2004-11-10
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VOICE ONE:
This is Richard Rael.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English history
program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Today, we continue the story of
events in the United States during the eighteen-hundreds.
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VOICE ONE:
In the eighteen-twenties, a man named Joseph Smith started the
Mormon religion in New York state. Smith based the religion on what
he said were God's words to the ancient people of America.
Many people became members of the Mormon church. Other people
laughed at some of their different beliefs. This led to trouble.
Smith had to move his people many times. For a while, they settled
in Illinois state, in a town they built and called Nauvoo.
The church split when Joseph Smith said that Mormons could have
more than one wife. The split led to violence and great public
opposition to the Mormons. Smith was arrested and put in jail. A mob
attacked the jail and killed Smith and his brother. The governor of
Illinois ordered the Mormons to leave.
VOICE TWO:
 |
| Brigham Young
(Image:www.historytogo.utah.gov) |
Brigham Young became the new
leader of the Mormons. He told his people that he had seen their new
home in a dream. He said it was a wide, beautiful valley in the
west. He said he would recognize it when he saw it.
The Mormons left Illinois in the spring of eighteen-forty-six.
There were more than fifteen-thousand people, and many wagons and
farm animals. The trip west was hard. Many of the people died. After
months of slow travel, they stopped to make their winter camp.
VOICE ONE:
Explorers visited the camp. They told Brigham Young about a great
salt lake in a wide valley on the western side of the Rocky
Mountains. From the way they described it, young believed it was the
valley of his dream.
He started to move his people toward the great salt lake as soon
as the winter snows melted. They arrived in the summer of
eighteen-forty-seven. Brigham young looked out over the valley.
"This," he said, "is the right place."
VOICE TWO:
The Mormons wasted no time. Two hours after arriving, they began
to prepare the ground for planting. The lake water was too salty to
use. So they built a system of canals to bring water down from the
mountains.
The first few years were difficult. Cold weather and insects
destroyed their crops. Yet the Mormons continued to work hard to
make their settlement a success. They refused to think of leaving.
VOICE ONE:
At first, the Mormons were ruled only by the laws of their church
and by their leader. Then gold was discovered in California. Many
non-Mormons passed through the salt lake area on their way to the
gold fields. Some of them stayed. It soon became clear that new laws
were needed to govern the growing population.
The Mormons asked Congress to approve a territorial government
for their land. They called the land "deseret." That was a Mormon
word meaning "honey bee."
The Mormons claimed a large area. It stretched from the mountains
of Colorado west to the mountains of California; from Arizona north
to Oregon.
VOICE TWO:
Congress rejected the large claim of deseret and made it a much
smaller territory. It also refused to accept the name deseret.
Instead, Congress called it Utah, after the Ute tribe of native
American Indians that lived there. As a compromise, Brigham yYung
was named governor of the new Utah territory. Most of the new
territorial officials were Mormons, too. Four were not Mormon.
VOICE ONE:
Governing the territory would not be easy. There were disputes
during the administrations of several American presidents. As a
result of one dispute, the four non-Mormon officials returned to
Washington. The Mormons then formed their own territorial government
with a legislature and courts.
Other federal officials were sent to Utah. Some of them were not
prepared for the job. Usually, they did not stay long.
VOICE TWO:
Some of the officials made many charges against Brigham Young and
other Mormon leaders. They said Mormons refused to recognize the
power of the federal government. They said Mormons put the words of
Young above the laws of Congress. They said the church had a secret
organization to take the lives and property of those who questioned
the power of the church.
There were charges that Mormons had burned the papers of the
Supreme Court of the territory. And there were charges that Mormons
were responsible for Indian attacks on some officials.
President Franklin Pierce decided he should make someone else
governor of Utah. The man he chose, however, did not want the job.
Instead, he urged the president to let Brigham Young remain.
President Pierce agreed.
VOICE ONE:
Relations between the Mormons and the government did not improve
in the next three years. Territorial officials resigned. They
charged that the Mormons were in open rebellion against the federal
government.
The next president, James
Buchanan, dismissed Brigham Young as governor. He ordered more than
one-thousand soldiers to go to Utah to put down the rebellion. He
also sent a new governor, Alfred Cumming, with the soldiers. The
Mormons prepared to fight.
A small group of Mormon men attacked and destroyed the army's
supply wagons. They forced the soldiers to stop for the winter
before reaching the salt lake valley. The soldiers could do nothing
until spring.
VOICE TWO:
In Washington, efforts were made to settle the dispute. A man
named Thomas Kane asked President Buchanan to let him go to Utah.
Kane was an old friend of the president. He also was a friend of the
Mormons. He had spent much time with them during their long trip to
Utah ten years earlier.
Kane feared what might happen to his Mormon friends if fighting
started. He told President Buchanan that he did not want a job or
money. He only wanted a chance to be useful. The president agreed to
let him try to settle the dispute.
VOICE ONE:
Thomas Kane arrived in Salt Lake City, the territorial capital,
early in eighteen-fifty-eight. He found that the Mormons had decided
not to fight. Instead, they were preparing to search for a new home.
They talked of moving to Mexico or perhaps to an island in the South
Pacific.
Kane talked with Brigham Young. Then he went to the army camp to
talk with Governor Cumming. The governor agreed to go to Salt Lake
City with Kane. The two men went alone, without any soldiers.
VOICE TWO:
The Mormons welcomed Cumming, but continued their preparations to
leave. Cumming called a public meeting.
He said he was in Utah to represent the federal government. He
said he was there to make sure the people of the territory obeyed
the constitution and the laws of the United States. He said he would
not use military force until every other way had failed. Above all,
said Cumming, he would not interfere with the Mormon religion. He
urged the Mormons not to leave the land they had worked so hard to
build.
Brigham Young agreed to stay.
VOICE ONE:
Governor Cumming returned to the army camp. He told the commander
that the Mormons had accepted him. He said military force would not
be needed. A few days later, two representatives of President
Buchanan arrived. They brought news that the president would not act
against Mormons who accepted the rule of the United States
government.
Brigham Young and the other Mormon leaders made a statement. They
said they wished to live in peace under the constitution and the
laws of the United States.
The dispute was over. Brigham Young continued to lead the Mormon
church. But the governor ruled the territorial government. The two
jobs were separate and would remain that way.
VOICE TWO:
Congressional elections were held in the United States in
eighteen-fifty-eight. One political race created national interest.
It was for one of the two Senate seats representing the state of
Illinois. The candidate of the Democratic Party was Stephen Douglas.
He was running for re-election. His opponent was a lawyer and member
of the Republican Party. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
That will be our story next time.
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VOICE ONE:
Today's program was written by Frank Beardsley. This is Richard
Rael.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Sarah Long. Join us again for the VOA Special English
history program, THE MAKING OF A NATION.