The Smith Law was passed by the Utah State Legislature in March 1928, and was (under the terms of the Law) ratified at the 98th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on April 6th of that year. The Smith Law defined Mormonism as the state religion of Utah, granting it special protection by the state as well as a claim on state funding. The Smith Law was one of the major triggering factors of the failure of the Union, demonstrating as it did the inability of the federal government to enforce even the most basic constitutional laws.