Church Authorities Appeal to Iowa Governor, February 28, 1846

• Letter dated Feb 28, 1846 from church authorities to “His Excellency, Governor of the Territory of Iowa.” (Iowa would not become a state until later in 1846). The letter is a petition to allow the saints to cross the Iowa Territory unmolested. The letter is marked by its appeals to constitutional protection (forensic) and emotional, community values (epideictic).
• Some important facts: The saints set out, forced out of Illinois (having previously been forced out of Missouri on an extermination order), at the Iowa border. They had built Nauvoo, etc. etc. The early parties floated across the Miss on rafts and small boats while the bulk of the exiles and refugees (ultimately numbering in the tens of thousands [12,000 to 15,000] were able to walk across the Miss, since it was so cold it froze. They camped across the river briefly in Sugar Creek, IA, unable to proceed in the cold.
• Because of the frigid temperatures, the extreme poverty (saints had to sell their homes and belongings for next to nothing in Illinois), the creeping starvation, and the massive labor it took to walk, drive wagons, and pull handcarts, It took the saints 4 months to cross Iowa’s three hundred miles (Arrington 98). To provide perspective, it took them only three months to cover the remaining one thousand miles to the Salt Lake Valley. So Iowa was very much their crucible during this exodus. It was also, however, a kind of refuge.
• The Letter:

To His Excellency,
Governor of the Territory of Iowa,

Honored Sir: The time is at hand, in which several thousand free citizens of this great Republic, are to be driven from their peaceful homes and firesides, their property and farms, and their dearest constitutional rights – to wander in the barren plains, and sterile mountains of western wilds, and linger out their lives in wretched exile far beyond the pale of professed civilization; or else be exterminated upon their own lands by the people, and authorities of the state of Illinois. As life is sweet we have chosen banishment rather than death. But Sir, the terms of our banishment are so rigid that we have not sufficient time allotted us to make the necessary preparations to encounter the hardships and difficulties of those dreary and uninhabited regions. We have not time allowed us to dispose of our property, dwellings, and farms, consequently, many of us will have to leave them unsold, without the means of procuring the necessary provisions, clothing, teams, etc. to sustain us but a short distance beyond the settlements: hence our persecutors have placed us in very unpleasant circumstances.

To stay, is death by ‘fire and sword’, to go into banishment unprepared, is death by starvation. But yet under these heart-rending circumstances, several hundreds of us have started upon our dreary journey, and are now encamped in Lee county, Iowa, suffering much from the intensity of the cold. Some of us are already without food, and others barely sufficient to last a few weeks: hundreds of others must shortly follow us in the same unhappy condition.

Therefore, we, the Presiding Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a committee in behalf of several thousand suffering exiles, humbly ask your Excellency to shield and protect us in our constitutional rights, while we are passing through the territory over which you have jurisdiction. And should any of the exiles be under the necessity of stopping in this territory for a time, either in the settled or unsettled parts, for the purpose of raising crops, by renting farms or upon the public lands, or to make the necessary preparations for their exile in any lawful way, we humbly petition your Excellency to use an influence and power in our behalf; and thus preserve thousands of American citizens, together with their wives and children from intense sufferings, starvation and death.

And your petitioners will every pray.

This letter is printed in the book, A Documentary History of Religion in America to 1877 (3rd ed.), eds Edwin S Gaustad and Mark A. Noll. p. 351


A number of things strike me about the rhetoric of this document. For example, one notes that quintessentially 19th-century use of litotes, deliberate understatements that invite the reader to elaborate the intensity of the situation described. To say that "banishment," "exile," "starvation," "extermination," and the overall stripping of constitutional rights create "very unpleasant circumstances" seems, well, a tad restrained.

But this stylistic device seems part of more global phronetic strategy. For example, the saints are not petitioning the governor based on the high ideals of religious freedom (though that argument, too, is implicit). They seem to focus instead on those constitutional rights that promise the more practical freedoms afforded by life, liberty, and property. In this way, they appeal to the governor on the terms of his office as a territorial custodian.

Additionally, what is missing from this letter is as significant as what isn't. The saints never identify their "persecutors." The agents of this travesty of justice are never named. Why? Their persecutors are the peers of the very man they now petition. Even if the Iowa governor is not best buds with the Missouri and Illinois governors, he shares their office and obligation. By not naming them, the saints attempt to weaken the link between them and the recipient of this letter. It is easier to think of those who kill, starve, and strip innocent citizens as abstract monsters rather than fully embodied and legally installed peer governors. Furthermore, to recall that their persecutors are such high government officials returns to mind the fact that the Mormons are known and treated as provocative religious extremists and threats to the state - an identification this letter takes pains to conceal.

