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Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844

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Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , 20 June 1844; included enclosures. Featured version copied [20 June 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; private possession. Includes dockets, use marks, and notations. Transcription and physical description based on photocopy in JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
One leaf, apparently 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on the recto of the leaf. The document was folded for storage.
A docket and filing notation were inscribed on the document by , who served as a clerk for JS in 1844. It was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL) from 1853 to 1856, copied the letter into JS’s history sometime in 1856. Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941, docketed the letter as well. The letter passed into private possession in 1976. Presumably a photocopy of the letter was made at that time and added to the JS Collection (Supplement) sometime before the supplement was closed to new accessions in 1984.

Footnotes

  1. See JS History, vol. F-1, 133; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 213–214; Source Note for Ordinance, 10 June 1844; and Source Note for Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844.

  2. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. JS History, vol. F-1, 123; Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1; see also Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; and Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

  4. Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  5. See the full bibliographic entries for People vs. JS, Indictments and Arrest Warrant, May–June 1844, and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to John Tyler, Washington DC, 20 June 1844, copy, JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

  6. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. However, the department’s staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection that was closed to further acquisitions in 1984 and was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992 and its cataloging was finalized in 2017. (See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection [Supplement], 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.)

Historical Introduction

On 20 June 1844, JS wrote a letter from , Illinois, to President in informing him about rumors that Missourians were planning on joining with opponents in to attack the Latter-day Saints. This was not the first time that JS and church leaders had sought help from the president of the . After the Saints were driven from , Missouri, in 1833, church leaders wrote to President Andrew Jackson to solicit aid in regaining their land. Following the Saints’ expulsion from the entire state of in winter 1838–1839, JS petitioned President to support a memorial to Congress for redress and reparations. In both instances, the presidents declined to help, stating that they did not have authority to interfere in state affairs.
By 20 June 1844, already had some familiarity with the Saints’ situation. In April 1844 met with Tyler while Hyde was in to petition Congress to redress the Saints’ mistreatment in . During their conversation, Tyler expressed regret about what church members experienced in Missouri and inquired after their welfare in . After this meeting, Hyde stated that the “way is open” if the Saints ever needed Tyler’s help. In addition, , a friend of JS’s who was not a member of the church, met with Tyler in May and told the president of the Saints’ efforts to obtain redress while living in Illinois. According to Cowan, Tyler responded that he believed the Saints deserved justice.
In June 1844 conditions in , Illinois, between church members and their detractors became increasingly volatile, and reports were circulating that Missourians were eager to lend their support to JS’s opponents. In response to the City Council’s 10 June order to destroy the press of the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper, residents of Hancock County gathered throughout the county and passed a series of resolutions opposing JS and the Saints. One declared that those assembled intended to “hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this State, and , to exterminate, utterly exterminate, the wicked and abominable Mormon Leaders.” In addition, several Latter-day Saints swore out affidavits about threats of violence against them from both Hancock County residents and Missourians; JS planned to send the statements to Illinois governor . One affidavit stated that “about one hundred persons had already arrived” in Illinois from Missouri and that “many more” were expected from that state in addition to “Guns and Ammunition and Provisions from in order to prosecute their attack upon Nauvoo.” Yet another relayed a claim from a Captain Wyers of the “Independent Anti Mormon Minute Men” that “Missouri had offered to send over two thousand men” to help Illinoisans arrest JS.
In response to these reported threats, JS sent copies of these and other affidavits, as well as a newspaper extra—likely the one issued by the Warsaw Signal containing the antagonistic resolutions. Because of the rumors that individuals from and would attack the Saints, JS also asked the president to provide protection as authorized by the Constitution of the in cases of insurrection and rebellion. Tyler likely received the letter at least three weeks after it was mailed. There is no known response.
The sent copy of JS’s letter is apparently not extant. On 20 June 1844, made a copy of the letter, which was then filed. The retained copy is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. Edward Partridge et al. to Andrew Jackson, Petition, Liberty, MO, 10 Apr. 1834, copy; Lewis Cass, Washington DC, to Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, 2 May 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.

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

  2. Letter from Orson Hyde, 26 Apr. 1844.

  3. Letter from Orson Hyde, 30 Apr. 1844. JS received Hyde’s letter with this statement by 25 May. Hyde also met with Tyler on 11 June, but JS likely had not received word about that meeting by 20 June. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 May 1844; JS, Journal, 25 May 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 11 June 1844.)

  4. Letter from John Cowan, 31 May 1844.

  5. Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  6. Cyrus Canfield and Gilbert Belnap, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 18 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

  7. James Guyman, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 20 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

  8. The transport of arms and ammunition from Missouri to Illinois could have constituted interstate commerce, thereby falling under federal authority. For an extended treatment of the background to this letter and the issues surrounding federal intervention, see Rogers, “Federalism, Interstate Affairs, and Joseph Smith’s Final Attempt to Secure Federal Intervention in Nauvoo,” 148–179.

    Rogers, Brent M. “‘Armed Men Are Coming from the State of Missouri’: Federalism, Interstate Affairs, and Joseph Smith’s Final Attempt to Secure Federal Intervention in Nauvoo.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 109, no. 2 (Summer 2016): 148–179.

  9. Letters between Nauvoo and Washington DC typically took around three weeks to arrive, but difficulties in Hancock County made mail delivery challenging in Nauvoo during June 1844. (See Historical Introduction to Letter to Richard M. Young, 23 Dec. 1842.)

  10. A docket on the letter in John McEwan’s handwriting reads, “Copy of | Letter to John Tyler | President | of the U. S— | filed | June 20th. 1844.”

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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City of , Ill. June 20, 1844.
: I have Just enclosed to the of the State of , copies of the enclosed affidavits and Extra. I am sorry to say that the State of , not contented <​with​> robbed robbing, driving, and murdered murdering many of the , are now Joining the mob of this for the purpose of <​the​> “utter extermination” of the Mormons, as they have resolved. And now, , as president of the , will you render that protection which the constitution guarantees in case of “Insurrection and rebellion,” and Save the innocent and oppressed from such horrid persecution?
With great respect I have the honor to be your obt. Sert
Joseph Smith
Mayor
)
President)
of the )
)
) [1/4 page blank] [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to John Tyler, 20 June 1844
ID #
1425
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. On 21 June, JS sent approximately fifteen affidavits to Illinois governor Thomas Ford, most of which had been sworn between 16 and 20 June. JS also transmitted to Ford “hand bills,” which almost certainly included copies of the extra of the Warsaw Signal published on 14 June. (Minutes, 21 June 1844; Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 June 1844.)

  2. In 1838 Latter-day Saints living in northwestern Missouri experienced a violent conflict with other residents of the state. As tensions heightened, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a military order declaring that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state.” Vigilantes and members of the state militia stole food and property from the Saints, and approximately forty church members were killed, including seventeen massacred at Hawn’s Mill, Missouri. In 1839 the Saints were expelled from the state. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839.”)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  3. Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  4. According to article 4, section 4, of the Constitution of the United States, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 also stated that if the president determined it necessary “to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing” insurrection within a state, the president could call upon “such part of the land or naval force of the United States, as shall be judged necessary.” In January 1844 JS told presidential candidate John C. Calhoun that he believed the president had the power to act in cases of insurrection and rebellion and that presidents George Washington and Andrew Jackson respectively had exercised that power to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s and the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina in the 1830s. (An Act Authorizing the Employment of the Land and Naval Forces of the United States, in Cases of Insurrection [3 Mar. 1807], Public Statutes at Large, 9th Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 39, p. 443; Letter to John C. Calhoun, 2 Jan. 1844.)

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

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