Lee, Latter-Day Saint Colleagues Honor Pioneer Spirit on Senate Floor

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) today joined his Latter-day Saint colleagues Sens. John Curtis (R-UT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) to commemorate the arrival of the first company of Latter-day Saint pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. In a resolution delivered on the Senate floor, the senators highlighted how the virtues demonstrated by early Latter-day Saint pioneers - including faith, sacrifice, resilience, and community - are universal American aspirations essential to addressing our nation's modern challenges.

The resolution reads as follows:

This week, Utahns will celebrate Pioneer Day, which commemorates the arrival of the first company of Latter-day Saint pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

For many outside of Utah, Pioneer Day may seem like a uniquely local observance. But the values it commemorates are profoundly American and can resonate with all of us. We recognize not only a historic journey, but the enduring pioneer spirit that helped shape the American West-and continues to shape our country today.

The early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sought to actualize our first freedom, and something every American should cherish: religious liberty.

Instead, they were driven from their homes, stripped of their property, and forced to flee into an uncertain wilderness.

Thousands traveled more than 1,300 miles across plains, deserts, and mountains. My recent walk across the state spanned only 250miles, and our pioneers did not have the luxury of spare shoes and an RV to sleep in at night.

Parents buried children. Children buried parents. Spouses buried their soulmates.

Yet, they sang "All is well"-from a hymn still a favorite in our church buildings today-for they had a vision of a land "Far away in the West, Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; [where] the Saints will be blessed."

When they finally reached that place, the Salt Lake Valley, they didn't dwell on what they had lost.

They focused on what they could build.

Within days, they were planting crops, digging irrigation canals, laying out streets, and creating communities where none had existed before.

Over the decades that followed, they established hundreds of settlements across the Mountain West, built roads and bridges, and helped countless other emigrants traveling west.

That is the pioneer spirit. That is the American spirit.

It is resilience in the face of hardship.

It is self-reliance married with cooperation.

It is choosing to build instead of surrender.

As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, I believe those values are as relevant today as they were nearly 180 years ago.

Every generation faces its own frontier. Ours may not be crossing the plains, but we are still called to solve difficult problems, contribute meaningfully to our communities, and leave a better nation for those who inherit it.

Americans still want to build something meaningful.

They still want to provide for their families.

They still want their children to inherit greater opportunities than they themselves received.

Those aspirations haven't changed.

What has changed is that sometimes we forget the virtues and sacrifices required to achieve them. May we all, this Pioneer Day, recommit ourselves to remembering that heritage, and channeling that spirit in our own hearts.

Because the American story has never belonged to just one generation. It is written by each generation willing to work, sacrifice, and build for the next.

That is why the resolution I'm introducing with my colleagues today is about more than honoring the past. It is about carrying forward the virtues that made those pioneers successful: faith, sacrifice, community, industry, and perseverance.

May we honor their legacy by living those same values and continuing to move our nation forward-one faithful step at a time.

Read the full resolution text here.

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