[], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, second edition; i-vi, 7–60 pp.; Cincinnati, OH: Shepard and Stearns, 1840. The copy used herein is held at CHL.
A manuscript draft of this pamphlet, simply titled “To the Publick” was presented to a conference of church members at , Illinois, on 1 November 1839. The conference voted to approve the manuscript and authorized its publication on behalf of the church. The pamphlet, when published, carried the endorsement of JS, , and as “Presidents of said Church.”
and collaborated on the publication of the text, which was available in print by May 1840. Though no author is named on the title page, was acknowledged as author in an 1840 Times and Seasons newspaper article, and when the pamphlet was advertised in that church periodical in 1841. JS and held some expectation that funds from the sale of An Appeal would eventually help defray costs of their late-1839 trip to .
By July 1840, and had been authorized to produce a second, revised edition to be published by Shepard & Stearns in . Page related some of the circumstances surrounding its publication and circulation in a letter sent to JS, “. . . at [Ohio] we parted for a few days . . . Elder Hyde went to Cincinnati where in my absince he published a second Edition of the ‘Apeal to the American people’ (2000 copies)[.] when I arrived the work was about completed[.] after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about cincinnati and the adjacient country he left me with some fourteen or fifteen hundred on hand, to dispose of” (John E. Page, Philadelphia, PA, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 1 Sept. 1841, JS Collection, CHL). Funds from this printing were to be for the express purpose of subsidizing Hyde and Page’s imminent mission to in Palestine.
The second edition was essentially a lightly edited reprint of the first, with a four-page “Publisher’s Preface” added. In the preface, and noted the purpose of the publication, explained the severe hardships imposed by the persecutions upon Page’s own family, provided a detailed account of a vision experienced by Hyde, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospects of the mission. The preface also contained a copy of an official letter of appointment and commendation for Hyde and Page from an April 1840 church conference at , Illinois, signed by JS, and a letter of reference from , governor of .
Although many of the events reported in both editions of ’s pamphlet can be corroborated from other sources, his chronology of events is often inaccurate. However, Rigdon’s account does contain the texts of several significant documents. Among these are JS’s September 1838 affidavit concerning the 7 August 1838 visit to and those of and regarding the massacre. Consequently, though in many respects Rigdon’s document from a historical perspective is more advocacy than history, it offers access to some important material not readily found elsewhere.
which was unlawful for any man to sign. He also said that Joseph Smith, Jr., and , were part of the company. The said , immediately issued a writ, for Messrs. Smith and ; it was put into the hands of the Sheriff of to execute, and without his ever attempting to serve it, it was reported that they had refused to be taken; and that the Militia must be called out to take them, for the laws must be kept! But instead of calling out the Militia, they went to raising a mob; and they were gathering into in multitudes, if their own report was to be credited; but without any legal authority whatever. Seeing these unlawful transactions going on, and the pretext, all the time, that the before mentioned persons would not be taken, Messrs. Smith and , sent for and stated to him, the matter as it was, and requested him to come and investigate the whole case. This, agreed to do; and accordingly the case was investigated by him, and the reports found to be false—the fellows themselves, being witnesses.
I here give an affidavit taken during the time of this excitement.
State of ,)
ss:
County of ,)
Before me, , one of the Justices of the County Court, within and for the County of aforesaid, personally came, Joseph Smith Jr., who, being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith, that on the 7th day of August, 1838, being informed that an affray had taken place in , at the election, in the town of , in which two persons were killed, and one person was badly wounded, and fled to the woods to save his life; all of which were said to be persons belonging to the society of the church of Latter Day Saints. And further, said informant stated that those persons who committed the outrage would not suffer the bodies of those who had been killed to be taken off the ground and buried. These reports, with others, one of which was that the Saints had not the privilege of voting at the polls, as other citizens—another was, that those opposed to the Saints were determined to drive them from . And also that they were arming and strengthening their forces and preparing for battle; and that the Saints were preparing and making ready to stand in self-defence. These reports having excited the feelings of the citizens of and vicinty, I was invited by and some others, to go out to to the scene of these outrages; they having previously determined to go out and learn the facts concerning said reports. Accordingly, some of the citizens, myself among the number, went out, two, three, and four in companies, as they got ready. The reports and excitement continued until several of those small companies through the day were induced to follow the first; who were all eager to learn the facts concerning this matter. We arrived in the evening at the house of , about three miles from , the scene of the reported outrages—here we learned [p. 21]