The Liberal Party was a political party established in the latter half of the 1800s in Utah Territory before the national Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s. The Liberal Party formed in 1870 to oppose Mormons, which dominated local politics via the People's Party. The Liberal Party thus represented opposition to government controlled by organized religious groups. Though vastly outnumbered, the Liberal Party offered an opposing voice and won several local elections. Anti-Mormonism remained a central theme of the party until it disbanded in 1893 and became absorbed by the national parties. Origins The impetus for the setting up of the Liberal Party came from William S. Godbe, a successful businessman and Latter-day Saint who founded a journal called Utah Magazine in 1868. Godbe and several business associates challenged the economic policies of LDS Church President Brigham Young in the monthly periodical, especially Young's opposition to mining. When increasingly harsh condemnations aimed at LDS leadership appeared, the LDS Church excommunicated key "Godbeites" on October 25, 1869. Corresponding during the winter, key Godbeites and non-Mormons made an uneasy alliance based on their shared opposition to LDS control over temporal matters in the territory. The Liberal Party formed after a meeting on February 9, 1870 to select independent candidates for the Salt Lake City municipal election. The organizers billed the occasion as a meeting of the "people." A crowd of Latter-day Saints, encouraged by local bishops and a Deseret Evening News editorial, attended in numbers and nearly hijacked the meeting. After the LDS crowd had selected its own slate of candidates, frustrated Godbeite Eli B. Kelsey asked the Mormons to leave, which they did. The remaining non-Mormons selected an independent municipal ticket, forming the Liberal Party. Liberal leaders intended that their party's name suggest reform and evoke Britain's Liberal Party. In response, Latter-day Saints formed the People's Party, a title that was selected to suggest popularity; it alluded to the Liberal Party's disrupted meeting of "the people". Latter-day Saints had previously won virtually all elections unchallenged. Early Liberal Party speakers carefully avoided condemning LDS theology or polygamy, because several Godbeites themselves practised polygamy. Eli B. Kelsey and Henry W. Lawrence, both Godbeites, gained election as the first officers of the new party. Non-Mormons, including R. N. Baskin, George R. Maxwell, and Judge Dennis Toohy of Corinne, played an active role in the party but stayed in the