Chapter 47
The Mission of Governor Shaffer and Judge McKean
1870–1877
Governor Shaffer
Following the removal of Governor Harding in 1863, Utah was blessed for a time with the presence of governors who were inclined to attend to the duties of their office without much interference with “Mormonism.” Governors James Duane Doty and Charles Durkee had held the office and S. A. Mann, secretary of the territory, served as acting governor following the resignation of Governor Durkee in 1869, until the appointee of President Ulysses S. Grant arrived in the territory in the spring of 1870. This was J. Wilson Shaffer of Illinois, who proved to be the most bitter and bigoted anti-“Mormon” governor Utah ever had. He was in his forty-third year when he came to Utah, and was suffering from consumption, contracted while serving in the Civil War. He was a man of determined will, and evidently was sincere in his conviction that the “Mormons” were more than “rebels,” who needed the drastic treatment which by some was considered proper and necessary treatment for the South, during the days of reconstruction. He came to Utah with a bias against the Latter-day Saints which nothing short of a miracle could remove. “Never after me, by ——,” said he, “shall it be said Brigham Young is governor of Utah.” In this expression he displayed his ignorance of the conditions in Utah—a mistake made by many others—that because the Latter-day Saints hearkened to the counsels of President Young who, as their inspired leader, directed them as members of the Church, he was usurping the prerogatives of the executive. If these men had been broad enough they might have seen that President Young respected the civil authority at all times, even when sorely abused and tried by the petty acts of presumptuous and bigoted officials, who did all in their power to annoy and humiliate him before the people.
Removal of Secretary Mann and Judge Wilson
The anger of Governor Shaffer was kindled against Secretary Mann because he, as acting governor, signed the woman suffrage bill and endeavored to show some just consideration for the majority of the people. Likewise he displayed feelings of resentment against Chief Justice Charles A. Wilson because he would not subvert the law in favor of the anti-“Mormon” “ring” to the disadvantage of the people. Wilson was accused of exercising too much leniency towards the “Mormons,” so he, like Secretary Mann, was removed through the influence of the governor.
The Coming of Judge McKean
To succeed the deposed officials, Vernon H. Vaughan was sent to Utah as secretary of the territory and Judge James B. McKean to be chief justice. O. F. Strickland and C. M. Hawley were also appointed associate justices to fill vacancies which existed. Judge McKean, like Governor Shaffer, was a relentless anti-“Mormon,” bigoted and narrow. He came to Utah with a “mission,” said he, “as high above my mere duty as a judge, as the heaven is above the earth.” That “mission” was the overthrow of “Mormonism.” However, Judge McKean is gone, and “Mormonism” still survives and prospers.