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The Transformation from Theocracy to Democracy in Utah

Although all states in the Union are part of a shared political and cultural heritage, Utah’s constitution, written in 1895, reflects much of the uniqueness of Utah’s history and the values of its citizens, even as it shares many similarities to the constitutions of other states. Utah’s constitution evolved from a much more turbulent and controversial past than most and therefore has its own special uniqueness.

A constitution is a government’s basic principles upon which the political system rests. Under the federal system of the United States, the national constitution provides for shared governmental powers between the states and the national government. The Tenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution provides that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The federal government is one of delegated powers which can exercise only the powers conferred or inferred by the Constitution. The states exercise the powers not granted to the federal government or denied them by the Constitution.

Between 1847 and 1887, Utahans petitioned Congress many times asking for approval to convene a constitutional convention. Six times conventions actually wrote constitutions, and six times statehood was denied. Finally, in 1894, Congress authorized Utah to call a constitutional convention and apply a seventh time for statehood. Even then there were many skeptical observers who continued to believe that Utah Mormons had to be further Americanized in economic, social, and political behavior prior to being granted fellowship with the existing forty-four states.

Much of the special nature of Utah’s constitutional development derives from the domination of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), in the settlement and political development of Utah Territory. The most peculiar thing about the nineteenth century Mormon Church was the institution of polygamy (plural marriage). Confrontations over plural marriage between the Mormon majority in Utah, which repeatedly requested statehood, and the Utah minority, which urged Congress to Americanize Utah in the pattern of the rest of the nation, largely accounts for the long delay in granting Utah statehood.

Origins of Conflict

Shortly after its organization in New York State in April 1830, members of the Mormon faith began moving to Ohio and Missouri where parallel church headquarters were established at Kirtland, Ohio and then Independence, Missouri. To the existing populations, the Mormons seemed to have trouble distinguishing between secular and religious affairs. Missourians issued an ultimatum for Mormons to stop immigration to Jackson County, Missouri and for those there to sell and move. Missourians expelled the Saints from their homes and drove them north across the Missouri River in November 1833. The community of Far West in Caldwell County became the new center for Mormon settlement in Missouri.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the Mormons faced difficult relationships with state government as they attempted to gain a charter for a bank. When the legislature refused to grant the charter, the Saints went into the anti-banking business with the un-chartered Kirtland Safety Society Anti-banking institution. In January 1837, amid national depression, the anti-bank suspended specie payments which helped hasten the disintegration of the Mormon community at Kirtland. The Mormons departing from Ohio found further trouble between themselves and the established residents in Missouri.

New problems emerged when Mormon residents of Daviess County went to Gallatin, Missouri in August 1838 to vote in the legislative election. A fight ensued in which several people were injured. Soon a Caldwell County militia unit seized three Mormons and held them captive. When a Mormon militia attempted to free the captives, a battle began which resulted in the death of three Mormons, one Missourian, and the wounding of five others. When reports of the battle reached Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, he issued an extermination order of October 27, 1838, proclaiming the Mormons public enemies who must be driven from the state or exterminated. Joseph Smith and several other Mormon leaders were taken into custody and convicted in a court martial trial. General Alexander Doniphan refused to execute the prisoners, who were then arraigned in civil court. The judge finding probable cause, ordered some prisoners held at Richmond while others, including Joseph Smith, were sent to Liberty Jail.[i]

That winter, as leaders awaited trial, other Saints traveled eastward to Quincy, Illinois. They were joined in mid-summer 1839 by Joseph Smith and other leaders who escaped from jail with the assistance of the jailers. Still insisting that the Saints should settle together to build a new community, Joseph Smith negotiated with land speculators for a site on the Mississippi River called Commerce that he renamed Nauvoo. Some Saints also found homes across the river in Lee County, Iowa. In western Illinois and eastern Iowa, Saints gathered to again build a covenant community.

