| Description |
Utah was settled by a band of Mormon colonists in July, 1847. The valley of the Great Salt Lake became their first home, and here was begun the building of a united economic, social and political organization, which in time produced a prosperous state. The early settlers of Utah were a distinct type of eoonomic society, and accepted as right a prophet-teacher and leader, who to them had divine authority. The type of society was the authoritative. 1 The first three years of the history of Utah saw a large increase in population. By 1850 there were nearly 15,000 members of the Mormon church in the vallies of the Great Basin. These people had been sent into remote parts of the Great Basin and were living in villages of the New-England-town type. These villages were always located on streams where irrigation became the prime factor of their agricultural system. As Professor Turner has pointed out in his Frontier in American History, the early irrigation works of America demanded cooperative activity in the utilization of the water supply, and for this reason the physiographic province itself decreed that the destiny of this new frontier should be social rather than individual. It is this social group strengthened by strong religious ties that made demands in our early history for statehood and it is the citizen outside of this group who came to oppose many of the ideals and activities of the Mormon social communities. Like all American frontiersmen, the Mormons of Utah entered upon a course of self-education in politics, and it was natural for them to try to frame a common government. This accounts for the first of their proposed constitutions, namely "The Constitution of the State of Deseret" which afforded a measure of their ideas of popular government. Professor Paxson has pointed out that the normal frontier trend has been toward personal liberty as expressed in State Constitutions. The tendency toward the elimination of absenteeism provided the materials out of which local parties were built up which struggled against one another for State control. In this thesis I shall attempt to state clearly those problems which confronted the people of Utah in their efforts to gain statehood, during the years 1849 and 1896. During this period the people of the Territory had intense political struggles which were the result of existing social and economic conditions. The Mormons who settled in Utah were of one religious faith. They were bound together by the things they had in common. This close unity of the people became exclusive. This exclusiveness was felt by those non- Mormons who came to Utah in the early days. They ootid not penetrate this religious organization which was closely united by religious ties. With the influx of non-Mormons however, a sentiment of opposition to the Church grew up, and this lead to the forming of a political party which was to oppose the Mormon or People1 s party. "In the early days of Utah, there arose two political parties which became known as the People's and the Liberal parties respectively. As Utah was settled by a religious band of people, thoroughly united in religion and industry, they naturally became united politically, especially when there came among them those who opposed their economic and religious institutions. |
