State of Deseret | |||||||||
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| 1849–1850 | |||||||||
.svg)  Flags of the State of Deseret | |||||||||
 The boundaries of the provisional State of Deseret (orange with black outline) as proposed in 1849. Modern state boundaries are underlaid for reference. | |||||||||
| Status | Unrecognized state | ||||||||
| Capital | Salt Lake City | ||||||||
| Common languages | English | ||||||||
| Religion | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | ||||||||
| Government | Theodemocracy | ||||||||
• Governor | Brigham Young | ||||||||
| Heber C. Kimball | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1849 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1850 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | United States | ||||||||
TheState of Deseret (modern pronunciation/ˌdɛzəˈrɛt/ ⓘDEZ-ə-RET,[1] contemporaneously/dɛsiːrɛt/dess-ee-ret,[dubious –discuss] as recorded in theDeseret alphabet spelling 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻)[2] was a proposedstate of the United States promoted by leaders ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had founded settlements in what is today the state ofUtah. 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 theword for "honeybee" in theBook of Mormon.[3]
When members ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (theMormon pioneers) settled in theSalt Lake Valley near theGreat Salt Lake in1847 (then part of theCentralist Republic of Mexico), they wished to establish a government that would be recognized by the United States.
Initially, second LDSChurch presidentBrigham Young intended to apply for status as aterritory and sentJohn Milton Bernhisel toWashington, D.C. with a petition for territorial status. Realizing thatCalifornia andNew Mexico were applying for admission as states, Young changed his mind and decided to petition for statehood.[4]
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.[5][6] It was based on that ofIowa, a state through which the Mormons had passed, with some having temporarily settled there. Thebicameral state legislature had 17 senators in its upper chamber and 35 representatives, in the lower chamber, all free white male citizens.[5] The state government also had an elected governor, a lieutenant governor and a supreme court.[5] However, the state constitution was silent on the issue of slavery, which was tearing the nation apart in the 1850s.[7][6] The state constitution took effect on May 10.[5]
The government sent the legislative records and constitution toIowa for printing because no printing press existed in theGreat Basin. They then sentAlmon 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.[8]
The provisional state encompassed most of the territory that had been acquired fromMexico the previous year as theMexican Cession.
The Territory of Deseret would have comprised roughly all of the lands between the mountain ranges of theSierra Nevada in the west and theRockies to the east, and between the initial southern border with Mexico and northward to include parts of theOregon Territory (recently split along the 49th parallel of latitude by treaty with the British further north in westernCanada), as well as the coast of southern California south of theSanta Monica Mountains (including the existing settlements, missions and pueblos ofLos Angeles andSan Diego). This included the entire watershed of the upperColorado River (excluding the lands south of the 1854 new second border with Mexico), after the borderlineGadsden Purchase of1854, as well as the entire area of the centralGreat Basin. The proposal encompassed nearly all of present-dayUtah andNevada, large portions ofeastern California along withArizona and parts of westernColorado andNew Mexico, southernWyoming andIdaho, along with southeasternOregon.
The proposal was crafted specifically to avoid disputes that might arise from existing settlements of White Americans.[9] 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 northernCalifornia gold rush areas of1848—1849 aroundSan Francisco Bay andSacramento, areas not included in the provisional state. The border withNew Mexico did not reach theRio Grande, an intentional decision to avoid becoming entangled in the disputes of the western and northwestern borders ofTexas after the formerRepublic of Texas was admitted as the 28th state in1846. Deseret also avoided encroaching on the fertileWillamette Valley further north in westernOregon, which had been heavily traveled and settled by legions of wagon trains since the1840s with the famousOregon Trail. Planners utilized "a map drawn by cartographerCharles Preuss (1803-1854), and published by order of theUnited States Senate in1848."[10] This map was drawn by Preuss based on survey data from famous military officer and Western explorerJohn C. Frémont (1813–1890), and published in 1848.[11]
As the proposal encompassed lands largely considered inhospitable for cultivation, it was hoped that Deseret might avoid conflict over the issue of the expansion ofslavery. Its size would make it easier to preserve the balance of power in theSenate, by decreasing the number offree states entered into the Union. However, the proposal for the state was seen as too ambitious to succeed inCongress, even setting aside controversy over the Mormons and the rumored but not yet publicly acknowledged practice ofpolygamy.
