August 1995 Blazer

The Unseating of delegate to congress george Q. Cannon

THE WTORY BLAZER ( AEI1' S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. LTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 The Unseating of Delegate to Congress George Q. Cannon DURINTGH B TERRJTORIAL PERIOD- UTAH'ISN TERESTS were- represented& Congress by a -. single delegate elected by the people. Although a temtorial delegate could not vote on matters before Congress he could and did provide information about his constituents and their wants and needs, and members of Congress relied on information from the delegate about the temtory. Seven men served as congressional delegates during Utah's temtorial period: John M. Bemhisel, William H. Hooper, John F. Kinney, George Q. Cannon, John T. Caine, Joseph L. Rawlins, and Frank J. Cannon. Of these, George Q. Cannon, an LDS apostle, generated the most controversy and opposition from non- Mormons. Utah's Mormon majority first elected Cannon to the delegate post in 1872. Nominated by the People's party ( Mormon), Cannon immediately faced criticism. Even some Mormons , y - questioned the wisdom of sending an apostle and a polygamist to Washington, fearing that so visible a target would surely draw fire. The Liberal party ( non- Mormon) nominated Gen. George R. Maxwell, a Civil War veteran, to oppose Cannon. The vote was not even close. Cannon received 20,969 votes to Maxwell's 1,942. Maxwell protested that Cannon was a polygamist and had conspired with Brigham Young to intimidate voters. When Cannon presented his certificate of election, signed by the govemor, at the opening of the 43rd Congress on December 1, 1873, Maxwell was there to protest. Cannon was seated, but a House committee considered Maxwell's allegations. Nothing came of it, and Cannon sewed out his first term, helpless nevertheless to prevent passage of the antipolygamy Poland Act. The 1874 election pitted Cannon against the Liberal nominee Robert N. Baskin. Again, Cannon secured a huge victory- 24,863 votes to Baskin's 4,518. Governor George L. Woods, a Liberal sympathizer, refused to give Cannon a certificate of election. But when Samuel B. Axtell arrived to replace Woods as govemor, he quickly signed the document upon seeing the official election tally. Baskin, like Maxwell, traveled to Washington in a vain attempt to convince Congress that Cannon was not entitled to the seat on the grounds that his naturalization papers were not authentic. The committee on elections- now controlled by Democrats- never brought the matter to a vote, and Cannon continued to serve. The 1876 election saw Cannon and Baskin again vying for the delegate seat with much the same result. With Democrats in control of Congress and Utah viewed as a future Democratic state at that time, Cannon was quietly seated. ( more) In 1878 Cannon ran unopposed, but change was in the air. The U. S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1862 Anti- Bigamy Act in U. S. v. George Reynolds, and Rutherford 3. Hayes's message to Congress called for even stronger legislation against polygamy. Buoyed by these events, the Liberals again eyed the delegate seat. This time they selected Allen G. Campbell to oppose Cannon. Campbell, a Missouri native, had come to Utah in 1870 and made a fortune in the booming mines of Beaver County as a partner in the fabled Horn Silver Mine. Despite dlies throughout the temtory , the Liberal party was almost moribundmIte had been a tactical error to let Cannon run unopposed in 1878. The efforts of Governor Eli H. Murray to rouse public opinion in Washington against the Mormons did nothing to help elect Campbell. Cannon received 18,568 votes to 1,857 for the Liberal candidate. Campbell Wed even to carry Beaver County. This time the familiar accusations that Cannon was not a citizen, and that Cannon lived in deflance of the 1862 Anti- Bigamy Act found a welcome reception from Governor Murray who, on January 8, 1881, issued a certificate of election to Campbell on the grounds. that Cannon was not a U. S. citizen. Cannon tried to get the outgoing clerk of the House to place his name on the delegate roll, but the new Speaker refused to recognize the roll. The struggle over the seat wntinued. Meanwhile, however, passage of the stringent Edmunds Act in 1882 doomed Cannon's quest for a fifth term. The Edmunds Act prohibited a polygamist from holding any public office. Congressmen who had previously sided with Cannon on the grounds that no law prohibited a polygamist from saving in Congress now changed their minds. They were not about to honor the dubious claims of Campbell either. In April 1882 the House declared Utah's seat in Congress vacant. Larry H d m , " Utah's Delegates to Congress, 1852- 1 896" ( M. S. thesis, Utah State University, 1962) THE HISTORBYLA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centemd Commission. For more infomution about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( MBM)