BRIGHAM YOUNG JOHN STEELE WILLARD RICHARDS GEORGE MILLER NEWELL WHITNEY Autograph

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BRIGHAM "LION OF THE LORD" YOUNG - COLLECTION CO-SIGNED BY: JOHN HARDY STEELE, WILLARD RICHARDS, GEORGE MILLER, NEWELL KIMBALL WHITNEY - DOCUMENT 90889

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BRIGHAM LION OF THE LORD YOUNG - COLLECTION CO-SIGNED BY: JOHN HARDY STEELE, WILLARD RICHARDS, GEORGE MILLER, NEWELL KIMBALL WHITNEY

BRIGHAM YOUNG and NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR JOHN H. STEELE
Young signed this letter as part of a letter writing campaign pleading for assistance against anti-Mormon violence less than a year before their migration to Utah. It was written in desperation just after the murder of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and is the only letter from this campaign to appear on the market!
TWO IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS ON MORMON RESETTLEMENT. Comprises: (1) Important and Historic Manuscript LS: "Brigham Young" President, "Willard Richards" Clerk of the Quorum of Twelve and "N.K. Whitney" and "George Miller" as Trustees of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, all four being the "Committee, in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at Nauvoo, Ill.," 3p, 8x13, front and verso. Nauvoo, Illinois, 1845 April 24. Verso of third page addressed to: "His Excellency/John H. Steele/Concord/New Hampshire." The docketed address leaf bears a circular "new-york" postmark, explained by Young in the postscript: "P.S. As many of our communications postmarked 'Nauvoo' have failed of their destination-and the mails around us have been intercepted by our enemies, we shall send this to some distant office, by a special messenger." (2) Draft Autograph Letter by Governor Steele replying to Young's letter, 4p, 77/8x97/8. No place, no date. BACKGROUND: Brigham Young made this appeal to Governor of New Hampshire, John H. Steele, just 14 months after the founder and prophet of the Mormon movement, Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum were shot and murdered in a Carthage, Illinois jail by an angry mob of antagonized followers. Brigham Young, one of the chosen 12 Apostles of the Church, learned of the murders while on a mission in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In August of 1844, Young reached Nauvoo, Illinois, the home of the Mormons, finding the Church in a panic. On August 8, Young was chosen as Smith's successor. Nauvoo was situated amongst towns holding anti-Mormon sentiment. There was resentment of the liberal terms of their city charter which had been granted to them by the state; fear of the Mormons' political power (Smith had a nationwide organization in place for securing his candidacy for U.S. President - in fact, Brigham Young was in New Hampshire on such a mission when he learned of Smith's murder); resentment of their mass voting and envy of their prosperity. The Mormons had previously been expelled from Ohio and Missouri before settling in Nauvoo, Illinois. So, at the time of these documents, the Mormons were surrounded by tension both within their movement as well as by forces outside of the Church. In January of 1845, Illinois repealed the charter of Nauvoo, leaving the city of 20,000 without legal means to protect its inhabitants or property. It is because of these circumstances that Young and his General Council set out to find a new home for the Saints. They planned a letter campaign to President James A. Polk and to every governor of the Union with the exception of Illinois and Missouri. THE LETTER CAMPAIGN IS ONE OF THE EFFORTS THE MORMONS MADE TO FIND PROTECTION FROM MOB VIOLENCE WHICH THREATENED THEM SINCE JULY 1844, JUST AFTER PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH'S MURDER. YOUNG'S LETTER REVIEWS THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THE SAINTS HAD UNDERGONE IN MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS, DETAILING THE ACCOUNT OF THE MURDERS OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH AND THE AFTERMATH OF CONTINUED VIOLENCE. The letters to the President and Governors had slight variations so that the content could be tapered to the state and recipient. The LETTER OFFERED HERE BY BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE RETAINED DRAFT RESPONSE BY GOVERNOR STEELE ARE THE ONLY DOCUMENTS THAT HAVE APPEARED ON THE MARKET CONCERNING THIS LETTER CAMPAIGN. Brigham Young, in his speech celebrating the Twenty-fourth of July, (recorded in the weekly English church paper, "Milennia Star" October 4, 1862), stated that he only received five replies to the campaign, all of which were rejections. By October of 1845 the Mormons promised to leave Illinois by the following Spring. However, the violence and pressure for them to leave grew so intense that their exodus started in February 1846. A plan to move to the Rocky Mountains had been contemplated by Smith in 1842, though no opportunity had availed itself to do so. By the time Young sent this letter, a Mormon party had been sent to search for a location in California - the vast territory west of the Rockies. Young used the term "the Great Western Measure" to refer to this whole idea of moving west. Among the areas considered were the San Francisco Bay area, Vancouver Island of the Oregon Territory, the Great Basin (later Nevada), the Great Salt Lake Valley and the Bear River Valley to its north. After passing the snowbound months near Council Bluffs, Iowa, Young led the first wagons across the plains and entered the Salt Lake Valley (later Utah) on July 24, 1847. Young's letter to Governor Steele, in full: "Suffer us, Sir, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted people to prefer a few suggestions for your serious consideration in hope of a friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period as may suit your convenience, and the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand. It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggravated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Some of us have long been loyal citizens of the state over which you have the honor to preside, while others claim citizenship in each of the states of this great confederacy. We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told by the highest authorities of this state, that it is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the polls; still we have continued to maintain our right to vote until the blood of our best men has been shed, both in Missouri, and the state of Illinois with impunity. You are, doubtless, somewhat familiar with the history of our extermination from the state of Missouri, wherein scores of our brethren were massacred, hundreds died through want and sickness, occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings; some millions of our property were confiscated or destroyed; and some fifteen thousand souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful shores of Illinois; and that the State of Illinois granted to us a liberal charter, for the term of perpetual succession, under whose provisions private rights have become invested and the largest city in the state has grown up, numbering about 20,000 inhabitants. But, Sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State of Illinois, forbids us to think that her designs are any less vindictive than those of Missouri. She has already used the Military of the State, with the Executive at their head, to coerce and surrender up our best men to unparallelled murder, and that too under the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a salvo for such unearthly pefidy and guilt, she told us, through her highest Executive officer, that the laws should be magnified, and the murderers brought to justice;--; but the blood of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful arena, where the citizens of a sovreign (sic) state pounced upon two defenceless servants of God, our Prophet and our Patriarch, before the Senate of that state rescued one of the indicted actors in that mournful tragedy from the Sheriff of Hancock County, and gave him an honorable seat in her Hall of Legislation, and all others, who were indicted by the Grand Jury of Hancock County, for the murders of Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith are suffered to roam at large, watching for further prey. To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has repealed all those chartered rights, by which we might have defended ourselves, lawfully, against aggressors. If we defend ourselves hereafter against violence, whether it comes under the shadow of law, or otherwise (for we have reason to expect to both ways,) we shall then be charged with treason, and suffer the penalty - and if we continue passive and nonresistant, we must certainly expect to perish for our enemies have sworn it. And here, Sir, permit us to state, that Gen. Joseph Smith, during his short life, was arraigned at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged with criminal offences, but was acquitted every time by his country, his enemies, or rather his religious opponents almost invariably being his judges. And we further testify, that as a people, we are law abiding, peaceable and without crime, and we challenge the world to prove the contrary; and while other cities in Illinois, less than ours, have had special courts instituted to try their criminals, we have been stript (sic) of every source of arraigning marauders and murderers, who are prowling around to destroy us, except the common magistracy. With these facts before you, Sir, will you write to us without delay, as a father and friend, and advise us what to do? We are, many of us, citizens of your state, and all members of the same great confederacy. Our fathers, nay, some of us, have fought and bled for our country, and we love her constitution dearly. In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor,- Will it be too much for us to ask you to convene a special session of your State Legislature, and furnish us an asylum, where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or, will you, in a special message to that body, when convened, recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation as this people have continued to receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or, will you favor us by your personal influence, and by your official rank? Or, will you express your views concerning what is called the 'Great Western measure,' of colonizing the Latter Day Saints in Oregon, the Northwestern Territory, or some location remote from the states, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every noble principle, and extinguish every patriotic feeling? And now, Hon. Sir, having reached out our imploring hands to you with deep solemnity, we would importune with you as a father, a friend, a patriot and statesman; by the constitution of American liberty; by the blood of our fathers who have fought for the independence of this republic, by the blood of the martyrs which has been shed in our midst; by the wailings of the widows and orphans; by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wives and children; by the dread of immediate destruction from secret combinations now forming for our overthrow; and by every endearing tie that binds men to men, and renders life bearable, and that too, for aught we know, for the last time, that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the violence of mobocracy, and exert your influence to establish us, as a people, in our civil and religious rights, where we now are, or in some part of United States, or at