The Mormons Flashcards
How did the Mormon religion begin ?
Joseph smith established the Mormon religion after having a vision. In Joseph Smiths vision he claimed to see an angel. This angle told Smith that he would find some engraved golden plates should he look in the hill side the story recalls he found theses plates and translated them into what became the mormon holy book ‘the book of mormon’. The book of mormon was published in 1830. By the end of 1830 Joseph Smith had utilised his talent for public speaking to covert several hundred people to the moron religion. Hence t was Joseph smith whom set up the ‘the church of Jesus Christ of the latter day saints”
What were the beliefs of the mormons
The mormons believed that they were gods chosen people and therefore they believed they were superior to those who did not follow the Mormon religion . They believed in racial equality which opposed the general concensous of the time and hence they treated those such as the blacks and Indians as their equals . The mormons believed that it was their purpose to build gods kingdom on earth. They were strongly against drinking and gambling. And it was part of their culture and religious beliefs to practice polygamy which made outsiders such as christians look down on them as within the christian religion practicing polygamy was seen as blasphemous .
Why did outsiders not like the mormons ?
outsiders believed that polygamy was immoral as it was seen as blasphemous in other religions and those that were not religious still had a problem with the practice as it added to the number of mormons that there were in the growing mormon colonies . The mormons also cam across as arrogant as they believed they were gods chosen ones. Due to the steady increasing members of the mormon church people began to fear them as their numbers increases they feared they would take over.
Why was it hard to live with the mormons in the east ?
it was difficult to live with the mormons in the east as their attitudes towards daily life was not the same as others whom were settled in the east. The mormons kept themselves to themselves and rarely interacted with others outside of their Mormon community . This attitude put outsiders on edge for this reason there was a fractious relationship between the mormons and then non mormons. through keeping themselves to them selves they distanced themselves from other communities this made them a prime scape goat. They were utilised for this purpose in 1837 when the banks collapsed during the economic depression. This placement of blame further fuelled the hatred for the mormons.
The mormons success also seemed threatening to outsiders. They were a hard working community hence ran lots of businesses , banks and shops in the east , this amount of power and the hardworking nature of the people combined with the growing numbers in mormon colonies made people uneasy. However with the success of the mormons also came hinderance as they owned a bank it made them more susceptible to take the blame in the collapse of the banks in 1837.
The religious bevies of the mormons pushed them west they did not coincide with those of the christians whom had already settled in the east prior to the birth of their religion. Hence the mormons moved west in the hope they could convert those people whom had not already been converted to christianise by missionaries in the east.
The mormons also lived very different lives to those in easter communities as they had strong feelings against gambling and drink thus when these things did occur it could make them feel uncomfortable . in order to escape this way of life that they did not approve of they had to set up their own colonies.
Joseph Smith believed in the practice of polygamy hence he expected the followers of his religion to adopt this same belief this faced hostility from outsiders and eventually Smith was so vilified that he was hung in prison however prior to this he moved his religious community west in order to escape the disapproving views of those in the east.
The movement of the mormons under Joseph Smith
The Mormon religion first grew up in a place in Ohio called Kirtland. Ohio is in the east of North America. In kirtland the mormons success began to grow they founded a bank and ran thriving businesses . mormons and outsiders invested in the bank alike however in 1837 there was a financial crisis and the bank went bankrupt meaning lots of people lost heir money. The mormons whom already struggled to live in the east due to some o the reasons perviously stated were driven out of Kirkland shortly after the collapse as it as made clear they were very unwelcome.
The mormons them moved to Missouri , in Missouri they began mixing with the blacks whom like them were socially rejects at the time . they treat these blacks as equals and encouraged them to join the mormon church. in doing so the numbers of the mormon church continued to increase again this threatened the outsiders whom the mormons referred to as ‘gentiles’ as they feared with their growing numbers they would be Abe to take over Missouri . As a consequence of this fear the government offered an extermination order on the mormons to remove them from Missouri . This extermination order was passes by governor Boggs.
