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Sidney Rigdon, Appeal to the American People, 1840, Second Edition

Page 53

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

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. [1]

    Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839 [D&C 123:1, 6].

  2. [2]

    Sidney Rigdon, JS, et al., Petition Draft (“To the Publick”), circa 1838–1839.

  3. [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. [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.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Statement, circa 1 November 1839–B *Affidavit, 5 September 1838 [ State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Riot ]

Page 20

ted him respecting the mob, and some angry words passed between them. , sent for Mr. Joseph Smith, Jr., who was at the spring, to come into the house; accordingly he came in, the matter was talked over; denied having any thing to do with the mob, and said he never would have; and that as a peace officer, he felt himself bound, as much to do justice to the saints, as to other citizens, and he would do it. Mr. Smith then asked him, if he had any objections to signing a paper to that effect, so that it might be had for the benefit of those who entertained fears on this matter. He said he had not, accordingly he wrote the following note. We give it here without any alteration in orthography, or composition.
“I, , a justice of the peace of , do hereby sertify to the people coled Mormin, that he is bound to suport the constitution of this , and of the , and he is not attached to any mob nor will not attach himself to any such people. And so long as they will not molest me, I will not molest them.
This the 8th day of August, 1838.
(Signed) , J. P.”
After this transaction, the company returned to the village, where many of the saints lived, called , to the house of Col. . Shortly after their return to the house of , three persons came from Millport—the whole matter was talked over, and it was agreed that there should be a committee chosen from among the people of Millport and vicinity; and also a committee appointed of the inhabitants of , to meet at , and have all the affairs completely understood, and have peace. The committees accordingly met. On the part of the people of Millport, there appeared , senator elect; , representative elect; , Clerk of the Circuit Court, and several others, names not known. On the part of the people of , were , , , . At this meeting, the strongest assurances were given by both parties, that there should be no hostilities commenced on either part—that they all would abide the laws, and support them; and that no depredations of any kind should be committed on either part: and after the strongest, possible assurances, each party returned home.
But while these pretended negotiations were going on, a certain portion of the mob of was running into the different Counties, telling the people, that they were driven from their houses, with their families, and that the Mormons were destroying all their property; and calling on them for help. , , and some others, ran to , and there made oath before ; the precise oath, as I have not a copy of it, I cannot here insert; but the substance of it was, that he had been compelled by a body of armed men which had surrounded him, under pain of death, to sign an instrument of writing, [p. 20]
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Editorial Title
Sidney Rigdon, Appeal to the American People, 1840, Second Edition
ID #
7509
Total Pages
62
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