some place remote therefrom, where we may colonise in peace and safety, as soon circumstances will permit. We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us will be dictated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of humanity, and the blessings of a grateful people, and of many, ready to perish shall come upon you. We are, Sir, with great respect, Your most obdt. Servants." Draft of Steele's reply (in his hand), in part: "To Brigham Young President of the Latter day saints & his associates. Gent- Your letter dated April 24 was duly received & while I join you most heartily in denouncing the atrocious conduct of those who laid violent hands on your late leader, Joseph Smith & his brother Hiram (sic), you will permit me to say that I am by no means prepared to ~~say~~ admit that all the troubles & trials through which your sect has passed, or is likely to pass, were entirely undeserved. I do not say this with any reason or even thoughts of excusing much less justifying your persecutors. It has been my fortune to reside in the vacinity (sic) of one of your most successful mission & must while I willingly ~~do I~~ bear testimony in favor of the moral rectitude & honest intentions of many of your converts yet justice & fair dealing demands that the whole truth should be told...some of them, wither (sic) real or pretended ~~converts~~ are among our worst & least to be relied on citizens...I say that in all probability your troubles have not been entirely the result of the bigotry or recklessness of your neighbors. I believe that is a fact beyond dispute that the rise of most if not all of the religious sects which have ever arisen graced or disgraced christendem (sic) has been marked by bigotry & intolerance, if not by wild fanaticism. It is proverbial that new converts invariably possess more zeal than knowledge & as a matter of course repeatedly run against the sharp corners of long cherished ~~notions~~ opinions, this of itself creates bitter feeling & often leads to acts of violence at which cooler minds shudder. These & the like facts should warn us not to needlessly provoke our neighbors or to rouse their dormant prejudices...I cannot give my assent to any thing or teachings that I do not understand, hence I do not agree or subscribe to the entire creeds or doctrines of any sect knone (sic) to me but believe that there is not one of them that have not to a greater extent or less extent departed from or perverted the true & simple meaning of our Great & good teacher...I cannot & do not say that your teachings are not beneficial, if they make your procelites (sic) better men, better neighbors, better husbands, or better citizens, they certainly are beneficial & this brings me back to what I meant to say, it is this that I am clearly of opinion that you cannot stay where you are nor until your own sharp corners are worn off can you peaceably reside in the immediate vacinity (sic) of other sectarians, some of the doctrines which you teach have a tendency at least to mislead your followers & cause them to trample on the rights & rouse the prejudices of their neighbors. You teach your followers that the land & all things thereon is the Lords & that you & they are the chosen children of the Lord, at the same time you hold to a literal application of what you say, is it then at all to be wondered at that some of your ignorant or vicious converts should believe that they have a perfect right to what ever comes in their way ~~such~~ the practical working of such teachings ~~things~~ your people have been accused of & I fear in many instances that those accusations are true, I have myself heard some of your followers more than hint their litteral (sic) belief of such a doctrine & what is worse you have more than hinted that pernicious doctrine of plurality of wives. I know that you attempt to veil your designs under the name of spiritual wives, the veil is too thin too transparent to conceal the ~~body & soul killing~~ naked fact that such teachings will lead to that of promiscuous concubinage. Before the murder of your 'prophet' it had become an almost undisputed fact that he had more than one concubine, add to this the openly proclaimed assertion that Joseph Smith could not be killed either by poison or the bullet & is it any wonder that you should ~~raise a prejudice against you & even cause your actions innocent of themselves to~~ create a desire to test his invulnerability or that so strong a prejudice should be raised that even your innocent actions would be misinterpreted...we must take things as they are & as I have before said it is out of the question for you to think of remaining where you are or of seeking a place of residence where men whose beliefs & modes of life are so entirely difernt (sic) ~~you will be surrounded by---or any other civilized or half civilized men~~ from your own. My advice therefore is that you seek some spot of earth where you will at least, for years, be free from contact with those who are of a different faith from your own. I know that it is hard & even would seem to be cruel to advise any set of men to abandon their hearths & seek a home in the wild uninhabited wilderness, yet there is no alternative left except it be an abandonment of your peculiar faith & this I am not weak enough to recommend...." There is a tear in the right margin of the third page of Young's letter (verso of address leaf) where the letter was opened at the seal affecting two words, all others intact. Light fold through Young's signature. Steele's draft shows folds, some ink smudges (but words are legible), partial separation at one horizontal fold (all words intact), slight show through, else fine. Both items overall are clean and clear. Each framed in Gallery of History style: 54x32. Two items.

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