Phelps was likely referring to an article from the New York Sun, later republished in the Nauvoo Neighbor. According to this article, the Mexican territory of Alta California had rebelled, resulting in the imprisonment of the governor at Monterey. The report also indicated that the territories of Baja California and New Mexico were expected to join in the rebellion. The article was based on rumors contained in an anonymous letter from Boston, and the only truth to the report was that in late 1844 the citizens of California had rebelled against their current governor, Manuel Micheltorena, as they had three other governors before him. In February 1845 Micheltorena was forced to resign, but news of this would not yet have reached Nauvoo. Moreover, Micheltorena was replaced with a native Californian governor, still operating under the authority of Mexico. In contrast, Phelps’s statement about Texas was true, as the joint resolution authorizing the creation of the state of Texas had been signed by President John Tyler on 1 March 1845. Early reports of the passage of the joint resolution may have reached Nauvoo by this time. (“Another Young Republic,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 Mar. 1845; Haas, “War in California, 1846–1848,” 337; Johnson, Founding the Far West, 19; Nunis, “Alta California’s Trojan Horse: Foreign Immigration,” 320–321; Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States [1 Mar. 1845], Public Statutes at Large, 28th Cong., 2nd Sess., res. 8, pp. 797–798; “Texas Annexed.—Postscript,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 13 Mar. 1845, [3].)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Haas, Lisbeth. “War in California, 1846–1848.” California History 76, nos. 2–3 (Summer–Fall 1997): 331–355.
Johnson, David Alan. Founding the Far West: California, Oregon, and Nevada, 1840–1890. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Nunis, Doyce B., Jr. “Alta California’s Trojan Horse: Foreign Immigration.” California History 76, nos. 2–3 (Summer–Fall 1997): 299–330.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Following South Carolina’s 1832 attempt to nullify federal tariff laws, many individuals thought that South Carolina would eventually rebel against the United States. In December 1832 JS dictated a revelation that stated that “war will be poured out upon all Nations” beginning with a rebellion in South Carolina. Concern regarding possible secession movements in South Carolina resurfaced over the next decades among Latter-day Saints and other Americans. For example, the recent forced expulsion of a Massachusetts agent by South Carolina caused the Nauvoo Neighbor to lament that such actions would “eventually singe the glory of American Liberty.” Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was more explicit, declaring that the actions of South Carolina’s legislature during this event amounted to “a formal dissolution of the Union, and a declaration of War, on her part!” (Revelation, 25 Dec. 1832 [D&C 87:1–2]; “Legislative Vengeance!,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 9 Jan. 1845, [2]; “The Union Formally Dissolved by South Carolina,” Liberator [Boston], 24 Jan. 1845, 14.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Liberator. Boston. 1831–1865.
Noah Rogers, Benjamin F. Grouard, and Addison Pratt were appointed by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in May 1843 to preach in the Pacific Islands. Two letters from Rogers and another from Grouard were printed in the 15 March 1845 issue of the Times and Seasons, but it is unclear whether these letters were the ones read in the council. While the council minutes indicate that Rogers’s letter was written from Kuahua, his letters published in the Times and Seasons were written from Tahiti and Huahine. In his letters, Rogers provided a glowing report of missionary work in the Society Islands. (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 May 1843; “From the Society Islands,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1845, 6:835–838.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.