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Notice, circa 1 December 1842

Source Note

JS, Notice, [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. 1 Dec. 1842]. Featured version published in Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1842, vol. 4, no. 2, 32. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

JS published a notice in the 1 December 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons denying responsibility for the publication of a pamphlet by , titled An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, that advocated the practice of polygamy. At the time, Jacob lived in eastern , Illinois, and was not connected with the or any other religious denomination. In his writings, Jacob decried the corrupt state of Christianity and politics in the and claimed to be the biblical figure Elijah mentioned in Malachi 4:5–6, destined to restore the nation to the proper forms of religion and government in preparation for the Millennium. By 1840 Jacob had completed a lengthy book manuscript titled “The Peace Maker,” which proposed “a New System of Religion and Politicks” for the United States. Shortly after the Latter-day Saints began moving to Hancock County in significant numbers, Jacob sent an excerpt of his manuscript dealing with baptism to , encouraging him to forward it “to your Printer, & to Joseph Smith, and to , and let them refute it if they can.” It is unclear whether Granger followed through with Jacob’s request; as of January 1844, Jacob had not had any direct personal contact with JS.
Sometime in fall 1842, published two chapters from his manuscript as a pamphlet with the owned by JS in , Illinois. These chapters argued that many of the nation’s woes were caused by an imbalance of power between husbands and wives. According to Jacob, marriage and divorce laws in the placed men in “an unnatural and unlawful bondage” to their wives. His primary complaints were that these laws did not accord with biblical standards for divorce and polygamy. To rectify this discordance, Jacob proposed amending the nation’s laws to grant men exclusive control over divorce, making a wife’s alienation from her husband the only legal justification for divorce, and reestablishing biblical polygamy as a way to induce wives to compete for their husband’s attention and thereby curb the tendency to rebel against his patriarchal authority.
There is little information regarding the ’s decision to publish The Peace Maker, and it is unknown if JS was involved. In 1851, , by then a Latter-day Saint, told that he chose to publish the marriage chapters through the church’s press in 1842 to defend the Saints from accusations of polygamy then in circulation. This reasoning, however, is not articulated in the pamphlet. Rather, the pamphlet’s preface stated that the author chose to print the pamphlet with the church’s press because “it was the most convenient.” Although the press was closer to Jacob’s residence than other regional presses were, The Peace Maker’s publication by the printing office was unusual because the Nauvoo press was not known for publishing pamphlets. Unlike the owners of many regional printing offices—including JS’s predecessor at Nauvoo—who advertised their availability for publishing pamphlets or books, JS had never done so. Chronic shortages of paper also made the office unreliable, and even the scheduled newspapers were delayed for weeks at a time. Additionally, many Latter-day Saints traveled elsewhere to publish pamphlets because large printing jobs could be done cheaper in major cities. At nearly forty pages, The Peace Maker was the most substantial typeset publication produced by the printing office while it was owned by JS. It was also one of only two pamphlets known to have been printed by the office during JS’s ownership.
Because JS owned the , the pamphlet listed him as the printer. Although as owner JS served as the nominal head of the office and the editor of the Times and Seasons, in practice he typically played a minimal role in day-to-day office duties. In his place, and managed the business and printing responsibilities of the establishment. In an exception to this general practice, JS was directly involved in the decision to publish both a new printing of the Book of Mormon and the only other pamphlet published at the press during JS’s ownership: a copy of 's charter and several selected city ordinances. It is unclear whether this was simply because JS was invested in these projects as the proprietor of the Book of Mormon and mayor of the city or because such major works for the press required his approval. , JS’s younger brother and an apostle in the church, also worked in the printing office, serving for a time as the editor of the Wasp, Nauvoo’s local newspaper. With JS frequently in hiding between August and November 1842, one of the three apostles working in the printshop may have published ’s pamphlet without JS’s approval. At the time of The Peace Maker’s publication, none of the three apostles working in the printshop had yet entered into plural marriage, and they may not have even been aware of the doctrine or practice.
JS’s published ’s pamphlet during the ongoing uproar surrounding ’s allegations of plural marriage, and its contents incited further controversy in . According to ’s later autobiography, the pamphlet caused considerable “excitement among the people” in Nauvoo and “no one was more opposed to it than was his [JS’s] brother , who denounced it as from beneath.” Amid this negative reaction to the pamphlet, JS placed the featured notice in the 1 December issue of the Times and Seasons, denying responsibility for publishing the pamphlet and deriding its content.
Some Saints and outside observers ignored or dismissed JS’s notice and believed that JS had sanctioned the publication of ’s pamphlet as a way to introduce the concept of plural marriage to local church members generally. Similarly, many Latter-day Saint leaders and members later cited the pamphlet for their understanding of the church’s position on divorce, apparently ignorant or dismissive of JS’s condemnation.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jacob, Extract, [2]; Udney H. Jacob, La Harpe, IL, to Martin Van Buren, Washington DC, 19 Mar. 1840, microfilm, Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, CHL.

