints consider moving to Oregon territory as an alternative to redress, but this fact was not recorded until 1855, when it was included in the manuscript history of the church. In addition, as early as 1842 at least one Whig newspaper had advised the Saints to move to Oregon. An anonymous letter to the editors of the Times and Seasons rejected the idea that the Saints must leave Illinois to preserve their citizenship rights. Although JS criticized Clay for supposedly advising the Saints to move to Oregon, feeling that this stance was unjust and callous, the Council of Fifty was pragmatically considering such a move at this time. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1552; “Joe Smith,” Quincy [IL] Whig, 24 Sept. 1842, [2]; “Cold Comfort,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:953; Letter from Orson Hyde, 26 Apr. 1844.)

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  3. [3]

    JS, Draft Letter to Presidential Candidates, 4 Nov. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843.

  4. [4]

    Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS’s frustration with Clay’s public reticence regarding the Latter-day Saints may have been influenced by a letter from John Cowan. According to the letter, Clay reportedly had pledged to defend the rights of all citizens, including the Saints, in a conversation with Cowan. (Letter from John Cowan, 23 Jan. 1844.)

  6. [6]

    Minutes, 29 Nov. 1843.

  7. [7]

    Klotter, Henry Clay, 291; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 594.

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

    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.

  8. [8]

    “Whig National Convention,” New-York Daily Tribune (New York City), 3 May 1844, [2].

    New-York Daily Tribune. New York City. 1841–1924.

  9. [9]

    JS, Journal, 27 Dec. 1843; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.

  10. [10]

    See “The Great Meeting in Favor of the Annexation of Texas,” “The Annexation Question,” “Henry Clay under Bonds to Keep the Peace,” “Henry Clay under Bonds,” “Do It,” “Truth Is Mighty,” “Henry Clay,” “Mr. Clay against Texas,” “Clay and Adams—The Bargain,” and “Correspondence between Gen Joseph Smith and the Hon. Henry Clay,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 29 May 1844, [1]–[2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  11. [11]

    JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry Clay, Ashland, KY, 13 May 1844, in Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:544–548.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844, Partial Draft
*Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844
Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Ill., May 13th, 1844.
Sir:—Your answer to my inquiry, “what would be your rule of action towards the
Latter Day Saints

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
, should you be elected president of the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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,”
1

See JS, Draft Letter to Presidential Candidates, 4 Nov. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; and Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


has been under consideration since last November, in the fond expectation, that you would give, (for every honest citizen has a right to demand it,) to the
country

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, a manifesto of your views of the best method and means which would secure to the people, the whole people, the most freedom, the most happiness, the most union, the most wealth, the most fame, the most glory at home, and the most honor abroad, at the least expense; but I have waited in vain. So far as you have made public declarations, they have been made, like your answer to the above, soft to flatter, rather than solid to feed the people. You seem to abandon all former policy which may have actuated you in the discharge of a statesman’s duty, when the vigor of intellect and the force of virtue, should have sought out an everlasting habitation for liberty; when, as a wise man, a true patriot, and a friend to mankind, you should have resolved to ameliorate the awful condition of our bleeding
country

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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by a mighty plan of wisdom, righteousness, justice, goodness and mercy, that would have brought back the golden days of our
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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’s youth, vigor and vivacity; when prosperity crowned the offorts [efforts] of a youthful
Republic

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, when the gentle aspirations of the sons of liberty were, “we are one.”
2

In General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, JS used similar language to lament the decline of the United States. (See General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)


In your answer to my questions, last fall, that peculiar tact of modern politicians, declaring, “if you ever enter into that high office, you must go into it free and unfettered, with no guarantee but such as are to be drawn from your whole life, character and conduct,”
3

See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


so much resembles a lottery vender’s sign, with the goddess of good luck sitting on the car [ear] of fortune a-straddle of the horn of plenty, and driving the merry steeds of beatitude, without reigns or bridle,
4

“The goddess of good luck” refers to Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune, or her later Roman incarnation, Fortuna. She was usually depicted holding a cornucopia. (Matheson, Obsession with Fortune, 19–26.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Matheson, Susan B. An Obsession with Fortune: Tyche in Greek and Roman Art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1994.

that I cannot help exclaiming; O frail man; what have you done that will exalt you? can any thing be drawn from your life, character or conduct that is worthy of being held up to the gaze of this
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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as a model of virtue, charity and wisdom? Are you not a lottery picture, with more than two blanks to a prize? Leaving many things prior to your Ghent treaty,
5

In 1814 Clay helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom and the United States. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 35–37.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

let the world look at that, and see where is the wisdom, honor, and patriotism which ought to have characterized the plenipotentiary of the only free
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
upon the earth? A quarter of a century’s negociation to obtain our rights on the north eastern boundary,
6

This is a reference to the dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom over the boundary of the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick. In 1839 militias from the state and province nearly fought over the disputed border. The disagreement was not successfully negotiated until 1842. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 674–675.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

and the motley manner in which
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
tries to shine as American Territory,
7

Both the United States and the United Kingdom had claimed the Oregon territory (now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia) since 1818. The territorial dispute grew more divisive in the 1840s as more Americans moved there. In February 1844, JS publicly called for the United States to exert control over the entire Oregon territory. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 96–97, 712–714; General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

coupled with your presidential race, and come-by-chance secretary ship, in 1825,
8

In the presidential election of 1824, Clay finished third behind John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. No candidate won a majority of electoral votes. Accordingly, the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Because Adams’s political platform was similar to Clay’s platform, Clay supported Adams over Jackson. Adams became president and subsequently appointed Clay secretary of state. Jackson and several of his supporters alleged that Adams’s victory (and thus Jackson’s defeat) and Clay’s appointment were the results of a corrupt bargain between Adams and Clay. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 208–211.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

all go to convince the friends of freedom, the golden patriots of Jeffersonian democracy; free trade and sailor’s rights, and the protectors of person and property,
9

In an 11 April 1844 meeting of the Council of Fifty, JS stated that the slogan for his presidential campaign was “Jeffersonianism, Jeffersonian Democracy, free trade and Sailors rights, protection of person & property.” Several phrases in the slogan were commonly associated with the War of 1812, and in the years after the war Americans used them to advocate for a government designed to uphold individual freedom and property. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844, underlining in original; McBride, Joseph Smith for President, 76–77, 172.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

McBride, Spencer W. Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.

that an honorable war is better [t]han a dishonorable peace.
10

Politicians in nineteenth-century America often used the phrase “an honorable war is better than a dishonorable peace” in advocating for the use of force to obtain disputed territory that they believed rightly belonged to the United States. (See, for example, Acts and Resolves of the State of Maine, 4:630.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Acts and Resolves of the State of Maine, from 1840 to 1841 Inclusive. Vol. 4. Augusta, ME: Wm. R. Smith, 1842.

But had you really wanted to have exhibited the wisdom, clemency, benevolence and dignity of a great man in this boasted
Republic

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, when fifteen thousand free citizens were exiled from their own homes, lands and property, in the wonderful patriotic State of
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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,
11

This is a reference to the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri in 1838 and 1839. (See “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)


and you then upon your oath and honor, occupying the exalted statien [station] of a senator of Congress from the noble hearted State of Kentucky; why did you not show the world your loyalty to law and order, by using all honorable means to restore the innocent to their rights and property?
12

At some point in December 1839 or January 1840, JS met with Clay in Washington DC and asked him to support the church’s petitions for redress and reparations from the federal government for lost property in Missouri. While Clay supported the submission of the church’s memorial to Congress in the United States Senate and advocated for it to be considered by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, he never openly advocated for reparations for the Latter-day Saints. (See JS History, vol. D-1, 1552.)


