The Mormons' Success in Setting Up a New Community
The Mormons are a religious group in the United States of America.
Their full name is The Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day
Saints. Joseph Smith founded them.
Joseph Smith was the man who founded the Mormons. He translated the
golden plates and wrote the book of Mormon. The angel Moroni visited
him. He also established polygamy and tried to set-up Zion. He was
fairly successful in setting up the Mormons but he made the Mormons
very unpopular by introducing polygamy. Joseph Smith failed to become
the president of the United States of America. Firstly, he went to
Kirkland where he managed to set-up a bank and temple. Unfortunately,
the bank collapsed and non-Mormons who had lost a lot of money when
the bank collapsed drove him out of Kirkland. He then went on to
Missouri, where he was fairly successful and built houses but the
other settlers didn’t want him there and he was put in prison. He then
went on to Nauvoo where the government of Illinois allowed them to
have their own laws and army; he also got permission to build his own
city. However, the number of Mormons increased and the non-Mormons
became worried. The non-Mormons were also disgusted by polygamy.
Joseph Smith was then killed.
When Joseph Smith was killed a man called Brigham Young took over as
the leader of the Mormons. He led them successfully to Salt Lake City
where he managed to set-up Zion. He got more Mormons to join by
introducing the perpetual immigration fund where every Mormon gave 10%
of their yearly earnings to the fund and the money was given to poorer
Mormons who wanted to get to Salt Lake City. He also set-up toll
charges and got a railway to pass through north and south. The journey
to Salt Lake City was very organized and disciplined but people did
die on the journey. He taught the Mormons to be self-sufficient and
eventually they became a state in 1896 but he wasn’t allowed to call
The Jamestown and Plymouth settlements were both settled in the early 1600's. Plymouth and Jamestown were located along the shoreline in Massachusetts and Virginia, respectively. Although both had different forms of government, they both had strong leadership. Jamestown was controlled by the London Company, who wanted to profit from the venture, while the Puritans who settled at Plymouth were self-governed with an early form of democracy and settled in the New World to gain religious freedom. John Smith took charge in efforts to organize Jamestown, and at Plymouth William Bradford helped things run smoothly.
The Oatman’s adventure began as a result of their decision to join a new sect of the Mormon faith. This particular belief, whose followers were named Brewsterites, had its roots in Kirtland, Ohio around 1836. A young boy, about ten years old, named Colin Brewster, showed promise in the eyes of Joseph Smith, the great Mormon prophet. Many had already noticed the boy’s “gift for seeing in vision distant objects not seen by the natural eye” (McGinty 40). Eventually, Brewster’s vision of a round table lead to his acceptance as “a prophet, a seer, a revelator and translator” (McGinty 31), by Joseph Smith Sr. and two other church elders, one of which was referred to as Lord.
The history of the Mormon Church goes back to 1863 when its founder, Joseph Smith, II, claimed to have a vision of the angel Moroni, who appeared to him in upper New York State and instructed him to interpret ancient writings on gold plates. The Mormon doctrine states that Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to the Native Americans. The accounts with the Native Americans were transcribed onto the gold plates according to Moroni, the messenger. One doctrine of the Mormon Church, The Pearl of Great Price, shares a lot of the private journals of founder Joseph Smith. Founder Smith recalls, "He called me by name, and said that he was a messenger...and that his name was Moroni...," (Pearl. II:33) This is one of the main cornerstones of the Mormon doctrine. The Mormon Church had its beginnings from New York and traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, then on to Spring Hill (Independence), Missouri, and finally traveled back to Nauvoo, Illinois. It was at Nauvoo where on, Jun 27, 1844, Joseph Smith, III, his brother Hyrum Smith and friend John Taylor were ambushed at the Nauvoo-Carthage Jail. In the course of events that transpired, Joseph and Hyrum w...
Exploring Why the Mormons Settled in Salt Lake City Salt Lake City is located in the west of North America. It was a desolate wilderness, dry, and a place where many people assumed was uninhabitable. So why did the Mormons ‘relocate’ to such an area? unattractive and diverse place? Brigham Young, in 1845 organised the mass movement of 15,000 men, women.
