The (Proposed) State of Deseret
“Constitution of the State of Deseret …” L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
In 1849, Latter-day Saints proposed to Congress the formation of the State of Deseret, the 31st state in the union. History, of course, had a different idea. California would become America’s 31st state just a year later, and Utah (the severely-reduced remnant of Deseret’s territory) would not be admitted for nearly another five decades.
“Deseret,” from the Book of Mormon word for “honeybee,” captured how the Saints at this time viewed themselves—an industrious community in cooperation for a common good.
Latter-day Saints began settling the Great Basin in the late-1840s after weathering years of persecution in the east. By July 1847, Brigham Young had arrived in the Salt Lake valley to head up colonization efforts in the region. Latter-day Saints transformed unforgiving desert into a land they considered their own.
It’s unsurprising, then, that LDS Church leadership petitioned to form their own state. But a skeptical Congress denied their request, worried that a Mormon state would effictively cut off the eastern and western portions of America’s manifest destiny. Issues orbiting the power of the LDS Church and polygamy would further bar Utah from graduating beyond territorial status.
Below is a map I’ve drawn of the proposed State of Deseret based on the (very likely) same map that LDS leadership used to determine its boundaries. The original map, drawn by Charles Preuss, is part of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
The Saints essentially drew their border along watershed boundaries, i.e., anything that did not flow out to the Columbia River or Gulf Coast would be included. The port town of San Diego would have offered Deseret direct access to the Pacific Ocean, and splitting the Sierra Nevada Mountains would have offered Mormon and non-Mormon access to the gold rush. It just so happens that the shape of Deseret looks like someone tried to draw France from memory.
State of Deseret
Based on “Map Of Oregon And Upper California . . . Bay of San Francisco” by Charles Preuss. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