Why, Sir, the more we search into your character and conduct, the more we must exclaim from holy writ, the tree is known by its fruit.
13

See Luke 6:44.


Again, this is not all; rather than show yourself an honest man, by guaranteeing to the people what you will do in case you should be elected president; “you can enter into no engagement, make no promise, and give no pledges” as to what you will do.
14

See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


Well, it may be that some hot headed partisan would take such nothingarianism upon trust, but sensible men and even ladies would think themselves insulted by such an evasion of coming events! If a tempest is expected, why not prepare to meet it; and in the language of the poet, exclaim:—
Then let the trial come; and witness thou,
If terror be upon me; if I shrink
Or falter in my strength to meet the storm,
When hardest it beset me?
15

See Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, bk. 2, in Hazlitt, Select British Poets, 468.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hazlitt, William, ed. Select British Poets; or, New Elegant Extracts from Chaucer to the Present Time, with Critical Remarks. London: Wm. C. Hall, 1824.

True greatness never wavers, but when the
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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compromise was entered into by you, for the benefit of slavery,
16

In 1820 Clay helped orchestrate the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri to the United States as a slave state, admitted Maine as a free state, and established the Mason-Dixon surveying line as the line of latitude that would help determine the legality of slavery in any states admitted to the union thereafter. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 151–155.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

there was a mighty shrinkage of western honor; and from that day, Sir, the sterling Yankee, the struggling Abolitionist, and the staunch Democrat, with a large number of the liberal minded Whigs, have marked you as a black-leg in politics, begging for a chance to shuffle yourself into the Presidential chair,
17

Clay ran for the presidency unsuccessfully in 1824 and 1832 and failed to win his party’s nomination in 1840. (Klotter, Henry Clay, chaps. 5, 8, 11.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

where you might deal out the destinies of our beloved
country

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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for a game of brag,
18

Brag (an ancestor of poker) was a traditional British card game of bluffing. Clay’s fondness for playing games of chance was well known to the public in the 1840s. (“Brag,” in Parlett, Dictionary of Card Games, 31; Klotter, Henry Clay, 62–64.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Parlett, David. A Dictionary of Card Games. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

that would end in, “Hark from the tombs a doleful sound.”
19

See Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 235.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Watts, Isaac. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In Three Books. London: L. How, 1805.

Start not at this picture; for your “whole life, character and conduct”
20

Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


have been spotted with deeds that cause a blush upon the face of a virtuous patriot; so you must be contented in your lot, while crime cowardice, cupidity or low cunnuing [cunning] have handed you down from the high tower of a statesman, to the black hole of a gambler. A man that accepts a challenge or fights a duel, is nothing more nor less than a murderer, for holy writ declares that ‘whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed;’
21

See Genesis 9:6.


and when in the renowned city of
Washington

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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, the notorious
Henery Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
dropped from the summit of a senator to the sink of a scoundrel, to shoot at that chalk line of a Randolph;
22

In 1826, while serving as secretary of state, Clay challenged Congressman John Randolph to a duel after Randolph insulted him in a speech. Neither man was injured in the subsequent duel, but the event elicited strong criticism of Clay from some Americans, as the social acceptability of dueling was waning in parts of the United States. Nevertheless, violent conflict between members of Congress was common at this time. Between 1830 and 1860, there were more than seventy such incidents. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 64–67; Freeman, Field of Blood, 5, 64.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Freeman, Joanne B. The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018.

he not only disgraced his own fame, family and friends, but he polluted the sanctum sanctorum of American glory;
23

“The sanctum sanctorum of American glory” is probably an allusion to the United States Capitol, in which Clay and other congressmen met to conduct the nation’s legislation.


and the kingly blackguards throughout the whole world, are pointing the finger of scorn at the boasted “asylum of the oppressed,”
24

In 1772, on the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Joseph Warren referred to Great Britain’s North American colonies as the “asylum of the oppressed.” Americans applied that descriptor patriotically to the United States following the American War of Independence. (Warren, Oration, 18.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Warren, Joseph. An Oration Delivered March 5th, 1772. At the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston; To Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March, 1770. Boston: Edes and Gill, 1772.

and hissing at American statesmen, as gentlemen vagabonds and murderers, holding the olive branch of peace in one hand, and a pistol for death in the other! Well might the Savior rebuke the heads of this
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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with, wo unto you scribes, Pharasees, hypocrites,
25

See Matthew 23:14.


for the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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government, and Congress, with a few honorable exceptions, have gone the way of Cain and must perish in their gainsayings, like Korah and his wicked host.
26

See Genesis 4:1–16; Numbers 16:1–35; and Jude 1:11.


And honest men of every clime, and the innocent, poor, and oppressed, as well as heathens, pagans, and Indians, every where who could but hope that the tree of liberty would yield some precious fruit for the hungry human race, and shed some balming leaves for the healing of nations, have long since given up all hopes of equal rights, of justice and judgement, and of truth and virtue, when such polluted, vain, heaven daring, bogus patriots, are forced or flung into the front rank of government, to guide the destinies of millions. Crape the heavens with weeds of wo; gird the earth with sackcloth,
27

This is a reference to a mourning practice in the Old Testament. (See, for example, Lamentations 2:10.)


and let hell mutter one melody in commemoration of fallen spendor! for the glory of
America

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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has departed, and God will set a flaming sword to guard the tree of liberty,
28

When God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, he “placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24.)


while such mint-tithing Herods
29

Jesus castigated the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites for donating mint and other herbs at the temple while neglecting more important matters such as judgment, mercy, and faith. He negatively referred to the Roman tetrarch Herod Antipas, another authority figure, as a fox. (See Matthew 23:23; and Luke 13:31–32.)


as
[Martin] Van Buren

5 Dec. 1782–24 July 1862. Lawyer, politician, diplomat, farmer. Born in Kinderhook, Columbia Co., New York. Son of Abraham Van Buren and Maria Hoes Van Alen. Member of Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Worked as law clerk, 1800, in New York City. Returned...

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,
[Lilburn W.] Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

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,
[Thomas Hart] Benton

14 Mar. 1782–10 Apr. 1858. Teacher, lawyer, newspaper editor, politician. Born in Hart’s Mill, near Hillsborough, Orange Co., North Carolina. Son of Jesse Benton and Ann “Nancy” Gooch. Attended Chapel Hill College, in Orange Co. Moved to Nashville, Davidson...

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,
[John C.] Calhoun

18 Mar. 1782–31 Mar. 1850. Lawyer, politician. Born near Hutchinson’s Mill, Ninety-Sixth District (later Calhoun Mill, Mount Carmel, McCormick Co.), South Carolina. Son of Patrick Calhoun and Martha Caldwell. Graduated from Yale, 1804, in New Haven, New Haven...

View Full Bio
and
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
, are thrust out of the realms of virtue as fit subjects for the kingdom of fallen greatness; vox reprobi, vox Diaboli!
30

Vox reprobi, vox Diaboli is Latin for “the voice of reprobates is the voice of the devil.”


In your late addresses to the people of
South Carolina

One of original thirteen states that formed U.S. Settled at Port Royal, 1670. Separated from North Carolina and organized under royal government, 1719. Admitted as state, 1788. Population in 1830 about 581,000. Population in 1840 about 594,000. JS exchanged...