The large number of Mormons constituted a powerful political force in Hancock County, Illinois, which gave its votes to candidates who offered the most—usually Democrats. They also used their numbers to secure a charter for the city that gave virtual self government for Nauvoo, including organization of a unit of the Illinois militia which was called the Nauvoo Legion. Through block voting the Saints also elected church leaders to govern the city and to represent them in the state legislature.[ii]

New doctrines further alienated orthodox Christians. Among the most controversial teachings was the urging of selected leaders to enter into plural marriage. The combination of new doctrines and block voting not only intensified opposition to the Mormons but it also divided some members from mainstream Mormonism. Additionally, Joseph Smith announced his candidacy for President of the United States in 1844. In opposition to these developments, a group of dissenters published the Nauvoo Expositor on June 7, 1844, which charged Joseph Smith with profiting from land speculation, being dishonest, exercising political dictation, and practicing polygamy.

Mayor Smith and the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of the press as a public nuisance. When the press was destroyed, Joseph Smith was charged with rioting and taken to Carthage for arraignment. Because he declared martial law, Smith was also charged with treason. On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were slain at the Carthage jail by a mob.[iii]

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with Brigham Young as senior Apostle, was recognized by a vast majority of the Mormons as successor to Joseph Smith to lead the Church. In February 1846, the first Mormons, under increasing pressure from local residents, began an exodus from Nauvoo across the Mississippi River into Iowa in preparation for an 1847 trek to Utah. As displaced refugees, they cared not whether they might reside in the United States or Mexico as they headed to the Great Basin in 1847. The ongoing Mexican War would, nevertheless, determine much of Utah’s political future.

Experiments in Government in Utah

Upon arrival in the Great Basin, the Mormons set up a Church government without challenge because the only inhabitants were Native Americans and a few traders and trappers. The Stake Presidency and Stake High Council ran affairs keeping order while Brigham Young returned to the Missouri River to lead other Saints to Utah the next year. The principle of the gathering, separating themselves from American society into a culturally unified religious community, partly motivated the Mormon trek westward, and caused them to seek as much political autonomy as possible.

With the end of the Mexican War in 1848, settlers found that the Great Basin would be part of the United States. Despite the formation of a church run government in 1847, there were many who saw the practical need to formalize a relationship to the federal government. Furthermore, the California Gold Rush of 1849 assured that Utah’s isolation would be of short duration. In 1849, a petition was sent to Washington, DC, requesting territorial status for the area that Mormons claimed under the name of Deseret. But later, being convinced that territorial status would bring unsympathetic carpetbag officials appointed by the U.S. president, Mormon leaders sent a second petition asking for statehood.[iv]

A constitution modeled on those of Iowa and Illinois, where Mormons had so recently resided, was drafted and sent to Washington, DC. This document gave voting rights to all white males, separated church and state, and guaranteed religious freedom. The religion articles were to persuade skeptical members of Congress that Utah was not governed by a theocracy, or church government, and there was truly separation of church and state. In actuality, neither the letter nor the spirit of separation of church and state were adhered to in the provisional State of Deseret. A formal Mormon theocracy dominated by Brigham Young as the governor of Deseret and President of the Mormon Church was in place. Mormons not only held all government offices but church issues were also discussed in government meetings and government issues in church meetings.[v]

As part of the Compromise of 1850, the territory was reduced in size and the provisional State of Deseret was dissolved and renamed Utah. A territorial government, with Brigham Young appointed as governor, took over. The government included a House of Representatives of twenty-six members, and a Council of thirteen members. Both houses were elected by popular vote of the free white male residents of the territory. The Assembly met annually in forty-day sessions. All legislation was subject to review by the Congress of the United States and to an absolute veto by the appointed territorial governor. Supreme Court justices, the governor, the territorial secretary, the U.S. Attorney, and the U.S. Marshal were all appointed. Five of the initial nine appointments went to Mormons.[vi] Even so, Mormons felt challenged by actions of unfriendly, non-Mormon federal appointees and the control of the federal government over the territory.

The territorial legislature sent petitions to Congress in 1852, 1853, and 1854, asking it to authorize a convention to write a new constitution in preparation for statehood. None of the memorials were approved. In 1855, the legislative assembly, on its own authority, authorized a convention that convened March 17, 1856. The constitution of the State of Deseret of 1849, with only minor changes, was used as a model.[vii] Utah’s chances of admission to the Union were slim. In 1852, a public announcement had been made acknowledging the practice of polygamy. Such an anomaly to American traditions helped assure the failure of this application.

