Zusammenfassung der Ressource
American West:
The Mormons
- Mormon Beliefs
- Practiced polygamy
- More than one wife
- Thought they were gods chosen people
- Felt they were superior to others
- Believed in race equality- treated
blacks and Indians as equals
- Against drinking and gambling
- Believed they had to make Gods kingdom on earth
- Mormons were often persecuted for their beliefs
- Non-Mormons thought polygamy was immoral
- Worried it'd lead to more Mormons
- Mormons were arrogant to non-Mormons
- Some Mormons attacked/ robbed gentiles
- Gentiles was the name
given to non-Mormons
- Mormons journey west across The Great Plains
- Joseph Smith
- In 1823, a poor farmer(Smith) claimed
he had dug up some gold plates
- Contained messages from God
- Visited by the angel, Moroni
- He preached his message, by
1830's he had over 100 followers
- Called the Church of Latter-Day Saints
- Kirtland (1831-37)
- Kirtland was his Zion (Heavenly city)
- He built a temple and a Bank
- Banks collapsed in the financial crisis that year
- Both Mormons and Non- Mormons lost their money
- This made Mormons more unpopular
- Missouri (1837-38)
- Friendly to Indians, wanted to end slavery
- They formed a secret group called the DANITIES
- Many Non-Mormons believed it was set up to attack them
- The governor of Missouri wanted to drive out the Mormons
- He wanted the Mormons exterminated
- Nauvoo (1839-46)
- Town was originally called Commerce, they renamed it
- By 1845, 11,000 Mormons lived there
- The 2 political parties in Illinois wanted the Mormons support
- The Mormons were allowed to have their own laws
- They had their own private army in return for their votes
- Joseph Smith Dies
- Claims to have received a revelation from God
- Mormons could have more than one wife(Polygamy)
- He was planning to run for the President of U.S.A
- Non-Mormon mobs started roaming trying to kill Mormons
- Killed Joseph smith in June 1845
- Brigham Young
- The Mormons were unpopular wherever they went
- Young realised that to live how they wanted to live they had to go where no one else was
- So they didn't get chased out by the people that were already there
- September 1845, Young decided to move them to
Salt Lake City Valley
- The land was poor and dry