Utah\'s History and the Mormon

Utah's History And The Mormon Population

Utah's history is one inextricably linked to the evolution of the Mormon population in the United States. Today, one can't so much as mention the nation's 45th state without conjuring associations to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and its frequently misunderstood, persecuted or socially isolated followers. As one of the fastest growing, most highly urbanized and yet in most regions most sparsely populated states in the Union, it nonetheless boasts a density of Mormon worshippers unseen in the rest of the world. Though the faith did not begin here, the expulsion of Mormon worshippers from many more established parts of the United States would lead to their institutionalization in a select piece of frontier. This is the piece that would ultimately become Utah, both the world's base for Mormon orientation and a place from which proselytization in the faith was originated in the mid-19th century and onward. This remains the case today, where the Mormon population of the state is remarkably high parallel to that throughout the United States.

Indeed, according to figures provided by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, "members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormon groups account for 1.7% of the adult population." (PRC, 10) This makes Mormonism one of the smallest religious faiths in the U.S., in spite of the relative visibility commanded by the Christian sect. Perhaps one of the major reasons for this visibility is the existence of Utah, which provides something of a focal point in the relationship between the U.S. As a whole and Mormon society. Most particularly, this is because Utah is a majority population Mormon state in a nation where the religion is otherwise significantly viewed as a minority.

The faith remains one in a steady state of growth, due in no small part to the commonality of multiple offspring in Mormon families, which procreate as a matter both of religious practice and in the interests of expanding the population of a comparably young religion. This has been a successful drive, most noted in Utah itself. Here, "the net growth in Utah among members of the Church is growing steadily, approaching 1.8 million or 72% of the population according to end-of-year 2006 statistics." (Newsroom, 1)

As the text by Poll et al. (1989) indicates, this is a product of a long-term evolution of the state completely in the image of Mormon leaders such as Brigham Young. Centered in Illinois after being pushed from other parts of the country for practices which Christians found objectionable, the Mormons came upon hard times with the assassination of Joseph Smith and his brother. (Rood & Thatcher, 1) The founders of the Mormon faith had been viewed as a threat to American values based on their practice of polygamy. Young led the Mormon colony to Utah, a largely unsettled land save for the Ute Indian tribes from which it would eventually draw its name. (Rood & Thatcher, 1)

Even here, the Mormons would be met with considerable challenges. The 'gentile' influence of American military force would ultimately push to confrontation the Mormons and various governmental groups set on obstructing effective settlement of the polygamist groups. Ultimately though, its brief history of reluctant nomadic behavior had prepared it better than such groups to shape the future of the Utah territory. Vying for American statehood in the face of much institutional and practical obstruction, the Mormons would nonetheless be able to out-wait other interested parties. As Rood & Thatcher report, "although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort." (Rood & Thatcher, 1)

These characteristics would precipitate considerable opportunities for success in the broad, harsh desert terrain that covers much of the territory. The participation of the Mormons in the Mexican-American war, in fact, would be fundamental in delivering the territory to American ownership, earning the population some degree of esteem with a government that nonetheless opposed its fast growing prominence in the preservation of settlement in the frontier. Quite to the point, well before its achievement of statehood in 1899, the Mormons had succeeded in situating themselves to control the economic development of the areas surrounding and branching out from Salt Lake City. Under Mormon leadership, "basic industries developed rapidly, the city was laid out, and building began. Natural resources, including timber and water, were regarded as community property; and the church organization served as the first government." (Rood & Thatcher, 1)