As a citizen of the State and a witness to the events and words which
constitute those pledges, as a Senator of the United States, I give my
word of honor to you that I believed that these pledges consisted of the
following propositions:
First. That the Mormon leaders would live within the laws pertaining to
plural marriage and the continued plural marriage relation, and that
they would enforce this obligation upon all of their followers, under
penalty of disfellowship.
Second. That the leaders of the Mormon Church would no longer exercise
political sway, and that their followers would be free and would
exercise their freedom in politics, in business, and in social affairs.
As a citizen and a Senator I give my word of honor to you that I
believed that these pledges would be kept in the spirit in which
Congress and the country accepted them, and that there would never be
any violation, evasion, denial, or equivocation concerning them.
I appeal to such members of this body as were in either House of
Congress during the years 1890 to 1896, if it was not their belief at
that time that the foregoing were the pledges and that they would be
kept; and I respectfully insist that every Senator here who was a member
of either House at that time would have refused to vote for Utah's
admission unless he had firmly believed as I have stated.
1. Utah, secured her statehood by a solemn compact made by the Mormon
leaders in behalf of themselves and their people.