Mormons and Utah statehood - Research Paper Example

Mormons and Utah statehood Introduction Mormons refer to the adherents of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The LDS church has a total membership of over 14.4 million worldwide. The headquarters of the Mormon Church is aptly located in Salt Lake City Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah was the focal point of the struggle for a different state by the Mormons for over half a century. Mormons have been persecuted in USA even before the first Latter Day Saint church had been established in 1830 (Bitton 1979).This opposition to Mormons continues to some extent even today. However the biggest persecution as well as opposition to Mormonism was seen during the 19th century when Mormons were fighting for a separate state called as the Desert state. The original demand of the state was accepted after nearly half a century of struggle by the Mormons. However this demand was accepted only after the size of ‘Desert’ stage was highly truncated and polygamy – one of the basic features of LSD church was forever banned. (University of Illinois Press 1986) This research paper looks at the history and the relationship between Mormons and the Utah statehood. It explores the persecution of Mormons during the demand for statehood. This persecution was carried out both by the federal authorities as well as common people. The first part of the research paper deals with the history of Utah statehood and the role of Mormons in this demand. The second part focuses on the persecution faced by Mormons during statehood campaign. Brief History of Statehood Mormons entered what is now the present state of Utah for the first time in 1847 after they had faced years of persecution in the Midwest. It is this persecution which had made them aware that self rule was the only way forward to stop the persecution. However as fate would have it this land at that time belonged to Mexico. But in 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed which gave this land to United States of America. (Allen 1976) On March 8 1949, a constitutional convention was called in the Salt Lake City by the Mormon leaders in order to campaign for a new state. This state as envisioned by them included the present day Utah , Nevada , Arizona , parts of California ,Colorado New Mexico and Idaho. (New Mexico Constituional Convention 1911) This convention ended up selecting the officers for this self declared desert state. Almon W.Babbitt was chosen as a representative by this ‘state’ to the US Senate. (Weekely 1849) However the senate refused to meet this representative from a state which was self declared. The congress gave 2 reasons for the refusal to grant statehood – one was the lack of 60,000 eligible voters required and other was the huge size of the proposed state. However in September of 1850 the Senate passed a bill which provided for the organisation of Utah territory. The LSD church authorities publicly said that polygamy or the doctrine of plural marriage was one of the divine obligations of its faithful. However polygamy proved to be one of the biggest obstacles in the path of statehood for Utah. Polygamy was paired by the US senate along with slavery and was considered as an evil which needed to be eradicated from United States at any cost. As long as LDS church publicly endorsed polygamy, there was little chance that statehood will be granted to the territory of Utah. Brigham young was appointed as the governor by the US senate in 1850.He remained governor till 1857.It was during his governorship that a second attempt at statehood was made by assembling a constitutional convention in 1856. (Orton 2012)However President Buchan not only rejected this constitutional convention but also removed Brigham Young as the governor of Utah. Young was replaced by Alfred Cumming who entered the territory of Utah accompanied by 2500 troops. This is what is popularly known as the Utah war. They entered the Salt Lake City to find it deserted by the Mormons. The third attempt at statehood by calling a constitutional convention took place in 1862.However like the first two attempts; this was also a futile attempt as the Senate summarily rejected it. (White 1996)The more disturbing event which happened in 1862 was the passing of Morrill Anti-Bigamy act in the senate which prohibited polygamy and dis-incorporated the Mormon Church. Attempts and appeals by the Mormons to get the Morrill act repealed failed. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad to Utah was completed. This led to an end of isolation of the Mormons which led to increased Mormon-gentile hostility. The political debate in Utah was also organised along religious lines. As there was absence of national parties, the void was filled by the Liberal party (whose supporters were gentiles and dissident Mormons) and the People’s Party of Mormons. (Desert News 1872) Another futile attempt at statehood was made in 1872 which led to a constitutional convention in the Salt Lake City and representation to the senate. However just like the earlier attempts this attempt too was turned down by the senate. The Poland Act was passed in 1874 which became the legal basis for the persecution of Mormon polygamists. (Little 1879) This act empowered district court with jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases and limited the jurisdiction of probate courts. The district courts consisted of federal appointees unlike the Probate courts which were controlled by the Mormons. The Morrill act was upheld by the US Supreme court in 1879 which made plural marriage a criminal offense. (Church of the Latter Day Saints 1883) In 1882, 10 years after the last attempt of statehood was made, the pole territory of Utah made another attempt for obtaining statehood. A constitutional convention was called and a representation was made to the Senate just like earlier times but a significant change was made this time. The name Desert state was not proposed for the new state like the earlier