I have not yet found any formal response from the governor, but I am eager to look.

Joseph Smith Papers

A massive ongoing archival project to assemble and organize "all" of the primary documents that were written by Joseph Smith or his clerks. It includes journals, legal documents, revelations, correspondence, history, etc.

http://josephsmithpapers.org/

General Conference Addresses

General Conference is a semi-annual gathering of all members of the church - both in Salt Lake City and via satellite around the world - during which highest church leaders address the membership on various gospel related topics. Here is a link to the archives on the official LDS website:

http://lds.org/conference/display/0,5234,23-1,00.html

Mormon Oratory Bibliography by Gideon Burton

http://burton.byu.edu/MormonOratory/Mormon%20Oratory%20Bibliography.pdf

Also see his website on Mormon oratory:
http://burton.byu.edu/MormonOratory/default.htm

Cannon and O'Higgins: Under the Prophet in Utah, 1911

This is a critical piece about the painful political integration of the church early in the 20th century. The author is a politically connected, former member who lived in Utah.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/mor/upu/index.htm

Parley P. Pratt - Angel of the Prairies

An ostensibly fictional dream vision of P.P. Pratt's regarding the establishment of a vast, Mormon kingdom in the Midwest.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/mor/aoftp/aoftp.htm


From correspondence posted at http://www.sacred-texts.com/mor:

'After having contacted his colleague Marlin Jacobs I received the following answer from Mr. Jacobs to Stan Barker on January 14th 2004:

Stan,



"Angel of the Prairies" was a piece of fiction written by Pratt in Nauvoo. It was transformed into a speech given by Pratt by anti-Mormon lawyer Theodore Schroeder in his defense of the Spaulding Manuscript Theory in the American Historical Magazine, which B. H. Roberts responded to in the same magazine (which changed its name to Americana). We have this series (both Schroeder and Roberts) on the web site.



According to Roberts, Pratt did write "Angel of the Prairies," but only as fiction.



Malin

Conclusion: The document ‘Angel of the Prairies’ is a fictitious story written by Parley P. Pratt and is in no way connected with the theology or revelations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.'

George A. Smith on religious freedom 1852

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_1/The_Nauvoo_Legion%E2%80%94Civil_and_Religious_Rights

Some distinctive hymns

Oh My Father
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=292&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=292&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Praise to the Man
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=27&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=27&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

The Spirit of God
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=2&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=2&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Come, Come, Ye Saints
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=30&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=30&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=19&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=19&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Redeemer of Israel
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=6&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=6&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Adam-ondi-Ahman
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=49&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=49&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

I Believe in Christ
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=134&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=134&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Called to Serve
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=249&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=249&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

If You Could Hie to Kolob
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=284&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=284&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Love at Home
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=294&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=294&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Families Can Be Together Forever
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=300&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=300&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Ye Elders of Israel
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=319&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=319&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

As Sisters in Zion
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=309&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=309&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

In Our Lovely Deseret
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=307&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=307&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Joseph Smith's First Prayer
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=26&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=26&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

I am a Child of God
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=301&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=301&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

FROM CHILDRENS SONG BOOK

An Angel Came to Joseph Smith
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=86&searchsubseqstart=a&searchseqend=86&searchsubseqend=a

Book of Mormon Stories
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=118&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=118&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Family History, I am Doing It
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=94&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=94&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Family Night
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=195&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=195&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

The Books in the Book of Mormon
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=119&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=119&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Follow the Prophet
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=110&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=110&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

A Child's Prayer
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=12&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=12&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

The Oxcart
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=219&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=219&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=169&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=169&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

I Lived in Heaven
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=4&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=4&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=60&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=60&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

The Church of Jesus Christ
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=77&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=77&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Pioneer Children
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=214&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=214&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Latter-day Prophets
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=134&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=134&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Love is Spoken Here
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=190&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=190&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Keep the Commandments
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=146&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=146&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Jesus Once was a Little Child
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=55&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=55&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

King Follett Discourse

Not long before his assassination in 1844, Smith delivered a funeral oration for King Follett, a faithful Latter-day Saint. But the oration became almost immediately a doctrinal manifesto on the nature of God. The provocative teachings of the discourse define the Mormon conception of God to this day.

