Mormon History, early 1849

[Deseret] For a century historians were perplexed by documentary evidence that two somewhat contradictory political activities were going on in . One, a movement to create a territorial government, produced petitions with several thousand signatures which Bernhisel carried to Washington. The other, a constitutional convention to create a new state, sent Almon w. Babbitt east to join forces with Bernhisel. early 1849

[source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Deseret, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]