Re: On this day in history.... January 4, 1893 US President Benjamin Harrison granted amnesty to those who committed Mormon polygamy,

On Mar 5, 4:42 pm, jimstevens <jimstev...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On this day in history.... January 4, 1893 US President Benjamin
Harrison granted amnesty to those who committed Mormon polygamy, and
on January 4, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.

First & Second Attempt

Utah's long quest for statehood was finally officially granted in
1896. It was a long struggle for Utah's Mormons to convince the U.S.
federal government that their territory should be admitted to
statehood. From the first attempt at statehood in 1849-50, the major
point of contention was the Mormon's embrace of polygamy. The Mormons'
second attempt at statehood, was simultaneous with the Republican
Party's first presidential campaign in 1856. Republican opposition to
polygamy was akin to its opposition to slavery; both were condemned in
the party platform as the "twin relics of barbarism." According to
recent historical scholarship the number one reason that it took Utah
nearly fifty years to be admitted to the Union was because of the
practice of polygamy. As historian Joan Smith Iversen writes, "Whereas
Mormon historians once held that polygamy was only a diversionary
issue raised by anti-Mormons who really opposed the power of the LDS
church, recent interpretations by [Edward Leo] Lyman and historian Jan
Shipps have found the polygamy issue to be critical to the anti-Mormon
struggles." (Iversen, 585)

In 1850, Congress refused the first request for statehood for a
prosposed state named Deseret based on the lack of the requisite
number of eligible voters and the huge size of the state. Instead,
President Millard Fillmore signed into law on September 9, 1850 the
bill creating the Utah Territory with a new border, an initial step on
the path to statehood. Damaging the prospects of the Mormons was the
admission after repeated denials that one of the church's religious
principles was patriarchal (plural) marriage. It was disclosed that
leading male members of the church were encouraged to marry more than
one wife. The announcement elicited a negative response from the
general American public, and political opposition from the federal
government to all Mormon requests for Utah statehood. The government
made it known to the Mormons that as long polygamy was condoned and
practiced in Utah, statehood would not be granted.

Third & Forth Attempt

The Federal government also took steps to force the Mormons to abandon
polygamy. In 1862 during the third failed attempt for statehood
Congress was considering legislation to prohibit plural marriage. The
Morrill Anti-bigamy Act banned polygamy and dissolved the Mormon
Church. It was never effectively enforced, but Congress refused to
grant an 1867 request to repeal it.

In 1872 there was a forth attempt at statehood that included a
ratified constitution presented to Congress. The Mormon majority was
still insisting on calling the new state Deseret, even after the area
was named the Utah territory. Congress again said no.

The anti-polygamy crusade heated up. In 1874 Congress passed the
Poland Act, which established district courts in Utah, making it
easier to prosecute polygamists. In 1879 in the Supreme Court case
Reynolds v. United States, Chief Justice Waite ruled that Mormon
polygamy was "disruptive of peace and good order, threatening the
foundations of the country," therefore upholding the Morrill Act.
(Iversen, 588) However, the crusade did not stop there. The
Anti-Polygamy Society of Salt Lake City was established a year later
in April 1880, when the women members of the group sent a petition to
first lady Lucy Hayes requesting help to save the wives of polygamist
husbands. The group, which changed its name in August 1880 to the
Woman's National Anti-Polygamy Society, pressed Congress to unseat
polygamist George Q. Cannon, Utah's territorial representative to
Congress.

Fifth Attempt

In 1882 a mixed Mormon and non-Mormon constitutional convention
requested for the fifth time that Utah be admitted as a state. This
time the proposed constitution established Utah as "a republican form
of government" and adopted the use of the name "Utah." Congress again
refused. As Larson writes, "Utah would not be admitted without
complete divorcement of church and state and abolition of plural
marriage." (Poll, 258) In 1882 a law was passed criminalizing
polygamy.

Sixth Attempt

When the Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected President, the Mormons
hoped that statehood could finally be pushed through, since the
Democrats had always been more supportive, while the Republicans
pushed for anti-polygamy legislation. But two years later the U.S.
Senate passed the Edmunds-Tucker bill, which would force the LDS
Church to forfeit property in excess of $50,000, and would abolish
woman's suffrage in the territory if polygamy continued. In February
1887, the bill passed both houses and Cleveland allowed it to take
effect without his signature.

Still Cleveland tried to ease tensions in the manner in which he
filled Utah territorial positions. Church emissaries developed an
understanding with the President and some of his closest advisors,
including Solicitor General George A. Jenks.

In their sixth attempt at statehood in 1887, the Utahns included a
constitutional clause prohibiting polygamy (Jenks wrote it). Mormon
Church leaders thought it was better to control the polygamy situation
themselves, and believed the constitutional wording was enough of a
goodwill gesture. Still, the Church hierarchy would not give up
polygamy as a tenet and practice. Congress doubted that the Utah
constitutional amendment against polygamy would be enforced, and
denied statehood.

The Woodruff Manifesto

The denial showed that the Church had to do something to something to
show the Mormons would end polygamist marriages. The Church attempted
several goodwill gestures in 1889, first withholding the authority to
perform the polygamist marriages and then razing the Endowment House
on Temple Square, where many polygamous unions had been performed.
This was still not enough; the Church had to make a more formal
declaration against the practice, especially after the introduction of
the Cullom-Struble Bill, which would have denied the vote even to
non-polygamous Mormons. Church representatives sought intervention
from the Secretary of State James G. Blaine, who had Republican
support from Utah. According to Larson and Poll, Blaine "promise[ed]
to halt congressional action on Mormon disfranchisement if the church
'got into line.' " (Poll, 388) He held off the passage of the bill as
long as the Church would ban polygamy.

