CELEBRATE UTAH'S STATEHOOD, JANUARY 4TH

A CHRONOLOGY OF UTAH'S STRUGGLE FOR STATEHOOD
Compiled by Linda Thatcher

1847
In July 1847 the Mormon pioneers began entering the Salt Lake Valley.

1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ceded a territory claimed by Mexico to the United States, including the land settled by the Mormons.

LDS leaders began to plan their first statehood attempt.

1849
Hoping to obtain statehood as soon as possible, leaders in Salt Lake City sent a message to "all the citizens of that portion of Upper California lying east of the Sierra Nevada mountains" to attend a constitutional convention. The convention created a proposed state of Deseret that encompassed the entire Great Basin and east to the Continental Divide, including, besides the present state of Utah, most of present Nevada and Arizona and parts of southern California (with the port of San Diego), Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Idaho.

1850
One reason for the refusal of Congress to grant statehood to Deseret was the lack of 60,000 eligible voters required for admission as a state. Congress objected to the huge size of the proposed state. On September 7, 1850, the Senate passed a bill providing for the organization of a Utah Territory (rejecting even the name Deseret and shrinking its borders).

1852
LDS church authorities publicly acknowledged that the doctrine of plural marriage had been accepted. During the next 38 years, polygamy would prove to be the major stumbling block in attempts to gain statehood.

1855
The Mormons began a second effort to achieve statehood.

1856
The constitutional convention assembled in Salt Lake City on March 17, 1856, and ten days later adopted a constitution. George A. Smith and John Taylor traveled to Washington to present it and a memorial to Congress.

1857-58
Soon after taking office in 1857, President Buchanan removed Brigham Young as governor of Utah Territory and sent a 2,500-man military force to accompany the new governor, Alfred Cumming. Cumming assumed office unchallenged and made peace with the Mormons.

1861-62
The third movement for statehood began in December 1861. This effort to achieve statehood also failed.

The Morrill Anti-bigamy Act was passed in the Senate. It prohibited polygamy in the territories and disincorporated the Mormon church.

1867
In January 1867 the legislature petitioned Congress to repeal the Morrill Act and, in the words of LDS historian Andrew Jenson, "prayed for admission into the Union as a State." Neither objective was achieved.

1869
Completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah, on May 10th ended Utah's isolation and ushered in an era of increased Mormon-gentile hostility.

1870
Gentiles and dissident Mormons organized the Liberal party in Utah in February 1870.

1872
A new attempt to achieve statehood began on January 31, 1872. It would be ten years before Utah made another serious drive for statehood.

1874
On June 23, 1874, the Poland Act passed both houses of Congress. It became the legal basis for prosecuting Mormon polygamists throughout the decade.

1879
George Reynolds, agreed to test the constitutionality of federal laws against polygamy, found his conviction upheld on appeal to the US Supreme Court. Chief Justice Morrison Waite issued the unanimous decision which upheld the Morrill Act making the practice of plural marriage a criminal offense.

1882
On February 16, 1882, the US Senate passed the Edmunds Act. It made the offense of unlawful cohabitation much easier to prove than polygamy misdemeanor and made it illegal for polygamists or cohabitants to vote, hold public office, or serve on juries. Against this background Utahns nevertheless decided to mount another statehood drive. A no action was taken on the matter until February 23, 1883, when it was introduced to congress and quickly put on hold.

1885
As federal officials in Utah increased their pursuit and prosecution of polygamists under provisions of the Edmunds Act, many were imprisoned and others went into hiding. Mormons held a mass meeting in the Salt Lake Tabernacle to protest the heavy hand of federal authorities. Those in attendance framed a "Declaration of Grievances and Protest."

1887
The Edmunds-Tucker bill was passed by the US Senate on January 12, 1886, This act provided that LDS church property in excess of $50,000 would be forfeited to the United States and abolished woman suffrage in the territory. They created a constitution that declared bigamy and polygamy "incompatible with a republican form of government" and made both activities misdemeanors.

1890
LDS President Wilford Woodruff drafted the text of a momentous announcement. After conferring with other church leaders, he issued what has since been called the Woodruff Manifesto to the Associated Press. Woodruff's key sentence stated: "I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land."

1891
Permanent formation of national parties occurred in Utah in 1891.

1894
Congress passed the Enabling Act, which set forth the steps Utah must take to achieve statehood.

1895
Delegates met and framed Utah's constitution. In accordance with the provisions of the Enabling Act, it "forever" banned the practice of polygamy. They completed their work on May 6 and signed the document on May 8. At the general election on November 5, 1895, the new constitution was ratified, and state officials and state legislators were elected.

1896
On January 4, 1896, President Cleveland proclaimed Utah a state. The long battle for statehood was won, and most Utahns joined in celebrations held throughout the new 45th state. On January 6 state officials were inaugurated.