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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

“The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), Simon Gratz autograph collection.” (12)
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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co.], NY, 17–18 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; signature of JS by ; three pages; Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, dealer marking, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12⅜ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The document was inscribed with blue and brown ink. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red wax seal, and postmarked. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf, resulting in the loss of some text. Damage along a fold also resulted in the loss of one character. The document was later repaired, and the lost text was inaccurately reconstructed in graphite.
The letter left the possession of or his heirs at an unknown time and was subsequently acquired by attorney, legislator, and autograph collector Simon Gratz. Gratz’s entire collection was deeded to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1917, and the transfer was finalized in 1928.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 17 and 18 March 1843, JS composed a letter in , Illinois, to , a prominent attorney and educator in , New York, regarding the ongoing fallout from ’s 1842 excommunication from the . In 1841, John C. Bennett had introduced James Arlington Bennet to the Latter-day Saints and in April 1842 had secured a commission for Bennet as the inspector general of the , as well as an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Nauvoo. Following John C. Bennett’s May 1842 excommunication for sexual misconduct and his subsequent endeavors to damage the church, JS began an extensive correspondence with James Arlington Bennet, who quickly became a close political adviser and advocate for the Saints. Bennet’s public endeavors on behalf of the church were largely in response to John C. Bennett’s allegations that JS was an accessory before the fact to the May 1842 shooting of former governor .
On 20 February 1843, wrote to JS to congratulate him on his discharge from arrest after officials attempted to extradite him to answer charges in the case. In addition, Bennet recounted his efforts to challenge ’s claims by corresponding privately with interested public officials and by publishing editorials in the public press. James Arlington Bennet mailed the letter on 27 February. JS received it in by 15 March.
JS likely began composing a response to ’s letter on the morning of 17 March 1843, when he spent “a part of the fore noon in the office.” He worked through multiple drafts of the letter, as evidenced by an extant draft in the handwriting of scribe . The draft contains only one revision, an insertion on the verso of the second leaf; the lack of pervasive editorial changes suggests that the draft was based on one or more prior versions. In the evening, JS “heard read . . . his own [letter] to [James] Arlington Bennet.” On 18 March, JS “closed Letter to Arlington Bennett.” It was presumably at this time that Phelps made a new copy—featured here—incorporating the insertion from the earlier draft. JS may have dictated additional minor changes at this time, as Phelps made revisions on the featured version. Phelps signed JS’s name on both copies. The letter was mailed from on 19 March. Correspondence between Nauvoo and generally arrived in two to three weeks. Bennet received the letter by 10 April 1843, when he replied to JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1842, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; Certificate, Moses K. Anderson to James Arlington Bennet, Springfield, IL, 30 Apr. 1842, Thomas Carlin, Correspondence, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; JS History, vol. C-1, 1325.

    Carlin, Thomas. Correspondence, 1838–1842. In Office of the Governor, Records, 1818–1989. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  2. [2]

    See Notice, 11 May 1842; and Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, chaps. 7–9.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; and Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 15 Mar. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 17 and 18 Mar. 1843; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.

  7. [7]

    See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841; and Historical Introduction to Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  8. [8]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 10 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843, Draft
*Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

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City of , Ill. March 17, 1843.
Dear Sir,— I was not a little gratified at the reception of your favor of the 20th. ult. It is true— I am free from the “unrighteous persecution” got up by , and carried on by , and , that superlative trio of wickedness, abomination, and national disgrace. Sooner or later, however, corruption and wickedness get their reward.
Our charters remain as they were, but that mobocratic influence of , which stained her broad prairies with innocent blood, crept into , and became visible in the house of Representatives of our state Legislature; but let corrupt men do what they may, “wisdom will be justified of her children.”
Your have my grateful acknowledgements for your very kind interposition, in my behalf when “Executive influence,” was exerted to gratify and glut private malignance. It appears from <​your​> letter that paid no attention to your friendly admonition. I am not surprised at this, any more than the apostles were at the conduct of Nero at Rome. But the smothered heat of a volcano, will generally burst forth and give sufficient time to escape its “drea[d]ful lava”; and so, thank God, I am liberated, from his “long reach” by the still longer arm of Jurisprudence. Before the district court my case was fairly treated, and I was justly liberated:— Always so in righteousness.
You mention ’s book as a total failure: exactly so: No weapon formed against Zion can prosper: And he may learn, if [he] has not, that iniquity has its inconveniences, as well as greatness. Every one that has attempted to rise up and destroy me, [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843
ID #
2216
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:66–71
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.

  2. [2]

    In his 20 February 1843 letter to JS, Bennet stated, “I am extremely happy to know that you are now completely free from that unrigteous persecution got up against you by Dr [John C.] Bennett & Gover. [Lilburn W.] Boggs.” Based on the accusation by former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs that JS was an accessory before the fact in the assassination attempt made against him, Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds issued a requisition to Illinois governor Thomas Carlin for JS’s extradition from Illinois to Missouri. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843; see also “Part 1: March 1843.”)

  3. [3]

    During the thirteenth general assembly of the Illinois state legislature, held December 1842–March 1843, legislators unsuccessfully attempted several times to repeal the Nauvoo charter or to amend specific provisions in the charter.

  4. [4]

    See Matthew 11:19; and Luke 7:35.

  5. [5]

    JS wrote to Bennet on 8 September 1842, recounting Missouri authorities’ efforts to extradite JS to Missouri on the charge of being an accessory to the attempted assassination of Boggs. After receiving JS’s letter, Bennet advocated for JS through letters to Illinois governor Thomas Carlin and Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds that challenged John C. Bennett’s evidence for the allegation. (Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 Sept. 1842; James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1842, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.)

  6. [6]

    Nero, the first-century Roman emperor, allegedly had Rome burned and then blamed Christians for the conflagration, which resulted in a targeted persecution of the group. The apostles Peter and Paul were reportedly executed during his reign. These stories were well known in the nineteenth century, due largely to the popularity of John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. (See Book of Martyrs, 32; and Champlin, Nero, chap. 1.)

    Book of Martyrs; or, A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths, of the Primitive as Well as Protestant Martyrs; from the Commencement of Christianity, to the Latest Periods of Pagan and Popish Persecution. . . . Originally Composed by the Rev. John Fox M. A. and Now Improved by Important Alterations and Additions. Edited by Charles A. Goodrich. Hartford, CT: Philemon Canfield, 1830.

    Champlin, Edward. Nero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2003.

  7. [7]

    In early January 1843, JS appeared before the United States Circuit Court for the District of Illinois, where judge Nathaniel Pope ordered JS’s discharge from arrest. (See Court Ruling, 5 Jan. 1843.)

  8. [8]

    Bennet noted, “I understand that the Book so far as sales & profit are concerned has been a total failure.” (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.)

  9. [9]

    See Isaiah 54:17.

  10. [10]

    TEXT: Text has been supplied from the earlier draft of the letter. (JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.)

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