In 1862, another unauthorized convention convened to draft a constitution. It was almost identical to the original documents of 1849 and 1856. Instead of approving statehood, Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which provided jail time and fines for anyone in the territories married to more than one marriage partner. The Morrill Act, due to the administration’s attention to the Civil War and then Reconstruction, remained largely a dead letter until the 1870s when attempts were begun to enforce its provisions in Utah.[viii]

The transcontinental railroad, finished in 1869, brought a large influx of settlers. By 1872, the territorial population had doubled over that of when the last convention met ten years earlier. Citizens of other faiths were weary of elections dominated by Mormons. As a result, in 1870, the Liberal Party was founded at Corinne, Utah by former Mormons and non-Mormons. Thereupon, the Mormons gave their own system a name and organization with the founding of the Peoples Party, consisting almost exclusively of Mormons.[ix]

In 1872, a fourth Utah constitution was written. To build bridges of greater trust between Mormons and others, several leading non-Mormon residents were nominated as delegates and nine were elected. One of them, Judge William Hayden, urged that the convention immediately adjourn because it had no Congressional authorization. However, it continued under chairmanship of non-Mormon E.M. Barnum and concluded its work on March 2, 1872. Previous efforts were cast aside by the delegates who worked with the 1864 constitution of the state of Nevada as a model.[x]

This effort marked a departure in Utah’s constitution-making from the simple, basic documents prepared in 1849, 1856, and 1862. The new constitution of 1872 was more complex, similar to those adopted by most states admitted in the last half of the nineteenth century. It was expanded from ten articles to seventeen with changed provisions for jury trials, slavery was outlawed, and it extended the right to vote to every United States citizen, male or female, over twenty-one years of age. It also set a pattern for boards and commission to share executive functions with the governor. This constitution also proposed to promote irrigation projects, railroad building, and to protect and encourage public education.[xi]

On the ever present polygamy question, the constitution put off a final solution. It held that terms prescribed by Congress for admission and ratified by a majority of Utah voters would be accepted and incorporated into law. Since the constitution did not prohibit polygamy, and the convention was unauthorized, it was a simple matter for the House Committee on Territories to kill this application.[xii]

In 1882, Congress passed the Edmunds Act establishing a five-man commission to supervise registration and elections in Utah with an eye to destroying Mormon political power. The act proscribed that all persons guilty of polygamy were subject to criminal prosecution. Those guilty of illegal cohabitation, living with someone other than a legal marriage partner, were subject to misdemeanor charges with six months in jail and up to a $300 fine. It also required that all persons practicing polygamy or involved in illegal cohabitation were ineligible for public office.[xiii]

In an effort to avoid the consequences of this act, a fifth constitutional convention met on April 10, 1882. In just sixteen days, the delegates drafted a constitution that was little different from that of 1872. Three women served as delegates, but the constitution they helped fashion excluded them from election to state office, although wives were given protection of all property owned by them before marriage or acquired by them after marriage. This constitution provided for a uniform public school system. No denominational doctrines could be taught in any public school, and no religious sect could control or appropriate any school or university funds from the state. This fifth attempt at statehood again died in the House Committee on Territories.[xiv]

Another crisis provoked a sixth attempt for statehood. Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act, a more severe attempt by the United States government to force Utah Mormons into social, economic, and political conformity with the nation. To avoid domination by the federal government, Utah Mormons again applied for statehood.

The Mormon dominated People’s Party invited Liberals, Democrats, and Republicans to participate in a constitutional convention. When the invitation was spurned, Mormons proceeded to select delegates to a convention that convened on June 30, 1887. On July 7, the convention concluded its work and submitted the proposed document to voters on August 1 who approved it by a 32 to 1 margin. Innovations included an item veto of appropriations bills for the governor. It imposed strict limits on debts for local governments, civil cases could be determined without unanimous jury decision, and fewer than twelve jurors were permitted in lower court cases.

