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Show ELECTION OF 1856 But Young was too much a realist, or millenarian, to be optimistic. When Buchanan was elected, he had the satisfaction that the nationally-minded, anti-polygamy Republicans had been kept out of office. But there was no jubilation. Bernhisel, writing from Washington, warned not to expect any favors.77 The Mormons hoped that once the ballots were counted things might calm down. But the Saints were too good newspaper copy, and once the moral flame about polygamy and theocracy had been lit, it was hard to extinguish. Something had to be done about Utah, clamored the New York Sun, two weeks after the polls closed, and the newspaper wanted the work to start with the next session of Congress. A “libidinous priesthood” was demoralizing and enslaving women, while government in Utah was more absolute than even Mahomet’s rule. The Sun even made the remarkable claim the Mormons posed the greatest threat facing American republicanism, ignoring for the moment the problems with race and section.78 The billingsgate was not limited to the New York dailies. Democrats in the South and Upper South, realizing the damage done by polygamy to their popular sovereignty and to their party, tried to rid themselves of any vexing Mormon tie. “The abominations of polygamy, and the outrages of theocratic despotism, cannot shelter themselves under the panoply of Squatter Sovereignty,” said the Richmond Enquirer, casting aside the South’s usual constitutional views.79 By the end of the year, Apostle Taylor, still editing The Mormon in New York City, was beside himself. “There does seem . . . to be gaining ground a deep[,] settled prejudice against Utah and her interests,” he wrote to Young. “Some of our papers here have hinted at [our] extermination &c. A general feeling of hatred is being engendered.”80 There was still the unfinished business of Utah’s statehood petitions. In January 1857, Bernhisel, Smith, and Taylor were back in Senator Douglas’s office asking for more advice. Douglas was even more outspoken. Any move to request statehood—the slightest tremor—might bring from Congress “hostile action,” Douglas gravely warned. The startled Mormons wanted to know what Douglas was actually saying. While Douglas refused to give any details, his reply had alarming ambiguity and emphasis. If the Mormons insisted on going before Congress, they should expect a reaction “of the most hostile character.”81 “All our friends if we have any deserving the appellation have been of [the] opinion nothing could be effected and that an attempt would be certain defeat and injurious,” Taylor tried to explain to Young. Taylor said 77 George A. Smith to Young, November 12, 1856, and Bernhisel to Young, November 19, 1856, Young Correspondence. 78 New York Sun, November 18, 1856, in Historian’s Office Historical Scrapbooks, 1840-1940, box 1, fd. 4, book 4, p. 78. 79 As cited in The Mormon, December 13, 1856. 80 John Taylor to Brigham Young, December 20, 1856,Young Correspondence. 81 “Report of Taylor and Smith to the Utah Legislative Assembly,” 348. Emphasis in the original. 129 |
