Roughing It · Chapter
Appendix A explained
This appendix provides a brief sketch of Mormon history, detailing the persecution, migration, and establishment of the Mormon church under Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
What happens
This appendix provides a brief sketch of Mormon history, detailing the persecution, migration, and establishment of the Mormon church under Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. It describes Brigham Young's rise to power, the founding of Salt Lake City, the creation of the Utah Territory, and the ongoing conflict with the U.S. government, including the failure of federal officials to exert authority over the Mormon community.
Themes in this chapter
Colonialism and Cultural Change
The Mormon settlement in Utah represents a form of internal colonialism, as they established a separate society in the wilderness, clashing with U.S. federal authority.
Identity and Belonging
The Mormons' persecution and migration forged a strong collective identity, based on religious faith and opposition to 'Gentiles.'
The Absurdity of Pretension
Twain highlights the absurdity of Brigham Young's claims to prophetic succession and divinity, as well as the federal officials' impotence.
Characters to notice
- Brigham Young
Central figure in the appendix; described as rising from disciple to absolute monarch, governor of Utah, and self-proclaimed God.
- Joseph Smith
Founder of Mormonism; killed in Nauvoo; his prophetic succession was claimed by Brigham Young.
- Rigdon
Assumed presidency after Smith's death but was ousted and cursed by Brigham Young.
Key passages
“the very next year Congress deliberately snubbed it and created the “territory of Utah” out of the same accumulation of mountains, sagebrush, alkali and general desolation—but made Brigham Governor of it.”
The following year, Congress ignored the Mormons' state of Deseret and instead established the Utah Territory, appointing Brigham Young as its governor.
Highlights the federal government's dismissal of Mormon autonomy.
“He claims that he is to have a heaven of his own hereafter, and that he will be its God, and his wives and children its goddesses, princes and princesses.”
Brigham Young asserts that in the afterlife, he will rule his own heaven as a god, with his family as royalty.
Illustrates the grandiose religious claims Twain satirizes.
“The federal judges opened court in a land filled with crime and violence and sat as holiday spectacles for insolent crowds to gape at—for there was nothing to try, nothing to do, nothing on the dockets!”
Federal judges in Utah held court in a lawless environment, but their sessions were meaningless because no cases were brought before them.
Shows the futility of federal authority in Mormon territory.