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Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 24–26 March 1844

Source Note

JS, Memorial, , Hancock Co., IL, to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, [], ca. 24–26 Mar. 1844; handwriting of with insertions by ; signature of JS; three pages; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. Includes docket. Transcription from photocopy.
Two leaves, the measurements of which are unknown. The text was inscribed on three pages. The photocopy shows that the memorial was trifolded in letter style.
On 6 May 1844, when senator presented the memorial, the Senate referred it to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The memorial probably remained in Senate committee records for the next several decades. The records of the Committee on Foreign Relations were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration sometime after the administration was created in 1934.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 575 (1844).

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

  2. [2]

    National Archives, “National Archives History.”

    National Archives. “National Archives History.” National Archives, Washington DC. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020. https://www.archives.gov/about/history.

Historical Introduction

On 26 March 1844, the in , Illinois, approved a memorial that petitioned Congress to make JS a member of the Army with authority to command a large volunteer force that would protect Americans migrating to the western regions of North America. JS had presided over the organizational meeting of the Council of Fifty earlier that month in connection with plans for westward emigration. On 11 March, he held the initial council meetings after receiving two letters from leaders in the church’s lumber camps suggesting that the Latter-day Saints send a scouting expedition to the or a western territory to explore the possibility of a future settlement for the Saints. Though interested in the suggestion, JS and other leaders in Nauvoo believed that international political considerations, competing land claims, and weak legal institutions on the western borderlands of the United States could leave Latter-day Saints and other settlers in a precarious position and in need of protection.
At this time, questions and uncertainty surrounding territorial expansion figured prominently in American politics. Many Americans were concerned that if the did not annex and , the regions would become allied with or subsumed into the British Empire and would thereby leave the United States surrounded by British Oregon on its western border and by British Texas on its southern border. JS apparently shared these concerns. A few weeks earlier he reportedly said, “The president of Texas sayes if you do not receive us in the united States we will go to the British this would certainly be bad policy for this Nation the British are now through out that whole country trying to bribe all they can. How much better it is to be to a little expens than to have the indians & British upon us & destroy us all.”
On 19 March, proposed a resolution directing the to submit a petition to Congress “specifying that General Joseph Smith will protect the and from all foreign invasion if the General Government will authorise him to raise volunteers.” The council discussed this resolution at its next meeting on 21 March. JS supported the idea of sending a memorial to Congress, saying that it was necessary and appropriate to petition the federal government. JS’s brother motioned that a committee be formed to draft the memorial. The council then assigned Richards, Hyrum Smith, and as members and appointed to take the memorial to . JS instructed Hyde to lobby Congress to approve the memorial in its entirety without changes. The council also voted to send a copy of the memorial to senator and another to Illinois representative .
worked on the petition on 24 March and brought it to JS for review the next day. During a council meeting held on the morning of 26 March, Richards read the memorial to the group. When the council reconvened in the afternoon, the memorial was read a second time, and much of the recorded discussion that followed centered on the opening language of each section. JS and others, including , a practicing attorney, supported the petition’s use of “ordained,” while others thought the language should be changed to “enacted.” After further discussion, JS motioned that the council send a copy of the memorial to President .
JS signed copies of the memorial intended for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the president on 31 March 1844. In contrast to other memorials that the Latter-day Saints had submitted to Congress, JS was the only petitioner. departed for with the memorials shortly thereafter. Before delivering copies of the petition to the representatives, Hyde made some critical redactions to the memorial, including striking out the section calling for JS to be made a member of the Army. He also changed the wording of portions of the petition, asking that Congress pass a “bill” rather than an “ordinance” and “enact” rather than “ordain” each section of this “bill.” Representative tried to submit the memorial during a meeting of the House on 25 May but was ultimately unsuccessful. The version of the memorial featured here was delivered to Senator , who presented it to the Senate on 6 May 1844. The memorial was then referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and no further action was taken.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10–11 Mar. 1844; see also Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A; and Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B.

  2. [2]

    Crapol, John Tyler, 181–182; Discourse, 7 Mar. 1844–B, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff.

    Crapol, Edward P. John Tyler: The Accidental President. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

  3. [3]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 19 Mar. 1844.

  4. [4]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 21 Mar. 1844.

  5. [5]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 21 Mar. 1844. During the meeting on 21 March, Uriah Brown—one of the three council members who did not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—moved that the memorial “be put into the hands of Mr Semple for consideration in the U.S. Senate at the same time that Mr [John] Wentworth agitates the subject in the house.” The council unanimously passed Brown’s motion.

  6. [6]

    Richards, Journal, 24 Mar. 1844; JS, Journal, 25 Mar. 1844.

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

  7. [7]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 26 Mar. 1844.