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, where rebellion budded but could not blossom,
31

This is a reference to the Nullification Crisis of 1832–1833. (See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 395–410.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

you “renounced ultraism,” “high tariff,” and almost banished your “banking system,” for the more certain standard of “public opinion.”
32

On 6 April 1844, Clay spoke in Charleston, South Carolina, on the topics of tariffs and a national bank. According to a newspaper report of the speech, Clay professed his support for “incidental protection” through tariffs and “denounced ultraism in all its forms.” He also affirmed his longstanding support for a national bank but added that “he was willing to leave this subject to public opinion, content to be guided by its voice and governed by its dictates.” (“Mr. Clay in Charleston. His Abandonment of the High Tariff System,” New York Herald [New York City], 12 Apr. 1844, [2], italics in original.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

This is all very well, and marks the intention of a politician, the calculations of a demagogue, and the allowance for leeings of a shrewd manager, just as truly as the weather cock does the wind when it turns upon the spire. Hustings for the south, barbacues for the west,
33

From December 1843 to May 1844, Clay traveled through the southern United States on a quasi campaign trip, as he had done in western states such as Indiana and Ohio in 1842. As a prominent senator, he was inevitably invited to dine with local political leaders wherever he traveled, and he would often give impromptu speeches on such occasions. In private conversations associated with these events, he frequently spoke about the question of the proposed annexation of Texas. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 295.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

confidential letters for the north,
34

“Confidential letters for the north” may be a reference to the “Raleigh letter,” an April 1844 letter Clay wrote in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the letter, he expressed concern over the proposed annexation of Texas by the United States, as it would reopen the slavery issue in the country while signaling to the world that the United States had “an insatiable and unquenchable thirst for foreign conquest.” The letter was published in a Washington DC newspaper, and many Americans saw it as an appeal to antislavery Whigs in the northern states. In July 1844, fearing the loss of electoral support in the southern states because of his “Raleigh letter,” Clay explained his position to southerners in two letters published in Alabama newspapers. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 296–297, 310–312; Henry Clay, Raleigh, NC, 17 Apr. 1844, Letter to the Editor, Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 27 Apr. 1844, [3].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

and “American system” for the east:
35

In 1824 Clay campaigned for president on his “American System,” an economic plan that included a national bank, a tariff to protect American industry, and federal subsidies for internal improvements such as roads and canals. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 109; Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, 2; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 270–271.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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.

Lull-a-by baby upon the tree top,
And when the wind blows the cradle will rock.
36

See Mother Goose’s Melody, 39.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Mother Goose’s Melody; or, Sonnets for the Cradle. In Two Parts. Part I. Contains the Most Celebrated Songs and Lullabies of the Good Old Nurses, Calculated to Amuse Children and to Excite Them to Sleep. Part II. Those of That Sweet Songster and Nurse of Wit and Humour, Master William Shakespeare. . . . 2nd ed. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1794.

Suppose you should also, taking your “whole life, character and conduct,” into consideration, and as many hands make light work, stir up the old “
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
party,” the “National Republican party,” “High Protective Tariff party,” and the late coon skin party,
37

The “Clay party,” the “National Republican party,” the “High Protective Tariff party,” and the “coon skin party” are all references to the Whig Party and the earlier political factions that coalesced in the party’s formal organization. Leading up to the 1824 presidential election, supporters of John Quincy Adams were often called the “Adams-Clay Party” or the “National Republicans.” One of the political ideas they rallied around was a tariff to protect American industry. One Ohio newspaper established solely for Democrat James K. Polk’s 1844 presidential campaign was titled the Coon Dissector. (Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, chaps. 1–2; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 204, 210, 274–275, 390; Masthead, Coon Dissector [Dayton, OH], 20 Sept. 1844, [2].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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.

Coon Dissector. Dayton, OH. 1844.

with all their parapher[n]alia, “ultraism, ne plus ultraism,—sine qua non,
38

“Ultraism, ne plus ultraism,—sine qua non” is a string of Latin words and phrases that loosely translates to “other people, the ultimate, an essential condition.”


which have grown with your growth, strengthened with your strength, and shrunk with your shrinkage, and ask the people of this enlightened
Republic

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, what they think of your powers and policy as a statesman; for verily it would seem, from all past remains of parties, politics, projects and pictures, that you are the
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
, and the people are the potter; and as some vessels are marred in the hands of the potter, the natural conclusion is, that you are a vessel of dishonor.
39

See Romans 9:21.


You may complain that a close examination of your “whole life, character and conduct,” places you as a Kentuckian would pleasantly term it, “in a bad fix,” but, Sir, when the
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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has sunk deeper and deeper in the mud, at every turn of the great wheels of the
union

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, while you have acted as one of the principle drivers, it becomes the bounden duty of the whole community, as one man, to whisper you on every point of government, to uncover every act of your life, and enquire what mighty acts you have done to benefit the
nation

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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; how much you have tithed the mint to gratify your lust; and why the fragments of your raiment hang upon the thorns by the path, as signals to beware.
But your shrinkage is truly wonderful! Not only your banking system, and high tariff project, have vanished from your mind “like the baseless fabric of a vision,’
40

Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 4, sc. 1, line 151, in Wadsworth Shakespeare, 1680.


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Wadsworth Shakespeare, Formerly “The Riverside Shakespeare”: The Complete Works. Edited by G. Blakemore Evans, J. J. M. Tobin, Herschel Baker, Anne Barton, Frank Kermode, Harry Levin, Hallett Smith, and Marie Edel. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 1997.

but the ‘annexation of
Texas

France established colony in area, 1685. First Spanish settlement created, 1718. After Mexican War of Independence from Spain, 1821, area became part of Mexico and immigration increased. Conflict between Mexican government and Texian residents resulted in...

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’ has touched your pathetic sensibilities of national pride so acutely, that the poor Texians, your own brethren,
41

Texas had been widely populated by emigrants from Clay’s home state of Kentucky and other states in the South and old Southwest. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 671.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

may fall back into the ferocity of
Mexico

North American nation. Occupied by Mesoamerican civilizations, ca. 800 BC–1526 AD. Conquered by Spanish, 1521, who established Mexico City as new capital on site of Aztec capital Tenochtitlán. Ruled by viceroyalty of New Spain, 1535–1821. Started war for ...

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,
42

When Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, Mexico refused to extend diplomatic recognition to the nascent republic, and relations between the two were unfriendly. At times warfare even broke out. In 1841 Texas launched an unsuccessful offensive against Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico, which resulted in the capture of the Texian expedition. In response, the Mexican Army twice invaded Texas and temporarily occupied San Antonio in 1842. That same year, a Texian force retaliated, invading Mexico and attacking the town of Mier. As at Santa Fe, these Texians were captured. Mexico and Texas later agreed to an armistice in June 1843, and representatives from the two sides met in February 1844 to draw up the agreement. (Dawson, “Army of the Texas Republic,” 129–134; Stevens, “Diplomacy of the Lone Star Republic,” 271, 285, 289–290, 293.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Dawson, Joseph G., III. “Army of the Texas Republic, 1836–1845.” In Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836–1845, edited by Kenneth W. Howell and Charles Swanlund, 113–147. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2017.

Stevens, Kenneth R. “The Diplomacy of the Lone Star Republic, 1836–1845.” In Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836–1845, edited by Kenneth W. Howell and Charles Swanlund, 271–303. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2017.

or be sold at auction to British stock jobbers,
43

The debate in the United States over the annexation of Texas was fueled in part by fears that if Congress delayed in acting, the British would acquire Texas. (See Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, chap. 10; Roeckell, “British Opposition to the Annexation of Texas,” 257–278; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 672.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Haynes, Sam W. Unfinished Revolution: The Early American Republic in a British World. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.

Roeckell, Lelia M. “Bonds over Bondage: British Opposition to the Annexation of Texas." Journal of the Early Republic 19, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 257–278.

