State of Deseret
State of Deseret 𐐝𐐻𐐩𐐻 𐐲𐑂 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 (Deseret alphabet) | |||||||||
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1849–1850 | |||||||||
Flags of the State of Deseret | |||||||||
Great Salt Lake City | |||||||||
Common languages | English
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Religion | Lieutenant Governor | Heber C. Kimball | |||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 1849 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1850 | ||||||||
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Today part of | United States |
The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation
History
Proposed concept as territory, then state
When members of the LDS Church (the Mormon pioneers) settled in the Salt Lake Valley near the Great Salt Lake in 1847 (then part of Mexico), they wished to set up a government that would be recognized by the United States.
Initially, church president Brigham Young intended to apply for status as a territory, and sent John Milton Bernhisel to Washington, D.C., with the petition for territorial status. Realizing that California and New Mexico were applying for admission as states, Young changed his mind and decided to petition for statehood.[citation needed]
Realizing that they did not have time to follow the usual steps towards statehood[clarification needed], Young and a group of church elders formed a convention in Salt Lake City, where they quickly drafted and adopted a state constitution on March 6, 1849.[4][5] It was based on that of Iowa, where the Mormons had temporarily settled. The state legislature had 17 senators and 35 representatives, all free white male citizens.[4] The state government also had a governor, a lieutenant governor, and a supreme court.[4] The state constitution was silent on the matter of slavery.[6][5] The state constitution went into effect on May 10.[4]
They sent the legislative records and constitution back to Iowa for printing, because no printing press existed in the Great Basin at the time. They then sent a second messenger with a copy of the state's formal records and constitution to meet up with Bernhisel in Washington, D.C., and to petition for statehood rather than territorial status.[citation needed]
Geography of the proposed state
The provisional state encompassed most of the territory that had been acquired from Mexico the previous year as the Mexican Cession.
The Territory of Deseret would have comprised roughly all the lands between the
The proposal was crafted specifically to avoid disputes that might arise from existing settlements of Euro-Americans.[7] At the time of its proposal, the existing population of the Deseret area, including Southern California, was sparse, since most of the California settlement had been in the northern gold rush areas not included in the provisional state. Likewise, the border with New Mexico did not reach the Rio Grande, in order to avoid becoming entangled in the existing disputes of the western border of Texas. Deseret also avoided encroaching on the fertile Willamette Valley of Oregon, which had been heavily traveled and settled since the 1840s. Planners utilized "a map drawn by Charles Preuss, and published by order of the Senate of the United States, in 1848."[8] This map was drawn by Preuss, based on survey data from John Charles Frémont, and published in 1848.[9]
Since the proposal encompassed lands largely considered inhospitable for cultivation, it was hoped that it might avoid conflict over the issue of the expansion of
Political context for creation of Utah Territory
The
With congressional action approaching, the provisional government of Deseret sent Mormon apostle
On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, the Utah Territory was created by Act of Congress, encompassing a portion of the northern section of Deseret.[13] Congress decided that the question of whether slavery would be allowed in the territory would be decided by the territory's residents.[13]
Lingering impact after territorial incorporation
On February 3, 1851, Brigham Young was inaugurated as the first governor of the Utah Territory. On April 4, 1851, the General Assembly of Deseret passed a resolution to dissolve the state. On October 4, 1851, the Utah territorial legislature voted to re-enact the laws and ordinances of the state of Deseret.
After the establishment of the Utah Territory, the Latter-day Saints did not relinquish the idea of a "State of Deseret". From 1862 to 1870, a group of Mormon elders under Young's leadership met as a
The idea of creating a state based on Mormonism began to fade away after the coming of the railroad, which opened the territory to many non-Mormon settlers, particularly in the western areas of the territory. Young and the LDS Church supported the railroad, even taking members that were working on the
Government
Prior to the establishment of Utah Territory, in the absence of other authority, the provisional government of Deseret became the de facto government of the Great Basin. Three sessions of the General Assembly, a
The legislature initially formed six counties, which covered only inhabited valleys. These "valley counties" initially encompassed only a small portion of the area of Deseret and were expanded as settlement grew.[14]
Flag
According to most descriptions, the Deseret flag was similar to the historic Utah state flag. However, as it was not standardized, multiple other secular and religious alternatives were also used.[15] Variants similar to the US Flag were also reported.[16][17]
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A modern attempt to recreate an unofficial flag used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Based on an 1877 description by Don Maguire
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Deseret Flag as depicted by the flag atop Ensign Peak and created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Reconstruction of a flag, as described in contemporary newspapers
Deseret in fiction
- In Ward Moore's 1953 novel Bring the Jubilee, set in a reality where the Confederacy won the U.S. Civil War and the United States became a corrupt and dysfunctional rump state, Deseret is mentioned as being the only prosperous state in the Union (where polygamy is still practiced).
