Colonel Steptoe during his stay in Utah was tendered the governorship of Utah by the President, but he refused to accept it, and joined in a petition to President Pierce praying for the re-appointment of Brigham Young, both as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Governor Young was accordingly re-appointed. In March, 1856, a Constitutional Convention was held in Salt Lake City, and a constitution, republican in spirit and liberal in its provisions, was adopted. John Taylor and George A. Smith, appointed delegates to present Utah's request for admission into the sisterhood of states. Elder Taylor joined his colleague in Washington during the summer of 1856, and labored among the members of Congress with a view of having a bill introduced for the admission of Utah. The Republican party, however, was already in the field with its platform that denominated polygamy and slavery as "twin relics" of barbarism. This marshaled all the Republicans against the admission of Utah; and so desirous were the Democrats to cast off the odium of befriending a polygamous people, that they were more bitter in their denunciation of the Mormons, if possible, than the Republicans. Even Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who had been a professed friend of the Mormon people, and who had been intimately acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, and in addition to that was recognized as the champion of the Popular Sovereignty doctrine, turned against them, and in a speech delivered in Springfield, Illinois, early in 1856, referred to Mormonism as "the loathsome ulcer of the body politic." [1] Under such circumstances it would have been folly to have pushed the claims of Utah in Congress; it would only have invited defeat, therefore the delegates decided to withhold any introduction of the matter at that time. In addition to all these labors, Elder Taylor rendered considerable valuable assistance in looking after the emigration business of the Church, especially in caring for the poor, who, having started from England, could get no further than New York. These he found employment for and watched over them with all the interest of a brother and a friend. He also directed the labors of the brethren who were preaching the gospel in the east and presided over all the churches. When he first went to the east to preside, the branches were disorganized, the Saints were scattered and like sheep without shepherds. But his assuming control of affairs was the signal for activity everywhere, and the work of the Lord revived. In reporting the progress of the work, early in 1856, we have him saying in _The Mormon_: