Editing Utah (section)

===Utah Territory (1850–1896)===

{{Main|Organic act#List of organic acts|Utah Territory|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}
[[File:Sketch of Salt Lake 1860.jpg|thumb|A sketch of Salt Lake City in 1860]]
[[File:Deseret Village.jpg|thumb|[[This Is the Place Heritage Park#Deseret Village|Deseret Village]] recreates Utah pioneer life for tourists.]]
[[File:East and West Shaking hands at the laying of last rail Union Pacific Railroad - Restoration.jpg|thumb|The [[Golden Spike]] where the [[First transcontinental railroad]] was completed in the U.S. on May 10, 1869, in [[Promontory, Utah]]]]

The Utah Territory was much smaller than the proposed state of Deseret, but it still contained all of the present states of Nevada and Utah as well as pieces of modern Wyoming and [[Colorado]].<ref>Michael S. Durham: ''Desert between the Mountains'', pages 162,163. University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.</ref> It was created with the [[Compromise of 1850]], and [[Fillmore, Utah|Fillmore]], named after President [[Millard Fillmore]], was designated the capital. The territory was given the name Utah after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1856.

By 1850, there were around 100 black people in the territory, the majority of whom were slaves.<ref name=smith>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idktzKdgb7YC|title=Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery|author=John David Smith|isbn=9780275957995|year=1997|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> In Salt Lake County, 26 slaves were counted.<ref name="Arave"/> In 1852, the territorial legislature passed the [[Act in Relation to Service]] and the [[Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners]] formally legalizing slavery in the territory. Slavery was abolished in the territory during the Civil War.

In 1850, Salt Lake City sent out a force known as the [[Nauvoo Legion]] and engaged the [[Timpanogos]] in the [[Battle at Fort Utah]].<ref name=Farmer>{{cite book|last1=Farmer|first1=Jared|title=On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape|date=2008|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674027671}}</ref>{{rp|71}}

Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the [[Government of the United States|U.S. government]] intensified due to the practice of [[plural marriage]], or [[polygamy]], among members of the LDS Church. The Mormons were still pushing for the establishment of a State of Deseret with the new borders of the Utah Territory. Most, if not all, of the members of the U.S. government opposed the polygamous practices of the Mormons.

Members of the LDS Church were viewed as un-American and rebellious when news of their polygamous practices spread. In 1857, particularly heinous accusations of abdication of government and general immorality were leveled by former associate justice William W. Drummond, among others. The detailed reports of life in Utah caused the administration of [[James Buchanan]] to send a secret military "expedition" to Utah. When the supposed rebellion should be quelled, [[Alfred Cumming (governor)|Alfred Cumming]] would take the place of Brigham Young as territorial governor. The resulting conflict is known as the [[Utah War]], nicknamed "Buchanan's Blunder" by the Mormon leaders.

In September 1857, about 120 American settlers of the Baker–Fancher wagon train, en route to California from Arkansas, were murdered by [[Utah Territorial Militia]] and some [[Southern Paiute|Paiute]] Native Americans in the [[Mountain Meadows massacre]].<ref>{{cite news |last= Ravitz |first= Jessica |url= http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6862682 |title= LDS Church Apologizes for Mountain Meadows Massacre |newspaper= The Salt Lake Tribune |date= September 11, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141104171210/http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6862682 |archive-date= November 4, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before troops led by [[Albert Sidney Johnston]] entered the territory, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City to evacuate southward to [[Utah Valley]] and sent out the Nauvoo Legion to delay the government's advance. Although wagons and supplies were burned, eventually the troops arrived in 1858, and Young surrendered official control to Cumming, although most subsequent commentators claim that Young retained true power in the territory. A steady stream of governors appointed by the president quit the position, often citing the traditions of their supposed territorial government. By agreement with Young, Johnston established [[Camp Floyd]], {{convert|40|mi|km|-1}} away from Salt Lake City to the southwest.

Salt Lake City was the last link of the [[First Transcontinental Telegraph]], completed in October 1861. Brigham Young was among the first to send a message, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]] and other officials.

Because of the [[American Civil War]], federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory in 1861. This was a boon to the local economy as the army sold everything in camp for pennies on the dollar before marching back east to join the war. The territory was then left in LDS hands until [[Patrick Edward Connor|Patrick E. Connor]] arrived with a regiment of California volunteers in 1862. Connor established [[Fort Douglas (Utah)|Fort Douglas]] just {{convert|3|mi|km}} east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his people to discover mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the territory. Minerals were discovered in [[Tooele County, Utah|Tooele County]] and miners began to flock to the territory.

Beginning in 1865, [[Utah's Black Hawk War]] developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief [[Antonga Black Hawk]] died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the [[Ghost Dance]] of 1872. The war is unique among [[Indian Wars]] because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos [[Ute Tribe|Utes]] led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and LDS authorities.

On May 10, 1869, the [[First transcontinental railroad]] was completed at [[Promontory Summit]], north of the Great Salt Lake.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11371/ |title = Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails", May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = May 10, 1869 |access-date = July 20, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131018052635/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11371/ |archive-date = October 18, 2013 |url-status = live }}</ref> The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the territory and several influential businesspeople made fortunes there.

During the 1870s and 1880s laws were passed to punish polygamists due, in part, to stories from Utah. Notably, [[Ann Eliza Young]]—tenth wife to divorce Brigham Young, women's advocate, national lecturer, and author of ''Wife No.{{nbsp}}19 or My Life of Bondage''—and Fanny Stenhouse, author of ''Tell It All: My Life in Mormonism'', testified to the happiness of the very early Church members before polygamy. They independently published their books in 1875. These books and the lectures of Ann Eliza Young have been credited with the United States Congress's passage of anti-polygamy laws by newspapers throughout the United States, as recorded in "The Ann Eliza Young Vindicator", a pamphlet which detailed Ms. Young's travels and warm reception throughout her lecture tour.

T. B. H. Stenhouse, former Utah Mormon polygamist, a Mormon missionary for thirteen years, and a Salt Lake City newspaper owner, finally left Utah and wrote ''The Rocky Mountain Saints''. His book gives a witnessed account of life in Utah, both the good and the bad. He finally left Utah and Mormonism after financial ruin occurred when Brigham Young sent Stenhouse to relocate to Ogden, Utah, according to Stenhouse, to take over his thriving pro-Mormon ''Salt Lake Telegraph'' newspaper. In addition to these testimonies, ''The Confessions of John D. Lee'', written by John D. Lee—alleged "Scapegoat" for the [[Mountain Meadow Massacre]]—also came out in 1877. The corroborative testimonies coming out of Utah from Mormons and former Mormons influenced Congress and the people of the United States.

In the [[1890 Manifesto]], the LDS Church banned polygamy. When Utah [[Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895|applied for statehood again]], it was accepted. One of the conditions for granting Utah statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the state constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were admitted into the Union later. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.