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.

and all is well, for ‘I’, the old senator from Kentucky, am fearful it would militate against my interest in the north, to enlarge the borders of the union in the south.—
44

The debate over the annexation of Texas was influenced by the uneasy balance of free and slave states in the United States. Texas would enter the union as a slave state—and moreover as a large and influential state on the nation’s expanding frontier. Accordingly, politicians who supported annexation risked losing the votes of antislavery advocates in the northern states. (See Greenberg, Wicked War, 14–15; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 662, 670–671.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Greenberg, Amy S. A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico. New York: Knopf, 2012.

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.

Truly ‘a poor wise child is better than an old foolish king, who will be no longer admonished.’
45

See Ecclesiastes 4:13.


Who ever heard of a nation that had too much territory? Was it ever bad policy to make friends? Has any people ever become too good to do good? No, never; but the ambition and vanity of some men have flown away with their wisdom and judgment, and left a creaking skeleton to occupy the place of a noble soul.
Why, Sir, the condition of the whole earth is lamentable.
Texas

France established colony in area, 1685. First Spanish settlement created, 1718. After Mexican War of Independence from Spain, 1821, area became part of Mexico and immigration increased. Conflict between Mexican government and Texian residents resulted in...

More Info
dreads the teeth and toe nails of
Mexico

North American nation. Occupied by Mesoamerican civilizations, ca. 800 BC–1526 AD. Conquered by Spanish, 1521, who established Mexico City as new capital on site of Aztec capital Tenochtitlán. Ruled by viceroyalty of New Spain, 1535–1821. Started war for ...

More Info
.
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

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has the rheumatism brought on by a horrid exposure to the heat and cold of British and American trappers;
Canada

In late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Canada referred to British colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Divided into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, 1791; reunited 10 Feb. 1841. Boundaries corresponded roughly to present-day Ontario (Upper...

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has caught a bad cold from the extreme fatigue in the patriot war;
46

This is a reference to the Rebellions of 1837–1838, in which two different groups, one in Upper Canada and the other in Lower Canada, led unsuccessful revolts against British rule. (See Ducharme, Idea of Liberty in Canada during the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, chap. 6.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Ducharme, Michel. The Idea of Liberty in Canada during the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, 1776–1838. Translated by Peter Feldstein. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.

South America has the headache, caused by bumps against the beams of Catholicity and Spanish sovereignty;
47

This is a reference to several revolutions in Latin America, including the nineteenth-century wars that led to independence in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru, among others. (See Maltby, Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire, 175–181.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Maltby, William S. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Spain has the gripes from age and inquisition;
48

This is a reference to the general decline of the Spanish Empire and the Spanish Inquisition. (See Maltby, Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire, chap. 8.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Maltby, William S. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

France

Nation in western Europe. Paris chosen as capital, 508 AD. Political and economic crises led to revolution against monarchy, 1789. Napoleon Bonaparte crowned emperor in Paris, 1804. In 1815, Bonaparte abdicated after being defeated by British; monarchy restored...

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trembles and wastes under the effects of contagious diseases;
England

Island nation consisting of southern portion of Great Britain and surrounding smaller islands. Bounded on north by Scotland and on west by Wales. Became province of Roman Empire, first century. Ruled by Romans, through 447. Ruled by Picts, Scots, and Saxons...

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groans with the gout, and wiggles with wine; Italy and the German states are pale with the consumption;—Prussia, Poland, and the little contigiuous dynasties, dutchies, and domains, have the mumps so severly, that ‘the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint;’
49

See Isaiah 1:5.


Russia has the cramp by lineage; Turkey has the numb palsy; Africa, from the curse of God, has lost the use of her limbs; China is ruined by the Queen’s evil,
50

This is a reference to the First Opium War (1839–1842), a naval war between Great Britain and China instigated by disputes over trade, including the British sale of opium to the Chinese that devastated Chinese society. (See Platt, Imperial Twilight, xxiii–xxviii.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age. New York: Knopf, 2018.

and the rest of Asia fearfully exposed to the small pox; the natural way from British pedlars;
51

This is possibly a reference to a smallpox epidemic in Calcutta, India, that occurred in 1843–1844. Disease was often transmitted along trade routes, and Calcutta was frequently visited by British traders. Despite the introduction of smallpox vaccination to parts of India in 1802, the disease remained a serious threat in the country until the mid-twentieth century. (Stewart, Report on Small-Pox in Calcutta, 3–4; see also Banthia and Dyson, “Smallpox in Nineteenth-Century India,” 678; “Small Pox,” Leeds [England] Intelligencer, 1 Feb. 1845, 6; and “Alarming Increase of Small-Pox,” Newcastle [England] Courant, 31 Jan. 1845, part 1, 3.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Stewart, Duncan. Report on Small­Pox in Calcutta, 1833–34—1837–38—1843–44, and Vaccination in Bengal, from 1827 to 1844. Calcutta, India: G. H. Huttmann, 1844.

Banthia, J., and T. Dyson. “Smallpox in Nineteenth Century India.” Population and Development Review 25, no. 4 (1999): 649–680.

Leeds Intelligencer. Leeds, England. 1754–1866.

Newcastle Courant. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. 1711–1884.

the islands of the sea are almost dead with the scurvy; the Indians are blind and lame, and the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
, which ought to be the good physician with ‘balm from Gilead,’
52

See Jeremiah 8:22.


and an ‘asylum for the oppressed,’ has boosted, and is boosting up into the council chamber of the government, a clique of political gamblers, to play for the old clothes and ol[d] shoes of a sick world,
53

This may be an allusion to the Roman soldiers in charge of the Crucifixion, who stripped Jesus, “parted his garments,” and cast lots for them. (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; see also Luke 23:34.)


and ‘no pledge, no promise to any particular portion of the people’
54

See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


that the rightful heirs will ever receive a cent of their Fathers’ legacy!
55

This may be an allusion to the parable of the wicked husbandmen, who took over a lord’s vineyard and killed his heir in order to “seize on his inheritance.” (Matthew 21:33–41; see also Mark 12:1–9; and Luke 20:9–16.)


Away with such self important, self agrandizing, and self willed demagogues! their friendship is colder than polar ice; and their professions meaner than the damnation of Hell.
Oh! man! when such a great dilemma of the globe, such a tremendous convulsion of kingdoms, shakes the earth from center to circumference; when castles, prisons houses, and cells raise a cry to God against the cruelty of man; when the mourning of the fatherless and the widow causes anguish in heaven; when the poor among all nations cry day and night for bread and a shelter from the heat and storm; and when the degraded black slave holds up his manacled hands to the great statesmen of the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
,
56

JS’s published political views included strong positions against prison conditions, incarceration generally, and slavery. (General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)


and sings,
O, liberty, where are thy charms,
That sages have told me were sweet!
57

This verse is similar to a verse of a poem by William Cowper. (Cowper, “Verses,” in British Poets, 80:196.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Prior, Matthew. The Poems of Matthew Prior. Vol. 2. In British Poets: Including Translations. Vol. 31. Chiswick, England: C. Whittingham, 1822.

and when fifteen thousand free citizens of the high blooded
Republic

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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of North America, are robbed and driven from one state to another without redress or redemption, it is not only time for a candidate for the presidency to pledge himself to execute judgment and justice in righteouness, law or no law,
58

In a parallel letter of reply to John C. Calhoun, JS concluded by stating that if Calhoun would read in the Constitution about “what can be done to protect the lives, property and rights of a virtuous people,” then God would raise his mind “above the narrow notion, that the general government has no power—to the sublime idea that congress, with the President as executor, is as Almighty in its sphere, as Jehovah is in his.” (Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.)


but it is his bounden duty, as a man, for the honor of a disgraced
country

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
and for the salvation of a once virtuous people, to call for a union of all honest men, and appease the wrath of God, by acts of wisdom, holiness and virtue! The ferven[t] prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
59

See James 5:16.


