Sidney Rigdon, Appeal to the American People, 1840, Second Edition, Page vi
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.
appointment, to become our servants and the servants of the public in distant and foreign countries for Christ’s sake, we do confidently recommend them to all religious and christian people, and to ladies and gentlemen making no profession, as worthy members of society, possessing much zeal to promote the happiness of mankind; fully believing that they will be forward to render them all the pecuniary aid they need, to accomplish this laborious and hazardous mission, for the general good of the human family. Ministers of every denomination upon whom these gentlemen shall call, are requested to hold up their hands, and aid them by their influence, with an assurance that such as do this shall have the prayers and blessings of a “poor and an afflicted people,” who have tested the depths of their sincerity, and love for their religion, by the sacrifice of their blood upon a land, shadowed by the stripes and stars of political and religious liberty.
Given under our hands at the time and place before mentioned.”
(Signed.) JOSEPH SMITH, Jr., Chairman.
, Clerk.
From the of :
, Illinois, April 30th, 1840.
Having been informed that the Rev’s. and , elders in the church denominated Latter Day Saints, are about to depart on their mission to Europe—and having heard the former gentleman preach—and having been made acquainted to some extent with the characters of both, it affords me pleasure to say, that I was much pleased with the sermon delivered by ; and the reputation of both gentlemen for talents and christian-like deportment, so far as I have been acquainted, are unexceptionable; and as such, believe them to be entitled to the respect and kind treatment of all.
(Signed.) ,
Governor of .
| OF NORTH AMERICA,) | ss: | |
| State of ,) |
I, Alexander P. Field, Secretary of State, of the State of , one of the of North America, and keeper of the great seal of said , do hereby certify that , took and signed, the foregoing certificate, is now, and was at the time of signing the same, of the aforesaid, duly elected and qualified to office, with full power by the laws of this to issue certificates as aforesaid; that said certificate is in due form of law, and that full faith and credit are duehis official attestations.
L. S.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and the great seal of State, at the city of , this twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and forty, and of the independence of the , the sixty-fourth.
(Signed.) A. P. FIELD,
Secretary of State.
We have many more letters from respectable gentlemen; but we deem the foregoing quite sufficient to be inserted in this work, the original of which may be seen by any person wishing it.
.
.
, Ohio, July 11th, 1840. [p. vi]
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