| 511 they thought proper; and the Lord, after much tribulation, blessed them, and has said that we should continue to importune for redress and redemption by the hands of those who are placed as rulers, and are in authority over us, according to the laws and Constitution of the people, which he has suffered to be established and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; that every man may act in doctrine and in principle, pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which he has given unto them; that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. And for this purpose he has established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom he raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
"Now we seek peace, and ask our rights, even redress and redemption, at the hands of the rulers of this nation: not only our lands and property in Jackson County, but for free trade with all men, and unmolested emigration to any part of the Union, and for our inherent right to worship God as we please. We ask the restoration of these rights because they have been taken from us, or abridged by the violence and usurpation of the inhabitants of Jackson County. As a people we hold ourselves amenable to the laws of the land, and while the government remains as it is, the right to emigrate from State to State, from territory to territory, from county to county, and from vicinity to vicinity, is open to all men of whatever trade or creed, without hindrance or molestation; and as long as we are justifiable and honest in the eyes of the law, we claim it, whether we remove by single families, or in bodies of hundreds, with that of carrying the necessary arms and accouterments for military duty. And we believe that all honest men, who love their country and their country's glory, and have a wish to see the law magnified and made honorable, will not only help perpetuate the great legacy of freedom, that came unimpaired from the hands of our venerable fathers, to us, but they will also protect us from insult and injury, and aid the work of God, that they may reap a reward in the regions of bliss, when all men receive according to their works.
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