The constitutional convention in Salt Lake City ended in May. To the joy of Emmeline Wells and countless others in Utah, the delegates voted to include women’s suffrage in the constitution.

After the convention, B. H. Roberts remained active in politics, despite his full-time Church responsibilities. His speeches against women’s suffrage had been unpopular across the state. Yet his reputation as a preacher and lecturer remained strong in and out of the Church. In September, two months before the next election, Utah Democrats nominated B. H. as their candidate for the United States House of Representatives.

For decades, Church leaders had often held important government positions in Utah. The Saints had also voted as a bloc, sometimes sacrificing their individual political beliefs to preserve the Church’s influence in the territory. But after the Saints split into different political parties in the early 1890s, Church leaders had become more sensitive about keeping matters of church and state separate, recognizing that not everyone in Utah had the same political opinions. At that time, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles agreed that general authorities should not influence voters by speaking publicly about politics.

During the constitutional convention, however, the First Presidency had temporarily suspended this counsel, allowing B. H. and other general authorities to serve as delegates. When B. H. later received the Democratic Party’s nomination, he did not think he was wrong to accept it. Nor did he notice any objections from the First Presidency. Apostle Moses Thatcher felt the same way when the Democrats nominated him to run for the U.S. Senate.

At the October 1895 general priesthood meeting, however, Joseph F. Smith publicly rebuked the two men for accepting the nominations without first consulting the members of their quorums. “We have the living oracles in the Church, and their counsel must be sought,” he reminded the congregation. “The moment a man in authority decides to do as he pleases, he steps on dangerous ground.”

In his remarks, President Smith did not criticize B. H.’s political beliefs. Rather, he reaffirmed the Church’s political neutrality as well as its policy that full-time Church leaders should focus their time and efforts on their ministry. After the meeting, however, members of the Republican Party seized on the reprimand to attack B. H.’s campaign. Since Joseph F. Smith was a Republican, many Democrats accused him of using his position in the Church to injure their party.

A short time later, in a newspaper interview, B. H. spoke of his respect for Church authority and stopped short of accusing the First Presidency of trying to hurt his campaign. Yet he insisted on his right to seek political office, despite the First Presidency’s objections, because he believed he had violated no Church rules. Later he spoke more brazenly. At a political rally, he condemned men who used their influence in the Church to sway voters.

On Election Day, Republicans across the country won landslide victories against Democrats like B. H. Roberts and Moses Thatcher. And voters in Utah approved the new constitution with its provision granting voting rights to women.

B. H. tried to put on a cheerful face in public. He and his party knew someone had to lose. “It seems to have fallen to our party this time,” he said.

But inside he felt the sting of his defeat.

On January 4, 1896, Utah became the forty-fifth state in the United States of America. In Salt Lake City, people fired off gun salutes and blew whistles. Bells rang out across the crisp, blue sky as people crowded the streets, waving flags and banners.

Heber J. Grant continued to worry about his friends B. H. Roberts and Moses Thatcher, though. Both men refused to apologize for not consulting their priesthood leaders before seeking public office, leading the First Presidency and the Twelve to conclude that they were putting their political careers ahead of their Church service. The First Presidency also believed that B. H. had unfairly criticized them and the Church in some of his political speeches and interviews.

On February 13, the First Presidency and a majority of the Twelve met in the Salt Lake Temple with B. H. and other presidents of the Seventy. During the meeting, the apostles asked B. H. about his statements against the First Presidency. B. H. affirmed everything he had said and done, taking none of it back.

As the meeting unfolded, Heber’s heart grew heavy. One by one, the leaders pleaded with B. H. to humble himself, but their words had no effect. When Heber stood to address his friend, emotion overwhelmed him, choking his words.

After each apostle and seventy spoke, B. H. stood and said he would rather lose his place in the presidency of the Seventy than apologize for what he had done. He then asked the men in the room to pray that he not lose his faith.

“Will you pray for yourself?” asked apostle Brigham Young Jr.

“To tell the truth,” said B. H., “I do not feel much like it now.”

When the meeting ended, Heber offered a closing prayer. B. H. then tried to leave the room, but Heber caught hold of him and embraced him. B. H. broke free and stalked away, his expression hard.

A few weeks later, on March 5, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles again met with B. H. and found him unchanged. President Woodruff gave him three weeks to reconsider his position. If he remained unrepentant, they would release him from the Seventy and prohibit him from using the priesthood.

The following week, Heber and his fellow apostle Francis Lyman arranged to meet privately with B. H. As they talked, B. H. told the apostles that he would not change his mind. If the First Presidency needed to find someone to take his place in the presidency of the Seventy, he said, they were free to do so.

B. H. put on his coat and started to leave. “I want you to know that the action that is to be taken against me is causing me the deepest sorrow,” he said. “I do not want you to think that I fail to appreciate all that I am going to lose.”

Heber noticed tears in his friend’s eyes, and he asked him to sit down. B. H. then spoke of times when Church leaders had slighted him in public and preached in favor of the Republican Party. For two hours, Heber and Francis responded to his concerns and pleaded with him to change his course. Heber felt as if he and Francis were being blessed to know what to say.

When they finished speaking, B. H. told his friends that he wanted to think about his situation that night and get back to them with his decision in the morning. Heber then took leave of his friend, praying the Lord would bless him.

The next morning B. H. sent a short letter to Heber and Francis. “I submit to the authority of God in the brethren,” it read in part. “Since they think I am wrong, I will bow to them, and place myself in their hands as the servants of God.”

Heber made a copy of the letter immediately and ran across the street to President Woodruff’s office.

About two weeks later, in the Salt Lake Temple, B. H. Roberts apologized to the First Presidency, admitting his error in not seeking permission to run for political office. He was sorry if anything he had said in public had caused rifts among the Saints, and he promised to make amends for any offense he gave.

He also said that during his conversation with Heber J. Grant and Francis Lyman, thoughts of his ancestors softened his heart.

“I am the only male representative in the Church on my father’s side, and also on my mother’s side,” he said, “and the thought of losing the priesthood and leaving my ancestors to rest without a representative in the priesthood worked very strongly upon my feelings.”

“I went to the Lord and received light and instruction through His Spirit to submit to the authority of God,” he continued. “I express to you my desire and prayer that I may be able to make such satisfaction, and pass through whatever humiliation you may see proper to put upon me, in the hope of retaining at least the priesthood of God, and to have the privilege of doing the work for my fathers in this holy house.”45

The First Presidency accepted B. H.’s apology. Ten days later, under the direction of President Woodruff, George Q. Cannon drafted a statement clarifying the Church’s position on its leaders’ involvement in politics. He then presented the statement to the First Presidency and general authorities of the Church for their approval.

The following day, at the April 1896 general conference, Heber J. Grant read the statement to the Saints. Every general authority of the Church had signed it except Anthon Lund, who was still in Europe, and Moses Thatcher, who had refused to reconcile with the First Presidency and his fellow apostles.

Called the “Political Manifesto,” the statement affirmed the Church’s belief in the separation of church and state. It also required all general authorities who committed themselves to full-time service in the Lord’s work to secure the approval of their quorum leaders before seeking or accepting any political office.

At the conference, B. H. Roberts urged the Saints to sustain their ecclesiastical leaders, and he testified of the enduring work of the Lord. “In this dispensation, the unfailing word of God has been pledged to the stability of the work, notwithstanding the imperfections of the people,” he declared.

“Even though some might have stumbled in the darkness,” he said, “they might still return to the path of right, taking advantage of its unerring guidance to the good of salvation.”