History of the United StatesBeard, Charles A. (Charles Austin)
History
History of the United States
Beard, Charles A. (Charles Austin)
United States -- History
_Polygamy Forbidden._--The hope of the Mormons that they might forever
remain undisturbed by outsiders was soon dashed to earth, for hundreds
of farmers and artisans belonging to other religious sects came to
settle among them. In 1850 the colony was so populous and prosperous
that it was organized into a territory of the United States and brought
under the supervision of the federal government. Protests against
polygamy were raised in the colony and at the seat of authority three
thousand miles away at Washington. The new Republican party in 1856
proclaimed it "the right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the
Territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery." In
due time the Mormons had to give up their marriage practices which were
condemned by the common opinion of all western civilization; but they
kept their religious faith. Monuments to their early enterprise are seen
in the Temple and the Tabernacle, the irrigation works, and the great
wealth of the Church.
SUMMARY OF WESTERN DEVELOPMENT AND NATIONAL POLITICS
While the statesmen of the old generation were solving the problems of
their age, hunters, pioneers, and home seekers were preparing new
problems beyond the Alleghanies. The West was rising in population and
wealth. Between 1783 and 1829, eleven states were added to the original
thirteen. All but two were in the West. Two of them were in the
Louisiana territory beyond the Mississippi. Here the process of
colonization was repeated. Hardy frontier people cut down the forests,
built log cabins, laid out farms, and cut roads through the wilderness.
They began a new civilization just as the immigrants to Virginia or
Massachusetts had done two centuries earlier.
Like the seaboard colonists before them, they too cherished the spirit
of independence and power. They had not gone far upon their course
before they resented the monopoly of the presidency by the East. In 1829
they actually sent one of their own cherished leaders, Andrew Jackson,
to the White House. Again in 1840, in 1844, in 1848, and in 1860, the
Mississippi Valley could boast that one of its sons had been chosen for
the seat of power at Washington. Its democratic temper evoked a cordial
response in the towns of the East where the old aristocracy had been put
aside and artisans had been given the ballot.
For three decades the West occupied the interest of the nation. Under
Jackson's leadership, it destroyed the second United States Bank. When
he smote nullification in South Carolina, it gave him cordial support.
It approved his policy of parceling out government offices among party
workers--"the spoils system" in all its fullness. On only one point did
it really dissent. The West heartily favored internal improvements, the
appropriation of federal funds for highways, canals, and railways.
Jackson had misgivings on this question and awakened sharp criticism by
vetoing a road improvement bill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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