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Minutes, 8 June 1844

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Minutes, 8 June 1844

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 8 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 8 June 1844] in Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 Feb. 1844–13 Jan. 1845, pp. 11–19; handwriting of ; Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb. 1844–Jan. 1845.

Historical Introduction

On 8 June 1844, the city council of , Illinois, met for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting to conduct city business. The council—which consisted of the mayor, aldermen, and city councilors—convened two sessions on 8 June and most likely met in the . The first session lasted from ten o’clock in the morning until shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon, when the council adjourned for a recess. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, when a quorum was present, the city council began its afternoon session, which lasted until half past six o’clock in the evening.
The council considered several petitions during the 8 June meeting. Two requested the opening of certain streets in , and both were tabled. A third petition complained of violations of the city’s 1841 temperance ordinance—which prohibited the sale of whiskey and other spirituous liquors in small amounts—at the Upper Stone House and requested the city council to remove the building as a nuisance. Following a discussion of the matter, the council ultimately concluded to table this petition as well.
The city council also spent part of the meeting considering an ordinance describing the city attorney’s duties and compensation. During its 13 April 1844 meeting, the council had appointed as the city’s attorney. At that meeting, Stiles expressed his concern that the position’s salary of fifty dollars was insufficient and suggested that the existing city attorney ordinance be repealed. In response to Stiles’s comments, JS suggested that the city attorney’s salary be raised to one hundred dollars and that the city attorney be allowed to collect fees in some instances. in turn recommended that any new city attorney ordinance should define the city attorney’s duties. The council assigned the task of writing this proposed ordinance to the committee on municipal laws, to which Stiles was added. When the city council met on 8 June, it discussed the newly crafted ordinance, which incorporated JS’s and Hyrum Smith’s suggestions. After some deliberation, the city council approved a revised version of the new ordinance.
The most important topic of discussion for the council, though, was the Nauvoo Expositor. This newspaper—the first issue of which was published on 7 June—was edited by and published by , , , , , , and . Most of these individuals were former members of the , and all were opposed to JS. Tensions had been building between JS and his opponents in for months. By May his enemies had decided to set up the newspaper. On 6 May, in a meeting of the , reported that William Law had “said that if they would not buy out his property &c he would set up a press and go it to the death to get satisfaction.” The next day, the Expositor’s printing press arrived in . Following this, the proprietors printed a prospectus for the newspaper, which, among other things, advocated for the unconditional repeal of the act incorporating Nauvoo, often called the . It also promised “to give a full, candid, and succinct statement of FACTS, AS THEY REALLY EXIST IN THE CITY OF NAUVOO.” Around 17 May printing materials for the Expositor arrived in Nauvoo. Although there was a rumor that JS “had sworn that the press should not be set up in Nauvoo,” the Warsaw Signal reported that the materials “were landed without molestation.” The proprietors subsequently printed one thousand copies of the first issue of the Expositor, five hundred of which were mailed out.
When the Expositor appeared on ’s streets on 7 June, its pages contained attacks on JS’s character, his political influence and activities, his financial dealings, and his doctrinal teachings. In particular, the newspaper criticized the doctrines of plural marriage, the plurality of gods, and the power. It also condemned secret societies, the union of church and state, the Nauvoo Municipal Court’s use of , and JS’s presidential campaign. In addition, as promised in its prospectus, the Expositor advocated the repeal of the Nauvoo city charter.
The city council’s discussion of the Expositor largely centered on the character of certain men associated with the newspaper. JS called various witnesses to testify before the council on this subject. During the council’s deliberations, JS stated his belief that the Expositor and its proprietors intended to destroy the peace in and that it was not safe to have this type of publication in the city because it could lead to mob violence. Moreover, he explained that his own statements and the testimony of the witnesses were meant to prepare the city council to act on the matter.
The city council subsequently took several measures. First, it suspended city councilor until he could be investigated for allegedly slandering the city council. Also, at JS’s urging, the council considered an ordinance against libels, and city councilor and , who was a city councilor as well as the city’s attorney, were given the task of crafting this legislation. Near the conclusion of the council’s afternoon session, Phelps read a draft of the libel ordinance, and JS and city councilor requested that certain additions be made to it. Alderman , who was acting as the council’s president pro tempore, then directed the committee to make every effort to provide a “full report” on the ordinance, presumably at the council’s next meeting, which was scheduled for 10 June.
City recorder wrote the 8 June minutes in the city council’s rough minute book. During other meetings of the council, Richards apparently took notes on loose leaves of paper and then used them to create the minutes that he recorded in the rough minute book. He may have also done so for the 8 June minutes. Later, on 15 and 16 June, Richards prepared a revised version of the minutes for the 8 and 10 June meetings focused on the city council’s deliberations regarding the Nauvoo Expositor. The Nauvoo Neighbor then published the revised version of the minutes in its extra issue dated 17 June and in its regular issue dated 19 June. The version in the 19 June issue is identical to the version in the extra, except for some stylistic and clarifying changes. The 8 June minutes Richards recorded in the city council’s rough minute book are featured here, with significant differences between them and the version published in the Neighbor’s 17 June extra noted.