  8. [8]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 26 Mar. 1844. The memorial written to Tyler was nearly identical; the only notable difference was that it was addressed to Tyler personally and that the actionable part of the memorial was written as a presidential mandate rather than a bill. JS’s journal states that the memorial for Tyler had “the same purpose” as the one for Congress but was sent in case “the other fail.” (JS, Memorial to John Tyler, 30 Mar. 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL; JS, Journal, 31 Mar. 1844.)

  9. [9]

    JS, Journal, 31 Mar. 1844.

  10. [10]

    See, for example, Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844; and Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.

  11. [11]

    JS, Journal, 31 Mar. and 4 Apr. 1844.

  12. [12]

    The Council of Fifty reprimanded Hyde for striking that section of the memorial. (See Letter to Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt, 13 May 1844.)

  13. [13]

    Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 624 (1844); John Wentworth, Washington DC, to JS, [Nauvoo, IL], 25 May 1844, JS Collection, CHL. John Quincy Adams, former president and a current United States representative from Massachusetts, noted this failed attempt by Wentworth. (See Adams, Diary, 25 May 1844.)

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

  14. [14]

    Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 575 (1844).

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 24–26 March 1844, Willard Richards Draft *Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 24–26 March 1844 Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 24–26 March 1844, Orson Hyde Copy Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

organization of protective government: And whereas the Lands thus unknown, unowned, or unoccupied are among some of the richest and most fertile of the Continent: And whereas many of the Inhabitants of the would gladly embrace the opportunity of extending their researches and acquirements, so soon as they can receive protection in their enterprize, thereby adding strength, durability and wealth to the : And whereas the Red Man, the Robber, and the Desperado have frequently interrupted such research and acquisition without justifiable cause: And whereas Joseph Smith has offered, and does hereby offer these : To shew his loyalty to our Confederate , and the Constitution of our : To prevent quarrels and bloodshed on our frontier: To extend the arm of deliverance to : To protect the Inhabitants of from foreign aggression, and domestic broils: To prevent the crowned nations, from encircling us, as a , on our Western and Southern borders, and save the Eagle’s talon from the Lion’s paw: To still the tongue of Slander, and shew that a Republic can be and not be ungrateful: To open the vast regions of the unpeopled West and South to our enlightened and enterprising yeomanry: To protect them in their researches; To secure them in their locations, and thus strengthen the government and enlarge her borders: To extend her influence: To inspire the nations with the Spirit of freedom, and win them to her standard: To promote intelligence: To cultivate and establish peace among all with whom we may have intercourse as neighbors: To settle all existing difficulties among those not organized into an acknowledged government bordering upon the and Territories: To save the national revenue in the ’s coffers: To supersede the necessity of a standing army on our Western and Southern frontier: To create and maintain the principles of peace, and suppress mobs, insurrections, and oppression in , and all lands bordering upon the , and not incorporated into any acknowledged national government: To explore the unexplored regions of our Continent: To open new fields for enterprize to our Citizens, and protect them therein: To search out the antiquities of the Land, and thereby promote the arts, and sciences, and general information: To amalgamate the feelings of all with whom he may have intercourse, on the principles of equity, liberty, justice, humanity and benevolence. To break down tyranny and oppression, and exalt the standard of Universal Peace: Provided he shall be protected in those rights and privileges which Constitutionally belong to every Citizen of this :— Therefore that the said Memorialist may have the privilege; and that no Citizen of these shall obstruct, or attempt to obstruct or hinder, so good, so great, so noble an enterprize, to carry out those plans and principles, as set forth in this preamble, and be shielded from every opposition by evil and designing men. [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 24–26 March 1844
ID #
1308
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Bullock

Footnotes

  1. [13]

    This sentence is a reference to the general enthusiasm for land acquisition and territorial expansion in the United States. A year later, newspaper editor John L. O’Sullivan proclaimed it the “manifest destiny” of the United States to spread across the continent. ([O’Sullivan], “Annexation,” 5.)

    [O’Sullivan, John L.] “Annexation.” United States Magazine, and Democratic Review 17, no. 85 (July–Aug. 1845): 5–10.

  2. [14]

    In a recent memorial carried to Washington DC by Orson Pratt, JS and others petitioned Congress to grant the city of Nauvoo the status and rights of a federal territory. If granted, this petition would give JS—as mayor of Nauvoo—the power to “call to his aid a sufficient number of United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless banditti that escape justice on the Western Frontier.” (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 16 Dec. 1843–12 Feb. 1844.)

  3. [15]

    Oregon remained jointly occupied by Great Britain and the United States per an 1818 treaty and an 1827 extension. Although many Americans, antislavery Whigs in particular, wanted to claim the entirety of the territory, negotiations between the two nations settled the boundary on the forty-ninth parallel with an exception made for Fort Vancouver. (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 96–97, 712–720.)

    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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