THE MAKING OF A NATION 88 - James Buchanan, Part 4

THE MAKING OF A NATION #88 - James Buchanan, Part 4
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, November 11, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

This is Richard Rael.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English history program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Today, we continue the story of events in the United States during the eighteen-hundreds.

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VOICE ONE:

In the eighteen-twenties, a man named Joseph Smith started the Mormon religion in New York state. Smith based the religion on what he said were God's words to the ancient people of America.

Many people became members of the Mormon church. Other people laughed at some of their different beliefs. This led to trouble. Smith had to move his people many times. For a while, they settled in Illinois state, in a town they built and called Nauvoo.

The church split¹ when Joseph Smith said that Mormons could have more than one wife. The split led to violence and great public opposition² to the Mormons. Smith was arrested and put in jail. A mob³ attacked the jail and killed Smith and his brother. The governor of Illinois ordered the Mormons to leave.

VOICE TWO:

 
Brigham Young (Image:www.historytogo.utah.gov)
Brigham Young became the new leader of the Mormons. He told his people that he had seen their new home in a dream. He said it was a wide, beautiful valley in the west. He said he would recognize it when he saw it.

The Mormons left Illinois in the spring of eighteen-forty-six. There were more than fifteen-thousand people, and many wagons⁴ and farm animals. The trip west was hard. Many of the people died. After months of slow travel, they stopped to make their winter camp.

VOICE ONE:

Explorers visited the camp. They told Brigham Young about a great salt lake in a wide valley on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. From the way they described it, young believed it was the valley of his dream.

He started to move his people toward the great salt lake as soon as the winter snows melted. They arrived in the summer of eighteen-forty-seven. Brigham young looked out over the valley. "This," he said, "is the right place."

VOICE TWO:

The Mormons wasted no time. Two hours after arriving, they began to prepare the ground for planting. The lake water was too salty to use. So they built a system of canals to bring water down from the mountains.

The first few years were difficult. Cold weather and insects destroyed their crops. Yet the Mormons continued to work hard to make their settlement a success. They refused to think of leaving.

VOICE ONE:

At first, the Mormons were ruled only by the laws of their church and by their leader. Then gold was discovered in California. Many non-Mormons passed through the salt lake area on their way to the gold fields. Some of them stayed. It soon became clear that new laws were needed to govern the growing population.

The Mormons asked Congress to approve a territorial⁵ government for their land. They called the land "deseret." That was a Mormon word meaning "honey bee."

The Mormons claimed a large area. It stretched from the mountains of Colorado west to the mountains of California; from Arizona north to Oregon.

VOICE TWO:

Congress rejected the large claim of deseret and made it a much smaller territory. It also refused to accept the name deseret. Instead, Congress called it Utah, after the Ute tribe⁶ of native American Indians that lived there. As a compromise, Brigham yYung was named governor of the new Utah territory. Most of the new territorial officials were Mormons, too. Four were not Mormon.

VOICE ONE:

Governing the territory would not be easy. There were disputes during the administrations of several American presidents. As a result of one dispute, the four non-Mormon officials returned to Washington. The Mormons then formed their own territorial government with a legislature and courts.

Other federal officials were sent to Utah. Some of them were not prepared for the job. Usually, they did not stay long.

VOICE TWO:

Some of the officials made many charges against Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders. They said Mormons refused to recognize the power of the federal government. They said Mormons put the words of Young above the laws of Congress. They said the church had a secret organization to take the lives and property of those who questioned the power of the church.

There were charges that Mormons had burned the papers of the Supreme⁷ Court of the territory. And there were charges that Mormons were responsible for Indian attacks on some officials.

President Franklin Pierce decided⁸ he should make someone else governor of Utah. The man he chose, however, did not want the job. Instead, he urged the president to let Brigham Young remain. President Pierce agreed.

VOICE ONE:

Relations between the Mormons and the government did not improve in the next three years. Territorial officials resigned. They charged that the Mormons were in open rebellion⁹ against the federal government.

 
President James Buchanan
The next president, James Buchanan, dismissed Brigham Young as governor. He ordered more than one-thousand soldiers to go to Utah to put down the rebellion. He also sent a new governor, Alfred Cumming, with the soldiers. The Mormons prepared to fight.

A small group of Mormon men attacked and destroyed the army's supply wagons. They forced the soldiers to stop for the winter before reaching the salt lake valley. The soldiers could do nothing until spring.

VOICE TWO:

In Washington, efforts were made to settle the dispute. A man named Thomas Kane asked President Buchanan to let him go to Utah. Kane was an old friend of the president. He also was a friend of the Mormons. He had spent much time with them during their long trip to Utah ten years earlier.

Kane feared what might happen to his Mormon friends if fighting started. He told President Buchanan that he did not want a job or money. He only wanted a chance to be useful. The president agreed to let him try to settle the dispute.

VOICE ONE:

Thomas Kane arrived in Salt Lake City, the territorial capital, early in eighteen-fifty-eight. He found that the Mormons had decided not to fight. Instead, they were preparing to search for a new home. They talked of moving to Mexico or perhaps to an island in the South Pacific.

Kane talked with Brigham Young. Then he went to the army camp to talk with Governor Cumming. The governor agreed to go to Salt Lake City with Kane. The two men went alone, without any soldiers.

VOICE TWO:

The Mormons welcomed Cumming, but continued their preparations to leave. Cumming called a public meeting.

He said he was in Utah to represent the federal government. He said he was there to make sure the people of the territory obeyed the constitution and the laws of the United States. He said he would not use military force until every other way had failed. Above all, said Cumming, he would not interfere¹⁰ with the Mormon religion. He urged the Mormons not to leave the land they had worked so hard to build.

Brigham Young agreed to stay.

VOICE ONE:

Governor Cumming returned to the army camp. He told the commander that the Mormons had accepted him. He said military force would not be needed. A few days later, two representatives of President Buchanan arrived. They brought news that the president would not act against Mormons who accepted the rule of the United States government.

Brigham Young and the other Mormon leaders made a statement. They said they wished to live in peace under the constitution and the laws of the United States.

The dispute was over. Brigham Young continued to lead the Mormon church. But the governor ruled the territorial government. The two jobs were separate and would remain that way.

VOICE TWO:

Congressional elections were held in the United States in eighteen-fifty-eight. One political race created national interest. It was for one of the two Senate seats representing the state of Illinois. The candidate of the Democratic Party was Stephen Douglas. He was running for re-election. His opponent was a lawyer and member of the Republican¹¹ Party. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

That will be our story next time.

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VOICE ONE:

Today's program was written by Frank Beardsley. This is Richard Rael.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Sarah Long. Join us again for the VOA Special English history program, THE MAKING OF A NATION.

1 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 mob   

n.暴民，民众，暴徒；v.大举包围，乱挤，围攻

参考例句：

• The king was burned in effigy by the angry mob.国王的模拟像被愤怒的民众烧掉以泄心中的愤恨。
• An angry mob is attacking the palace.愤怒的暴徒在攻击王宫。

4 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

5 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

6 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 rebellion   

n.造反，叛乱，反抗

参考例句：

• The next year they rose up in rebellion.第二年他们就揭竿起义了。
• The new government quickly suppressed the rebellion.新政府迅速把叛乱镇压下去。

10 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

11 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。