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

    Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, 1840–1845. CHL. Microfilm. MS 8180.

  2. [2]

    Jacob, Extract, [1]; Udney H. Jacob to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840, copy, CHL; Udney H. Jacob, La Harpe, IL, to Martin Van Buren, Washington DC, 19 Mar. 1840, microfilm, Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, CHL.

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

    Jacob, Udney H. Letter, to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840. Copy. CHL.

    Illinois State Historical Society, Papers, 1840–1845. CHL. Microfilm. MS 8180.

  3. [3]

    Udney H. Jacob to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840, copy, CHL.

    Jacob, Udney H. Letter, to Oliver Granger, Commerce, IL, 3 Mar. 1840. Copy. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Udney H. Jacob to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 6 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.

  5. [5]

    Udney H. Jacob, An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker. Or The Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. Or A New System of Religion and Politicks (Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, [1842]). It is unclear precisely when the Nauvoo press printed Jacob’s pamphlet. A running advertisement in the Times and Seasons dated 20 August 1842 stated that copies of the Book of Mormon, a hymnbook, and “some other publications in defence of the faith of the saints” were “just published” and for sale at the office. While this may have simply referred to broadsheets and other material attacking John C. Bennett, it is the only advertisement for books or pamphlets published by the press in late 1842, so The Peace Maker may have been among the available publications advertised. However, JS’s notice in the 1 December 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, featured below, is the first extant explicit mention of the pamphlet. In that notice, JS said the pamphlet had been published a “short time” earlier. The 1 December 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons was published late, presumably sometime in mid-December, because the printing office ran out of paper in mid-November. This suggests The Peace Maker was printed sometime between late August and mid-November 1842. (“Books of Mormon, &c.,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842, 3:894; see also Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL; “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1842, 4:32; and Notice, Wasp, 10 Dec. 1842, [2].)

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

    Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.

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

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

  6. [6]

    Jacob, Extract, [3].

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

  7. [7]

    Jacob’s summary of the core of his argument was that “by taking away a man’s lawful right of giving divorcement, when his wife rebels; and by depriving him of the right of marrying more than one wife, you totally annihilate his power of peaceable government over a woman, and deprive the family of its lawful and necessary head.” (Jacob, Extract, 30.)

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

  8. [8]

    Udney H. Jacob to Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 5 Mar. 1851, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  9. [9]

    Jacob, Extract, [2].

    Jacob, Udney Hay. An Extract, from a Manuscript Entitled The Peace Maker, or the Doctrines of the Millennium: Being a Treatise on Religion and Jurisprudence. . . . Nauvoo, IL: J. Smith, 1842.

  10. [10]

    See, for example, Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272; “Job Printing,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 8 Oct. 1842, [4]; and Advertisement, Warsaw (IL) Signal, 1 Oct. 1842, [1].

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

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  11. [11]

    See Notice, Wasp, 30 July [4 Aug.] 1842, [3]; Woodruff, Journal, 6 Aug. 1842; “To Subscribers,” Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1842, 4:32; and Notice, Wasp, 10 Dec. 1842, [2].

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

    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.

  12. [12]

    See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1845. During the early 1840s, the most active presses in Illinois were located in or near major cities, such as in Springfield or across the Mississippi River from St. Louis in Alton. (See Byrd, Bibliography of Illinois Imprints, xiv–xv.)

    Byrd, Cecil K. A Bibliography of Illinois Imprints, 1814–58. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, [1966].

  13. [13]

    Technically, a new printing of the Book of Mormon issued in summer 1842 was the largest publication printed during JS’s ownership of the printing office. However, because the book had been stereotyped in 1840 and the number of books printed in 1842 was apparently small, it would have required less preparation and labor to print than a freshly typeset pamphlet. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:205.)

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  14. [14]

    See Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:197–199, 211–212.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  15. [15]

    Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:92–94.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  16. [16]

    JS, Journal, 15 Jan. 1842; Willard Richards, “Tithings and Consecrations for the Temple of the Lord,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1842, 3:667; Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer, 12 July 1842; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:197–199, 205, 211–212. The pamphlet was commissioned by the Nauvoo City Council, and JS was directly involved in arranging for its publication.