Perhaps you may think, I go too far, with my strictures and inuendoes because in your concluding paragraph you say: “It is not inconsistant with your declarations to say, that you have viewed with a lively interest the progres[s] of the Latter Day Saints, that you have sympathised in their sufferings, under injustice as it appeared to you, what has been inflicted upon them; and that you think, in common with all other religious communities they ought to enjoy the security and protection of the constitution and the laws.”
60

See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.


If words were not wind, and imagination not a vapor, such ‘views’ ‘with a lively interest’ might coax out a few Mormon votes; such ‘sympathy’ for their suffering under injustice, might heal some of the sick, yet lingering amongst them, raise some of the dead and recover some of their property, from
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

More Info
,
61

The Latter-day Saint refugees from Missouri, weakened by their expulsion, resettled in the area of Commerce, Illinois, in the Mississippi floodplain and soon suffered an outbreak of malaria. Further epidemics broke out in subsequent years. The cause of the sickness was frequently traced back to and blamed on the Missouri persecutions. In addition to the lives lost during the conflict in Missouri and the resettlement efforts, the Saints had been forced to abandon several thousand acres of land in Missouri. (See Reflections and Blessings, 16 and 23 Aug. 1842; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 16, [2]; bk. 18, [1]; Discourse, 28 July 1839; Ivie and Heiner, “Deaths in Early Nauvoo,” 167–168; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Ivie, Evan L., and Douglas C. Heiner. “Deaths in Early Nauvoo, 1839–46, and Winter Quarters, 1846–48.” Religious Educator 10, no. 3 (2009): 163–173.

and finally if thought was not a phantom, we might in common with other religious communities, ‘you think,’ enjoy the security and protection of the constitution and laws! But during ten years, while the Latter day Saints have bled, been robbed, driven from their own lands, paid oceans of money into the Treasury to pay your renowned self and others for legislating and dealing out equal rights and priveleges t[o] those in common with all other religious communities, they have waited and expected in vain! If you have possessed any patriotism, it has been vailed by your popularity for fear the saint[s] would fall in love with its charms. Blind charity and dumb justice never do much towards alleviating the wants of the needy, but, straws show which way the wind blows. It is currently rumored that your dernier resort for the Latter day Saints, is, to emigrate to
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
, or
California

Originally part of New Spain. After Mexico declared independence, 1821, area became part of Mexico. American colonization increased, after 1840. By 1841, area was known variously as California, Upper California, Alta California, and New California. Area included...

More Info
; such cruel humanity; such noble injustice; such honorable cowardice; such foolish wisdom, and such vicious virtue, could only eminate from
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
. After the saints have been plundered of three or four millions of land and property, by the people and powers of the sovere[i]gn state of
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

More Info
;
62

In the church’s 1840 memorial to the United States Congress, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee estimated the value of church members’ lost property in Missouri at $2 million. In March 1840, however, church leaders wrote that they thought that estimate was too low. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Letter to Elias Higbee, 7 Mar. 1840.)


after they have sought for redress and redemption from the County Court to Congress, and been denied through religious prejudice, and sacerdotal dignity;
63

By this time, church leaders and members had unsuccessfully petitioned state and national leaders several times in an effort to receive compensation for property losses stemming from vigilante violence against church members in Missouri during 1833 and 1838–1839. (For examples of these petitions, see “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, to Andrew Jackson, Washington DC, Petition, 10 Apr. 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; and Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 10 Jan. 1842, photocopy, Material relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

afier [after] they have builded a city and two temples at an immense expense of labor and treasure;
64

It is unclear to which two temples this statement refers. In 1831 church members laid stones for a temple in Jackson County, Missouri, that was never finished. In 1836 the church dedicated the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1839 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles laid the cornerstone of a temple at Far West, Missouri, but no additional construction occurred. In 1841 a revelation directed the Saints to construct a temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, and that building was still under construction in 1844. (“Part 1: Missouri, Summer 1831”; Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 Mar. 1836 [D&C 109]; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 26 Apr. 1839; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:27].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

after they have increased from hunereds [hundreds] to hundreds of thousands:
65

There is no precise accounting of the total membership of the church in 1844. By fall 1839, there were approximately sixteen thousand church members worldwide. Thousands more had joined the church by 1844, but this estimate of hundreds of thousands of church members is exaggerated. One scholarly estimate suggests that there were at least thirty thousand members of the church in 1846, but during the 1840s sources frequently repeated the exaggerated claims of a church membership of more than one hundred thousand. (May, “Demographic Portrait of the Mormons,” 122–123; “Important from Washington,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:74; “Cold Comfort,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:953; “The Mormon Prophet,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1845, 6:854; William Smith, “Patriarchal,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1845, 6:904.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

May, Dean L. “A Demographic Portrait of the Mormons, 1830–1980.” In After 150 Years: The Latter-day Saints in Sesquicentennial Perspective, edited by Thomas G. Alexander and Jessie L. Embry, 38–69. [Provo, UT]: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1983.

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

and after they have sent missionaries to the various nations of the earth, to
gather

As directed by early revelations, church members “gathered” in communities. A revelation dated September 1830, for instance, instructed elders “to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect” who would “be gathered in unto one place, upon the face of this land...

View Glossary
Israel according to the predictions of all the holy prophets since the world began, that great plenipotentiary; the renowned Secretary of State, the ignoble duelist, the gambling Senator; and Whig candidate for the presidency,
Henry Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
:
the wise Kentucky Lawyer, advises the Latter Day Saints to go to
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

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to obtain Justice and set up a government of their own; O ye crowned heads among all nations, is not
Mr. Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

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a wise man and very patriotic! why Great God! to transport 200,000 people through a vast prairie; over
Rocky Mountains

Mountain chain consisting of at least one hundred separate ranges, commencing in present-day New Mexico and continuing about 3,000 miles northwest to northern Canada. Determine flow of North American rivers and streams toward Atlantic or Pacific oceans. First...

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, to
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
, a distance of nearly 2000 miles, would cost more than four millions! or should they go by Cape Horn, in ships to
California

Originally part of New Spain. After Mexico declared independence, 1821, area became part of Mexico. American colonization increased, after 1840. By 1841, area was known variously as California, Upper California, Alta California, and New California. Area included...

More Info
, the cost would be more than twenty millions! and all this to save the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
from inheriting the disgrace of
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

More Info
, for murdering and robbing the saints with impunity!
Benton

14 Mar. 1782–10 Apr. 1858. Teacher, lawyer, newspaper editor, politician. Born in Hart’s Mill, near Hillsborough, Orange Co., North Carolina. Son of Jesse Benton and Ann “Nancy” Gooch. Attended Chapel Hill College, in Orange Co. Moved to Nashville, Davidson...

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and
Van Buren

5 Dec. 1782–24 July 1862. Lawyer, politician, diplomat, farmer. Born in Kinderhook, Columbia Co., New York. Son of Abraham Van Buren and Maria Hoes Van Alen. Member of Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Worked as law clerk, 1800, in New York City. Returned...

