Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat (49:41)
Anyway, so Brigham Young ends it like that. Now, you'll notice what he says there, at least the way it's recorded in these minutes, is that I know that Zachary Taylor is dead and damned. Now, of course, for Latter Day Saints, damnation is a very different thing than it is for other Christians, right? We don't believe that damnation is forever. We believe that it's temporary suffering and that then eventually there'll be a resurrection, you'll go to a kingdom of glory. Now, when a Christian hears something like that, it sounds like what you're saying is Zachary Taylor is going to burn in the fiery pits of hell forever. Brigham Young is essentially saying, look, there's nothing I can do to help the fact that he's dead and in the spirit world and suffering for the sins that he committed. And you think, well, what sins is Zachary Taylor committed? I mean, well, I mean, he has over a hundred slaves at his plantation, so I'm guessing something going on, you know, I mean, and so it, what happens, though, is that this takes on a firestorm. The, the, the fact that Brigham Young gets up and says, yeah, that's, that's not going to fly. And, you know, very indignant is, is Brocas and all of the other judges at the response. To make matters short, which I can't possibly do at this point, make matters short was a long, long time ago. Eventually it gets to a point where Brigham, after this, because this is a really public thing, he hears a report that several of the Justices, Lemuel Brandbury, Perry Brocas, and then the Secretary of the Territory, Broden Harris, that they were all, that they were just going to leave their posts and go back to the United States. So Brigham Young does the responsible adult thing to do. Now, look, in this case, I think Brigham Young's spot on. This person lied to you and said, I'm going to, I want to speak to your people briefly to ask for a donation for Washington's monument. And then he went on for an hour Telling everyone how wrong they were, that no one ever hurt them and they shouldn't have a problem with the United States. Well, that's not what you said you were going to talk about. You called an audible here. You decided to pass on the one yard line, and it was an interception for a touchdown. So Brigham Young, though, writes to Brocas and he says, look, I think both of us kind of probably said things we probably shouldn't. A little emotional. How about we both. We meet again next week. You apologize for your remarks, I'll apologize for mine, and we'll just move on. Right now that sounds like a pretty big thing to do, right? Broca's response? Oh, I'd be happy to meet with you again next week, but I wouldn't be able to. To apologize for anything that I said, because everything I said was 100% accurate. He didn't say 100% accurate. He said, but everything was right. So things kind of snowball a little bit now only. So this is all happening in September, but eventually these officials are going to leave Utah territory. And once they leave Utah Territory, they are going to make the most outlandish claims that their lives are in danger, that the Mormons are going to kill them, that the Mormons are in rebellion. Let me give you an example of a newspaper article from November talking about what's going on in Utah when these judges leave. Revolutionary outbreak in Utah is what it's called. The Mormons are not more remarkable for their extraordinary religion than they are for a seditious and turbulent spirit. The day will never come when they will be good citizens of the United States, as some of the Indians are under our protection. He goes on to talk about the whole thing, that these people are assembled and Brocas gets up to speak. He invoked for the judiciary the confidence and support of the community. This invocation was prompted by a conviction that the popular sentiment was inimical. Inimical. Oh, my goodness gracious. I. Richard, I smell toast.