attempts. The statehood bill was introduced in the senate but the bill was put on hold by referring it to a committee. Another important event which happened in 1882 was the passing of Edmunds Act by the US Senate. (US Senate Publishing Committee 1882) It made it illegal for polygamists or cohabitants to vote public offices or serve on juries. Edmund act made it easier to convict Mormons and led to large scale of arrests of Mormons. Many of them were arrested and some escaped to Mexico or went ‘underground’. The property of the LDS church in excess of $50,000 was confiscated by USA. This large scale persecution galvanized the Mormons and renews their attempt at statehood. In 1887, they passed another constitution for statehood which made declared bigamy and polygamy incompatible with republican form of government and as misdemeanours. (Senate Committee on Privelages and Elections 1970)The hope was that this climb down on polygamy will give them the statehood they needed to stop the persecution of Mormons. Hearings were held on the new constitution in 1888.However many people were convinced that the Mormons were hell bent on practising polygamy and demanded an amendment in the US constitution to ban the practice. A major shift in the direction of LDS church came in 1890.It was in this year that LDS president Wilford Woodruff publicly made a statement which asked the Latter-Day Saints to refrain from practising polygamy or any other form of marriage which was prohibited by the law of the land. This declaration cleared a number of obstacles in the path of statehood for Utah.1891 also saw the entry of national parties in Utah. Both the republicans and the democrats entered the territory. The People’s party of Mormons was disbanded in 1891 and the Liberal party was disbanded in 1893. The enabling provision was passed by the US congress in 1894.This provision listed the steps which should be taken by Utah in order to gain statehood. The constitutional convention delegates were also elected by the people of Utah which was held in 1895 at the Salt Lake City. This convention formed the new constitution of Utah State which was to be formed. According to the provisions of the Enabling act passed by the US senate, the practice of polygamy was forever banned in the constitution of Utah. On 4th January 1896, President Cleveland declared Utah to be the 45th state of the United States of America. Thus a very long battle for statehood was finally won by Utah. However the Mormons had to give up their practice of polygamy in order to achieve statehood. The traded polygamy for statehood. Persecution of Mormons In the previous section we provided a brief history of how the state of Utah was formed. It showed the journey of the state from 1847 when the LSD followers entered the desert region to 1896 when the statehood was finally granted to the people of Utah. It mentioned in brief the various laws passed by the US Senate which led to the persecution of Mormons by the federal authorities as well as gentiles. In this section we will discuss some of the major cases of Mormon persecution during the struggle for statehood. Reasons for Persecution Why Mormons are persecuted so much in America? It seems amazing during the present century that religion was used as a basis for the persecution of a large number of people and denies them statehood for nearly half a century. However USA was different during the 19th century. It was experiencing democracy as a novel experience. It was with the advent of democracy that separation of the church from the state had taken place. Anti-Mormonism was used by Americans as a platform to openly discuss what religion should not be. The Mormons were made to look bad in order to dictate to people what acceptable religious practices would be in USA. The most practical reasons for the persecution of Mormons before their migration to Utah were practical and economic. As Mormons used to settle in substantial numbers at any place, they usually had substantial effect on the economics and the politics of the region. (University of Utah Press 1994) This led the local population to develop resentment against the Mormons and caused their persecution. Religious difference was one of the reasons for anti-Mormonism but was in no way the only religion. The Mormons believed that true church had been removed from earth at the end of apostolic age. (Lamar 1971)This declaration of Mormons meant that all other Christian denominations such as catholic and Protestants were not real Christians. In the 19th century religion still had a great sway over the lives of the people and this declaration made a large number of people angry and led to anti-Mormonism and numerous persecutions of the Mormons. Another reason for the persecution of Mormons was that they freely mixed both state and religion. (C.C. 1881) The protestant Americans were shocked at this mix of religion and church which was no longer allowed with the advent of republic. Joseph Smith even declared that he was going to build an earthly kingdom of God. This statement and the formation of their own militia in the state of Illinois with Joseph Smith as the Lieutenant General angered not only the authorities but also the general population. So when Mormons demanded a separate statehood for what they called as “The Desert State” it was seen as treason by many Americans. (Young 1855) They believed that Mormons will eventually go out of the union. Even before the declaration of the formation of Earthly Kingdom of God or the demand for statehood was raised, Mormons were guilt of voting en block in Missouri .This led to considerable political and economic influence for the Mormons as they were able to unseat political leadership. This caused a lot of enmity with other communities which led to many hostilities and the issuing of an executive order by the Governor which declared Mormons as enemies which needed to be persecuted. (Larson 1971) One of the major opposition to the state of Utah occurred because of the practice of