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, who make no secret to say, if they get into power, they will carry out
Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

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exterminating plan to rid the country of the Latter Day Saints, are
Little nipperkins of milk,
Compared to “
Clay

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
’s” great aqua fortis jars.
66

“Aqua fortis” is an archaic name for nitric acid, a highly corrosive mineral acid. JS was familiar with aqua fortis as a poison. In 1832 a mob in Hiram, Ohio, tarred and feathered JS and tried to force a vial of aqua fortis into his mouth. (Cottrell, Manufacture of Nitric Acid and Nitrates, 39; Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 352.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Cottrell, Allin. The Manufacture of Nitric Acid and Nitrates. London: Gurney and Jackson, 1923.

Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.

Why, he is a real giant in humanity: send the Mormons to
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
and free
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

More Info
from debt and disgrace! Ah! sir, let this doctrine go to and fro throughout the whole earth, that we, as
Van Buren

5 Dec. 1782–24 July 1862. Lawyer, politician, diplomat, farmer. Born in Kinderhook, Columbia Co., New York. Son of Abraham Van Buren and Maria Hoes Van Alen. Member of Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Worked as law clerk, 1800, in New York City. Returned...

View Full Bio
said, know your cause is just but the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
government can do nothing for you, because it has no power;
67

In 1839 JS met with President Martin Van Buren and requested his support for redress for the persecution the Saints experienced in Missouri. Van Buren reportedly responded, “What can I do? I can do nothing for you,— if I do any thing, I shall come in contact with the whole State of Missouri.” JS and other Saints repeatedly publicized Van Buren’s excuse for inaction. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.)


you must go to
Oregon

Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in area, 1805–1806. Treaty of 1818 between U.S. and England provided decade of joint rights to area. Major immigration to area from existing U.S. states commenced, 1839. Oregon Trail used as main route to area, beginning...

More Info
, and get justice from the Indians.
I mourn for the depravity of the world; I despise the hypocrisy of christendom; I hate the imbecility of american statesmen; I detest the shrinkage of candidates for office, from pledges and responsibility; I long for a day of righteousness, when he, “whose right it is to reign, shall judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth,”
68

See Isaiah 11:4.


and I pray God, who hath given our fathers a promise of a perfect government in the last days,
69

See Daniel 2:44–45. Two months earlier, JS had helped organize the Council of Fifty, which he and its members viewed as the political kingdom of God on earth. (See “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.”)


to purify the hearts of the people and hasten the welcome day.
With the highest consideration,
for virtue and unadulterated freedom,
I have the honor to be, your ob’t s’v’t.
JOSEPH SMITH.
Hon.
H. CLAY

12 Apr. 1777–29 June 1852. Lawyer, public speaker, professor, statesman, politician. Born in Hanover Co., Virginia. Son of John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson. Episcopalian. Admitted to Virginia bar, Nov. 1797. Moved to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Nov. 1797...

View Full Bio
,
Ashland

Kentucky estate of Henry Clay. Clay purchased 125 acres near Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Sept. 1804, and there built mansion constructed largely of sand brick. Clay resided at Ashland, likely by 1808. Size of estate eventually grew to approximately ...

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, Ky. [p. [2]]
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Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See JS, Draft Letter to Presidential Candidates, 4 Nov. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; and Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  2. [2]

    In General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, JS used similar language to lament the decline of the United States. (See General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)

  3. [3]

    See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  4. [4]

    “The goddess of good luck” refers to Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune, or her later Roman incarnation, Fortuna. She was usually depicted holding a cornucopia. (Matheson, Obsession with Fortune, 19–26.)

    Matheson, Susan B. An Obsession with Fortune: Tyche in Greek and Roman Art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1994.

  5. [5]

    In 1814 Clay helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom and the United States. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 35–37.)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

  6. [6]

    This is a reference to the dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom over the boundary of the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick. In 1839 militias from the state and province nearly fought over the disputed border. The disagreement was not successfully negotiated until 1842. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 674–675.)

    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.

  7. [7]

    Both the United States and the United Kingdom had claimed the Oregon territory (now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia) since 1818. The territorial dispute grew more divisive in the 1840s as more Americans moved there. In February 1844, JS publicly called for the United States to exert control over the entire Oregon territory. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 96–97, 712–714; General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)

    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.

  8. [8]

    In the presidential election of 1824, Clay finished third behind John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. No candidate won a majority of electoral votes. Accordingly, the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Because Adams’s political platform was similar to Clay’s platform, Clay supported Adams over Jackson. Adams became president and subsequently appointed Clay secretary of state. Jackson and several of his supporters alleged that Adams’s victory (and thus Jackson’s defeat) and Clay’s appointment were the results of a corrupt bargain between Adams and Clay. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 208–211.)

    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. [9]

    In an 11 April 1844 meeting of the Council of Fifty, JS stated that the slogan for his presidential campaign was “Jeffersonianism, Jeffersonian Democracy, free trade and Sailors rights, protection of person & property.” Several phrases in the slogan were commonly associated with the War of 1812, and in the years after the war Americans used them to advocate for a government designed to uphold individual freedom and property. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1844, underlining in original; McBride, Joseph Smith for President, 76–77, 172.)

    McBride, Spencer W. Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.

  10. [10]

    Politicians in nineteenth-century America often used the phrase “an honorable war is better than a dishonorable peace” in advocating for the use of force to obtain disputed territory that they believed rightly belonged to the United States. (See, for example, Acts and Resolves of the State of Maine, 4:630.)

    Acts and Resolves of the State of Maine, from 1840 to 1841 Inclusive. Vol. 4. Augusta, ME: Wm. R. Smith, 1842.

  11. [11]

    This is a reference to the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri in 1838 and 1839. (See “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839”; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)

  12. [12]

    At some point in December 1839 or January 1840, JS met with Clay in Washington DC and asked him to support the church’s petitions for redress and reparations from the federal government for lost property in Missouri. While Clay supported the submission of the church’s memorial to Congress in the United States Senate and advocated for it to be considered by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, he never openly advocated for reparations for the Latter-day Saints. (See JS History, vol. D-1, 1552.)

  13. [13]

    See Luke 6:44.

  14. [14]

    See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  15. [15]

    See Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, bk. 2, in Hazlitt, Select British Poets, 468.

    Hazlitt, William, ed. Select British Poets; or, New Elegant Extracts from Chaucer to the Present Time, with Critical Remarks. London: Wm. C. Hall, 1824.

  16. [16]

    In 1820 Clay helped orchestrate the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri to the United States as a slave state, admitted Maine as a free state, and established the Mason-Dixon surveying line as the line of latitude that would help determine the legality of slavery in any states admitted to the union thereafter. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 151–155.)

    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.

  17. [17]

    Clay ran for the presidency unsuccessfully in 1824 and 1832 and failed to win his party’s nomination in 1840. (Klotter, Henry Clay, chaps. 5, 8, 11.)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

  18. [18]

    Brag (an ancestor of poker) was a traditional British card game of bluffing. Clay’s fondness for playing games of chance was well known to the public in the 1840s. (“Brag,” in Parlett, Dictionary of Card Games, 31; Klotter, Henry Clay, 62–64.)

    Parlett, David. A Dictionary of Card Games. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

  19. [19]

    See Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 235.

    Watts, Isaac. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In Three Books. London: L. How, 1805.

  20. [20]

    Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  21. [21]

    See Genesis 9:6.

  22. [22]

    In 1826, while serving as secretary of state, Clay challenged Congressman John Randolph to a duel after Randolph insulted him in a speech. Neither man was injured in the subsequent duel, but the event elicited strong criticism of Clay from some Americans, as the social acceptability of dueling was waning in parts of the United States. Nevertheless, violent conflict between members of Congress was common at this time. Between 1830 and 1860, there were more than seventy such incidents. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 64–67; Freeman, Field of Blood, 5, 64.)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

    Freeman, Joanne B. The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018.

