At a meeting on 12 February 1836, JS proposed two resolutions to standardize the of men to offices. The afternoon following JS’s proposal, the considered the resolutions; they agreed with the first resolution but objected to the second, which altered the method for ordinations in “ of said abroad.” The Twelve had jurisdiction over ordinations of church officers in all nations, but the proposed 12 February resolution required that “the heads of the church” in a given branch call a to ratify the recommendation of the branch to ordain a church member to a priesthood office. The Twelve offered an amendment to the resolution that would maintain their authority. The Twelve’s proposed change contained the following language: “That none be ordained to any office in the branches to which they belong to a general conference, appointed by those, or under the direction of those who are designated in the Book of Covenants as having authority to ordain and set in order all the Officers of the church abroad”—that is, by the authority of the Twelve.

On 17 February, the discussed JS’s 12 February resolutions and the Twelve’s proposed amendment. That entity unanimously endorsed the earlier resolution and agreed that the amendment “should be rejected.” The next day, the high council of also discussed the resolutions and voted unanimously that the 12 February resolutions should remain “without any alteration or amendment.” On 22 February 1836, as described in the minutes presented here, JS and the other members of the church’s met again to confer on the subject of ordinations and affirmed the original resolutions. Two days later, the several met in the and implemented the new guidelines for approving ordinations. Notwithstanding the decision in the 22 February presidency meeting, members of the Twelve continued to support their proposed modification. However, nine of the Twelve Apostles joined with other ecclesiastical bodies in approving the resolutions on 3 March 1836, and the remaining three eventually withdrew their objections in a meeting with the presidency on 19 March 1836.

wrote the original minutes (no longer extant), likely on a loose sheet of paper. The minutes were later recorded into Minute Book 1 by .