TheCalifornia Constitutional Convention debates of1849 inMonterey, California mentioned the Mormons or Salt Lake a number of times[12][13] along with the continuing and intensifying North–South political, social and economic conflict over the extension ofslavery into thewestern territories of theUnited States. Advocates of smaller boundaries for the new 31st state to the east (such as the longitude meridian line of116° west or the crest of theSierra Nevada range of the westernRocky Mountains) argued that the Mormons were unrepresented at the constitutional convention, culturally different and apparently planning to apply for their own territorial government to be formed further to the east. They also argued that theGreat Salt Lake was too distant for a single territorial or state government to be practical and that Congress would not agree to such a large state (after the controversy over boundaries five years earlier with the admission of theRepublic of Texas as the 28th state in1846). California delegates advocated retention of all of theCentralist Republic of Mexico's former province along thePacific Ocean coast ofAlta California (Upper California) from theMexican Cession of Mexico's northwestern territories in the peace treaty following the defeat in theMexican–American War of1846—1849. It resulted in extensive lands acquired in the currentSouthwestern United States.
With congressional action regarding Upper California's boundaries and status soon approaching, the provisional government to the east of Deseret sent Mormon apostleAmasa Lyman, and John Wilson, a federalIndian agent in California, as a delegation to theinterim government of California, then situated in the temporary capital of the coastal ocean town ofMonterey. The delegates sought to call a new statehood constitutional convention and include Deseret in the new state to settle the slavery question throughout the vast territory acquired from Mexico. However, the newly elected firstgovernor of California,Peter H. Burnett, rejected the proposal on the basis that the community in theGreat Salt Lake area was too far east beyond the Sierra Nevada mountains andGreat Basin Desert (in futureNevada) to combine under a single western government, even temporarily.[14]
On September 9, 1850, as part of the negotiatedCompromise of 1850, the newUtah Territory was created by an act ofCongress, encompassing a portion of the northern section of the earlier proposed state of Deseret.[15] The slavery question would be decided by a voting referendum of the territory's residents.[15]
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 reenact the laws and ordinances of the state of Deseret.
After the establishment of the Utah Territory, the Mormons 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 ashadow government after each session of the territorial legislature to ratify the new laws under the name of the State of Deseret.[16] Attempts were made in 1856, 1862 and 1872 to write a new state constitution under that name, based on the new boundaries of the Utah Territory.
The idea of creating a secular American political state based on the religious tenets ofMormonism began to weaken, especially after the advent of the transcontinental railroad, which made the territory available to many non-Mormon settlers, particularly in the western areas of the territory. Young and the church leaders supported the massive construction project of the east–west railroad, even reassigning workers from the monumentalSalt Lake Temple to work on theCentral Pacific Railroad heading east from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains to link with theUnion Pacific Railroad driving westward fromMissouri andNebraska. The legendary driving of the famousgolden spike just 66 miles northeast from the Great Salt Lake completed thefirst transcontinental railroad acrossNorth America atPromontory Summit in the Utah Territory in May1869, two decades after its establishment.
Prior to the establishment of Utah Territory, in the absence of other authority, the provisional government of Deseret became thede facto government of the Great Basin. Three sessions of its General Assembly, abicameralstate legislature, were held. In 1850, the legislature appointedjudges and established a criminal code. Taxes were established on property, and liquor and gambling were outlawed. The LDS Church was incorporated and a militia, based on the earlierNauvoo Legion (fromNauvoo, Illinois, where the Mormon pilgrims were formerly centered), was formed.
The legislature initially formed sixcounties that covered only inhabited valleys. These counties initially encompassed only a small portion of the area of Deseret and were expanded as settlement grew.[17]
According to most descriptions, the Deseret flag was similar to the historicUtah state flag. However, it was not standardized, and several other secular and religious alternatives were used.[18] Variants similar to the American flag were also reported.[19][20]
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Deseret Alphabet: 𐐔𐐇𐐝𐐀𐐡𐐇𐐓 (dɛsiːrɛt)
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