Whereas the Territory of Utah was settled by certain emigrants from
the States and from foreign countries who have for several years past
manifested a spirit of insubordination to the Constitution and laws
of the United States. The great mass of those settlers, acting under
the influence of leaders to whom they seem to have surrendered their
judgment, refuse to be controlled by any other authority. They have been
often advised to obedience, and these friendly counsels have been
answered with defiance. The officers of the Federal Government have been
driven from the Territory for no offense but an effort to do their
sworn duty; others have been prevented from going there by threats of
assassination; judges have been violently interrupted in the performance
of their functions, and the records of the courts have been seized and
destroyed or concealed. Many other acts of unlawful violence have been
perpetrated, and the right to repeat them has been openly claimed by the
leading inhabitants, with at least the silent acquiescence of nearly all
the others. Their hostility to the lawful government of the country has
at length become so violent that no officer bearing a commission from
the Chief Magistrate of the Union can enter the Territory or remain
there with safety, and all those officers recently appointed have been
unable to go to Salt Lake or anywhere else in Utah beyond the immediate
power of the Army. Indeed, such is believed to be the condition to which
a strange system of terrorism has brought the inhabitants of that region
that no one among them could express an opinion favorable to this
Government, or even propose to obey its laws, without exposing his life
and property to peril.
After carefully considering this state of affairs and maturely weighing
the obligation I was under to see the laws faithfully executed, it
seemed to me right and proper that I should make such use of the
military force at my disposal as might be necessary to protect the
Federal officers in going into the Territory of Utah and in performing
their duties after arriving there. I accordingly ordered a detachment
of the Army to march for the city of Salt Lake, or within reach of that
place, and to act in case of need as a posse for the enforcement of the
laws. But in the meantime the hatred of that misguided people for the
just and legal authority of the Government had become so intense that
they resolved to measure their military strength with that of the Union.
They have organized an armed force far from contemptible in point of
numbers and trained it, if not with skill, at least with great assiduity
and perseverance. While the troops of the United States were on their
march a train of baggage wagons, which happened to be unprotected,
was attacked and destroyed by a portion of the Mormon forces and the
provisions and stores with which the train was laden were wantonly
burnt. In short, their present attitude is one of decided and unreserved
enmity to the United States and to all their loyal citizens. Their
determination to oppose the authority of the Government by military
force has not only been expressed in words, but manifested in overt acts
of the most unequivocal character.
Fellow-citizens of Utah, this is rebellion against the Government to
which you owe allegiance; it is levying war against the United States,
and involves you in the guilt of treason. Persistence in it will bring
you to condign punishment, to ruin, and to shame; for it is mere madness
to suppose that with your limited resources you can successfully resist
the force of this great and powerful nation.
If you have calculated upon the forbearance of the United States, if you
have permitted yourselves to suppose that this Government will fail to
put forth its strength and bring you to submission, you have fallen
into a grave mistake. You have settled upon territory which lies,
geographically, in the heart of the Union. The land you live upon was
purchased by the United States and paid for out of their Treasury; the
proprietary right and title to it is in them, and not in you. Utah is
bounded on every side by States and Territories whose people are true to
the Union. It is absurd to believe that they will or can permit you to
erect in their very midst a government of your own, not only independent
of the authority which they all acknowledge, but hostile to them and
their interests.
Do not deceive yourselves nor try to mislead others by propagating the
idea that this is a crusade against your religion. The Constitution and
laws of this country can take no notice of your creed, whether it be
true or false. That is a question between your God and yourselves, in
which I disclaim all right to interfere. If you obey the laws, keep the
peace, and respect the just rights of others, you will be perfectly
secure, and may live on in your present faith or change it for another
at your pleasure. Every intelligent man among you knows very well that
this Government has never, directly or indirectly, sought to molest you
in your worship, to control you in your ecclesiastical affairs, or even
to influence you in your religious opinions.
This rebellion is not merely a violation of your legal duty; it is
without just cause, without reason, without excuse. You never made a
complaint that was not listened to with patience; you never exhibited a
real grievance that was not redressed as promptly as it could be. The
laws and regulations enacted for your government by Congress have been
equal and just, and their enforcement was manifestly necessary for your
own welfare and happiness. You have never asked their repeal. They are
similar in every material respect to the laws which have been passed for
the other Territories of the Union, and which everywhere else (with one
partial exception) have been cheerfully obeyed. No people ever lived
who were freer from unnecessary legal restraints than you. Human wisdom
never devised a political system which bestowed more blessings or
imposed lighter burdens than the Government of the United States in
its operation upon the Territories.
But being anxious to save the effusion of blood and to avoid the
indiscriminate punishment of a whole people for crimes of which it is
not probable that all are equally guilty, I offer now a free and full
pardon to all who will submit themselves to the just authority of the
Federal Government. If you refuse to accept it, let the consequences
fall upon your own heads. But I conjure you to pause deliberately and
reflect well before you reject this tender of peace and good will.
Now, therefore, I, James Buchanan, President of the United States, have
thought proper to issue this my proclamation, enjoining upon all public
officers in the Territory of Utah to be diligent and faithful, to the
full extent of their power, in the execution of the laws; commanding all
citizens of the United States in said Territory to aid and assist the
officers in the performance of their duties; offering to the inhabitants
of Utah who shall submit to the laws a free pardon for the seditions and
treasons heretofore by them committed; warning those who shall persist,
after notice of this proclamation, in the present rebellion against the
United States that they must expect no further lenity, but look to be
rigorously dealt with according to their deserts; and declaring that
the military forces now in Utah and hereafter to be sent there will not
be withdrawn until the inhabitants of that Territory shall manifest a
proper sense of the duty which they owe to this Government.
[SEAL.]
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed to these presents.
Done at the city of Washington the 6th day of April, 1858, and of the
Independence of the United States the eighty-second.