Show I II T I J THIRTYFIVE YEARS AGO I i j 1 I It is thirtyfive years ago today since I I i j the Congress and the President oi the j II United States enacted that all that part I i c of the territory of the United States included I I r in-cluded within the following limits towit bounded on the west by the State of California I Cali-fornia on the north by the Territory of I 4 i J Oregon on the east by the summit of the I I Rocky Mountains and oji the sonh by the thirtyseventh parallel of north latitude di lati-tude bo and the same is hereby created f W J into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Utah The I L Territory of Utah as created by act of L Congress September 9 1850 was not so large as the State of Dcseret the Provisional 1 Pro-visional Government of which the people EIi of Utah created for themselves on March i 15th 1849 and as a matter of historical I interest we give the boundaries of that 1 Iii State The Constitution of that State js declares its boundaries in these terms WE THE PEOPLE Grateful to the Su 4 rnKMK BEING for tho blessings hitherto enjoyed I en-joyed and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH A ThEE AND INDEPENDENT INDE-PENDENT GOVERNMENT by the name of the r STATE OF DESERET including all the territory of the United States within the following boundaries towit Commencing 1 at the 38 north latitude where it crosses the 103 longitude west of Greenwich thence running south and west to tho northern r north-ern boundary of Mexico thence west to and it I down the main channel of tho Gila river or the northern line of Mexico and on tho r northern boundary of Lower California to I l tho Pacific Ocean thence along the coast northwesterly to the 118 30 nun of west longitude thence Norm to where said line intersects the dividing ridge of tho Sierra Nevada mountains thence along the summit sum-mit of the Sierra Nevada mountains to tho dividing range of mountains that separate tho waters flowing into the Columbia river from the waters running t into the Great Basin thence easterly ti along the dividing range of mountains that IA separate said waters flowing into the Columbia Ii Colum-bia river on the north from tho waters flowing into the Great Basin on the south to i the summit of the Wind River chain of 1 mountains thence south cast and south by the dividing range of mountains that separate I sepa-rate the waters flowing into the Gulf of r Mexico from the waters flowing into the Gulf of California to the place of beginning us set forth in a map drawn by Charles f > Proust and published by order of the Senate t of the United States in 1848 < Such are the boundaries of this famous State of Deseret of which all hear HOI HO-I 1 much and of which few know io little The Constitution of this State was silent upon a question which in 1848 was paramount para-mount to all others in the formation of Territories or new States namely the question of slavery and the only reference to it is in speaking of tho qualification for Senators and Representatives Represent-atives sections IV and V of article II which declare that a member of cither branch is to be a free whito male citizen citi-zen of the United States while tho Organic Act provided that when Utah i should be received into the TTnion it should be with or without slavery It seems very strange to read that provision pro-vision in the Organic Act now when one thinks of the changes which have been wrought since September 9 1850 Sinco then the country hs passed through 1 four years of bloody war war that was started in the interest of slavery and there have been added to the Constitution Constitu-tion four amendments each of which was but the legitimate outgrowth of the result of tho war Whatever may ho Utah faults and crimes it is to her credit that she never gave encouragement to the institution of slavery Let us retain to the formation of tho Constitution of the State of Deseret It has been charged against the people of Utah that that Constitution was usurpation usurpa-tion and a violation of the rights of tho General Government In the t preamble of this now celebrated document the people peo-ple of Utah gave the true reason for the formation of their State and its Constitution i Constitu-tion and which was certainly consonant I t I to the prevclant Democratic doctrine of vi 1 I the time Here are the reasons referred I refer-red to J WIIEUKAS a large number of the citizens of tho United States before and sino tho Treaty Peace with Republic of Mexico I l emigrated to and settled in that portion of j the territory of the United States lying west oftheRooky Mountains and in the great interior in-terior Basin of Upper California and WHEREAS by reason of said treaty nil oivil organization originating from the llo publio of Mexico became abrogated and j WHEREAS tho Congress of the United > States has failed to provide a form of civil government for the Territory so acquired or airy portion thereof and WDEBEAB civil government and laws are N I < necessary for the security peace and prosperity pros-perity of society and WHEBEAS it is a fundamental principle in all republican governments that all political politi-cal power inherent in tho people and gay ermnents instituted for their protection I security and benefit should emanate from t j the same 4 11 rIlEllEFOm Jour Committee beg leave to fi recommend the following CONSTITUTION i j until tho Congress of the United States shall til t otherwise provide for the government of the LI Territory hereinafter of the named and described ri 1 de-scribed by admitting us into tho Union I The true reason then for the formation of this provisional government was that I Congress had failed to provide a civil f government for this newly acquired terri i tory Eor such a proceeding the people I t here had high authority if Stephen A f Douglas can be relied upon as expounding N expound-ing correctly tho Jcffcraonian Plan of 4 Government for the Territories Douglas says saysThis This Jeffersonian Plan of Government I embodies and carries out the ideas and print prin-t ciples of the fathers of the Revolution that f the people of ovary separate political community 1 com-munity dependent colonies Provinces andS and-S 1 Territories as well as sovereign States have an inalienable right to govern themselves in respect to their internal t in-ternal polity and repudiates the dogma of the British Ministry and the 1 Tories of that day that all colonies Provinces Prov-inces and Territories were the property of the Empire acquired with the common I blood and common ireasureflnd that the inhabitants in-habitants thereof have no rights privileges or immunities except such as the Imperial government should graciously condescend to bestow upon them t It is interesting and instructive to pass in review the early history of Utah and as one does so one cannot but think that L l iI ft 1 jff i < < f I the people of Utah are much farther removed re-moved from correct principles of government govern-ment than thirtyfive years ago and that I they arc far less in sympathy with American Amer-ican ideas today than then Nor can one but think that Utah is still thirtyfive years from Statehood and that it is owing to the fact that the people of Utah have suffered a church to usurp and absorb the powers of the State The people of Utah may rest assured that they will never receive I re-ceive recognition by the Union is a sovereign sov-ereign State until they learn the fact and I make it felt that in the United States I there must not and shall not be a union of Church and State and that within the f domain of civil government tho State is supreme and must be obeyed |