What issues did the US government have with the Mormon settlements in Utah in the 1800s?

Answer 1

Relations between the US Government and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) were severely strained beginning about the time the church sought redress from the United States for the atrocities committed against them in the state of Missouri. President Martin Van Buren famously refused to help the Saints, declaring that doing so would lose him the Missouri vote.

When the Saints left Nauvoo to emigrate to the territories of the west, the government ironically sought the church's help during the war with Mexico. The church agreed to provide volunteers to march against the armies of Santa Anna. The Mormon Battalion participated in what became the longest war-time march of any army, yet miraculously reached San Diego without ever having engaged the enemy.

Notwithstanding this assistance rendered by the church, it wasn't long before the Government continued its former hostile attitude with church leaders. Polygamy was the primary focus of the government's wrath, which culminated in the sending of troops into Utah to confiscate church property and place its leaders under arrest. Relations between the church and the government improved after the church formally discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890.

Interestingly, the government was less concerned with the colonization efforts spearheaded by Brigham Young, second prophet and president of the church. In fact, those colonies helped the United States promote its own "Manifest Destiny" of settling the whole of the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Mormon settlements became the backbones of many communities that continue to thrive today, including Las Vegas, Nevada as well as portions of California, Arizona and New Mexico, and even Mexico.