The Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah was the legislative branch of government in

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. ...

, replacing the General Assembly of the provisional

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional state ...

. The Act of Congress creating the territory in 1850 specified that the territorial legislature should consist of a council of 13 members serving 2-year terms, and a 26-member house of representatives elected for 1-year terms. In 1870, the Legislative Assembly changed the term for members being elected to the House that year to 2 years. Thereafter,

legislative sessions A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...

were held only in even-numbered years.

List of Legislative Assemblies

Annual sessions (1851-1869)

After the first Legislative Assembly, which remained in session much longer in order to establish functional operations of the territorial government, regular annual sessions were scheduled for the second Monday in December and set to run for 40 days. Although the flurry of concluding business at the close of a session caused a few legislatures to adjourn a day or two past 40, beyond the 1st only the 2nd and 10th Legislative Assemblies required a special session (in the case of the 10th, one held in advance of the regular session rather than after). The 16th Legislative Assembly adjusted the start of future sessions to the second Monday in January, so that the legislature elected in 1867 did not begin meeting until 1868. *

1st Utah Territorial Legislature First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

: September 22, 1851 — February 18, 1852 * 2nd Utah Territorial Legislature: December 13, 1852 — January 21, 1853 * 3rd Utah Territorial Legislature: December 12, 1853 — January 20, 1854 *

4th Utah Territorial Legislature The 4th Utah Territorial Legislature comprised members of the Territorial Council serving the second year of their terms, together with members of the House of Representatives elected to one-year terms. The regular election for the House was held Au ...

: December 11, 1854 — January 19, 1855 * 5th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 10, 1855 — January 18, 1856 *

6th Utah Territorial Legislature 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

: December 8, 1856 — January 16, 1857 * 7th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 14, 1857 — January 22, 1858 * 8th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 13, 1858 — January 21, 1859 * 9th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 12, 1859 — January 20, 1860 * 10th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 10, 1860 — January 18, 1861 * 11th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 9, 1861 — January 17, 1862 * 12th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 8, 1862 — January 16, 1863 * 13th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 14, 1863 — January 22, 1864 * 14th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 12, 1864 — January 21, 1865 * 15th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 11, 1865 — January 19, 1866 * 16th Utah Territorial Legislature: December 10, 1866 — January 19, 1867 *

17th Utah Territorial Legislature The 17th Utah Territorial Assembly convened on January 13, 1868.{{Cite journal, last=Cooley, first=Everett L., date=1956, title=JOURNALS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: TERRITORY OF UTAH SEVENTH ANNUAL SESSION, 1857-1858 (continued), url=https://www.js ...

: January 13 — February 25, 1868 * 18th Utah Territorial Legislature: January 11 — February 19, 1869

Biennial sessions (1870-1894)

Territorial apportionment

Representation in the Legislative Assembly was apportioned by Governor

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

prior to the initial 1851 election by county. The apportionment was comprehensively revised by the legislature in 1862. Beginning in 1888, legislators were elected from geographic districts instead of by county after the Edmunds-Tucker Act nullified previous apportionments and required redistricting of the entire territory.

References

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External links