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UNIT 9: Growing Nation
UNIT 9: Growing Nation
Lesson: The Mormons
Lesson: The Mormons
8.52 Analyze the reasons for and outcomes of groups moving west, including the significance of: Mormons.
8.52 Analyze the reasons for and outcomes of groups moving west, including the significance of: Mormons.
The Mormons
The Mormons
Joseph Smith was born in 1805, just a few years after the Cane Ridge Revival started the Second Great Awakening in America. He was born in Vermont, but moved to New York with his family when he was young.
As a young man, Smith was inspired by the Second Great Awakening. In 1820 after attending a religious revival, Smith said God and Jesus came to him in a vision.
A few years later, in 1823 Smith claimed an angel directed him to a buried book of gold plates. Smith translated the gold plates into English and published them as the "Book of Mormon."
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons.
Joseph Smith founded the Mormons in 1830. Mormons believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. They also accepted polygamy, the practice of marrying multiple wives. Many people did not accept the view of the Mormons. They attacked Mormons, burned down their homes, and even killed Joseph Smith in 1844.
Brigham Young
A new leader, Brigham Young, took over. Mormons left their community in Illinois for safety in Mexico. They stopped first in Council Bluffs, on the border of Iowa and Nebraska, and finally ended up in Mexican controlled Utah, near the great Salt Lake.
The Mormons thought they had found freedom in Mexico, but in 1848 the United States took the territory after the Mexican War. The Mormons faced conflicts with the US government, but the community continued to grow. More people arrived from the east. By 1877, there were more than 100,000 people living in the area around the Great Salt Lake. Most of the settlers were Mormons.
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