, Letter, [, Hancock Co., IL?], to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 24 July 1842; handwriting of ; one page; CHL.
Single leaf measuring 9⅞ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The verso is ruled with twenty-eight blue lines. The letter was written on the recto; the verso is blank. All edges of the recto have the square cut of manufactured paper. The letter has three horizontal folds, including an uneven fold near the top edge, along with five vertical folds. There is some separation along the second horizontal fold.
At some point, this letter, along with other loose documents, was inserted in the trustee-in-trust tithing daybooks. It has since been removed and is now preserved separately at the CHL. Its filing in the tithing daybooks indicates continuous institutional custody.
See the full bibliographic entry for this letter in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 24 July 1842, wrote a short letter to JS in , Illinois, asking for direction on whom to vote for in the upcoming state election. Morley—who was living in the Latter-day Saint settlement of in southern , Illinois, and was serving as president of the sizable in nearby , Adams County, Illinois—was apparently responding to local members’ requests that he ask JS whom they should support. Given prior voting behaviors of members, as well as statements made by some of the Saints, including JS, some critics in the area had previously expressed concerns about Latter-day Saints’ voting. Morley’s letter demonstrates JS’s influence in political matters, thus giving credence to the concerns about potential Latter-day Saint bloc voting. Earlier in July, JS had encouraged independent candidates to run and had indicated that the Latter-day Saints would support those with the “courage to oppose the spirit of dictation which governed the Anti-Mormon convention candidates.” In the summer of 1841, the Anti-Mormon Party emerged, according to party promoter , “to oppose the concentration of political power in a religious body.” Sharp also declared that JS’s call for independent candidates had spurred the organization of the 1842 Anti-Mormon Party’s convention. Despite JS’s call for independent candidates, the Saints, including members in and counties, overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates in the August 1842 election.
The absence of postal markings suggests that the letter was delivered by hand. No reply from JS is extant or known.