Congress did not take seriously the section that defined bigamy and polygamy as being incompatible with a republican government and therefore subject to misdemeanor legal proceedings. This section was not amendable without consent of the national congress and the president. Article 1, Section 3 also declared that there was to be no union of church and state and no church shall dominate the state. Utah’s 1887 constitution died in the Senate Committee on Territories.[xv]

An Acceptable Constitution

In 1887, Mormon Church President John Taylor died to be succeeded by Wilford Woodruff, who took steps toward affecting a rapprochement with Congress and Utah’s non-Mormon population. In 1890, President Woodruff, realizing changes in political and social affairs were needed to end deadlock, issued a Manifesto instructing members to abide federal laws in marriage practices. Soon the federal government ceased expropriating Mormon Church property under the Edmunds-Tucker Act and began granting political amnesty to Mormons.[xvi]

As observers in Washington became more convinced of Mormon conformity to national political, economic, and marriage patterns, Congress passed an Enabling Act in 1894 authorizing a constitutional convention. On March 4, 1895, the 107 delegates met in the courtroom of Salt Lake City’s new city and county building. The document produced by the fifty-nine Republicans and forty-eight Democrats attempted to open a more cooperative era for Utah. As a product of its time, it reflected late-nineteenth century concerns over corporate power. It also avoided innovative experiments, although it did grant women the right to vote but only after the most prolonged and bitter debate of the convention.[xvii]

All of Utah’s counties were represented. The oldest delegate was seventy-six and the youngest was twenty-four, although most were between thirty and sixty years of age. Several delegates had participated in previous constitutional conventions and many had served in the territorial legislature or at other levels of government. One delegate among the twenty-nine non-Mormons was Jewish. Several high-ranking Mormon officials were also delegates including two apostles. John Henry Smith, one of the apostles, was chosen convention president.[xviii]

The original constitution’s twenty-four articles were written in two month’s time. It still serves after more than a century. On May 8, 1895, the delegates met for a last time and approved the constitution by a vote of ninety-nine ayes with eight absent. The convention was in session sixty-four calendar days and worked an actual fifty-five days. It used all but $1.10 of the $30,000 budget established for the convention’s use. To accomplish this, delegates gave up part of their salaries. On November 5, 1895, Utah voters approved the document by a vote of 31,305 to 7,687. President Grover Cleveland signed the Utah statehood proclamation on Sunday, January 4, 1896. Two days later, government officials were inaugurated and Utah citizens celebrated statehood.

Given the long religious conflict during Utah’s territorial days, the issue of religious freedom and the relationship between church and state took up surprisingly little time. Polygamous marriages were prohibited, there could be no religious or partisan tests for students or teachers in schools, and there could be no appropriation for any education controlled by any church, sect, or denomination. Generally, Utah’s separation of church and state provisions were and remain more restrictive than those in the Federal Constitution. Six separate sections dealt with matters of separation of church and state, guarantees of religious freedom, and freedom of conscience.[xix]

Ironically, the convention refused to deal with prohibition or to put the issue to a separate vote. This reflected the compromise mood of the delegates who wished to avoid issues that might divide voters along religious lines.[xx] The “delicate” liquor control issue has subsequently been dealt with considerably by the state legislature. Today, Utah is a control state with state liquor stores and liquor by the drink in licensed public or private clubs and restaurants.

The Utah constitution followed the federal model in setting forth the principles by which the powers of government are to be exercised. It divided governmental powers among three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. It also provided for checks and balances among the branches. Rather than a single executive, the Utah constitution provided for an executive department consisting of a governor, secretary of state (now called lieutenant governor), state auditor, state treasurer, attorney-general, and originally a superintendent of public instruction. The constitution created a system of shared powers in the executive branch, but several changes have been made over the years to the executive article and only two of the original twenty-three sections have not been revised or repealed.

Utah’s Constitution is also similar to those of other states in that it provides for the basic provisions that we have come to know in America as important elements of a constitution. Utah’s fundamental document includes a preamble, a Bill of Rights that establishes basic individual rights and fundamental rules, and it provides for the elements of governmental functions: protection of property, health, life, safety and welfare, education, highways, land use, etc. The Utah Constitution begins with a preamble which reads: “Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we, the people of Utah, in order to secure and perpetuate the principles of free government, do ordain and establish this Constitution.” There are twenty-four articles in the Utah Constitution but seven of the first eight are most important in establishing the political and civil rights necessary to the functioning of a democratic-republican system of government.