http://mldb.byu.edu/follett.htm

The Book of John Whitmer

John Whitmer was an early leader in the Mormon movement and a close confidant of Joseph Smith. He was instructed to keep a careful record of the church, and he did so from 1831 - 1838.

http://www.centerplace.org/history/misc/jwhitmer.htm

Evening and Morning Star

Predecessor to Messenger and Advocate, this early Mormon periodical was published in Independence, MO from 1832 - 1833, before it was destroyed by the same mob that drove the Mormons from the state.

http://www.centerplace.org/history/ems/default.htm

Messenger and Advocate

Published in Kirtland, OH. between 1834 and 1837; Predecessor to the Times and Seasons of Nauvoo, IL.

http://www.centerplace.org/history/ma/default.htm

Times and Seasons

The Times and Seasons was an early Mormon periodical during the Nauvoo years of the middle 19th century. It is of critical historical importance, since it was the first to publish such critical discourses as The King Follett Discourse, the Wentworth Letter (the Articles of Faith) and several revelations now located in the Doctrine and Covenants.

http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/default.htm

Lectures on Faith

Joseph Smith was inspired to create a school for the leaders of the Mormon movement. The school was designed to instruct these leaders in languages, grammar, and theology, so that they might more effectively preach the gospel. The Lectures on Faith were part of the curriculum, and they were included in the original publication of the Doctrine and Covenants of the church, but they have since been removed.

http://www.centerplace.org/hs/dc/lectures.htm

Perhaps an important place to start is the scriptures, specifically those scriptures that are uniquely Mormon. Below I've provided links to some of the most distinctive portions of the Pearl of Great Price, a book of Mormon scripture derived partly from what Joseph Smith said were (his own) translations of ancient Egyptian papyri, and partly from Smith's own reflections as the church's leader. I introduce each link with representative summaries and verses taken directly from the scripture.Click on the given link for the entirety of the text.

Critical sections from Pearl of Great Price:

The Articles of Faith

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. - Article 9

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1

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Joseph Smith History (autobio)

Heading:
Joseph Smith tells of his ancestry, family members, and their early abodes - An unusual excitement about religion prevails in western New York - he determines to seek wisdom as directed by James - The Father and the Son appear and Joseph is called to his prophetic ministry. Some preachers and other professors of religion reject account of First Vision - Persecution heaped upon Joseph Smith - He testifies of the reality of the vision. Moroni appears to Joseph Smith - Joseph's name is to be known for good and evil among all nations - Moroni tells him of the Book of Mormon and of the coming judgments of the Lord, and quotes many scriptures - The hiding place of the gold plates is revealed - Moroni continues to instruct the Prophet. Joseph Smith marries Emma Hale - He receives the gold plates from Moroni and translates some of the characters - Martin Harris shows characters and translation to Professor Anthon, who says: "I cannot read a sealed book." Oliver Cowdery serves as scribe in translating the Book of Mormon - Joseph and Oliver receive the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist - They are baptized, ordained and receive the spirit of prophecy.

While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. - vs. 11-12

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other - This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! - v. 17

Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave. - Oliver Cowdery's addendum

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/contents

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Moses 7

Heading:

Enoch teaches, leads the people, moves mountains – The City of Zion is established – Enoch foresees the coming of the Son of Man, his atoning sacrifice, and the resurrection of the saints – He foresees the restoration, the gathering, the Second Coming, and the return of Zion.

And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them. - v. 18

Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also. - v. 35

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moses/7

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Abraham 3

Heading:

Abraham learns about the sun, moon, and stars by means of the Urim and Thummim - the Lord reveals to him the eternal nature of spirits - He learns of pre-earth life, foreordination, the creation, the choosing of a Redeemer, and the second estate of man.

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with hm: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these my dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; - vs 22- 25

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/abr/3

Project Purpose and Scope

This blog is a preliminary effort devoted to the collection, dissemination, evaluation, and discussion of primary Mormon discourse.

My purposes are primarily scholarly. I am a professor of rhetoric at Iowa State University, and my area of focus is the rhetoric of religion. As a Latter-day Saint, I am especially interested in looking at my own religion as a movement that has navigated a very difficult path using strategic discourse to emerge as a major cultural, political, and religious world institution.

For now, my only intention is to begin collecting links to significant talks and other pieces of discourse relevant to the Mormon movement. Ultimately, I intend to organize various textual artifacts into three chronological categories: the generative period (1820 - 1890), the transitional period (1890 - 1930), and the assimilated period (1930 - present).