Few indeed have heard of an act from Utah's Territorial Government called A Preamble and An Act for the Farther Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners passed in March of 1852. I've scanned a copy of this incredibly racist bit of legislation from Sir Richard Burton's City of the Saints, published in 1862. Burton, famed for finding the source of the Nile and transcribing 1001 Arabian Nights (among the most salacious books of the era) was in Utah studying the sexual habits of Mormons. Burton saw the act as designed to save slaves and their children from starvation by allowing Mormons to purchase individuals at risk. Indians could be "indentured" to a master for up to twenty years. This act foreshadows subsequent policies of states to allow Indian children to be taken from their families and culture in order to "protect" them.
RSS Feed