In the early nineteenth century, most Northerners and Southerners agreed entirely that Americans should settle Western territories, and that it was God’s plan, or their “manifest destiny.” Northerners and Southerners who moved west were in search of a better life and personal economic gain; were they had failed before in the east, they believed they would do better in the west. The Panic of 1837 was a motivation to head
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
In my paper I will talk about my visit to The Community Church at Murphy's Landing (CCML). I have chosen this particular Church because it is a family church type and my neighbor goes there and she encouraged me to go with her. I went there with my neighbor on April 6, 2014.This church is an appropriate for this assignment because the people there are welcoming me with an open heart and they are willing to help and provide me with information. When I visit the Church’s site I read these words “We know visiting a new church can be intimidating. But, we want to help you to be as comfortable as possible when and if you join us”. The people gather in the church weekly to glorify God in joyful worship. The expressions of worship on CCML take many forms a prayer, a hymn of reverent awe, a guitar ringing with a chorus of praise, or a warm handshake and a welcoming smile. Their weekly services begin at 9:30 each Sunday at church. Also, they have weekly podcast if anyone wants to listen online. They have many types of services for parents, kids and students. People at CCML were so friendly; they gather around me and start welcoming me, one by one. People there introducing themselves to me, one after another and provide me with their contact information and help. Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis...
American missionaries thought that they had to save the souls of the Native Americans. Andrew Jackson addresses, “separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlement of whites; free them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions;… and through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized and Christian community” (Jackson). They perceived these populations as inferior, and it was the duty of the superior class to attempt to civilize and save them. There was very little consideration given as to how these new settlements would affect the native peoples. Westward expansion created the road toward the American dream for the Pioneers, but at the cost of the traditional way of life for
Since the mid 1800s, Mormons, or also referred to as the Latter-Day Saints, have been a thriving religion in the United States. Founded by Joseph smith in 1830, it has grown from a small group of outcasts to a significant size of nearly seven million followers. Joseph Smith was the first prophet and president of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. After the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844, a man named Brigham Young migrated with bulk of the Mormons to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1847, where they made their home. Today, president and prophet of the current Church is Thomas S. Manson who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon Church headquarters, much like Rome, Italy is the hub of the Roman Catholic Church. Mormons accept the basic teaching of Christianity, but like all Christian denominations, they have their own particular take on things.
They belive that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet for the church and given the task of translating the book of mormon. The Book of Mormon is Another testament of Jesus Christ, similar to the Bible. He soon founded his own church and began converting people to his faith. Soon persecuted for their beliefs, they left New York moving first to Ohio, then Missouri, and finally Nauvoo, Illinois where they lived for five years. At that time, an anti-Mormon lynch mob found and killed Joseph and his brother Hyrum Smith. Brigham Young then became Smith's successor as the second prophet of the church, and led the Mormons away to Utah where they settled at Salt- Lake-
Religion in the New World exploded into the land with the colonization of thousands of immigrants. It played an important role in the development of thought in the West. Religion was one of the first concepts to spark the desires of people from other countries to emigrate to the new lands. While many religions blossomed on the American shores of the Atlantic, a basic structure held for most of them, being predominantly derived from Puritanism. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, showed the link the new settlers had to God when Sir Thomas Dale said the following in 1610:
fact a story filled with countless representations of Mormon belief about life, love, and morality.
When the shape of America first started to grow from just land to the 13 colonies to the westward expansion of our country in less than a century, it sure feels like hopes and dreams came true. Though it might have seemed like an easier task, it took luck, labor, and intense warfare. The long process of American territorial expansion was justified by a mid-century ideology known as Manifest Destiny (pg 1). The one people we seem to forget about when we discuss the growing settlement of our country are the Native Americans. They had inhabited the country long before Columbus had discovered America, and still play an important part in today’s society. Manifest Destiny justified the displacement and domestication of Native Americans all while
In 1652 George Fox, standing on Pendle Hill in England, had a vision. This was the beginning of the Religious Society of Friends. Before 1650 the Quaker movement were basically unknown, in a year or two the seemed to be all over the place. This time period was called the Quaker Explosion. George Fox saw a great people to be gathered and this people included Puritans, Separatists and presumably others without a label. Among all these different kinds of people what was there in common to make them feel that Fox was what the wanted? The answer is probably that that were looking for a spiritual religion, rather than the religion of conformity. There was resentment against ecclesiastical authority and so a readiness to listen to Fox's assurance that there was only one authority Christ himself and that his authority was to be known directly in the human heart. The message that "Christ has come to teach his people himself" may be called the slogan of the early Quakers.
Cult activity has been on the rise over the past few decades. With it there has been an increase in the fear surrounding it. From this fear, society has learned much about cults, how they get members and what to look out for as far as cult recruiters go. Society as a whole has also learned what can be done to deal with cults.