OSHER 704 - The Settlement of Utah: Conflict, Accommodation, and the Struggle for Statehood, 1847-1896

The settlement of Utah is unique in American history. It was born of a religious movement seeking refuge from the United States in the hope of creating a self-sustaining theocracy. Over four decades, during which the LDS Church abandoned polygamy and economic cooperation, that aspiration was replaced by compromise and gradual assimilation into the American mainstream. This six-week course considers this transition through the settlement the Utah and Juab Valleys, the Iron and Cotton Missions, and the tempering influence of the business interests that followed completion of the transcontinental railroad. Through this lens, the course considers the displacement of Utah's indigenous people (and the resulting Walker and Black Hawk Wars), the Mormon Reformation and Utah War, the cotton and wine industries of southern Utah, and the early Utah mining, mercantile, and rail interests that served as a counterweight to LDS control of Utah.