  23. [23]

    “The sanctum sanctorum of American glory” is probably an allusion to the United States Capitol, in which Clay and other congressmen met to conduct the nation’s legislation.

  24. [24]

    In 1772, on the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Joseph Warren referred to Great Britain’s North American colonies as the “asylum of the oppressed.” Americans applied that descriptor patriotically to the United States following the American War of Independence. (Warren, Oration, 18.)

    Warren, Joseph. An Oration Delivered March 5th, 1772. At the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston; To Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March, 1770. Boston: Edes and Gill, 1772.

  25. [25]

    See Matthew 23:14.

  26. [26]

    See Genesis 4:1–16; Numbers 16:1–35; and Jude 1:11.

  27. [27]

    This is a reference to a mourning practice in the Old Testament. (See, for example, Lamentations 2:10.)

  28. [28]

    When God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, he “placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24.)

  29. [29]

    Jesus castigated the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites for donating mint and other herbs at the temple while neglecting more important matters such as judgment, mercy, and faith. He negatively referred to the Roman tetrarch Herod Antipas, another authority figure, as a fox. (See Matthew 23:23; and Luke 13:31–32.)

  30. [30]

    Vox reprobi, vox Diaboli is Latin for “the voice of reprobates is the voice of the devil.”

  31. [31]

    This is a reference to the Nullification Crisis of 1832–1833. (See Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 395–410.)

    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.

  32. [32]

    On 6 April 1844, Clay spoke in Charleston, South Carolina, on the topics of tariffs and a national bank. According to a newspaper report of the speech, Clay professed his support for “incidental protection” through tariffs and “denounced ultraism in all its forms.” He also affirmed his longstanding support for a national bank but added that “he was willing to leave this subject to public opinion, content to be guided by its voice and governed by its dictates.” (“Mr. Clay in Charleston. His Abandonment of the High Tariff System,” New York Herald [New York City], 12 Apr. 1844, [2], italics in original.)

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

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    From December 1843 to May 1844, Clay traveled through the southern United States on a quasi campaign trip, as he had done in western states such as Indiana and Ohio in 1842. As a prominent senator, he was inevitably invited to dine with local political leaders wherever he traveled, and he would often give impromptu speeches on such occasions. In private conversations associated with these events, he frequently spoke about the question of the proposed annexation of Texas. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 295.)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

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    “Confidential letters for the north” may be a reference to the “Raleigh letter,” an April 1844 letter Clay wrote in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the letter, he expressed concern over the proposed annexation of Texas by the United States, as it would reopen the slavery issue in the country while signaling to the world that the United States had “an insatiable and unquenchable thirst for foreign conquest.” The letter was published in a Washington DC newspaper, and many Americans saw it as an appeal to antislavery Whigs in the northern states. In July 1844, fearing the loss of electoral support in the southern states because of his “Raleigh letter,” Clay explained his position to southerners in two letters published in Alabama newspapers. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 296–297, 310–312; Henry Clay, Raleigh, NC, 17 Apr. 1844, Letter to the Editor, Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 27 Apr. 1844, [3].)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

    Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

  35. [35]

    In 1824 Clay campaigned for president on his “American System,” an economic plan that included a national bank, a tariff to protect American industry, and federal subsidies for internal improvements such as roads and canals. (Klotter, Henry Clay, 109; Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, 2; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 270–271.)

    Klotter, James C. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

    Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

    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.

  36. [36]

    See Mother Goose’s Melody, 39.

    Mother Goose’s Melody; or, Sonnets for the Cradle. In Two Parts. Part I. Contains the Most Celebrated Songs and Lullabies of the Good Old Nurses, Calculated to Amuse Children and to Excite Them to Sleep. Part II. Those of That Sweet Songster and Nurse of Wit and Humour, Master William Shakespeare. . . . 2nd ed. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1794.

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    The “Clay party,” the “National Republican party,” the “High Protective Tariff party,” and the “coon skin party” are all references to the Whig Party and the earlier political factions that coalesced in the party’s formal organization. Leading up to the 1824 presidential election, supporters of John Quincy Adams were often called the “Adams-Clay Party” or the “National Republicans.” One of the political ideas they rallied around was a tariff to protect American industry. One Ohio newspaper established solely for Democrat James K. Polk’s 1844 presidential campaign was titled the Coon Dissector. (Holt, Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, chaps. 1–2; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 204, 210, 274–275, 390; Masthead, Coon Dissector [Dayton, OH], 20 Sept. 1844, [2].)

    Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

    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.

    Coon Dissector. Dayton, OH. 1844.

  38. [38]

    “Ultraism, ne plus ultraism,—sine qua non” is a string of Latin words and phrases that loosely translates to “other people, the ultimate, an essential condition.”

  39. [39]

    See Romans 9:21.

  40. [40]

    Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 4, sc. 1, line 151, in Wadsworth Shakespeare, 1680.

    The Wadsworth Shakespeare, Formerly “The Riverside Shakespeare”: The Complete Works. Edited by G. Blakemore Evans, J. J. M. Tobin, Herschel Baker, Anne Barton, Frank Kermode, Harry Levin, Hallett Smith, and Marie Edel. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 1997.

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    Texas had been widely populated by emigrants from Clay’s home state of Kentucky and other states in the South and old Southwest. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 671.)

    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.

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    When Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, Mexico refused to extend diplomatic recognition to the nascent republic, and relations between the two were unfriendly. At times warfare even broke out. In 1841 Texas launched an unsuccessful offensive against Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico, which resulted in the capture of the Texian expedition. In response, the Mexican Army twice invaded Texas and temporarily occupied San Antonio in 1842. That same year, a Texian force retaliated, invading Mexico and attacking the town of Mier. As at Santa Fe, these Texians were captured. Mexico and Texas later agreed to an armistice in June 1843, and representatives from the two sides met in February 1844 to draw up the agreement. (Dawson, “Army of the Texas Republic,” 129–134; Stevens, “Diplomacy of the Lone Star Republic,” 271, 285, 289–290, 293.)

    Dawson, Joseph G., III. “Army of the Texas Republic, 1836–1845.” In Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836–1845, edited by Kenneth W. Howell and Charles Swanlund, 113–147. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2017.

    Stevens, Kenneth R. “The Diplomacy of the Lone Star Republic, 1836–1845.” In Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836–1845, edited by Kenneth W. Howell and Charles Swanlund, 271–303. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2017.

  43. [43]

    The debate in the United States over the annexation of Texas was fueled in part by fears that if Congress delayed in acting, the British would acquire Texas. (See Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, chap. 10; Roeckell, “British Opposition to the Annexation of Texas,” 257–278; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 672.)

    Haynes, Sam W. Unfinished Revolution: The Early American Republic in a British World. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.

    Roeckell, Lelia M. “Bonds over Bondage: British Opposition to the Annexation of Texas." Journal of the Early Republic 19, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 257–278.

    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.

  44. [44]

    The debate over the annexation of Texas was influenced by the uneasy balance of free and slave states in the United States. Texas would enter the union as a slave state—and moreover as a large and influential state on the nation’s expanding frontier. Accordingly, politicians who supported annexation risked losing the votes of antislavery advocates in the northern states. (See Greenberg, Wicked War, 14–15; and Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 662, 670–671.)

    Greenberg, Amy S. A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico. New York: Knopf, 2012.

    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.

  45. [45]

    See Ecclesiastes 4:13.

  46. [46]

    This is a reference to the Rebellions of 1837–1838, in which two different groups, one in Upper Canada and the other in Lower Canada, led unsuccessful revolts against British rule. (See Ducharme, Idea of Liberty in Canada during the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, chap. 6.)

