History 3260 MIDTERM PART ONE

1. Utah is both a product of the times in which it emerged but also a unique entity that worked to shape its own future. Robbins and Malone both describe how the west, and by a large extent Utah is a part of the great narrative of the American West and sometimes differing from it entirely. By exploring the different facets and predominant activities of 1850's and beyond we can find clues as to the origins and ultimate fate of the region . By exploring Western American capitalism, various functions of manifest destiny, and how settlers adhered to the frontier pioneer spirit we can learn the overall narrative in which the region participates.
Capitalism in the West: Mormons may have been among the first to settle in Utah; however their ideology and motivations were greatly derived from manifest destiny and the ongoing quest of capitalism for a better way of life. The spirit of hard work, stewardship and rugged individualism was preached by the church’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr. Fleeing discrimination and religious persecution their journey west ended at the seemingly uninhabitable Great Basin of present day Utah. The Mormon settlement of Utah can largely be seen as an extension if not a directly related to Manifest Destiny and the idea of Americans' seizing land in the rugged frontier. Upon Smith’s death, Brigham Young eventually seized control of the Mormon community. Looking to create the Kingdom of God where the Saints could live free of persecution, they ventured further west. Unlike most others that moved to the frontier at this time, the “Mormon trek was an organized and directed movement of an entire community” under the direction of the church leadership.1 No single group had previously set their sights west with the intention of establishing a community. Along with the first settlers in 1847. This pioneering spirit to break and lead new ground complies explicitly with the American myth of the frontier. The Utah settlers come for different

Cited: Britton, Karen; Elliott, Fred, Miller, E. “Cotton Culture.” Texas State Historical Association. Accessed 9 October2014. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/afc03. “Wagon Trains.” Spartacus Educational. Accessed 9 October 2014 Degler Carl N. Out of Our Past: the Forces that Shaped Modern America. New York: Harpers, 1970 Chapter 4. Does land make a people? 13-22. Faragher, John Mack. Re-reading Frederick Jackson Turner: “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” and Other Essays. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994. 93. James, Ronald. “The California Gold Rush”, Online Nevada Encyclopedia. Last modified 14 October 201.http://www.onlinenevada.org/california_gold_rush. “Gold Mining Turns into a Big Business”, Nevada Outback-Gems. Accessed 8 April 2012. http://nevada-outback-gems.com/gold_rush_tales/california_gold_rush-tale20.htm. Madsen, Deborah L. American Exceptionalism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1988. P. 45 Malcolm J. Rohrbough, Days of gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation. California:University of California Press, October 2014. 39-52. Milner, Clyde A II, A New Significance: Re-envisioning the History of the American West, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 36-48. Turner, Frederick Jackson “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. In (Red) Curti, Merle et al. American Issues: The Social Record. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1971. p. 87-100.