Footnotes

  1. While the 8 June minutes do not identify where the council met, evidence suggests that the most likely meeting place was the Nauvoo Mansion. An order for the city marshal to gather the members of the council for a 10 January 1844 meeting indicated that they would meet in the dining room of the Nauvoo Mansion. Likewise, the minutes from a 12 February city council meeting state that the council met in the Nauvoo Mansion, while an order to the marshal to gather the council for its 5 March meeting designated the meeting place as the “council room” in the Nauvoo Mansion. Similar orders to the marshal for the council’s 7 May and 21 June meetings request that he assemble the members of the council at the “council chamber.” The use of this less specific name suggests that the location of the council chamber was understood and that the council was regularly meeting in the same place. (JS to Nauvoo City Marshal [John P. Greene], Order for Nauvoo City Council Meeting Notification, 10 Jan. 1844; 5 Mar. 1844; 21 June 1844; Nauvoo City Council to Nauvoo City Marshal [John P. Greene], Order for Nauvoo City Council Meeting Notification, 7 May 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Feb. 1844, 1.)

  2. The temperance ordinance prohibited “all Persons & Establishments whatever, in this City . . . from vending Whiskey in a less quantity than a Gallon, or other Spirituous Liquors in a less quantity than a quart,” unless under the “Recommendation of a Physician.” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 8.)

  3. Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 13 Apr. 1844, 8–10.

  4. “An Ordinance concerning the City Attorney and His Duties,” 8 June 1844, draft, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  5. JS, Journal, 7 June 1844; Masthead, Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1].

  6. Chauncey L. Higbee was cut off from the church in mid-1842. William Law, Wilson Law, and Robert D. Foster were cut off in mid-April 1844. Francis M. Higbee and Charles Ivins were cut off on 18 May 1844. Charles A. Foster and Sylvester Emmons were not members of the church. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 20 May 1842; JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1844; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 18 Apr. 1844; Clayton, Journal, 18 Apr. 1844; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 18 May 1844; Charles A. Foster, “Important from Nauvoo,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 25 [24] Apr. 1844, [3]; Perrin, History of Cass County, Illinois, 239.)

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

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

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Cass County Illinois. Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882.

  7. “Joseph Smith Documents from 1 January through 15 May 1844”; see also Discourse, 26 May 1844; Pleas, ca. 27 May 1844; Pleas, ca. 28 May 1844; and Letter from Robert D. Foster, ca. 7 June 1844.

  8. Council of Fifty, “Record,” 6 May 1844.

  9. JS, Journal, 7 May 1844.

  10. The Expositor’s position reflected a larger debate about the Nauvoo charter. At the most recent regular session of the Illinois legislature, which began in December 1842, legislators discussed repealing or amending Nauvoo’s charter because of, among other concerns, complaints that JS and other Nauvoo leaders were abusing powers granted in the charter to prevent JS from being extradited to Missouri. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary was assigned to investigate the charges and recommended amending all Illinois municipal charters, including Nauvoo’s. There was, however, insufficient support in the legislature to amend or repeal Nauvoo’s charter at that time, though it was repealed in January 1845. (Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois [1842–1843], title page; 10 Dec. 1842, 55–56; 23 Feb. 1843, 412; 4 and 6 Mar. 1843, 515, 533; JS, Journal, 9–20 Dec. 1842; “Illinois Legislature,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 [16] Dec. 1842, [2]; “Report of the Committee on the Judiciary . . . in Relation to the Nauvoo City Charter, &c.,” Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, Senate, 13th Assembly, 1st Sess., pp. 127–130; “It Will Be Seen by the Proceedings,” Wasp, 15 Mar. 1843, [2]; An Act to Repeal the Act Entitled “An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo,” Approved December 16, 1840 [29 Jan. 1845], Laws of the State of Illinois [1844–1845], pp. 187–188.)