polygamy. The Republicans called polygamy and slavery as the two evils which needed to be exterminated from USA. (Louisville Commercial 1875)Mormons were accused of sexual immorality. They were accused of enslaving women and making their life hell. (Lyman 1973)Polygamy has been hated in USA well into the tweenth century and is considered as immoral. (Oakland Tribune 1953) It seemed a little harsh that polygamy was compared to slavery which had led to the civil war in United States. However the two should not be seen differently. It was known to everyone that Mormons did not have the strength or the manpower in 1857 to fight against the United States Army. However polygamy was a symbol of an evil which needed to be defeated. It was used to unite the people to fight against slavery which was the main reason for the civil war in 1861. (Alford (Winter 2012))After the end of the civil war in 1865 the people were even more paranoid and were not willing to expect any deviance from the accepted American way of life. Mormonism was a deviance and they feared another cessation which needed to be stopped before it assumed giant proportions. This was the reason which led to such opposition against polygamy and Mormons. The Federal Persecution Although Mormons faced persecution at the hands of local people and Protestants, their biggest challenge was the persecution at the hands of United States of America. This persecution started with the passage of the anti-bigamy bill in 1862. (Baker 2010)However this act. Was a non-started as no funds were made available for the execution of the act? This was coupled with a governor; Brigham young was sympathetic to the cause of the Mormons and never persecuted anyone according to the provisions of the bill. Apart from this, the ‘Desert” state was relatively cut off from the rest of the population and was also geographically isolated. This led to the flourishing of the Mormon population with relatively no persecution under the act. All this changed with the Utah war of 1857.although the war ended peacefully without any casualties and only some destruction of property but it led to removal of Brigham Young. The fact that he had actually prepared a militia to fight the US military angered a lot of people and many congressmen in the federal government. Although the US army was able to remove Brigham Young from the post of governor but it could not end the isolation of Mormons in Utah. This isolation was preventing the full scale persecution which many people wanted. However this changed with the coming of the railroad to Utah in 1869. (Ellsworth 1963)This railroad proved to be both a boon as well as bane for the Mormons. It led to the coming of more Mormons into Utah but it also ensured that anti-Mormons also entered the ‘Desert state’. In fact many Mormons dissidents were created with the coming of the railroad and led to the formation of the Liberal party in Utah which was against the religion of Mormons. The real persecution of the Mormons started with the passing of the Edmunds law, the Edmund-Tucker Law and the Poland Law. A famous person to be convicted under the Poland Law was George Reynolds. (Fluhman 2012) He used to work as a secretary in the office of the president and it is believed that he was used as a test case to check whether the anti-bigamy Poland act would be declared unconstitutional or not. The law was upheld by US Supreme court and paved the way for many more arrests and convictions. Edmunds Law made the convictions even easier. Proof of a second marriage was no longer required to persecute Mormons. It made cohabitation illegal with more than one woman. It is claimed that the United States marshals were obsessed with the implementation of the act and used to carry out raids in the middle of night in order to catch polygamous men. Many saints of the LDS church had to leave town, run to the hills and even hide in boxes in order to escape arrest at the hands of the officials. The other who was not so lucky were arrested and jailed for 2 years or more. Although the saints had to face arrest and jail, the difficulties faced by their families were no less severe. Many of them had to contend with hunger and poverty as the only bread winner in many cases was imprisoned. The Myth of Persecutions Although the Mormons believed that they were persecuted heavily for half a century, there many people who claim that these stories about persecution are a myth which are created by the LDS church. They agree that some persecution did take place in the mid west but for that too they blame the Mormons. The Mormons ‘invited’ the persecutions and attacks by offending the local population. However it is claimed that they suffered virtually no persecution after they moved to the ‘Desert state’. Not even a single person was killed in what is called as the “Utah War”. They claim that most of the acts which are used by Mormons as a symbol of persecution were directed not against Mormons but against polygamy and the problems faced by women. Conclusion Thus it is clear the Mormons had to face almost half a century of persecutions before they obtained statehood. Mormons have always being disliked in USA .This dislike continues even today as is evident from the following statement of Mitt Romney – “I hope the voters do not hold my religion against me.”The Mormons had a difficult journey to statehood .Thus it is understandable that they became ecstatic when Utah was finally declared as the 45th state of the United States. We can hope that lessons are drawn from the persecution of Mormons and no further followers of any religion are persecuted in USA just because they practice a different faith. This lesson is even more important in the USA of today which is much more heterogeneous than the USA of the 19th century when this persecution took place Bibliography Alford, Kenneth L. "Utah and The Civil WarAl Press." Utah Historical Quarterly 80, no. 1 , (Winter 2012): 75-92. Allen, James B. and Glen M. Leonard. 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