    Ducharme, Michel. The Idea of Liberty in Canada during the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, 1776–1838. Translated by Peter Feldstein. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.

  47. [47]

    This is a reference to several revolutions in Latin America, including the nineteenth-century wars that led to independence in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru, among others. (See Maltby, Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire, 175–181.)

    Maltby, William S. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

  48. [48]

    This is a reference to the general decline of the Spanish Empire and the Spanish Inquisition. (See Maltby, Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire, chap. 8.)

    Maltby, William S. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

  49. [49]

    See Isaiah 1:5.

  50. [50]

    This is a reference to the First Opium War (1839–1842), a naval war between Great Britain and China instigated by disputes over trade, including the British sale of opium to the Chinese that devastated Chinese society. (See Platt, Imperial Twilight, xxiii–xxviii.)

    Platt, Stephen R. Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age. New York: Knopf, 2018.

  51. [51]

    This is possibly a reference to a smallpox epidemic in Calcutta, India, that occurred in 1843–1844. Disease was often transmitted along trade routes, and Calcutta was frequently visited by British traders. Despite the introduction of smallpox vaccination to parts of India in 1802, the disease remained a serious threat in the country until the mid-twentieth century. (Stewart, Report on Small-Pox in Calcutta, 3–4; see also Banthia and Dyson, “Smallpox in Nineteenth-Century India,” 678; “Small Pox,” Leeds [England] Intelligencer, 1 Feb. 1845, 6; and “Alarming Increase of Small-Pox,” Newcastle [England] Courant, 31 Jan. 1845, part 1, 3.)

    Stewart, Duncan. Report on Small­Pox in Calcutta, 1833–34—1837–38—1843–44, and Vaccination in Bengal, from 1827 to 1844. Calcutta, India: G. H. Huttmann, 1844.

    Banthia, J., and T. Dyson. “Smallpox in Nineteenth Century India.” Population and Development Review 25, no. 4 (1999): 649–680.

    Leeds Intelligencer. Leeds, England. 1754–1866.

    Newcastle Courant. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. 1711–1884.

  52. [52]

    See Jeremiah 8:22.

  53. [53]

    This may be an allusion to the Roman soldiers in charge of the Crucifixion, who stripped Jesus, “parted his garments,” and cast lots for them. (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; see also Luke 23:34.)

  54. [54]

    See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  55. [55]

    This may be an allusion to the parable of the wicked husbandmen, who took over a lord’s vineyard and killed his heir in order to “seize on his inheritance.” (Matthew 21:33–41; see also Mark 12:1–9; and Luke 20:9–16.)

  56. [56]

    JS’s published political views included strong positions against prison conditions, incarceration generally, and slavery. (General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)

  57. [57]

    This verse is similar to a verse of a poem by William Cowper. (Cowper, “Verses,” in British Poets, 80:196.)

    Prior, Matthew. The Poems of Matthew Prior. Vol. 2. In British Poets: Including Translations. Vol. 31. Chiswick, England: C. Whittingham, 1822.

  58. [58]

    In a parallel letter of reply to John C. Calhoun, JS concluded by stating that if Calhoun would read in the Constitution about “what can be done to protect the lives, property and rights of a virtuous people,” then God would raise his mind “above the narrow notion, that the general government has no power—to the sublime idea that congress, with the President as executor, is as Almighty in its sphere, as Jehovah is in his.” (Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.)

  59. [59]

    See James 5:16.

  60. [60]

    See Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843.

  61. [61]

    The Latter-day Saint refugees from Missouri, weakened by their expulsion, resettled in the area of Commerce, Illinois, in the Mississippi floodplain and soon suffered an outbreak of malaria. Further epidemics broke out in subsequent years. The cause of the sickness was frequently traced back to and blamed on the Missouri persecutions. In addition to the lives lost during the conflict in Missouri and the resettlement efforts, the Saints had been forced to abandon several thousand acres of land in Missouri. (See Reflections and Blessings, 16 and 23 Aug. 1842; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 16, [2]; bk. 18, [1]; Discourse, 28 July 1839; Ivie and Heiner, “Deaths in Early Nauvoo,” 167–168; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)

    Ivie, Evan L., and Douglas C. Heiner. “Deaths in Early Nauvoo, 1839–46, and Winter Quarters, 1846–48.” Religious Educator 10, no. 3 (2009): 163–173.

  62. [62]

    In the church’s 1840 memorial to the United States Congress, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee estimated the value of church members’ lost property in Missouri at $2 million. In March 1840, however, church leaders wrote that they thought that estimate was too low. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Letter to Elias Higbee, 7 Mar. 1840.)

  63. [63]

    By this time, church leaders and members had unsuccessfully petitioned state and national leaders several times in an effort to receive compensation for property losses stemming from vigilante violence against church members in Missouri during 1833 and 1838–1839. (For examples of these petitions, see “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, to Andrew Jackson, Washington DC, Petition, 10 Apr. 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; and Elias Higbee et al., Memorial to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 10 Jan. 1842, photocopy, Material relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, CHL.)

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

    Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.

  64. [64]

    It is unclear to which two temples this statement refers. In 1831 church members laid stones for a temple in Jackson County, Missouri, that was never finished. In 1836 the church dedicated the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1839 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles laid the cornerstone of a temple at Far West, Missouri, but no additional construction occurred. In 1841 a revelation directed the Saints to construct a temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, and that building was still under construction in 1844. (“Part 1: Missouri, Summer 1831”; Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 Mar. 1836 [D&C 109]; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 26 Apr. 1839; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:27].)

    Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

  65. [65]

    There is no precise accounting of the total membership of the church in 1844. By fall 1839, there were approximately sixteen thousand church members worldwide. Thousands more had joined the church by 1844, but this estimate of hundreds of thousands of church members is exaggerated. One scholarly estimate suggests that there were at least thirty thousand members of the church in 1846, but during the 1840s sources frequently repeated the exaggerated claims of a church membership of more than one hundred thousand. (May, “Demographic Portrait of the Mormons,” 122–123; “Important from Washington,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:74; “Cold Comfort,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:953; “The Mormon Prophet,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1845, 6:854; William Smith, “Patriarchal,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1845, 6:904.)

    May, Dean L. “A Demographic Portrait of the Mormons, 1830–1980.” In After 150 Years: The Latter-day Saints in Sesquicentennial Perspective, edited by Thomas G. Alexander and Jessie L. Embry, 38–69. [Provo, UT]: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1983.

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

  66. [66]

    “Aqua fortis” is an archaic name for nitric acid, a highly corrosive mineral acid. JS was familiar with aqua fortis as a poison. In 1832 a mob in Hiram, Ohio, tarred and feathered JS and tried to force a vial of aqua fortis into his mouth. (Cottrell, Manufacture of Nitric Acid and Nitrates, 39; Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 352.)

    Cottrell, Allin. The Manufacture of Nitric Acid and Nitrates. London: Gurney and Jackson, 1923.

    Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.

  67. [67]

    In 1839 JS met with President Martin Van Buren and requested his support for redress for the persecution the Saints experienced in Missouri. Van Buren reportedly responded, “What can I do? I can do nothing for you,— if I do any thing, I shall come in contact with the whole State of Missouri.” JS and other Saints repeatedly publicized Van Buren’s excuse for inaction. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.)

  68. [68]

    See Isaiah 11:4.

  69. [69]

    See Daniel 2:44–45. Two months earlier, JS had helped organize the Council of Fifty, which he and its members viewed as the political kingdom of God on earth. (See “The Council of Fifty in Nauvoo, Illinois.”)

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