    Journal of the Senate of the Thirteenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Regular Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1842.

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, at Their Session Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Waters, 1842.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Fifteenth General Assembly, at Their Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, December 7, 1846. Springfield, IL: Charles H. Lanphier, 1847.

  11. Prospectus of the Nauvoo Expositor (Nauvoo, IL: 10 May 1844), copy at CHL, emphasis in original.

    Nauvoo Expositor Prospectus. Nauvoo, IL: ca. 10 May 1844. Copy at CHL.

  12. “The Printing Materials,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 22 May 1844, [2].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  13. Law, Diary, 7 June 1844, in Cook, William Law, 55.

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

  14. Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1]–[3].

  15. Richards appears to have used this method of note taking during the 10 June 1844 city council meeting. (Historical Introduction to Minutes, 10 June 1844; see also Richards, Journal, 11 June 1844.)

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

  16. Richards, Journal, 9 June 1844.

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

  17. Richards, Journal, 15–16 June 1844; Synopsis of Nauvoo City Council Proceedings, 8 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

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

  18. “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 June 1844, [2]–[3].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 8 June 1844 Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845 Minutes, 8 June 1844, Extract, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Revised Minutes, circa 17 June 1844, Partial Draft Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844 Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
Petition of & 25 other read.—
Mr [Christopher] Keegan Explaind. by way of objection.— and said it was
. asked if the street had been surveyed.—
C[ouncilor] said there was no need of a street across Keegns farm. there is no street Surveyed.—
said if the street had not been surv[ey]ed.— the council Had no jurisdiction.—
C. said there was no st[r]eet laid out
Keegan said he had left <​open​> 2 streets. voluntarily.—
<​C​> moved it. was <​Ordereded to be​> said to lay<​ed​> on the table & carrid
Petition of & 51— oth[e]rs <​read and orderded to be​> laid on table
Petition of and 65 others read
<​C.​> moved to lay it on the table—
proposed some action be had on said bill,— the petitionrs were respectable.— and if spirits was to be sold the might have the benefit of.— &c— some would have grog.—
C. was opposed to drink shops.— would not have any one licenced.— if the officers would do there [their] duty <​there​> would be no trouble Mayor said the could do no more, ought to attend <​to it.—​>
<​C​> referred to the speech of the Indian in the council chamber.— advising His brethren to drink no strong drink— &c & compared it with the proceeding of the citizens of this
And told the Story of the Devil and the Drunken deacon.— & said said let the speak to all the police. & have them do their duty.— referr[e]d to the boys playing, swimmi[n]g & visiting shops on the sabbath.— and urged the Coun[c]il to rise up again[s]t it. and spoke at considerable length.— on the principles of govenmnt. & good order in the .
A. — referred to an ordinance authorizing the Mayor to regulate, to the sale of spirits.— and spoke against selling spirits by the swill by every one who was disposed to make a picayune urged that the people sustain the Mayor in the exe[r]cise of a whol[e]some opinion on this subject
Mayor said he had granted no licence in the to sell Liquo[r]s [p. 12]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 8 June 1844
ID #
17543
Total Pages
9
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. This petition requested that the previously platted Green and Cutler streets be opened. (Edson Whipple et al. to Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 30 Apr. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

  2. The preceding discussion by the council members likely focused on Green Street. At the 29 April 1844 meeting of the city council, Keegan presented a petition requesting that “Green Street from its intersection with Young [Street] be opened one half block North,” which was approved during the same meeting. This brought Green Street to the edge of Keegan’s property. Opening it any farther would have cut through his land. (Christopher Keegan to Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Apr. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 29 Apr. 1844, 10.)

