Skip to main content

Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, Hancock Co., IL], 22[–23] June 1844. Featured version drafted 22[–23] June 1844; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets, use marks, redactions, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 12⅜ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). A circular embossment appears on the upper left corner of the first page. Before the letter was written, the bifolium was used as an abecedarium. A partial alphabet was written near the top of the first page, while “Riley Eaton’s Writing or Copy Book” was written near the top of the second page. The letter was folded in half twice horizontally for filing. It was later refolded.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. It was later 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. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. The notation “A.J.” was added to the letter in graphite by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, its listing in the circa 1904 inventory, its notation, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  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. “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  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 entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

Late into the night of 22–23 June 1844, JS composed a letter from , Illinois, to Governor in , Illinois, responding to a letter Ford had sent to JS on 22 June and defending the legality of his recent actions in ordering the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press and in using the powers of Nauvoo’s municipal court. Ford had written his letter after hearing evidence from and reviewing affidavits and other documents carried by and —envoys sent by JS to explain to Ford the Nauvoo City Council’s decision to the Expositor. In his letter, the governor concluded that the abatement was illegal and told JS that he and the others responsible for the destruction of the press must submit to arrest and come to Carthage to appear at a hearing. Ford warned that if they did not, he would be compelled to call out the militia, despite his concern about his ability to prevent militia members from attacking the people of Nauvoo.
delivered his letter to Captain Christopher Yates and a posse of between ten and thirty individuals around five o’clock in the afternoon. Yates’s posse immediately left for with and , arriving at approximately ten o’clock that night. Upon their arrival, JS immediately called a council at the to receive a report from Bernhisel and Taylor and to consider Ford’s letter. Taylor later recalled, “Br. Joseph was very much dissatisfied with the Governors letter and with his general deportment, and so were the council; and it became a serious question, as to the course we should pursue.” The council discussed a variety of actions, but it came to no definitive conclusions “for some time.” At some point during these discussions, JS excused himself and met with two sons of secretary of state who had made a brief stop in Nauvoo that evening during a tour of the western United States. JS gave them “a full description of his difficulties, and also an exposition of his faith.” He then returned to the council meeting.
After returning, JS composed his late-night reply to , apparently dictating the text to , who inscribed the draft. In the letter, JS rejected the governor’s charge that he was unwilling to submit to a court outside . He explained that he and others had been reluctant to go to because of the personal danger they felt they would face there. JS also maintained his belief that his and the city council’s actions had been in accordance with legal requirements. If they had acted inappropriately, JS continued, he was willing to accept correction from the Supreme Court. On the larger issue of the legality of the Expositor’s , JS reiterated his stance that the Illinois state constitution, the act incorporating Nauvoo, or Nauvoo charter, and legal precedent allowed the city to declare the newspaper a public nuisance and destroy it. JS also responded to rumors that Nauvoo officials had detained individuals for violating JS’s 18 June declaration of martial law. He explained that all those who had been arrested had violated city ordinances and had been released by the time he wrote the letter. Finally, responding to Ford’s insistence that JS and others submit to arrest and come to Carthage, JS explained that he questioned Ford’s ability to guarantee his safety. Rather than come to Carthage, JS informed Ford, he intended to go to and appeal his case to the federal government.
’s draft of the letter is dated “June 22. 12. 〈oclock〉 P. M.” Because the letter was written in response to ’s letter to JS dated 22 June, which JS received that evening, it is certain that the letter was not written at noon on 22 June. The draft was likely begun shortly before midnight on 22 June and was then finished in the early morning hours of 23 June. After the draft was completed, Richards or another clerk presumably made a fair copy to send to Ford. Instructions were apparently then given for the letter’s delivery. All of this evidently occurred before around two o’clock in the morning, when JS and Richards left with and and crossed the into , apparently to make their way toward —presumably intending to take a route of travel around rather than through the state of .
The midnight letter was presumably received by in on 23 June. Although no reply has been located, it is apparent that the letter was sent, because JS referenced it in another letter he sent to Ford later that day. It may be that Ford did not attempt to send a reply to JS in or anywhere else because JS had informed Ford that he planned to leave Nauvoo and travel to the nation’s capital.
The letter JS sent to is apparently not extant. The draft inscribed by is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. JS sent Taylor and Bernhisel to Carthage with various documents on the evening of 21 June. (JS, Journal, 21 June 1844; John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 20–24, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL; see also Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 June 1844.)