Article I is entitled “Declaration of Rights” and is similar to the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments of the Federal Constitution). The first section reads: “All men have the inherent and inalienable right to enjoy and defend their lives and liberties; to acquire, possess and protect property; to worship according to the dictates of their consciences; to assemble peaceably, protest against wrongs, and petition for redress of grievances; to communicate freely through their thoughts and opinions, being responsible for the abuse of that right.” The twenty-seven sections in the first article are concerned with religious liberty, the right to bear arms, and due process of law including: fair trial by jury; freedom from excessive bail, fines, or cruel punishment; habeas corpus; freedom from unreasonable search and seizure; and ex post facto laws. Other sections deal with freedom of speech and of the press, free elections, and forbidding involuntary servitude.

Article III is not divided into sections but contains four points: 1. Religious toleration is guaranteed, but polygamous marriages are “forever prohibited”; 2. The state disclaims all rights and titles to unappropriated public lands within Utah; lands in Utah owned by citizens residing outside the state may not be taxed at a higher rate than lands belonging to residents, and land granted to Native Americans by the United States Congress are tax exempt; 3. Debts of the Utah Territory were assumed by the state; and 4. A system of free, nonsectarian public schools was to be established and maintained.

Article IV spells out qualifications of voters and the conduct of elections. It also contains the oath of office to be taken by all public officers elected and appointed in Utah. Due to a series of amendments to the United States Constitution including the fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth, twenty-third, and twenty-sixth, Utah’s rules regulating voting have generally been subsumed under national rules and are consistent with them.

Article V deals with separation of powers among the three branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—while Articles VI, VII, and VIII describe, respectively, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Like the Federal Constitution, Utah operates on the principle of checks and balances that requires the powers of government to be divided into three departments with the legislative making laws, the executive administering the laws, and the judicial interpreting and applying the laws.

The Utah Constitution Today

Today, Utah is one of only nineteen states to retain its original constitution. Many states have had several including Louisiana with eleven and Georgia with ten. On the other hand, Utah is consistent with the majority of western states where only California, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas have written and adopted new state constitutions. Texas’ five is explained mainly by the issues of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Amendments and judicial interpretations have brought changes that have modernized Utah’s administration of government and strengthened the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the provisions of the original document which had restricted governmental powers.[xxi]

As with many states, Utah has struggled since statehood over extension of civil rights. African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, and others have suffered from formal discrimination. For example, in 1898, Utah law prohibited marriage between men and women of different races. Restrictive real estate covenants also controlled patterns of residential neighborhoods. From the beginning of municipal swimming pools, city ordinances barred African Americans from them and state law prohibited Native Americans from voting.[xxii]

Minorities in Utah were excluded both formally and informally from full association in the Euro-American culture. In 1939, a Salt Lake City realtor, Sheldon Brewster, gathered over 1,000 signatures petitioning the Salt Lake City Commission to designate a section of the city an African American ghetto. Even though the commission refused and African Americans and their supporters marched on the state capitol to protest, many real estate companies inserted “Whites Only” covenants in contracts until such restrictions were outlawed in 1948. Swimming remained segregated until after World War II. African Americans faced difficulty finding hotel and motel accommodations throughout Utah, and they were segregated to balconies at concerts and theaters.

Latter-day Saints Church (LDS) policy prohibited African Americans from holding the priesthood and attending temples. This provided prejudiced Mormons with theological support for their attitude, although some Mormon leaders spoke out strongly against discrimination. In June 1978, LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball announced that the priesthood would be given to all worthy men and the temples opened to all worthy members.[xxiii] Meanwhile, the remaining discrimination in Utah was gradually being reduced. As early as the late 1940s, most businesses dropped many of their discriminatory practices and municipal swimming pools were integrated. The Utah legislature began passing laws prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations and employment, but trailed the national congress in such efforts.

