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Full Text of HR0627
Introduced
Printer-Friendly
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HR0627
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LRB093 16247 KEF 41881 r
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HOUSE RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, 138 years ago Brigham Young
and more than 20,000
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members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
were
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expelled from the State of Illinois after the Illinois General
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Assembly withdrew its charter for the city of Nauvoo, Illinois
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in Hancock County in 1844; and
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WHEREAS, During a period of seven
years of Illinois
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history, from 1839 to 1846, Latter-day Saints built and
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developed the city of Nauvoo into the largest city in the State
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of Illinois and the tenth largest city in the nation; and
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WHEREAS, The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints
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was established by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York on April
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6, 1830; and
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WHEREAS, The Mormon Prophet, Joseph
Smith, led the
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community of Latter-day Saints from Fayette, New York to
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Kirtland, Ohio
in 1831; and from Ohio to Independence,
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Missouri, in 1837; and
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WHEREAS, Joseph Smith, a strong
anti-slavery advocate, led
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his community of some 15,000 Latter-day Saints to the
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Mississippi River
town of Nauvoo, in Illinois, following their
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expulsion from the slave State of Missouri in 1839; and
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WHEREAS, Joseph Smith and the Latter-day
Saints exercised
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enormous industry and effort in the development and growth
of
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the town of Nauvoo, succeeding in creating a prosperous
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community in which they drained the local swamp lands and
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transformed them into productive agricultural and
residential
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environments; and
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WHEREAS, Joseph Smith and the
Latter-day Saints were given
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an extraordinary charter for the powers of home-rule by the
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HR0627
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LRB093 16247 KEF 41881 r
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Illinois General Assembly to create and preside over their
own
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court system and also to maintain their own military force,
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second in size only to the United States Army; and
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WHEREAS, Joseph Smith and the
community of Latter-day
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Saints exercised extensive missionary activities which drew
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new Mormon settlers to the city Nauvoo, reaching a
population
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of some 20,000 citizens by 1844; and
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WHEREAS, The prevailing economic
conditions of the nation
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in general, and Illinois in particular, faced a downturn in the
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early 1840s, with the result that the rapidly growing
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population of Nauvoo faced drastic levels of unemployment
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without success in attracting needed industry; and
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WHEREAS, During the period of their
residency in Nauvoo,
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Joseph Smith and his community of Latter-day Saints began as
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political Democrats, transferring their political allegiance
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to the Whig Party in both the elections of 1838 and 1840,
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before once again transferring their affiliations back to
the
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Democratic Party in the election of 1842, until the
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establishment of the Reform Party by Smith in time for the
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election of 1844, when he began to seriously campaign for
the
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office of President of the United States; and
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WHEREAS, The expression of political
authority and power
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within the community of Latter-day Saints was seen by many
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citizens in Illinois as reasons for caution and concern, seeing
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the control of local courts by Joseph Smith as autocratic,
and
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interpreting the leverage and influence of the Mormon
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community's voting strength as an over influential forceful
and
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voting bloc; and
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WHEREAS, Local religious customs
among the Latter-day
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Saints began to be viewed with suspicion, bias and
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misunderstanding; and
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HR0627
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WHEREAS, Following the destruction
of a local anti-Mormon
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newspaper known as the Expositor, violence against the
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Latter-day Saint community increased; and
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WHEREAS, The Governor of the State
of Illinois, Thomas
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Ford, called out the Illinois Militia to keep order; and
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WHEREAS, Governor Ford had the
Prophet Joseph Smith and his
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brother, Hiram Smith, jailed, on suspicion of complicity in
the
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destruction of the Expositor, in the nearby town jail of
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Carthage, Illinois; and
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WHEREAS, A violent mob stormed the Carthage jail on June
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27, 1844, causing the deaths of Joseph and Hiram Smith; and
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WHEREAS, Between 1844 and 1845,
violent acts against the
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community of Latter-day Saints increased in volume and
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intensity, demonstrated in such acts as the burning of
crops,
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the destruction of homes and the threaten extermination of
the
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entire Mormon population; and
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WHEREAS, Faced with the extremism
against the community of
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Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young, the new leader of the
Nauvoo
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community made plans to take his people out of Illinois; and
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WHEREAS, Beginning on February 4, 1846, Brigham Young began
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sending the community of Latter-day Saints out of their
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homeland of Nauvoo, Illinois across the frozen waters of the
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Mississippi River,
in the largest forced migration in American
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history; and
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WHEREAS, Brigham Young made an
exodus from the State of
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Illinois, leading tens of thousands of men, women and children,
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together with livestock and wagons that stretched across the
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expansive winter horizon for miles; and
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HR0627
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LRB093 16247 KEF 41881 r
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WHEREAS, In this Mormon exodus,
Brigham Young and the
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community of Latter-day Saints left behind their life in
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Illinois and the shining city that they had fashioned from both
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their faith and the hard work of their hands; and
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WHEREAS, Brigham Young and the
community of Latter-day
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Saints set off in the midst of winter for Utah,
some 1300 miles
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to the west; and
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WHEREAS, The severity of the winter
placed on Brigham Young
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and the community of Latter-day Saints extreme hardships,
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trudging across the Iowa Plains to the far side of that
state
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where they made a winter camp; and
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WHEREAS, In the Spring of 1847,
Brigham Young and the
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community of Latter-day Saints began again their journey to
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Utah,
beyond the Rocky Mountain Range, to the valley of the
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Great Salt Lake;
and
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WHEREAS, On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young and the community
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of Latter-day Saints arrived in that valley following a trek
of
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more than five months, journeying across the heart of the
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American continent, from the heartbreak of events in Nauvoo,
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Illinois to a place of far-western refuge; and
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WHEREAS, Within 50 years of their
arrival in the territory
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of Utah, the community of Latter-day Saint became the 45th
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state in the Union on January 4, 1896;
and
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WHEREAS, The community of Latter-day
Saints grew from a
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population of 250,000 at the end of the 19th century to a
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population of more than 10 million people in our present
day;
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and
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WHEREAS, The goodness, patriotism,
high moral conduct, and
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HR0627
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LRB093 16247 KEF 41881 r
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generosity of the community of Latter-day Saints has
enriched
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the landscape of the United States and the world; and
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WHEREAS, The biases and prejudices
of a less enlightened
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age in the history of the State of Illinois caused untolled
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hardship and trauma for the community of Latter-day Saints
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the distrust, violence, and inhospitable actions of a dark
time
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in our past; therefore, be it
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RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE
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NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
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acknowledge the disparity of those past actions and
suspicions,
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regretting the expulsion of the community of Latter-day
Saints,
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a people of faith and hard work; and be it further
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RESOLVED, That we asks the pardon
and forgiveness of the
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community of Latter-day Saints for the misguided efforts of
our
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citizens, Chief Executive and the General Assembly in the
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expulsion of their Mormon ancestors from the gleaming city
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Nauvoo and the State of Illinois.
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