The mormons then moved to a swampy area known as Nauvoo in Illinois , here they built up towns which rapidly grew. In 1844 Joseph smith had a second visions and introduced polygamy to the Mormon followers , gentiles feared this as they thought it was an attempt to. overpopulate the Mormon community and perceived it to be blasphemous . Some mormons also disagreed with Joseph Smith on the matter and criticised polygamy and published their opinions on this in a pare. Joseph smith destroyed printing presses that were issuing this pare at that point which depicted him as a dictator to some of the mormons whom started to perceive him differently. While in Nauvoo Smith announced his intentions to run as president however before this could happen an angry mob whom were not coinciding with his thoughts attacked and killed smith while he was inprisioned . The group of attackers were outsiders to the mormon religion as while some mormons did not agree with his idea on polygamy they still valued smith as a leader.
The mormons under Brigham Young
After the death of Joseph Smith Brigham Young took responsibility as a leader of the mormon religion . Brigham young came to the conclusion that the mormons could not live in the east and would need to move out west if they wished to escape the religious prosecution they were being subject to for various reasons. Brigham young was knowledgable person he had heard of the organ trails which the Oregon and California settlers were utilising and the mountain men had used , he also know of a place in thew west that was extremely isolated and hence ideal for escaping prosecution through means of isolation. This location was known as salt lake city.. At this point the piece of land that was salt lake city was outside of the control of the US government as it was Mexican land hence the mormons would be free from the prosecution of the government.
In 1845 Brigham young decided that he and the Mormon community would leave nauvoo and head west across the plains to salt lake city. Brigham young was a practical , strategic and logical man whom was able to instigate an oppertation to move the mormons across the plains in an almost military manor . Brigham young was more down to earth than Joseph Smith and was a very considerate individual. He prepared for the joint west all winder building wagons collecting resources and rounding up food supples. the first bands to set off form Nauvoo wee pioneer bands , these groups set up routes built camps and planted crops for future mormons to utilise when they followed across the plains. Half way across the plains a small settlement was build which was known as ‘the winter quarters’ the mormons rested the winter out here as they knew traveling in the conditions of winter would not be successful.
The mormons began following the pointer bands sooner than thy would have ideally liked to do so as gentiles and mobs started moving their homes and looting their belongings in the hope to drive them out of Nauvoo.
None the less their journey across the plains was successful due to the preparations Brigham young implemented such as the stocks of crops ready for the mormons and the winter quarters. the only slight problem was that disease which could not be prevented such as small pox and cholera killed mormons on the journey
Arriving in Salt lake city
eventually in 1847 the mormons reached the great salt lake this was later than they had intended however their bands had been delayed by illness. When the arrived the mormons came to encounter a number of problems:
there was a lack of drinkable water
this problem was overcome by constructing irrigation systems using snow water from the mountains.
There was a lack of tire for the construction of houses , the mormons over came this by using Spanish bricks where composed of wood and dried out in the sun to build their houses.
There was not enough mormons for the community to be self sufficient to overcome this mormons were encouraged to come to salt lake city from all over the world o salt lake city and were aided in their move to America by the mormons ‘perpetual emigrating fund’. Missionaries in Europe also encouraged people to migrate to the great salt lake city.
The mormons needed to boarder their territory , they did this by building up smaller towns outside the larger outer town.
The mormons faced the problem of dividing the land as a solution they decided all land would be owned by the church and land would be assigned based on needs of a family / size of a family and capacity of the family as agricultural people.
The mormons also encountered some problems that they could not overcome so easily these included
- they could not find a balance between educating their children and getting work done on the land thus children often spent little time in the education system as they were needed at time
- the mormons didn’t have enough money to successfully industrialise
- the mormons could not be self sufficed as the soils by the great salt lake could not sustain cotton growth and hence the mormons could not produce their own clothes they also did not have access to metals like iron on the salt flats which they needed to produce tools.
Why did the US government declare war on the Mormons
The US government declared war on the mormons following the massacre at mountain meadows . In the massacre gentiles were slaughtered but the government could not come to decide weather it was the Indians whom were responsible or if it was the mormons , the US government consequently declared war on the mormons, this caused panic and some mormons chose to flee as they feared potential oncoming troops as the Papers that now circulated the country demanded justice be done.The conflict does not uphold much longevity as shortly after the mormons are pardoned.
when did Utah become a state
in 1848 Utah (the location of the salt flats thus salt lake city) was handed over by Mexico and made part of the territory of the USA . Although this was not ideal Brigham young made a deal with the government and became a governor . Utah wasn’t permitted to be a state while its inhabitants practiced polygamy , as a consequence in 1890 the practice of polygamy was abandoned and in 1896 Utah was made a state.