The backlash from Washington forced the President of the Mormon
Church, Wilford Woodruff, to finally relent. The official
proclamation, known as the Woodruff Manifesto (September 24, 1890),
declared that Endowment House had been razed and denied that
polygamous marriages had been performed in 1889. The manifesto
concluded, "and now, I publicly declare that my advice to the
Latter-day Saints is to refrain from conducting any marriage forbidden
by the law of the land." (Poll, 372)

The Secretary of the Interior, John W. Noble, did not accept the
manifesto as authoritative "without its acceptance by the [church]
conference." On October 6, 1890, the Mormons gathered and unanimously
approved the manifesto. The historian Howard R. Lamar has called the
move "the policy of superior virtue and patriotic conformity." (Poll,
387) Washington remained cautious about the manifesto, and President
Benjamin Harrison still did not believe Utah should be admitted as a
state. But the church's action finally persuaded the territorial
governor, a zealous anti-polygamy crusader, that Utah deserved
statehood.

The Home Stretch

There remained one issue that Washington wanted resolved before Utah's
petition could be accepted; the people had to establish branches of
the two national political parties. Until that point the political
parties were aligned with religious beliefs; the Peoples party was
Mormon; the Liberal party was non-Mormon. The system blurred the
division of state and church that characterized the American political
system, and was the last barrier to statehood. As the historians
Gustive O. Larson and Richard D. Poll write: "As long as the People's
Party functioned as the political arm of the Mormon Church, the
church-state struggle was certain to continue, with the Liberal Party
blocking every approach to membership in the Union. With the 'twin
relic' out of the way, it became increasingly clear to moderates in
both parties that the road out of territorial subordination must be by
way of national political affiliations." (Poll, 387)

In response Utah's population, which was still 90 percent Mormon,
decided to adopt the national political parties. Although
traditionally the Utah territory was more inclined to side with the
Democratic Party, while Cleveland had been in power the party had not
reached out enough to the Mormons. It seemed more beneficial to side
with the Republicans, especially since they were in power. Still, many
of the Mormon members supported the Democrats. Apostle Abraham H.
Cannon wrote in his journal on June 9, 1891 that he feared the support
for Democrats was a hindrance to statehood: "The danger of our people
all becoming Democrats . . . is feared, and the results of such a
course would doubtless prove disastrous to us." He continued, "It is
felt that efforts should be made to instruct our people in
Republicanism and thus win them to that party." (Poll, 389)

To secure statehood the Church dissolved the People's Party on June
10, 1891 and established a two party system by arbitrarily dividing
the membership equally into two groups. The dissolution of the
People's Party caused President Cleveland to send a telegram of
"Congratulations to the Democracy of this Territory on their
organization."

After the Mormon Church abolished polygamy and the People's Party, the
leaders tried to protect those Mormons who had been prosecuted for
polygamy by requesting amnesty from President Harrison. On December
21, 1891, the Church leaders submitted a formal petition for amnesty
endorsed by Governor Arthur L. Thomas and Chief Justice Zane.
President Harrison was reluctant to grant it, since it was an election
year and would alienate voters. But after he lost the election, he
agreed to the grant of amnesty. Republican leaders thought it would
vindicate the party since they promised to help the Mormons gain
statehood, and Utah's admission as a state had political significance.
On January 4, 1893, Harrison granted amnesty and a pardon "to all
persons liable . . . by reason of unlawful cohabitation . . . who
since November 1, 1890, have abstained from unlawful cohabitation." In
July the Utah Commission proclaimed that "amnestied polygamists be
allowed to vote." (Poll, 392)

Utah was in the home stretch to finally become a state. On July 16,
1894, President Grover Cleveland, in his second term, granted a pardon
to all, restoring civil rights to all former polygamists who had been
disenfranchised. At the same time he signed the Enabling Act which
Congress passed delineating the final steps required to advance to
statehood. As the New York Times reported at the time, "The signing of
the Utah Bill for Statehood closes one of the most remarkable contests
in the history of American politics. The Territory has been an
applicant for statehood and really eligible in population and wealth
for many years....The struggle over polygamy and the Mormon Church has
deferred it admission until the present time." (NYT, 7-18-1894)

All that remained was to hold a constitutional convention. On November
6, 1894, voters elected 107 delegates to the convention in Salt Lake
City; 77 were Mormons and 30 were polygamists. On March 4, 1895, the
delegates met to frame the new state's constitution, which included
this clause: "polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited."
(Utah Constitution) The constitution was completed on May 6, 1895,
signed on May 8, and ratified at the general election on November 5,
1895.

Finally, on January 4, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state in
the Union. Its entry was based on the Mormon Church's renunciation of
polygamy. Most of those outside the church believed the issue of
polygamy was put to rest, but some critics remained suspicious that
many of the plural marriages that were performed before 1890, were not
in fact aborted. Still B. Carmon Hardy writes, "To most outside the
church, however, Mormonism appeared honestly and forever to have put
its greatest evil away. The [Woodruff] Manifesto had succeeded in its
intent and Utah had won its star in the flag." (p. 153) Although Utah
was admitted into the union over a hundred years ago the polygamist
past of the Mormons still haunts them, as Mitt Romney has discovered
in his quest for the presidency.

http://hnn.us/blogs/70.html

Most interesting. I learned a great deal about not only Utah, but
Mormons and Polygamy. Also, about the difficulties in becoming a
state for any place that is so inclined.
.