Review
Title: The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents Volume 7: September 1839-January 1841
Editors: Matthew Godfrey, Spencer McBride, Alex Smith, Christopher Blythe
Publisher: Church Historians Press
Genre: Documentary History
Year Published: 2018
Number of Pages: 712
Binding: Cloth
ISBN: 13:978-1-62972-428-7
Price: $54.95
Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton for the Association for Mormon Letters
All good heroes have a catchphrase:
“Up, Up and Away!”
“With Great Power comes great responsibility”
“Avengers Assemble!”
“Because I’m Batman!”
“D’OH!”
Okay, I was only kidding about that last one…maybe. At my house one of our favorites is “Doctor Who.” The character Dr. Who is a time travelling alien with two hearts who can change into a new body when he is injured. The ninth iteration of “The Doctor,” played by Christopher Eccleston, loved to say “FANTASTIC!” Everyone he met was “Fantastic!” Every new alien he encountered was “Fantastic!” Interesting, unusual, and challenging situations were “Fantastic!” Even his last words to his companion Rose before he “regenerated” were: “You were Fantastic, absolutely Fantastic!” If the Joseph Smith papers were going to have a catchphrase, “Fantastic” would be my number one choice. Each and every volume has been “Absolutely Fantastic!” and “Documents Volume 7” is no exception.
Each time I pick up the latest volume of the “Joseph Smith Documents” series I wonder how it can equal the previous volume in interest and importance. In this instance, “Volume 6” covered February 1838 to August 1839, a pivotal time in Joseph Smith’s life that was filled with many fascinating and important documents. It was during that time that the fall of Far West, the imprisonment of Joseph Smith, and the Church members being driven out of Missouri occurred. Many important and dramatic documents were written in that period. Following up a volume that was filled with documents that were about battles, imprisonment, high profile defections, emotional letters and even death (and that’s not to mention the fantastic work of the editors involved), would obviously be a hard act to follow. Can this “Volume 7” match the interesting and important moments of the previous volume? Oh yes!
While it is a different kind of excitement, the documents (and the fantastic work of the editors) in the time period in “Volume Seven” are very important in the history of the Restoration Movement and definitely are “Absolutely Fantastic” and absolutely interesting and engaging. In this “Volume 7” you will read documents concerning the founding of Nauvoo including efforts to pass the Nauvoo Charter, Joseph Smith and Elisa Higbee’s trip to Washington DC and their visits with Congress and Martin Van Buren as they attempted to get the federal government to intervene and give the Saints restitution for their losses in Missouri, the arrival of John C. Bennett in Nauvoo and into the life of Joseph Smith, the reception of LDS Doctrine and Covenants 124, and other important events.
To call “Volume 7” a great feast for historians and those interested in the life of Joseph Smith is not an exaggeration. This volume contains 129 documents by Smith or addressed to Smith. 57 of those (about 44%) are letters from or to Joseph Smith. While many of these are “business” related, for example, letters about Church lobbying efforts in Washing to DC to get some sort of justice for the Mormons’ experiences in Missouri, they are still often very personal and great insights into the life and personality of Joseph Smith and his closest associates. The remaining documents are a mix of minutes of meetings, discourses, receipts of sale (mostly for land in Nauvoo), and a few other interesting items.
According to the introduction, the documents collection in this volume:
“chronicle both practical and spiritual aspects of building another community where the Saints could gather. The documents detail initial land sales in the Commerce area and depict the heavy financial burdens (related to those purchases), (they) reveal the Saints struggle with disease (and) Joseph Smith’s nearly unwavering optimism…They provide a glimpse into…Smith’s theological teachings in early Nauvoo…and highlight the international expansion of the church through the proselytizing efforts of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in England” (pxix-xx).
And that’s just a taste of what is to come.
There is no way to mention all of the fascinating documents, footnotes, and materials that are in “Volume 7,” so let me whet your appetite by sharing a few of my favorite goodies from this volume that gave me interesting new insights and information on Restoration history and events.
Elijah Able is of course famous for being one of only a few pre-1978 Black priesthood holders. One of the documents in this book is a “Bond to Elijah Able, 8 December 1839” (see pages 81-85). This document outlines that on that day Able, a free Black man, arranged with the First Presidency to purchase on credit a lot in Nauvoo. While land purchases in Nauvoo were very common in this time, purchases by African Americans were not. The introduction to the document states, “In Illinois during the 1830’s and 1840’s, selling real property to free blacks was controversial, and only a small minority of free blacks residing in the state owned land” (p. 82). At a time when African Americans were legally assumed to be slaves unless they could prove that they were free, the act of the First Presidency selling land to Able “suggests Able continued to be accepted in the community” (p. 82).
