Sidney Rigdon, Appeal to the American People, 1840, Second Edition, Page iv
Sidney Rigdon, Appeal to the American People, 1840, Second Edition
Source Note
Source Note
[], 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.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the church “at Illinois and scattered abroad and to in particular,” instructing the Saints to gather up “a knowledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this ”. Among the earliest responses to JS’s call was ’s pamphlet, 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 (Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840).
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.
Footnotes
- [1]
Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839 [D&C 123:1, 6].
- [2]
- [3]
“A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99; Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 1:272.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
- [4]
Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:103–104.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
whom I will gather to the land that I gave to their fathers; and here also is the field of your labors By a strict observance of the movements of the Jews, and by a careful examination of their faith relative to their expected Messiah, the setting up of the kingdom of God among them, and the overthrow of the present kingdoms and governments of the gentiles, will serve to open the eyes of many of the uncircumcised, when faithfully laid before them, that the great day of the Lord come not upon them as a thief. Take, therefore, proper credentials from my people, your brethren; and also from the of your , with the seal of authority thereon, and go ye forth to the cities which have been shown unto you, and declare these words unto Judah, and say, ‘Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together; and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. Let the standard be reared towards Zion, retire! stay not; for I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction. The lion is come up from his thicket and the destroyer of the gentiles is on his way, he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate, and thy cities shall be laid waste without an inhabitant.’—(See Jer. iv., 5, 6and 7.)—‘Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.’—(See Isa. xl., 2.)—Let your warning voice be heard among the gentiles as you pass; and call ye upon them in my name for aid, and for assistance. With you, it mattereth not whether it be little or much; but to me it belongeth, to show favor unto him who showeth favor unto you. Murmur not, therefore, neither be ye sorrowful, that the people are slow to hear your petition; but do as has been told you, and all things shall work together for your good, if you are humble and keep my commandments; for it must needs be that all men be left without excuse, that a righteous retribution may be awarded to all.”
Many other things were both shown and told me in the vision, which will be made public at the proper time and places. The vision continued open for a number of hours, that I did not close my eyes in sleep. Elder was appointed by the conference, in April last, to accompany me on this mission. We are, therefore, associated together in this all-important work. We have left our friends and our all behind, and took not the first dollar from home with us to expend on our way, neither two coats. In this situation, we left our homes in the State of , on the 15th day of April last, to perform a journey of many thousand miles, both by sea and land, and among Mahometans, Greeks and Arabians, Jews and Christians. We have, by the grace of God, come as far as this city, , on our journey; having labored faithfully in every city between this and the ; and are now ready to preach in this city, if a place can be procured for that purpose.
We have put down the price of this little work to twelve-and-a-half cents per copy—a fraction above the actual cost by the thousand copies. Our object, principally, is, to leave a copy at the dwellings and shops of ladies and gentlemen for their examination; and if they should feel disposed to patronize this mission, after being made acquainted with its nature and extent, they can have the opportunity of doing so to any amount which their circumstances may allow, or their consciences dictate, at the time the publishers call again, a day or two hence. But should they not wish to purchase the book, at the price above named, or patronize our mission at all, they will please deliver the copy, unsoiled and unbroken, when called upon for it. But we believe that the majority of professing christians feel a deep anxiety for the fulfillment of the prophecies in the restoration of the Jews to the land of their fathers. We do think that [t]he heart of every gentleman and lady that has the fear of God before [p. iv]
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