[2] Several prominent Mormon leaders had slaves, including Charles C. Rich, Abraham O. Smoot and William H.
At the end of the Mexican–American War, Utah became a part of the United States, and the issue of slavery in the new territories became a highly political subject.
He discussed the ongoing trial of Don Pedro Leon Lujan and the importance of explicitly indicating the true policy for slavery in Utah.
However, he urged moderation by not treating Africans as beasts of the field or to elevate them to equality with the whites, which was against God's will.
[4]: 110 With those directions, the Utah legislature then drafted a bill entitled "An Act in Relation to African Slavery."
Smith also thought that Young may have felt that white slaveowners from the South would be more likely to convert to Mormonism and to migrate to Utah if their slaves were treated as property.
It read in part that "if any white person shall be guilty of sexual intercourse with any of the African race, they shall be subject, on conviction thereof to a fine of not exceeding one thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred, to the use of the Territory, and imprisonment, not exceeding three years."
The day after the act passed, Young gave the explanation of the Curse of Cain for slavery.
He also declared after the passage of the statute, "I am as much opposed to the principle of slavery as any man in the present acceptation or usage of the term.
It is a great blessing to the seed of Adam to have the seed of Cain as servants, but those they serve should use them with all the heart and feeling, as they would use their own children and their compassion should reach over them and round about them, and treat them as kindly, and with that human feeling necessary to be shown to mortal beings of the human species.
The requirement for ownership was also considerably lower since Indian slaves having to be only in possession of a white person.