- In Second Great Wars. This results in the LDS Church being banned by the US government.
- In Paradox Interactive's grand strategy game Victoria II, as well as its sequel, Victoria 3, Deseret is a formable nation which may gain independence from Mexico or the United States.
- In Francis Spufford's 2023 alternative history novel Cahokia Jazz, Deseret is a semi-autonomous state in the 1920s.
See also
- Council of Fifty
- Deseret Alphabet
- Deseret Ranches
- List of United States territories that failed to become states
- Mormon colonies in Mexico
- Mormon Corridor
- Theodemocracy
- Utah War
References
- IPA-ified from «dĕz-a-rĕt´»
- Deseret Alphabet: 𐐔𐐇𐐝𐐀𐐡𐐇𐐓 (dɛsiːrɛt)
- ^ "Ether 2". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "The State of Deseret". The Zanesville Courier (Zanesville, Ohio). Newspapers.com. October 9, 1949. p. 2.
- ^ a b "The State of Deseret: Progress of a Mormon Settlement". The New York Evening Post. Newspapers.com. October 10, 1849. p. 2.
- ^ "State of Deseret". Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, Virginia). Newspapers.com. October 10, 1849. p. 2.
- ISBN 978-1-59474-410-5,
- ^ "Constitution of the State of Deseret, With the Journal of the Convention Which Formed It, and the Proceedings of the Legislature Consequent Thereon" (Kanesville, UT: Orson Hyde, 1849).
- ^ "Map Of Oregon And Upper California...to the Bay of San Francisco" (Washington, D.C.: Wendell and Van Benthuysen, 1848).
- ^ Browne, John Ross (1850). "chapters about Mormons". Report of the Debates in the Convention of California on the Formation of ... - California. Constitutional Convention, John Ross Browne - Google Books. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ Browne, John Ross (1850). "chapters about Salt Lake". Report of the Debates in the Convention of California on the Formation of ... - California. Constitutional Convention, John Ross Browne - Google Books. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ "Deseret Asks Admittance to California". Deseret News. July 6, 1850. p. 7. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
- ^ a b "The Question Settled". Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York). Newspapers.com. September 9, 1950. p. 2.
- ^ Territory of Utah Archived January 15, 2004, at the Wayback Machine, Historical and Political Data, Political History of Nevada, Department of Cultural Affairs, Nevada State Library and Archives, accessed July 1, 2007
- ^ Walker, Ronald W. "A Banner is Unfurled" Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought Volume 26 Number 4, Winter 1993, pages 71-91.
- ^ "Deseret Territory (Utah, U.S.)". www.crwflags.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Historical Flags of Our Ancestors - State of Utah - USA". www.loeser.us. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
Works cited
- ISBN 0-87747-594-6.
- Crawley, Peter (Fall 1989). "The Constitution of the State of Deseret". BYU Studies. 29 (4): 7–22. JSTOR 43041402.
- Journal of Mormon History, 18 (1): 114–136, archived from the originalon April 14, 2012.
Further reading
- (1994) "Coins and Currency" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Leonard J. Arrington and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024 and retrieved on April 12, 2024.
- (1994) "Deseret" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Richard D. Poll and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024 and retrieved on April 16, 2024.
- (1994) "Statehood for Utah" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Edward Leo Lyman and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024 and retrieved on April 12, 2024.
External links
- 1849 Constitution of the State of Deseret (PDF scans of 1849 printing)
- State of Nevada: Utah Territory
- Struggle For Statehood Chronology Archived September 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Compiled by Linda Thatcher