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State of Deseret
The State of Deseret (/ˌdɛzəˈrɛt/ ⓘ DEZ-ə-RET, Deseret alphabet: 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻) was a proposed state of the United States promoted by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had founded settlements in what is today the state of Utah. A provisional state government operated for nearly two years in 1849–50, but was never recognized by the United States government. The name Deseret is derived from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon.
When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon pioneers) settled in the Salt Lake Valley near the Great Salt Lake in 1847 (then part of the Centralist Republic of Mexico), they wished to establish a government that would be recognized by the United States.
Initially, second LDS Church president Brigham Young intended to apply for status as a territory and sent John Milton Bernhisel to Washington, D.C. with a 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.
Realizing that they did not have time to follow the usual steps toward statehood[clarification needed], Young and a group of church elders formed a convention in the capital town of Salt Lake City, where they quickly drafted and adopted a state constitution on March 6, 1849. It was based on that of Iowa, a state through which the Mormons had passed, with some having temporarily settled there. The bicameral state legislature had 17 senators in its upper chamber and 35 representatives, in the lower chamber, all free white male citizens. The state government also had an elected governor, a lieutenant governor and a supreme court. However, the state constitution was silent on the issue of slavery, which was tearing the nation apart in the 1850s. The state constitution took effect on May 10.
The government sent the legislative records and constitution to Iowa for printing because no printing press existed in the Great Basin. They then sent Almon W. Babbitt with a copy of the state's formal records and constitution to meet with Bernhisel in Washington, D.C. and to petition for statehood rather than for territorial status.
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 of the lands between the mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada in the west and the Rockies to the east, and between the initial southern border with Mexico and northward to include parts of the Oregon Territory (recently split along the 49th parallel of latitude by treaty with the British further north in western Canada), as well as the coast of southern California south of the Santa Monica Mountains (including the existing settlements, missions and pueblos of Los Angeles and San Diego). This included the entire watershed of the upper Colorado River (excluding the lands south of the 1854 new second border with Mexico), after the borderline Gadsden Purchase of 1854, as well as the entire area of the central Great Basin. The proposal encompassed nearly all of present-day Utah and Nevada, large portions of eastern California along with Arizona and parts of western Colorado and New Mexico, southern Wyoming and Idaho, along with southeastern Oregon.
The proposal was crafted specifically to avoid disputes that might arise from existing settlements of White Americans. 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 California gold rush areas of 1848—1849 around San Francisco Bay and Sacramento, areas not included in the provisional state. The border with New Mexico did not reach the Rio Grande, an intentional decision to avoid becoming entangled in the disputes of the western and northwestern borders of Texas after the former Republic of Texas was admitted as the 28th state in 1846. Deseret also avoided encroaching on the fertile Willamette Valley further north in western Oregon, which had been heavily traveled and settled by legions of wagon trains since the 1840s with the famous Oregon Trail. Planners utilized "a map drawn by cartographer Charles Preuss (1803-1854), and published by order of the United States Senate in 1848." This map was drawn by Preuss based on survey data from famous military officer and Western explorer John C. Frémont (1813–1890), and published in 1848.
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State of Deseret
The State of Deseret (/ˌdɛzəˈrɛt/ ⓘ DEZ-ə-RET, Deseret alphabet: 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻) was a proposed state of the United States promoted by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had founded settlements in what is today the state of Utah. A provisional state government operated for nearly two years in 1849–50, but was never recognized by the United States government. The name Deseret is derived from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon.
When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon pioneers) settled in the Salt Lake Valley near the Great Salt Lake in 1847 (then part of the Centralist Republic of Mexico), they wished to establish a government that would be recognized by the United States.
Initially, second LDS Church president Brigham Young intended to apply for status as a territory and sent John Milton Bernhisel to Washington, D.C. with a 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.
Realizing that they did not have time to follow the usual steps toward statehood[clarification needed], Young and a group of church elders formed a convention in the capital town of Salt Lake City, where they quickly drafted and adopted a state constitution on March 6, 1849. It was based on that of Iowa, a state through which the Mormons had passed, with some having temporarily settled there. The bicameral state legislature had 17 senators in its upper chamber and 35 representatives, in the lower chamber, all free white male citizens. The state government also had an elected governor, a lieutenant governor and a supreme court. However, the state constitution was silent on the issue of slavery, which was tearing the nation apart in the 1850s. The state constitution took effect on May 10.
The government sent the legislative records and constitution to Iowa for printing because no printing press existed in the Great Basin. They then sent Almon W. Babbitt with a copy of the state's formal records and constitution to meet with Bernhisel in Washington, D.C. and to petition for statehood rather than for territorial status.
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 of the lands between the mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada in the west and the Rockies to the east, and between the initial southern border with Mexico and northward to include parts of the Oregon Territory (recently split along the 49th parallel of latitude by treaty with the British further north in western Canada), as well as the coast of southern California south of the Santa Monica Mountains (including the existing settlements, missions and pueblos of Los Angeles and San Diego). This included the entire watershed of the upper Colorado River (excluding the lands south of the 1854 new second border with Mexico), after the borderline Gadsden Purchase of 1854, as well as the entire area of the central Great Basin. The proposal encompassed nearly all of present-day Utah and Nevada, large portions of eastern California along with Arizona and parts of western Colorado and New Mexico, southern Wyoming and Idaho, along with southeastern Oregon.
The proposal was crafted specifically to avoid disputes that might arise from existing settlements of White Americans. 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 California gold rush areas of 1848—1849 around San Francisco Bay and Sacramento, areas not included in the provisional state. The border with New Mexico did not reach the Rio Grande, an intentional decision to avoid becoming entangled in the disputes of the western and northwestern borders of Texas after the former Republic of Texas was admitted as the 28th state in 1846. Deseret also avoided encroaching on the fertile Willamette Valley further north in western Oregon, which had been heavily traveled and settled by legions of wagon trains since the 1840s with the famous Oregon Trail. Planners utilized "a map drawn by cartographer Charles Preuss (1803-1854), and published by order of the United States Senate in 1848." This map was drawn by Preuss based on survey data from famous military officer and Western explorer John C. Frémont (1813–1890), and published in 1848.