The People's Party was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...

during the late 19th century. It was backed by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) and its newspaper, the '' Deseret News''. It opposed Utah's

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Beginnings

The People's Party emerged in 1870 in response to the non-"Mormon" Liberal Party. In fact, the initial slate of candidates for the 1870

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

election was approved on February 9 by citizens who had swarmed into the first meeting of Liberals in order to hijack and disrupt it. Daniel H. Wells, the incumbent mayor, easily won the first contested Salt Lake election 2301 to 321. Previously, political candidates ran without party affiliation, and Latter-day Saint candidates usually found themselves unopposed. With organized opposition to Latter-day Saint candidates, the Latter-day Saint leaders found having their own party expedient. Historian Ronald W. Walker states that the party's name was selected to combat the notion that

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

, himself not an elected official since 1857, was a tyrant. The People's Party, as the name intentionally suggested, claimed to speak for the Latter-day Saints, vast majority of citizens, in Utah Territory.

History of success

With only a handful of defeats, the party was supported by an overwhelming majority in most elections. Championing

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, with the vote extended to women in the territory in 1870, helped the party emphasize its strength. Most non-Latter-day saints in the territory were men, often miners, and so the People's Party gained a distinct advantage. Throughout its history, People's Party candidates never lost a statewide election. Local elections were lost to the Liberals under dubious circumstances, such as with the " Tooele Republic," and after harsh anti-polygamy legislation disqualified many Latter-day Saint voters in the 1880s before the 1890 Manifesto halted further Latter-day Saint plural marriages.

Dissolution

The party disbanded in June 1891 prior to elections for territorial legislature. Members joined the two national parties, with Latter-day Saint leaders striving to direct equal numbers toward each party. With Latter-day Saints Democrats and Republicans competing against Liberal candidates, the ''Deseret News'' characterized Liberals as a "bastard party". One political ad asked rhetorically "what is he who votes for a bastard ticket?" Nonetheless, Liberals captured one third of seats in the territorial legislature. Impetus for dissolving the party came from members of the national parties who believed the territory should follow national political lines before obtaining statehood. The Latter-day Saints Church could not favor either national party because the Latter-day Saints majority in the state would make the preferred party into a new ''de facto'' People's Party. Two years later Liberals, also eager for statehood, followed suit, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

became the 45th state in the Union on January 4, 1896.

References

* Walker, Ronald W. (1998). ''Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young''. Chicago:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

. *Erickson, Velt G. (1948). ''The Liberal Party of Utah''. University of Utah Master's Thesis.

External links

1891 Platform of the People's Party
{{Utah political parties 1870 establishments in Utah Territory 1891 disestablishments in Utah Territory Defunct state and local conservative parties in the United States Political parties established in 1870 Politics of Utah Territory The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Utah Territory Regional and state political parties in Utah Political parties disestablished in the 1890s Mormonism and politics