Pages 107 to 109 contain a rare patriarchal blessing given by Joseph Smith. He did not give very many so this very interesting document provides some important insights into the theology and ideas of Joseph Smith. Phrenology, “the detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities” (Google Dictionary) was very popular in the time of Joseph Smith. The phrenology charts done on Joseph Smith have been available before but are included here with great historical context and extra information on pages 115 through 124.
Joseph Smith dictated most of his letters so the ones written in his own hand are especially precious. “Volume 7” includes one such rare letter on pages 134 to 136 that was written to Emma while he was away on his trip to Washington DC between the 20th and 25th of January 1840. The letter is short but filled with much emotion and pathos.
One of the more controversial aspects of the Church’s time in Missouri concerns the formation and activities of the Mormon vigilante band known as the “Danites.” For a very long time the LDS Church tried to downplay how big this group was and tried to distance Joseph Smith and the official Church from the Danites’ activities. The Joseph Smith Papers have done an excellent job so far in giving the Danites and their connections to the Church, and specifically to members of the First Presidency, a much more academic and scholarly treatment than they have had in the past. This current volume follows in this fantastic informational scholarly practice. Pages 180 to 200 contain several letters written by Elias Higbee about the Church’s time in Missouri. A number of the footnotes deal with the Danites in general and some are about Sampson Avard in particular. These notes are well done and very informative. I learned quite a bit about the Danite activities. For instance, until I read this volume, I had no idea that the Danites printed and distributed a number of fraudulent ballots in an attempt to rig an election in 1838 (see fn 399, pp184-195).
For those of you who think that history is mostly dry and boring, “Volume 7” has some unexpected humor. During the time frame covered in this volume, a brother David W. Rogers printed and distributed an unauthorized, unapproved, totally bogus, phony baloney…(are you ready for this!) … HYMNAL!!! A counterfeit Hymnal! Okay, so maybe Joseph Smith and the Saints back then didn’t find this episode nearly as amusing as I did, because it really did cause them much consternation, so much, in fact, that the incident and how it was dealt with comes up in several documents and is even mentioned by the editors in the introduction to the book (see pp xxxiv-xxxv, 17, 23-24, 60, 221, 244-246, and 272-273).
When I was growing up and being taught about the restoration it seemed like the history of the LDS Church was filled with a lot of White Hats and Black Hats. Those who sided with Joseph Smith were good and tended to be nearly flawless; those that sided against Joseph Smith were almost always all bad. One of the poor souls that was reduced to being a one-dimensional bad guy was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States. The way I was taught history painted Van Buren as a heartless and petty man who, had he just exercised his executive powers, could have given the Saints much redemption and restitution after they were forced out of Missouri. But instead, he turned a blind eye and allowed their suffering to go uncorrected. While Van Buren doesn’t exactly get a complete redemption in “Volume 7,” he does get something of a makeover. For instance, the introduction explains that, based on the practices of the time, there probably wasn’t much that Van Buren realistically could have done for the Saints:
“Executive Orders were rare in this era of American politics, and Van Buren was known for being particularly hesitant to intrude on states’ rights. Therefore, Smith and Higbee may have simply asked Van Buren to use his influence with Democrats in Congress to gather support for (their) petition” (p. xxv).
More information on Van Buren is given in the introduction of a “Letter to Hyrum Smith and the Nauvoo High Council, 5 December 1839”:
“In the 1830’s visitors commonly arrived at the President’s House without an appointment. Many Americans, including legislators and office seekers, discussed their business with the president in social settings, and Martin Van Buren frequently met with guests in the parlor outside his office for hours at a time. In this setting, JS and Higbee would have had to compete with other visitors for the president’s attention…
“It is unclear what JS and Higbee asked Van Buren to do…They may have requested an executive order…but no documentary evidence supports this possibility…” (p. 66).
The editors also point out when introducing the “Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 30 October 1839 – 27 January 1840” (pp 138-174) that a committee of Congressmen determined that the federal government lacked the jurisdiction to become involved with what had happened between the Mormons and Missouri and that if the Church members wanted restitution, they needed to appeal to the state of Missouri.
