Young, Brigham, 1801-1877 to Thomas L. Kane
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03888 Author/Creator: Young, Brigham, 1801-1877 Place Written: Salt Lake City, Utah Type: Letter signed Date: 29 June 1854 Pagination: 3 p. ; 25 x 19.6 cm. Order a Copy
Young writes to Colonel Kane, an abolitionist and friend. Praises his acquaintance with Kane, and Kane's knowledge of the Mormon people. Thanks Kane for his assistance in a legal case, the "May case," noting "...it is no remedy at all, to put a man to death unjustly, and then punish his executioners, but actually makes matters worse." Remarks that President Franklin Pierce has not acted regarding the case, but Young doesn't think the prisoner will be hanged. Thinks Congress should spend more time developing the railroad than deliberating the slavery question: "Whether the principle [of slavery] be right or wrong it seems a very inappropriate time and wholly unnecessary to introduce it at the present, for it is bound to disturb... the quiet of the community, or country. Discusses local Native Americans: "... if we do not have compassion upon the poor Indians who will? We have ever pursued this policy towards them, to feed and cloth them, and then if they presumed upon our forbearance to become ugly, saucy, and hostile beyond endurance, we have been compelled to chastise them, yet we have never lost sight of this policy to conciliate them as soon as possible, and act strictly on the defensive."
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