  2. Letter from Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844.

  3. 1850 U.S. Census, Hancock Co., IL, 294[A]; John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 24–25, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL; Message of the Governor, 9; Clayton, Journal, 22–23 June 1844; Events of June 1844; Richards, Journal, 22 June 1844. Taylor later recalled returning to Nauvoo around eight or nine o’clock in the evening, but his recollection was written approximately twelve years later.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, in Relation to the Disturbances in Hancock County, December, 21, 1844. Springfield, IL: Walters and Weber, 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  4. John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 25, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL; Cannon, “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith,” 776–777, 779; Welch, “Joseph Smith’s Iowa Quest for Legal Assistance,” 122. Taylor later recalled that the council consisted of him, Bernhisel, JS, Hyrum Smith, Willard Richards, and one or two other individuals.

    Cannon, Brian Q. “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith Shortly before the Departure for Carthage.” BYU Studies 33, no. 4 (1993): 772–780.

    Welch, John W. “Joseph Smith’s Iowa Quest for Legal Assistance: His Letters to Edward Johnstone and Others on Sunday, June 23, 1844.” BYU Studies 57, no. 3 (2018): 111–142.

  5. John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 25, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL. The two sons were Patrick Calhoun, twenty-three years old, and John C. Calhoun Jr., twenty-one years old. (Cannon, “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith,” 773–774, 777.)

    Cannon, Brian Q. “John C. Calhoun, Jr., Meets the Prophet Joseph Smith Shortly before the Departure for Carthage.” BYU Studies 33, no. 4 (1993): 772–780.

  6. Willard Richards, Journal Excerpt, 23–27 June 1844; JS History, vol. F-1, 147.

  7. Letter to Thomas Ford, 23 June 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

Go to next page 2
June 22[–23]. 12. <​oclock​> P. M. [midnight]
To his Excellency ,
Sir, Yours of this date is received by Messrs & , and as it app Another del a part of the same delegation <​​> which who was detaind yesterdy Sta[r]ted for at 12 noon this day date; which who <​whom​> we perceive had not arrived at your last date, some documents conveyed by him would tend to counteract the Some of the views exprssed in your [’s] communication. And we feel confident of if all the facts could be before your , you would have come to different conclusions.— “Ours insisting to be accountable only before our own Municipal court” is totally incorrect. We plead a as a last resort to save us from being thrown into the power of the mob<​ocrats​> which who was then rasing against <​threting [threatening]​> us, <​with death, and it was with gr[e]at reluctance we went befor the <​municipal​> court on account of the prejuidc [prejudice] which might arrise in the mi[n]ds of the unbiased,​> & we did not petition for a Habeas corpus until we had told the that on our lives we dare not go to for trial, and plead with him to go before any Magistrate he pleasd. in our vecintgs [vicinity], & <​which ocurrenc is common in Legal procedigs​> & not members of our society, so that our lives might be saved, from the threts <​these​> already issued, aginst us
The press was de[c]lared a nuisance under the authority of the Charter, as written an in 7th Sec of adenda, the same as in the Charter,— so that if the act of declarng the press a nuisanc was unconstitutinal, we cannot <​see​> how it is that the Charter itself is not unconstitutinal. And if we have erred in judment, it is an official act & belongs to the supreme cou[r]t to corre[c]t it. & assess damage on <​vs​> the to restore property as a nuisance. If we have arred [erred] in this thing we have done it in good company,— for Mr [William] Blackstone on Private wrongs asserts the doctrine that scurrilus prints may be abated as nuisancs.
There has As to Marshal law,— we truly say that we were ob[l]iged to call out the forges forces to protect out our lives, and the constitution guarantees to every Man that privileige, <​our​> our measures were active and effic[ie]nt, as an the necesscity of the case reqired but the is & has been <​continally​> under the special drcitin [direction] of the [p. [1]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [1]

Go to next page 2

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Thomas Ford, 22–23 June 1844
ID #
1434
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. On 21 June the Nauvoo City Council appointed Willard Richards to go to Carthage along with Taylor and Bernhisel. However, in order to secure additional affidavits and information, Richards remained behind in Nauvoo while Taylor and Bernhisel, and apparently Edward Bonney, went on to Carthage that evening. The following morning, Almon Babbitt arrived in Nauvoo as an envoy from Ford and advised against sending Richards to Carthage. Accordingly, Woodworth was appointed to go in his place. Woodworth left for Carthage with attorney James W. Woods of Burlington, Iowa Territory, around noon on 22 June, carrying a letter from JS to Ford. (JS, Journal, 21–22 June 1844; Historical Introduction to Letter to Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844.)