Another individual relegated to the bad guy camp in LDS history is Robert D. Foster. Foster, a physician and convert from England, was in Joseph Smith’s inner circle for much of the Nauvoo time period until a falling out over polygamy led to his excommunication in 1844. He then joined with his brother Charles, the Higbee brothers, and William Law in producing the Nauvoo Expositor. If you hear or read anything about Foster in LDS history, it generally focuses on his excommunication, his role in the Expositor, and how it led to Smith’s murder. “Volume 7” introduces the reader to a Foster they likely do not know. Pages 85-89 are a “Letter from Robert D. Foster, 24 December 1839” and its introductory essay and footnotes. This is followed on pages 89-93 by a letter from Joseph Smith to Foster and its accompanying editorial material. In Foster’s letter you meet a man of great faith in the Latter-day Saint cause. Foster describes his missionary labors and desires to share the restored gospel. You really get a sense that he was a true believer and that he had a great desire to share his beliefs with others. You also get a great sense of his love for Joseph Smith. For instance, he writes:
“I conclude by sending my whole soul wrapped up in the love and power of God through the merits of Jesus…I don’t know any thing about you (Foster had not received a letter from Smith in some kind and was worried about his health and condition) only that I love you all, dead or alive am this night your Brother in Christ” (pp. 88-89).
When you read Smith’s return letter to Foster, you see the love that Smith had for him in return. These documents are priceless in showing the personalities of these men and the love they had for each other and the love they had for the work that they were engaged in. For me this gave Foster a whole new life and gave me a completely different perspective on the man than I had before.
As with the previous volumes in the series, the editors of “Volume 7” have really done their research and have provided a great feast of historical information and context that really give the reader a feeling for what was going on in the United States in the late 1830’s and help you to understand what the early Saints were living and experiencing. As an example, footnote 117 on page 72 tells of how, at the same time that Joseph Smith and Elias Higbee were petitioning congress and the president for restitution for the Saints experience in Missouri, the congress was experiencing some troubles of its own:
“As the Twenty-Sixth Congress commenced, two separate delegations from New Jersey – one Whig, one Democrat – arrived at the United States Capitol, each claiming to be that state’s duly elected delegation to the House of Representatives.”
The footnote goes on to give more of the story and how it was resolved. It’s a great reminder that what the Mormons were experiencing, as serious as it was, were not happening in a vacuum and that their travails and struggles may not even have registered as important to government officials worrying about crises in their own backyards. Another interesting smackeral of historical information found in a footnote gives some interesting context to an included receipt from Newell K. Whitney to “Mrs. Young” on pages 291 to 293. Footnote 152 on page 293 spells out the various culinary and medicinal uses of nutmeg in the 1830s and 1840s. Nutmeg may not be an interesting footnote subject to very many people, but it shows the great lengths that the Joseph Smith Papers editors go as they analyze and contextualize these documents. Personally I found it fascinating (but I’m a nerd so take that for what it is worth!).
I’ll mention one last interesting and informative footnote. One of the more famous, quoted, and often emotion-inducing documents from this era is Joseph Smith’s letter to W.W. Phelps. Phelps served in high ranking leadership positions during the first eight years of the Church’s existence. He edited newspapers for the Church and wrote a number of hymns including “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning.” Then in 1838 he turned against joseph Smith, was excommunicated, and provided testimony in Missouri that contributed to Joseph Smith’s incarnation in Liberty Jail. After being out of the Church for a time, Phelps wrote to Joseph Smith pleading for forgiveness and asking to be allowed to return. In a famous letter written on 22 July 1840, Joseph Smith frankly forgave Phelps. As I mentioned, this letter is often quoted in lessons and talks to show the loving and forgiving nature of Joseph Smith. It ends with this statement, that most Latter-day Saints have heard quoted many times before: “Come on dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first are friends again at last.” The editorial footnotes to this letter explain that this line is actually a paraphrase of Methodist hymnist and poet Charles Wesley from a work of his titled “An Epistle to the Reverend Mr. George Whitfield.” It was amazing to me to read this and realize that Joseph Smith was more informed and well-read than I had realized.
With the recent changes that were made to the structure and organization of the LDS Church’s priesthood offices, I’ll mention one final document that might make for an interesting study. The document on pages 432 to 442 is the only sermon that Joseph Smith dictated ahead of time. Titled “Instruction on Priesthood, circa 5 October 1840,” this sermon was dictated by Smith and then read in the October 1840 general conference by Robert Thompson. This document has been available for a long time and can be found in “The History of the Church,” “The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” and other places, but within the context of recent structural priesthood changes made in the LDS Church and with the added background information form the JSPP editors, this document could provide material for interesting studies in changes in teachings, ideas, and practices related to the LDS priesthood over time.
In “Documents Volume 7” the JSPP editors have once again done a fantastic job. “Volume 7” is very much worth the investment of time and money on the part of the reader. Going back to our catch phrases, let me say that there is definitely no need to say “D’OH!” if you invest in “Documents Volume 7” and in the other volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers, because the work of the editors continues to be “Fantastic! Absolutely Fantastic!” After Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor regenerated into David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, his catchphrase whenever he was about to set off on a new adventure became “ALLONS-Y!” If you haven’t invested in the Joseph Smith Papers yet, “Volume 7” is a book to call out “ALLONS-Y!” on and start your collection.