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Go directly to the collection, Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Views of Mormonism

Users of this collection can gain a better understanding of the persecution of Mormons by analyzing observations made by non-Mormons. Search on Salt Lake City for a variety of materials including diaries and letters by individuals who spent time in the city. Read the bibliographical summaries of these items to locate materials written by non-Mormons such as Edward Jackson, Schuyler Colfax, and Edmund Hope Verney, who visited and recorded their impressions of Salt Lake City and their opinions of Mormonism.

Edward Jackson traveled from Missouri to California during the gold rush, stopping in Salt Lake City along the way. His diary includes a lengthy description of the city and observations about The Church of Latter-day Saints. In two entries, he writes about the church services he attended:

"The services in the morning consisted of speeches from prophets Brigham and Young and the Elders inter spersed with music from the band songs from the 48 young men and women. Both the prophets and elders speeches were rantings malignant and hostile to our gov ernment and administration and the people in the West. They hold Young to be the greatest man now on earth, & that he knows every thing that is to come. For instance one man has left his wife and children in the states and the prophet tells him he shall soon see them, so that he rests, perfectly contented. They are the most ignorant class of people I ever met with.

The forenoon I spent in writing and sleeping; in the afternoon, I went to church. After sitting a long time, one of the elders got up and made a speech & of all speeches I ever heard it was the worst. He was an ignorant infidel, not knowing what he said; condemning the Bible and everything and everybody except themselves and all praise was not enough for these ignoramuses."

From Pages 62 and 66, July 1849, Jackson, Edward. Diary, 1849.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax traveled from Missouri to California, in 1865. He spent a few days in Salt Lake City and met with Brigham Young, president of the Church of Latter-day Saints. He described the city in glowing terms but reserved the end of his reminiscences for a thorough critique of the Mormon religion:

"Allow me, before concluding, to refer to that social & political problem, of an Interior - known as Mormonism .In the very heart of the Continent, with their Chief City on the direct line of Com travel, & ultimately of Commerce, between the East & West, a population of 100,000, gathered from every Nation in Europe & N. America , are ruled by the absolute will of one man. These people are bound together by the most powerful ecclesiastical system I have ever studied.

Hospitable as they were to our party, I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that they should not hold office under a Government, whose law they deliberately trample upon. No man, living in polygamy, should be a contractor of any kind under the Govt, and thus amass wealth, as has been the case there, under one law, while he scoffs at & defies another law of the Republic."

Colfax, Schuyler. Across the continent by overland stage in 1865, 1865. Letter-April 18, 1865, pages 28 and 37

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