The interest of the federal government in state constitutions and law has led the government in Washington, D.C., to champion civil and individual rights. The Fourteenth Amendment authorizes the federal government to intervene on behalf of individuals who are mistreated in states and requires law enforcement to uphold due process rights of individuals. The National Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in schools, employment, and public accommodations, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 extended the franchise to all people. Utah repealed its restriction on Native American voting in 1956 and in 1986, Mark Maryboy, a Navajo, was elected to the San Juan County Commission. In 1976, Robert Harris from Ogden was elected as Utah’s first African American legislator, and in the same year John Ulibarri became the state’s first Latino legislator. The state’s anti-miscegenation law was repealed in 1963, and in 1965, Utah began passing civil rights legislation to match federal legislation that mandated equal treatment of all people.[xxiv]

Desegregation of schools was never a major issue as Utah schools and colleges were never segregated. Children attended neighborhood schools open to all, even though economic status and residential living patterns served to create some informal partial segregation in Salt Lake City and Ogden. In the 1970s, efforts were implemented to end economic and residential segregation by balancing the demographic makeup of student bodies. Overall, Utah’s record regarding civil rights is similar to that of most western states, not as bad as some sections of the country, but less than perfect. Utah has struggled to move gradually but generally continually to provide equal treatment for minorities and women. Some problems have been addressed, and improvements have been realized, although Utah still had no hate crime legislation until the 2006 legislature passed a rather weak hate crimes bill.

Today Utah’s politics has risen above religious dictations and has generally outgrown the religious controversies of the nineteenth century; politics has taken on the look of other American and western states. This is a major step from the days when Utahans were not allowed to govern themselves until they abandoned religious-based politics of the nineteenth century, gave up polygamy, and established a more pluralistic political system that would allow those of other faiths to assume significant roles in state politics. The Utah Constitution was the vehicle that enshrined these accomplishments, including embedding into the constitution prohibition against polygamy. The Utah Constitution remains in force today, albeit much altered, as the fundamental document for the state. Under the constitution, Utah has matured economically, politically, and socially. Utahans of growing diverse backgrounds and interests, today have their political rights and procedures spelled out in the constitution that was adopted after much controversy and struggle in 1895. A long political drama resulted in compromise that established the constitution for Utah, and that document remains as a testimonial of the sincere and generally successful efforts made in 1895 to address and ameliorate conflicts of interest of residents of the forty-fifth state in the Union.

 

Notes

[i]. Thomas G. Alexander, Utah the Right Place (Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs-Smith), 84.

[ii]. Richard D. Poll, Thomas G. Alexander, Eugene F. Campbell, David E. Miller, eds., Utah’s History (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1978), 107.

[iii]. Wayne K. Hinton, Utah: Unusual Beginning to Unique Present (Sun Valley, CA: American Historical Press, 2000), 51.

[iv]. Ibid., 62.

[v]. Ibid., 63.

[vi]. Alexander, 188.

[vii]. Jean Bickmore White, Charter for Statehood: The Story of Utah’s State Constitution (Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1996), 24–25.

[viii]. Ibid., 206.

[ix]. Hinton, 84.

[x]. Jerome Bernstein, “A History of Constitutional Conventions of the Territory of Utah, 1849–1895,” (M.S. thesis, Utah State University, 1961), 46.

[xi]. Ibid., 47.

[xii]. Alexander, 186.

[xiii]. Hinton, 86.

[xiv]. White, 37.

[xv]. Ibid., 39.

[xvi]. Hinton, 87–88.

[xvii]. Alexander, 205.

[xviii]. Stanley S. Ivins, “A Constitution for Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly 15 (April 1957): 95–116.

[xix]. Alexander, 205.

[xx]. Ibid., 258.

[xxi]. Dennis L. Dresong and James J. Gosling, eds., Politics and Policy in American States and Communities (New York: Longman, 2002), 95.

[xxii]. Alexander, 282.

[xxiii]. Doctrine and Covenants—Declaration 2 (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979), 294.

[xxiv]. Alexander, 390.

 

See LDS in USA: Mormonism and the Making of Mormon Culture (Baylor University Press, 2012) and our review of it as well as How Mormonism Shaped America,” An American Marriage: Mormons, Polygamy, and Federalism,” “Mormons in the American Imagination,” Liberal Democracy and Mormon Culture,” and “Mormon Authority and Identity in America.”

This excerpt is from Democracy, Pluralism, and Utah, Lee Trepanier, ed. (Southern Utah University, 2007).

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Wayne Hinton was a Professor of History at Southern Utah University. He is author of Utah: Unusual Beginnings to Unique Present (American Historical Press, 2003).

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