History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

440 UTAH AS A TERRITORY.
difficult for the latter to believe that such was the
case. When the loser appealed to the presidency, 1 their
judgment always confirmed the decision of the bishops,
and hence was further ground for dissatisfaction. The
saints regarded their courts as divinely commissioned
and inspired tribunals; but not so the gentiles, by
whom reports were freely circulated of what they
termed the lawless oppression of the Mormons. Thus
it became advisable to establish for the benefit of all
some judicial authority that could not be questioned
by any, whether members of the church or not, and
this authority must be one that, being recognized by
the government of the United States, would have the
support of its laws and the shield of its protection.
Further than this, if the Mormons neglected to establish
such government, the incoming gentiles would
do so erelong.
Early in 1849, therefore, a convention was summoned
of "the inhabitants of that portion of Upper
California lying east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains,"
and on the 4th of March assembled at Salt Lake City.
A committee 2 was appointed to draught a constitution,
under which the people might govern themselves
until congress should otherwise provide by law. A
few days later the constitution was adopted, and a
provisional government organized, under the name of
the State of Deseret. 3 An immense tract of country
was claimed, extending from latitude 33° to the border
of Oregon, and from the Rocky Mountains to the
Sierra Nevada, together with a section of the territory
now included in southern California, and the strip of
1 The president desired no litigation among his people. ' Most of them,'
he said, ' have learned that it is a condescension far beneath them, and that
it opens a wide door, when indulged in, for the admission of every unclean
spirit.' Hist. B. Young, 1852, MS., 15.
2 Albert Canington, Joseph L. Hey wood, William W. Phelps, David Fullmer,
John S. Fullmer, Charles C. Rich, John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, John
M. Bernhisel, and Erastus Snow. Utah Early Records, MS., 51.
3 The word 'Deseret' is taken from the book of Mormon, and means honeybee.
As it is written in the book of Ether of the people who came over the
great water from the old world to the new: 'And they did also carry with
them "deseret," which, by interpretation, is a honey-bee.'