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

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  17. [17]

    Though William Smith served nominally as editor of the Wasp until December 1842, there are indications that by late summer 1842 he was no longer playing a major role at the printing office. In an August 1845 sermon, John Taylor condemned William Smith’s public teachings of polygamy and denied the twelve apostles’ involvement in the practice. Taylor also implied that Smith was responsible for the publication of The Peace Maker and condemned “some men who were in secret publishing the doctrines contained in a book written by Udney H. Jacobs which was a corrupt book.” At the same meeting, however, William Smith denied knowing anything about the pamphlet. (William Smith, “Valedictory,” Wasp, 10 Dec. 1842, [2]; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Sept. 1842; JS, Journal, 22 Sept. 1842; “To the Public,” Wasp, 8 Oct. 1842, [2]; “Letter from Col. Robinson,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 26 Aug. 1842, [2]; Taylor, Journal, 17 Aug. 1845, 111.)

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

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

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    Taylor, John. Journal, Dec. 1844–Sept. 1845. CHL.

  18. [18]

    This scenario was later promoted by Latter-day Saint missionary Eli Kelsey in 1850, when he attempted to distance JS from The Peace Maker by attributing its publication to an unnamed foreman in the printing office. However, Kelsey had no firsthand knowledge of the publication of the pamphlet because he had not joined the church until June 1843 and did not move to Nauvoo until April 1844, well after the publication of The Peace Maker and JS’s sale of the printing office. (Eli Kelsey, “A Base Calumny Refuted,” Millennial Star, 15 Mar. 1850, 12:92–93; “Eli B. Kelsey,” Tullidge’s Quarterly Magazine, Oct. 1880, 80.)

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

    “Eli B. Kelsey.” Tullidge’s Quarterly Magazine 1, no. 1 (Oct. 1880): 79–81.

  19. [19]

    Although JS and a few of his closest followers had begun to practice plural marriage by 1842, church leaders publicly denied its existence, and most Latter-day Saints were unaware of the practice. Earlier in 1842, several women implicated William Smith in John C. Bennett’s system of sexual license. It is unclear when William Smith learned about JS’s practice of plural marriage, though it must have been before spring 1843, when Brigham Young sealed William Smith to his first plural wife—presumably with JS’s permission. Taylor stated that he learned of the practice in a meeting with JS, Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Hyde. Because Hyde did not return from his mission to Jerusalem until December 1842, Taylor likely learned about the practice after this date and was not sealed to his second wife until December 1843. Woodruff later testified that he learned about the practice in 1844, and he did not marry his second wife until 1846. (Walker, William B. Smith, 179–183; Bergera, “Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists,” 34–36, 38–39; Wilford Woodruff, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 17 Mar. 1892, p. 58, question 575, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; Ulrich, House Full of Females, 81–82, 156–157; see also Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:484–496; Hardy, Solemn Covenant, 364–367; and Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1842, 3:939.)

    Walker, Kyle R. William B. Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015.

    Bergera, Gary James. “Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists, 1841–44.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 38, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 1–74.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870. New York: Knopf, 2017.

    Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

  20. [20]

    Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 146.

    Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.

  21. [21]

    See, for example, Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 146. Within months of its publication, Oliver Olney, a hostile former Latter-day Saint, publicly argued that “if the pamphlet was not written by the authorities of the church, it by them was revised in Jacobs name.” In an 1845 sermon denouncing William Smith’s public teachings of polygamy, Taylor noted that even among the Saints some believed that The Peace Maker contained “Joseph’s views, published under a cloak of another man’s name.” In 1848 a missionary found that in the branch of the church at Burlington, Iowa, Jacob’s pamphlet was “held more sacred than the Roman prayer Book by the Catholics” because they thought it contained the church’s secret teachings. (Olney, Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed, 10; Taylor, Journal, 17 Aug. 1845, 111; Scott, Journal, ca. 13 Mar. 1848, [21]; see also Oliver Olney, Note, 22–23 Jan. 1843, Oliver H. Olney, Papers, microfilm, CHL.)

    Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.

    Olney, Oliver H. The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed. Hancock Co., IL: By the author, 1843.

    Taylor, John. Journal, Dec. 1844–Sept. 1845. CHL.

    Scott, John. Journal, 1847–1848 and 1855–1856. CHL.

    Olney, Oliver H. Papers, 1842–1844. Microfilm. CHL.

  22. [22]

    Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 14 Jan. 1848; see also Foster, “Little-Known Defense of Polygamy,” 21–34; Daynes, More Wives Than One, 143–145; and Ulrich, House Full of Females, 102–105.

    Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

    Foster, Lawrence. “A Little-Known Defense of Polygamy from the Mormon Press in 1842.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 9, no. 4 (1974): 21–34.

    Daynes, Kathryn M. More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840–1910. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001.

    Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870. New York: Knopf, 2017.

Page 32

NOTICE.
There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by , on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence, folly, and trash.
JOSEPH SMITH. [p. 32]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Notice, circa 1 December 1842
ID #
955
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:246–250
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