A Forty-niner in Utah with the Stansbury Exploration of Great Salt Lake: Letters and Jounral of John Hudson, 1848-50

Forty-niner in Utah, Appendices page 199

Colony Guard Constitution PREAMBLE. jvhereas we, the undersigned inhabitants of the United States of America, intending to emigrate to California for the purpose of Min- ing, and knowing the many dangers, priva- tions, and hardships we must there necessarily meet : the temptations to which we will daily be exposed by being brought in contact with avarice and vice, in all its forms : and knowing, as we do,that the eager pursuit of !gold calls forth the worst passions of the human heart, rtimu- lating selfishness in the extreme, engendering a disregard for the rights of others, and directly tending to the abandonment of the Sabbath, And since we have reason to fear that a debas- ing influence upon ourselves, may result from the nature of the circumstances under which we will be placed. And whereas we are desi- rous of promoting our mutual interests, and maintaining our character as Americans, and as cnlight ened and moral men. `And whereas in our opinion, the only basis upon which we can form and maintain union and harmony among ourselves, is the intelligence, zntegrity, honop industry, and CCO~~ON~~, of the members- Therefore, in order to accomplish the ob- jccts enumerated above, we pledge ourselves each unto the other, to sustain and abide by the following Constitution : ._ 799