The Senate and Reed Smoot
The United States Senate refused to expel the Mormon Senator, Reed Smoot. It was found that he himself was not a polygamist, and he declared that no religious obligation he had taken could in any way affect his duty to his country. After all, has the Senate of the United States the right to reject any man legally sent to that body by a sovereign State? It seems to have been on this latter ground, rather than on any sympathy with Mormonism that the vote was taken. And yet politics had much to do with the matter. The Mormons are now Republicans, and the Republican vote retained, with few exceptions, the Senator from Utah. The Mormons are not Democrats, and the Democrats voted against the Republican Mormon. It is difficult to tell whether real principle had a place or not in the decision arrived at.