Tilda Wilson

Saints and Gentiles: Utah's Unconventional Path to Statehood

July 24th, 1847, Brigham Young reached the top of what is now known as Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah, with an advance party of members of the Mormon Church. He decided that the valley streched out below them would become their home, which started a decades long battle between the values of the Mormon Church and the values of the United States as a whole.

The Mormons who lived in Utah (known as Saints) were unable to gain statehood for more than fourty years after settling the area due to the dissatifaction with the rest of the United States with their religious practices, and discontent among non Mormons (known as gentiles) with the extreme power Mormons had over Utah land and politics. This conflict can be seen in the changing way Saints attempted to map and name their land (naming the land Deseret after a Book of Mormon reference, versus naming the capital after Millard Fillmore), and the way that the United States government levied its control over how much land the Utah territory controlled to get the Saints to conform to their wishes.