  3. This petition requested that the city open Green Street from its intersection with Young Street two blocks north and then open a street from that point going east “to the main Street running north past Carlos Grangers” property. It was apparently written in response to a petition from Keegan that the city council approved at its 29 April meeting. (Josiah Butterfield et al. to Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 1 May 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 29 Apr. 1844, 10; Christopher Keegan to Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Apr. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

  4. This petition complained that “A[r]dent spirits” were being sold by the glass at the Upper Stone House in Nauvoo’s first ward and requested that the city council take action to remove the building as a nuisance. In October 1841 two companies of the Nauvoo Legion had removed a grog shop that had been declared a nuisance by the city council. (Whitford G. Wilson et al. to Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, Apr. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 30 Oct. 1841; “The Neusance,” Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1841, 3:599–600; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 23 Oct. 1841, 25–27.)

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

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  5. Dunham was appointed the high policeman, or the captain of Nauvoo’s police, in December 1843. (Dunham, Account Book, [89]; Minutes and Discourse, 29 Dec. 1843.)

    Dunham, Jonathan. Account Book, 1825–1844. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387 fd 5.

  6. This possibly refers to the 4 April 1844 Council of Fifty meeting. During this meeting, which Phelps attended, eleven Potawatomi Indians visited the council, seeking help to avoid losing their land. The meeting’s minutes, however, do not record any member of this delegation making a speech against the consumption of alcohol. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Apr. 1844.)

  7. This possibly refers to “Inquire at Amos Giles’ Distillery,” a story written by George B. Cheever to advocate temperance. In this story Giles is both a deacon and a manufacturer of rum. When his workmen quit, he replaces them with new ones who, unbeknownst to him, are actually devils. The devils make a great deal of rum for Giles but also play a trick on him by writing “certain inscriptions on all his rum casks, that should remain invisible until they were sold by the Deacon, but should flame out in characters of fire as soon as they were broached by his retailers, or exposed for the use of the drunkards.” For example, barrels are inscribed with phrases like “Insanity and murder. Inquire at Deacon Giles’ Distillery,” “Distilled death and liquid damnation,” and “The Elixir of Hell for the bodies of those whose souls are coming there.” When these phrases appear, the angry rum sellers return the barrels of rum to Deacon Giles, but despite this setback Giles carries on his trade and the story’s narrator concludes that “every time I see his advertisement, ‘Inquire at Amos Giles’ Distillery,’ I think I see Hell and Damnation, and he, the proprietor.” ([Cheever], “Inquire at Amos Giles’ Distillery,” 9–15, emphasis in original.)

    [Cheever, George B.]. “‘Inquire at Amos Giles’ Distillery.’” In The True History of Deacon Giles’ Distillery, Reported for the Benefit of Posterity, 9–15. New York: No publisher, 1844.

  8. This was not the first complaint about the behavior of the city’s children on the Sabbath. On 5 March 1842, the Nauvoo City Council approved a resolution JS had proposed that ordered Nauvoo’s residents to “keep their children at home except on lawful business on Sundays and from skayting on the ice and from marauding upon their neighbours property.” (Motion, 5 Mar. 1842–B.)

  9. In December 1843 the Nauvoo City Council approved an ordinance allowing JS to sell spirituous liquors in any quantity at his home, the Nauvoo Mansion, which also functioned as a hotel. This law, which was an exception to Nauvoo’s 1841 temperance ordinance, subsequently became an object of criticism. In response, the city council passed a new ordinance in January 1844 that still allowed JS to sell spirituous liquors but also permitted him to license one person in each municipal ward to do the same. (Ordinance, 12 Dec. 1843–C; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 8; Editorial, and “Meeting of Citizens at Carthage,” Warsaw [IL] Message, Extra, 17 Jan. 1844, [1], [2]–[3]; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 16 Jan. 1844, 44; “An Ordinance concerning the Sale of Spirituous Liquors,” 16 Jan. 1844, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 Jan. 1844, 201.)

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

  10. Swill was defined as “large draughts of liquor; or drink taken in excessive quantities.” Nauvoo’s 1841 temperance ordinance effectively prohibited the sale of liquor by the glass. Picayune, as used in this context, denotes a “coin of small value.” (“Swill,” in American Dictionary [1841], 2:737; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 8; “Picayune,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 7:817.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language; First Edition in Octavo, Containing the Whole Vocabulary of the Quarto, with Corrections, Improvements and Several Thousand Additional Words. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Haven: By the author, 1841.

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

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