NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This item was first published on July 4, 2024.
IDAHO GOES DOWN As John Hancock took pen in hand and became the first of 56 delegates to sign the paper that Thomas Jefferson and the other committee members had crafted, there was a thoughtful and terrible stillness.
After months of deliberation, the Second Continental Congress finally realized the seriousness of their actions on August 2, 1776.
Two days earlier, the written text of the declaration now known as the Declaration of Independence had passed by a vote of 12-0, and on July 4 the final manuscript was adopted.
Almost a year and a half after the Revolutionary War began, the words captured the battle the colonists had been engaged in.
Therefore, the document stated that we humbly publish and declare that these United Colonies are and rightfully should be free and independent states; that they are released from allegiance to the British crown; and that any political ties to the state of Great Britain are and should be completely severed. We firmly believe that divine providence will protect us, and we commit our lives, riches, and sacred honor to one another.
Knowing full well that it was an act of treason against the British crown, each delegate came to the table to sign the document in bold, big ink.
Many at the time thought it was our own death sentences, according to Benjamin Rush, a Pennsylvania delegate, who wrote about that momentous occasion.
The oil painting by John Trumbull, courtesy of the Capitol’s architect, shows the first draft of the Declaration of Independence being delivered to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.
The ratification of the Constitution and the establishment of the United States of America, with its legal system and democratic republican style of governance, would take a further eleven years.
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The Declaration is currently housed in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., after 249 years. Every year on July 4, Americans get together to commemorate the country’s founding fathers’ achievements and its existence.
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July 3rd is another important date in Idaho. Idaho became the 43rd state in the union on that day in 1890. It had a controversial start as well. Here is a look back at some of the founding fathers of the Gem State and current challenges.
Idaho s Constitutional Convention and the anti-Mormon Test Oath
The act that established the state of Idaho was signed by Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States. Later, when he visited the Gem State, he planted a tree at the Boise Statehouse.
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Shoup Avenue in downtown Idaho Falls is named in honor of George Shoup, who played a key role in securing the Constitutional Convention’s convening and initiating the statehood process.
According to F. Ross Peterson’s book Idaho’s Governors, Shoup led the convention as territorial governor until they drafted a constitution.
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The convention was presided over by William Clagett, a lawyer who worked in various territories, including Idaho.
William Clagett, president of the Idaho Constitutional Convention, with President Benjamin Harrison, left | courtesy of Wikipedia
According to the Idaho State Historical Society, officials from all throughout the Idaho territory convened in Boise from July 4 to August 6, 1889, to discuss all of the significant issues addressed by the Constitution.
The Test Oath was one of the most contentious topics. A bill that forbade members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from voting or holding public office was enacted by the Idaho Legislature in 1884 and incorporated into the Constitution.
The public at the time was against the church’s practice of polygamy. The measure was driven by worries about the voting power of the growing number of Latter-day Saints arriving in Idaho.
One of the most passionate advocates of the law was Fred Dubois, a Republican delegate to the convention from whose the town in eastern Idaho takes its name. He was completely fixated on the Mormon issue and had previously been the U.S. Marshal for Idaho. He believed that as a government agent, it was his responsibility to ensure that Latter-day Saints complied with the laws of the land, which prohibited polygamy.
Dubois stormed Paris, Idaho, where many churchgoers resided, on May 9, 1885. He apprehended a number of polygamous males, who were subsequently detained and imprisoned.
Due to the overcrowding at the territorial penitentiary in Boise, five Mormon men from southeastern Idaho who had been found guilty of plural marriage were sent to the United States Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory, in December 1887. According to a 2015 story in the Idaho Statesman, they were the first Mormon men from Idaho to be transported to another region to serve their term and undoubtedly felt like martyrs for their faith.
As a result, the general public’s anti-Mormon feeling increased.
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The Test Oath was firmly affixed to the new Constitution by Dubois and others. Peterson said Shoup refrained from getting personally involved in the matter.
On October 5, 1889, Shoup issued a proclamation requesting that the Constitution be ratified by an election on November 5. It was approved by voters 7 to 1.
According to Peterson, the document was sent to Washington after Shoup signed it.
In 1890, it was approved by the Senate in June after passing the House of Representatives in April.
On July 3, 1890, Dubois visited President Harrison at the White House. Dubois wanted Harrison to sign the statehood measure on July 4 so Idaho could celebrate its birthday on Independence Day, but Harrison hadn’t done so yet.
The president told Dubois that it was important to sign the bill at the right time. On July 4, the flag was updated to include stars for every state that had been accepted the year before. Idaho wouldn’t receive its star on the flag until 1891 if he waited until the next day to sign it.
Dubois changed his mind despite the enormous demand for a signing on July 4.
I beg that you sign the bill right away because I am solely responsible for it. According to the Idaho Statesman, Dubois said, “I want the star of Idaho on the flag tomorrow.”
Harrison informed him, “I think you made a good choice.”
Harrison said, “There is no honor which can come to a young man greater than that of bringing your state into the Union,” after signing the law and handing the 39-year-old delegate the gold pen and holder.
In the same year, polygamy was outlawed by the LDS Church. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually upheld the anti-Mormon section after it was appealed. Although the prohibitions against church members were lifted by the Idaho Legislature in 1893, the constitutional clause was in effect until 1982.
A territorial governor s role in Idaho s creation
The legislation creating the Idaho Territory was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1863, twenty-seven years prior.
At the time of its creation, America was at the height of the Civil War at the time and the federal territory sprawled acrossan area one-quarter larger than Texas.Montana and the majority of Wyoming were then part of the territory that is now Idaho. Lincoln s close friend, William Wallace whom he d appointed to serve as Idaho s first territorial governor came up with the shape of its boundaries.
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It was President Grover Cleveland who appointed Edward Stevenson to serve as Idaho s first and only Democratic territorial governor in 1885. In addition, Stevenson was the first person from Idaho to hold the office of governor.
A native of New York, Stevenson lived in Michigan before heading west with the California gold rush in 1849. He was active in state politics, serving in multiple positions, including four terms in the state legislature. He settled in the Boise Basin in 1863.
A 2016 Idaho Falls Magazinearticle calls Stevenson Idaho s best territorial governor because of his non-partisan and moderate approach to controversial issues, including the anti-Mormon legislation. His position on the matter is unclear.
He is best remembered for preventing a measure that would ve placed the northern part of the territory in Washington and the rest in Nevada.
Stevenson strongly objected to this move and requested an audience in Washington to be heard on the matter.
He was denied the trip, but gained his point, Robert Sims and Hope Benedict write in Idaho s Governors. Cleveland wanted to discourage absence of territorial governors from their posts of duty, and Stevenson was promised that if he would only stay home, the bill would not be signed.
Cleveland s prediction proved correct. Congress refused the plan in its next session and Governor Stevenson took personal credit for having saved Idaho.
He went on to be a huge supporter of Idaho s application for statehood. Though he was replaced as governor after Benjamin Harrison took office, he continued to work vigorously to that end.
Though he was unsuccessful in a second bid for governor in 1894, he is regarded today as one of Idaho s most influential pioneers.
