| OCR Text |
Show UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY The Mormon bid for statehood was not as simple as it seemed. On one hand, the saints wanted to be admitted to the Union, which they valued because it upheld “just and holy principles” that, according to another of Smith’s revelations, set the pattern for the “rights and protection of all flesh.”71 The saints believed among the great constitutional privileges was self-government. As long as Utah remained a territory and not a state, that God-given right remained very uncertain. However, while the practical Mormons were doing their best to make Utah a state, their belief in a quickly coming end-of-times kept them second-guessing. Were all their efforts to get into the Union really a waste of time? The only weapon that the Mormons had during the election was The Mormon, which Taylor continued to edit. The newspaper called on those making charges against the Mormons to offer “the act, the time, the place, to justify their accusations.”72 It also tried to draw a narrow but impossible line between Utah’s desire for local government and its practice of plural marriage. “All we want is equal rights,” the newspaper said. Another editorial tried to make Utah’s polygamy a matter of humor. “Polygamy among the Mor mons can never be part of . . . any one’s business outside of Mormonism. . . . How can it? We don’t insist that . . .others should have two or more wives—there are plenty of men that never deserved one— neither do we ask . . . others for any jewel [of a wife] that . . . they may possess.”73 In the end, Taylor’s hope to duel with the nation’s leading newspapers went nowhere. No one was listening. When the campaign ended, Buchanan won the presidency, and the Democrats enjoyed majorities in the new Thirty-Fifth Congress. But there was a new political landscape. Although Fillmore’s American Party received more than one in five votes cast, it had captured only one border state. It had no future. Nor had the Democrats done well in the North. Frémont had closed fast and car r ied all but five of the “free states.” 74 The Republicans had every reason to feel good about their first try at national politics—and for their future. A few more northern states, and next time they would have the Executive Mansion. During the campaign, The Mormon had praised Buchanan as an “honorable, high-minded, courteous gentleman,” but had done little else to support him.75 The last thing that Buchanan and the Democrats (and popular sovereignty) needed was the support of the Mor mons, which was lukewarm anyway.Young privately hoped for Fillmore in 1856 and Douglas in 1860, the two national figures who had done the most to help Utah.76 71 Doctrine and Covenants 101:77, 80; see also Doctrine and Covenants 98:5-7. “Ex-Gov. Reeder on Gov.Young and Utah,” The Mormon, August 30, 1856. 73 “Boys, Don’t Disturb the Bee Hive,” The Mormon June 1854. 74 Stampp, America in 1857, 6, 37. 75 “Mr. Buchanan,” The Mormon, June 14, 1856. 76 Brigham Young to John M. Bernhisel, July 17, 1856,Young Correspondence. 72 128 |
