History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

484
THE GOVERNMENT IX ARMS.
framing a constitution and state government. 6 As
no notice was taken of this request, the convention
met in March 1856, and the people again adopted a
constitution of their own, under the style of the
state of Deseret, resembling, though with some additions,
the one framed in 1849. 7
It was signed by
every member of the convention, and together with
a second memorial, was presented by John M. Bernhisel,
who between 1851 and 1859 filled the position
of territorial delegate. Both were again ignored, 3
probably on the score of polygamy, for otherwise
there were many arguments in favor of the Mormons.
If their population was not yet large enough to en-
title them to admission, it was larger than that of
several of the younger states when first admitted. 9
They were a prosperous and fairly intelligent community;
their wars with the Indian tribes had been
conducted successfully, and at their own expense; at
their own expense also they had constructed public
buildings, roads, and bridges; they had conquered the
desert, and amid its wastes had founded cities; there
could be no doubt of their ability to maintain a state
government; and thus far, at least, there was no valid
reason to question their loyalt}*. That under these
circumstances their memorial should be treated with
contempt gave sore offence to the saints. 10
•A copy of it may be found in Utah, Acts Legist, (ed. 1855), 414-15.
'The full text is given in Sen. Misc. Doc, 35th Cong. 1st Sess., iii. no.
240; Utah Acts, 1855-6; Deseret News, Apr. 2, 1856.
8 They were tabled in the senate on the 20th of April, 1858.
•In 1854 W. Richards estimated the population of Utah at 40,000 to
50,000. In Feb. 1856 Leonard W. Hardy, census agent, gave 76,335 as
the number, of whom 37,277 were males and 39,058 females. The peace
commissioners sent to the territory in 1858, after the Utah war, reported
its population at the figures given by Richards. The census of 1860 was
taken under some disadvantages. Gen. Burr was appointed to that duty by
Marshal Dotson, a strong anti-Mormon, but as the saints murmured at this
selection, a clerk in his store was chosen in his stead. The returns gave
40,295 souls, including 29 apprentices, or so-called slaves, and are probably
much within the actual figures. At this date the Mormons claimed a population
of 90,000 to 100,000, which is doubtless an exaggeration. In order to
show the number that would entitle them to admission as a state, they were
accused of counting cattle and unborn children as souls. Burton's City of the
Saints. 356-8. It is probable that the actual population in 1860 was about
65,000.
10 For comments on the admission of Utah as a state at this period, see