Utah Historical Quarterly
362 plainly he did no serious labor elsewhere in U t a h . ) W h a t he ended u p with was a sophisticated kind of scissors-andpaste job, his text enlivened with the same kind of juicy quotations which served W e r n e r so well a generation ago. W e must go on waiting for a biographer who will address himself to t h e fundam e n t a l question: W h a t kind of person was Brigham Young, really? This is at once a very simple a n d a very complex question, and hopefully someone, sometime, will get at the heart of it. D A L E L.
MORGAN
Bancroft
Library
Mormonism's Negro Policy: Social and Historical Origins. By S T E P H E N G. TAGGART. (Salt Lake City: University of U t a h Press, 1970. x i i i + 82 p p . $4.00) Perhaps the only redeeming quality of T a g g a r t ' s book is his essential theme t h a t "Mormonism's Negro policy had its origins in social a n d historical circumstances rather t h a n in revelation." T h a t m u c h can be accepted a n d has been said before by others. T a g g a r t ' s subordinate point, however, t h a t the policy "grew out of the social stress engendered w h e n the church found itself in a situation where it could not be abolitionist a n d at the same time obtain a n d build u p the land of Zion" is highly questionable. R a t h e r there is every reason to suspect t h a t M o r m o n s were proslavery initially a n d t h a t slavery was compatible with their attitudes toward Negro potential. I n his search for sound evidence, the reader m a y be willing to overlook T a g gart's somewhat cumbersome style. But deep into the short volume, disappointm e n t becomes p e r m a n e n t . T h e author omits numerous valuable source m a terials a n d relies too heavily on secondary sources. F o r instance, when tracing origins of priesthood denial to an 1879
meeting at A b r a h a m Smoot's home, T a g g a r t quotes William E. Berrett's apologetic work, The Church and the Negroid People, rather t h a n the primary source — L. J o h n Nuttall's diary. Further, in outlining Brigham Young's views on the Negro, T a g g a r t resorts to Joseph Fielding Smith's Way to Perfection instead of Young's countless speeches a n d personal papers, the most informative being his 1852 speech to the U t a h legislature (manuscript in church archives). I n treating the m o d e r n scene, T a g g a r t curiously focuses o n the relev a n t Sterling M c M u r r i n account of a conversation with David O . M c K a y concerning Negroes, a n d yet makes no reference to McKay's personal letter of 1947. While McKay's letter may be less startling, it is nevertheless a primary source, a n d offers fresh insight into the view of the m o d e r n church. Easily the most disturbing weakness is the credibility T a g g a r t places on the Smoot meeting. Zebedee Coltrin recalled to J o h n Taylor that Joseph Smith h a d told him personally in 1834 that Negroes were ineligible to t h e priesthood; hence, Elijah Abel was dropped from the q u o r u m when his lineage was discovered. T a g g a r t bemoans the absence of corroborative evidence, yet still "assumes its report to be generally correct," even though Coltrin related the incidents forty-five years after they occurred a n d while h e was in advanced years. If Smith m a d e such a stand, why did he not declare it publicly to the church? Moreover, if Abel really was " d r o p p e d from the q u o r u m , " at the wish of Joseph Smith in the 1840's, why did he represent the q u o r u m on a mission in 1883, as church records attest? Of added significance is the fact that J o h n Taylor was the president of the church who called Abel on his mission. U n accountably, T a g g a r t cryptically dismisses these crucial items as "of little consequence for the analysis." T a g g a r t then suggests t h a t Joseph Smith was "probably predisposed" to