  2. In his letter to JS, Ford accused him and the Nauvoo City Council of “insisting on your parts to be accountable only before your own Municipal Court, And according to the ordinances of your City.” (Letter from Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844.)

  3. Following the abatement of the Nauvoo Expositor, the citizens of Warsaw, Illinois, passed a public resolution stating, “We hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this State, Missouri and Iowa, to exterminate, utterly exterminate, the wicked and abominable Mormon Leaders, the authors of our troubles.” The citizens of Carthage passed the same resolution during another meeting. (Warsaw [IL] Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1]; see also “Unparalleled Outrage at Nauvoo,” Warsaw Signal, 12 June 1844, [2].)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  4. TEXT: “these” is underlined twice.

  5. On 12 June, David Bettisworth arrested JS on a warrant signed by Hancock County, Illinois, justice of the peace Thomas Morrison. JS requested that Bettisworth take him “before— any Jusstice in Nauvoo,” but Bettisworth refused, vowing to take JS to Carthage for trial. Upon Bettisworth’s refusal, JS secured a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo Municipal Court, which, after hearing testimony, discharged him. (JS, Journal, 12 June 1844; Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 12 June 1844.)

  6. Both the Nauvoo and Springfield charters stated that the city council had the power “to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants, to declare what shall be a nuisance, and to prevent and remove the same.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; An Act to Incorporate the City of Springfield [3 Feb. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1839–1840], p. 9, art. 5, sec. 7.)

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

  7. JS apparently believed that just as the United States Supreme Court could determine the constitutionality of federal laws, the Illinois Supreme Court would do the same for laws passed by both the state legislature and the state-chartered Nauvoo City Council. (Nelson, Origins and Legacy of Judicial Review, 1–5; An Act to Regulate the Apprehension of Offenders, and for Other Purposes [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1839], p. 238, sec. 3.)

    Nelson, William E. Marbury v. Madison: The Origins and Legacy of Judicial Review. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  8. William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England was an influential treatise on English common law that went through multiple printings, including an edition that was edited by another English legal commentator, Joseph Chitty. An 1840 edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries published in the United States included notes taken from Chitty’s edition. In this American edition, on the page referenced in the city council minutes, Blackstone defined a nuisance as “whatsoever unlawfully annoys or doth damage to another.” The same page also included a footnote, borrowed from Chitty’s edition, that considered how nuisance law might be applied to a newspaper. It read “So it seems that a libellous print or paper, affecting a private individual, may be destroyed, or, which is the safer course, taken and delivered to a magistrate.” (Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 2, bk. 3, p. 4; see also Chitty, Commentaries, 3:5–6.)

    Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: In Four Books; with an Analysis of the Work. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes, from the Eighteenth London Edition. . . . 2 vols. New York: W. E. Dean, 1840.

    Chitty, Joseph, ed. Commentaries on the Laws of England: By the Late Sir W. Blackstone. 4 vols. London: William Walker, 1826.

  9. Based on newspaper articles and other reports from around Hancock County, Illinois, JS claimed that he had “good reason to fear that a mob” was “organizing to come upon this city and plunder and destroy said city as well as murder the citizens.” On 17 June, JS issued an order to Nauvoo marshal John P. Greene to “take such measures as shall be necessary to preserve the peace of said city . . . and with the police and [Nauvoo] Legion, see that no violent act is committed.” That same day, he issued a similar order to acting major general Jonathan Dunham for the Nauvoo Legion to “take every precaution to prevent Groups of citizens &c from gathering on the bank of the river, on the landing of boats or otherwise” and to “allay every cause & pretext of excitement as well as suspi[ci]on.” The following day, JS formally placed Nauvoo under martial law “to preser[v]e the city and lives of the citizens.” (Proclamation, 18 June 1844; Mayor’s Order to John P. Greene, 17 June 1844; JS to Jonathan Dunham, Military Order with Instructions to Execute Marshal’s Orders, [Nauvoo, IL], 17 June 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)

  10. The 1818 Illinois state constitution guaranteed that “all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights; among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, and of acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness.” (Illinois Constitution of 1818, art. 8, sec. 1.)

    Illinois Office of Secretary of State. First Constitution of Illinois, 1818. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

Go to page