Rigdon was first counselor to, and often spokesman for, Joseph Smith Jr.
The first half of the oration described the importance of the founding of the United States from a traditional and Church perspective.
The second half of the oration was meant as a Mormon "declaration of independence" against "mobocrats" and Anti-Mormon persecution.
Later, the church presidency published the July 4th Oration, causing considerable agitation and further stoking anti-Mormon sentiment throughout northwestern Missouri.
Many contemporaries and later historians cite the July 4th Oration as a contributing factor to the 1838 Mormon War.