<P> After a succession crisis, most of the Mormons united under Brigham Young, who organized an evacuation from Nauvoo and from the United States itself after the federal government refused to protect the Mormons . Young and an eventual 50,000--70,000 would cross the Great Plains to settle in the Salt Lake Valley and the surrounding area . After the events of the Mexican--American War, the area became a United States territory . Young immediately petitioned for the addition of the State of Deseret, but the federal government declined . Instead, Congress carved out the much smaller Utah Territory . Over the next 46 years, several actions of the federal government were directed at Mormons, specifically to curtail the practice of polygamy and to reduce their political and economic power . These included the Utah War, Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, Poland Act, Edmunds Act, and Edmunds--Tucker Act . In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto, ending polygamy . </P> <P> With the concept of plural marriage, from 1830 to 1890 the Mormon faith allowed its members to practice polygamy; after 1843 this was limited to polygyny (one man could have several wives). The notion of polygamy was not only generally disdained by most of Joseph Smith's contemporaries, it is also contrary to the traditional Christian understanding of marriage . After 1844 the United States government passed legislation aimed specifically at the Mormon practice of polygamy until The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints (LDS Church) officially renounced it . In the case of Reynolds v. United States, the U.S. supreme court concluded that "religious duty" was not a suitable defense to an indictment for polygamy; therefore, a law against polygamy is not legally considered to discriminate against a religion that endorses polygamy . When their appeals to the courts and lawmakers were exhausted and once church leaders were satisfied that God had accepted what they saw as their sacrifice for the principle, the prophet leader of the church announced that he had received inspiration that God had accepted their obedience and rescinded the commandment for plural marriage . In 1890, an official declaration was issued by the church prohibiting further plural marriages . Utah was admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896 . </P> <P> The situation of Native Americans in the United States has been problematic since the initial European colonization of the Americas . Aside from the general issues in the relations between Europeans and Native Americans, there has been a historic suppression of Native American religions as well as some current charges of religious discrimination against Native Americans by the U.S. government, that need to be considered . </P> <P> With the practice of the Americanization of Native Americans, Native American children were sent to Christian boarding schools where they were forced to worship as Christians and traditional customs were banned . Until the Freedom of Religion Act 1978, "spiritual leaders (of Native Americans) ran the risk of jail sentences of up to 30 years for simply practicing their rituals ." The traditional indigenous Sun Dance was illegal from the 1880s (Canada) or 1904 (USA) to the 1980s . </P>

Rhetoric and the establishment of the us constitution