Chapter 9
Utah’s Struggle for
Statehood
Introduction
• In 1849, 2 years after first settling into Utah,
Mormon leaders drew up a large region on a
map. This new territory would be called the State
of Deseret. This new territory included San
Diego, California so it was much bigger than the
size of our state today. In order to become a
state in the United States, the Mormon leaders
did the following: (1) They wrote a constitution
and approved it (2) Elected officials for the state
(3) Elected delegates to the constitutional
convention.
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• Their petition was denied. The church leaders
continued to apply for statehood five more times (6
Total) and were denied each time.
• During this time, the United States was growing by
adding more states to the Union. Slavery was still
legal in the South so the main issue was to keep the
number of free states and slave states equal.
California was admitted to the Union as a free state
so the Utah Territory and the New Mexico Territory
were open to slavery. This became known as the
Compromise of 1850. The government decided
that Fillmore should be the capital of Utah because
it was more in the center of the territory.
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• One major part of the Mormon life was the practice
of plural marriage. (polygamy) The Church leaders
shocked everyone in Washington D.C. when they
officially announced this practice in 1852.
• The federal government had concerns about the
Utah Territory. They were most concerned about
the Mormon Church gaining too much power.
Rumors were reported back to Washington D.C.
claiming that the Mormons were murdering nonMormons and there was unfair treatment to nonMormons in courts.
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• The rumor of a Mormon rebellion against the
United States led to what is known as the Utah War.
U. S. President James Buchanan sent a governor to
replace Brigham Young and an army to quiet any
possible Mormon rebellion.
• In 1857, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston led 2,500
federal troops to Utah.
• Brigham Young wanted to avoid bloodshed so he
directed the Mormons to abandon their northern
communities including Salt Lake City. Provo is one
place where the Mormons moved to avoid
Johnston’s Army.
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• Johnston’s Army arrived at Fort Bridger at the
beginning of winter in 1857 so they were forced to
stay until the following spring. In 1858, Johnston’s
Army arrived at Salt Lake City to find the whole city
abandoned. The army marched towards the
Oquirrh Mountains and established a military base
called Camp Floyd. This is where Johnston’s Army
stayed a while in Utah.
• Settlers passing through Utah on their way to other
western places were NOT always safe from militia
and/or Indian attacks. One example of this
occurred in a place called Mountain Meadows near
St. George.
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• A group of immigrants heading to California were
traveling through Utah exactly the same time as
Johnston’s Army was marching to Utah. The
immigrants made several threats to the Mormons
as they were passing through. Rumors spread that
these immigrants poisoned some of the water wells
where some Paiutes and animals died. Also, threats
were made by the immigrants such as “we have the
gun that killed Joseph Smith,” or “Johnston Army is
on their way to Utah, and when we get to California,
we will drop off our women and children and come
back and help the army kill you Mormons.”
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• Mormon leader, Isaac Haight, and many local
leaders got together and wanted to know what
they should do. They decided to send a man by
horse to ride up to Salt Lake to ask Brigham
Young for advice. Haight, and a handful of men,
conspired to attack the wagon trains. John D.
Lee convinced the Paiutes to join their cause and
have them by themselves attack the wagon
trains first. When the Paiutes attacked failed,
the next plan was for John D. Lee to ride up to
the immigrants with a white flag of truce.
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• He asked them to give up their weapons. He told
them his men have the Paiutes under control so
each male immigrant would be protected by a
Mormon militiaman standing next to them. They
were going to march them to safety back towards
Cedar City. The immigrants believed them so they
gave up their weapons and began marching. After
walking a few hundred yards, the command was
given, “Halt, each man do your duty.” Each
Mormon militiaman shot the immigrant standing
next to them. The Paiutes joined the attack and in
the end, a total of 120 people were killed and 17
children were spared, due to them being too young
to remember what happened.
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• John D. Lee was the only person punished by
execution in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
• Congress tried to lessen Mormon influence in
the region in several ways. One way was people
in the East believed that if Utah women could
vote, they would vote against polygamy. The
national opinion was that Utah’s women were
oppressed, so they voted to allow all Utah
women to vote.
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• Emmeline B. Wells was a women’s rights
leader who became the 7th wife of Daniel
Wells. She stood up for polygamy and
most Mormon women supported the
practice, even though the majority of them
did not participate in it. To honor
Emmeline efforts, a statue of her was
placed in the Utah State Capitol rotunda.
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• Congress decided to make laws in
order to punish Utahns who were
practicing polygamy. In 1882, the
Edmunds Act was passed which
punished polygamists with a $500 fine
and five years in prison. Mormon men
went to jail rather than give up
polygamy.
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• In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker Act was passed
which (1) took away the vote from Utah
women and (2) confiscated the property of
the LDS Church. This devastated the church.
(3) Mormons could not use their own church
buildings without paying hundreds of dollars
of rent each month to the government. The
Churches (4) sheep and cattle ranches, (5)
coal mines, (6) stores, banks, and businesses
were taken by the government.
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• The members of the church appealed
their cause to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The church member felt very confident
that they would win the right to
practice polygamy because of the
religious freedom guaranteed in the
Bill of Rights.
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• In the case known as Reynolds vs. The
United States, the Supreme Court said
the Bill of Rights protected religious
beliefs but not necessarily religious
practice. The Supreme Court ruled it
was legal for Congress to make the
laws to prohibit the practice of
polygamy.
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• In 1890, LDS Church President
Wilford Woodruff issued the
Manifesto which discontinued the
practice of polygamy.
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• In the end, before Utah could become a
state, new polygamous marriages had to be
outlawed by the Mormon Church. Around
1904-05, the Mormon Church issued a
Second Manifesto stating any member
involved with polygamy will be
excommunicated from the Church which
means removed from the church
permanently.
The End
Jeopardy will be on
Tuesday March 13, 2012
Test-on Wed. March 14, 2012
Quarter Ends on Thursday